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SIGISMUND III

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 69 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIGISMUND III . (1566-1632), See also:king of See also:Poland and See also:Sweden, son of See also:John III., king of Sweden, and See also:Catherine Jagiellonika, See also:sister of Sigismund II., king of Poland, thus uniting in his See also:person the royal lines of See also:Vasa and Jagiello. Educated as a See also:Catholic by his See also:mother, he was on the See also:death of See also:Stephen See also:Bathory elected king of Poland (See also:August 19, 1587) chiefly through the efforts of the See also:Polish See also:chancellor, See also:Jan See also:Zamoyski, and of his own aunt, See also:Anne, See also:queen-See also:dowager of Poland, who See also:lent the chancellor See also:loo,000 gulden to raise troops in See also:defence of her See also:nephew's cause. On his See also:election, Sigismund promised to maintain a See also:fleet in the Baltic, to fortify the eastern frontier against the See also:Tatars, and not to visit Sweden without the consent of the Polish See also:diet. Sixteen days later were signed the articles of See also:Kalmar regulating the future relations between Poland and Sweden, when in See also:process of See also:time Sigismund should succeed his See also:father as king of Sweden. The two kingdoms were to be perpetually allied, but each of them was to retain its own See also:laws and customs. Sweden was also to enjoy her See also:religion subject to such changes as a See also:general See also:council might make. During Sigismund's See also:absence from Sweden that See also:realm was to be ruled by seven Swedes, six to be elected by the king and one by See also:Duke See also:Charles, his See also:Protestant See also:uncle. Sweden, moreover, was not to be administered from Poland. A See also:week after subscribing these articles the See also:young See also:prince departed to take See also:possession of the Polish See also:throne. He was expressly commanded by his father to return to Sweden, if the Polish deputation awaiting him at See also:Danzig should insist on the cession of See also:Esthonia to Poland as a See also:condition precedent to the See also:act of See also:homage. The Poles proved even more difficult to satisfy than was anticipated; but finally a See also:compromise was come to whereby the territorial See also:settlement was postponed till after the death of John III.; and Sigismund was duly crowned at See also:Cracow on the 27th of See also:December 1587.

Sigismund's position as king of Poland was extraordinarily difficult. As a foreigner he was from the first out of sympathy with the See also:

majority of his subjects. As a See also:man of See also:education and refinement, fond of See also:music, the See also:fine arts, and polite literature, he was unintelligible to the szlachta, who regarded all artists and poets as either See also:mechanics or adventurers. His very virtues were See also:strange and therefore offensive to them. His prudent reserve and imperturbable calmness were branded as stiffness and haughtiness. Even Zamoyski who had placed him on the throne complained that the king was possessed by a dumb See also:devil. He lacked, moreover, the tact and bonhomie of the Jagiellos; but in fairness it should be added that the Jagiellos were natives of the See also:soil, that they had practically made the See also:monarchy, and that they could always See also:play Lithuania off against Poland. Sigismund's difficulties were also increased by his See also:political views which he brought with him from Sweden cut and dried, and which were diametrically opposed to those of the omnipotent chancellor. Yet, impracticable as it may have been, Sigismund's See also:system of See also:foreign policy as compared with Zamoyski's was, at any See also:rate, clear and definite. It aimed at a See also:close See also:alliance with the See also:house of See also:Austria, with the See also:double See also:object of See also:drawing Sweden within its See also:orbit and overawing the See also:Porte by the See also:conjunction of the two See also:great Catholic See also:powers of central See also:Europe. A corollary to this system was the much needed reform of the Polish constitution, without which nothing beneficial was to be expected from any political See also:combination. Thus Sigismund's views were those of a statesman who clearly recognizes See also:present evils and would remedy them.

But all his efforts foundered on the See also:

jealousy and suspicion of the magnates headed by the chancellor. The first three-andtwenty years of Sigismund's reign is the See also:record of an almost See also:constant struggle between Zamoyski and the king, in which the two opponents were so evenly matched that they did little more than counterpoise each other. At the diet of 1590 Zamoyski successfully thwarted all the efforts of the See also:Austrian party; whereupon the king, taking See also:advantage of sudden vacancies among the See also:chief offices of See also:state, brought into See also:power the Radziwills and other great Lithuanian dignitaries, thereby for a time considerably curtailing the authority of the chancellor. In 1592 Sigismund married the Austrian archduchess Anne, and the same See also:year a reconciliation was patched up between the king and the chancellor to enable the former to secure possession of his See also:Swedish throne vacant by the death of his father John III. He arrived at See also:Stockholm on the 3oth of See also:September 1593 and was crowned at See also:Upsala on the 19th of See also:February 1594, but only after he had consented to the See also:maintenance of the " pure evangelical religion " in Sweden. On the 14th of See also:July 1594 he departed for Poland leaving Duke Charles and the See also:senate to See also:rule Sweden during his absence. Four years later (July 1598) Sigismund was forced to fight for his native See also:crown by the usurpation of hisuncle, aided by the Protestant party in Sweden. He landed at Kalmar with 5000 men, mostly Hungarian mercenaries; the fortress opened its See also:gates to him at once and the See also:capital and the See also:country See also:people welcomed him. The Catholic See also:world watched his progress with the most sanguine expectations. Sigismund's success in Sweden was regarded as only the beginning of greater triumphs. But it was not to be. After fruitless negotiations with his uncle, Sigismund advanced with his See also:army from Kalmar, but was defeated by the duke at Stangebro on the 25th of September.

Three days later, by the compact of See also:

Linkoping, Sigismund agreed to submit all the points in dispute between himself and his uncle to a riksdag at Stockholm; but immediately afterwards took See also:ship for Danzig, after secretly protesting to the two papal prothonotaries who accompanied him that the Linkoping agreement had been extorted from him, and was therefore invalid. Sigismund never saw Sweden again, but he persistently refused to abandon his claims or recognise the new Swedish See also:government; and this unfortunate obstinacy was to involve Poland in a whole See also:series of unprofitable See also:wars with Sweden. In 1602 Sigismund wedded See also:Constantia, the sister of his deceased first wife, an event which strengthened the hands of the Austrian party at See also:court and still further depressed the chancellor. At the diet of 1605 Sigismund and his partisans endeavoured so far to reform the Polish constitution as to substitute a decision by a See also:plurality of votes for unanimity in the diet. This most See also:simple and salutary reform was, however, rendered nugatory by the opposition of Zamoyski, and his death the same year made matters still worse, as it See also:left the opposition in the hands of men violent and incapable, like See also:Nicholas Zebrzydowski, or sheer scoundrels, like Stanislaw Stadnicki. From 1606 indeed to 1610 Poland was in an anarchical condition. Insurrection and See also:rebellion triumphed everywhere, and all that Sigismund could do was to minimize the See also:mischief as much as possible by his moderation and courage. On foreign affairs these disorders had the most disastrous effect. The simultaneous collapse of Muscovy had given Poland an unexampled opportunity of rendering the tsardom for ever harmless. But the necessary supplies were' never forthcoming and the diet remained absolutely indifferent to the triumphs of See also:Zolkiewski and the other great generals who performed Brobdingnagian feats with Lilliputian armies. At the outbreak of the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War Sigismund prudently leagued with the See also:emperor to counterpoise the See also:united efforts of the See also:Turks and the Protestants. This policy was very beneficial to the Catholic cause, as it diverted the Turk from central to See also:north-eastern Europe; yet, but for the self-sacrificing heroism of Zolkiewski at Cecora and of See also:Chodkiewicz at See also:Khotin, it might have been most ruinous to Poland.

Sigismund died very suddenly in his 66th year, leaving two sons, See also:

Wladislaus and John Casimir, who succeeded him in rotation. See Aleksander Rembowski, The Insurrection of Zebrzydowski (Pol.) (Cracow, 1893) ; Stanislaw Niemojewski, Memoires (Pol.) (See also:Lemberg, 1899) ; Sveriges Historic, vol. iii. (Stockholm, 1881) ; See also:Julian Ursyn See also:Niemcewicz, See also:History of the Reign of Sigismund III. (Pol.) (See also:Breslau, 1836). (R. N.

End of Article: SIGISMUND III

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