Sigismund II Augustus

King of Poland (r. 1548-1572)

• Born: August 1, 1520
• Birthplace: Cracow, Poland
• Died: July 7, 1572
• Place of death: Knyszyn, Poland

Sigismund II Augustus’s reign saw a Polish-Lithuanian union, which established that both nations shall elect the king of the commonwealth but shall retain their own territories, laws, treasuries, and armies. Also during Sigismund’s reign, the gentry played an important part in political life, urging, through the “execution movement,” the return of the royal domains to the Crown.

Early Life

Sigismund II Augustus (SEE-gihs-muhnt AW-guhs-tuhs) was born at the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, the second child and the only son of the marriage between Sigismund I, king of Poland , and the Italian princess, Bona Sforza. He obtained his cognomen “August” from the month of his birth and also in remembrance of the great Roman emperor Augustus.

His career was decided early in his life by his mother, who stressed his election to the Polish throne before his father’s death. In fact, she effected his elevation as grand duke of Lithuania in 1529 and, in 1530, his coronation vivente rege (while the king as still alive) as the king of Poland, ruling with his father until his father’s death in 1548.

The prince grew up at his mother’s court, mostly among Italians, so he learned Italian quickly. His first governess was Bona herself, but by 1529, Sigismund was being educated by a morally ambiguous man of notable learning. Governed by him and by several other courtiers, the prince learned Latin and German, knew both the oratory and epistolary art, and took interest in architecture and the fine arts.

Before the commencement of his independent rule, Sigismund II Augustus married the archduchess Elisabeth of Austria in 1543. This marriage, accepted by his father but disapproved by his mother, was short and unfortunate. The young king, disgusted, avoided his wife during her epileptic strokes. In 1544, Sigismund I yielded the rule of Lithuania and sent Sigismund II Augustus there. Elisabeth had died in 1545, and soon the young king commenced a love affair with Barbara Radziwill, the daughter of his castellan (castle warden), whom he married secretly in 1547. He tried to legalize the marriage, which was strongly opposed by his mother and which caused public ferment. With King Sigismund I’s death in 1548 came the beginning of Sigismund II Augustus’s reign.

Life’s Work

Sigismund II Augustus devoted the first years of his rule to the struggle to legalize his marriage and to crown Barbara. He had to choose, however, between promises for several social groups or threatening abdication. Finally, he chose an alliance with the Habsburgs to prevent the rebellion of his subjects. The struggle to crown Barbara was actually a political game with his mother and her accomplices. In 1550, at the diet of Piotrków, the king forced Barbara’s coronation, which took place the same year, but Barbara died the very next year and was buried in Vilnius. Afterward, the king wore black clothes, avoided people and amusements, and stayed mostly in Lithuania.

Sigismund’s presence in Vilnius animated and enlivened the city, which was rebuilt and took on a European refinement. Sigismund established the first art gallery there; he collected books and jewels and protected the literati; his patronage of the arts and architecture was significant not only in Vilnius but also in Warsaw and even in Kraków, a city where he spent only three years of his rule. He enriched the royal chambers at Wawel Castle with a collection of Flemish tapestries that mainly represented biblical scenes.

In 1553, Sigismund married Catherine Habsburg, his first wife’s sister, in face of a threat of an alliance between Muscovy and the Habsburgs, which was actually less fearful than he believed. This marriage was rather unhappy, and the king consequently avoided his wife, especially since any hope for an heir had been extinguished.

The king, although he had previously ignored the execution movement of the gentry, changed his policy when faced with the problem of Livonia. This region was an object of interest of Muscovy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and Lithuania. In 1561, Sigismund dissolved the Livonian Order and subordinated a part of Livonia to his state. When Russian czar Ivan the Terrible proclaimed war against him, the king had to try to win the support of the gentry and to support the execution movement.

“The execution of laws” was proclaimed at the diet of Piotrków in 1562-1563. In 1563, Ivan the Terrible occupied Płock, which resulted in Polish-Lithuanian negotiations about the “real” union (the Lithuanian gentry aspired to obtain the same privileges as the Polish). The union was concluded in 1569 at the diet of Lublin. Poland and Lithuania became a commonwealth with a common king, elected by both nations, and common Sejm (parliament). The treasury, army, and several offices remained separate. Royal Prussia was incorporated into the Crown. As early as 1563, the Brandenburg line of the Hohenzollerns was allowed to inherit the duchy of Prussia, the Polish fief, which was soon to be separated from Poland.

In 1560, in connection with the Livonian war , Sigismund organized the royal navy and then established a maritime commission. After several protests in Gdansk, he issued statutes that defended royal laws regarding navigation. The Livonian War ended with a truce in Moscow in 1570. The king did not take advantage of Ivan’s defeat by the Tatars nor did he claim more territories.

The king accepted the resolutions of the Catholic Church’s Council of Trent (1545-1563), a council formed to reply to the doctrinal challenges of Protestant reformers, but he respected religious tolerance, declaring that he was a king of conscience. Religious freedom was guaranteed to all Protestants.

Sigismund II Augustus spent the last years of his life mostly in Warsaw, afflicted with disease and lonely among untrustworthy people. He was desperately trying to father a male heir with his concubines. Finally, he made his testament in 1571. Then, fearing an epidemic, he left Warsaw for Knyszyn, where he died in 1572, without an heir, a bit later than his wife, Catherine, who resided in Linz. Thus, the Jagiellonian era came to an end.

Significance

Sigismund II Augustus’s rule coincided with the golden age of the Renaissance in Poland. It was an era of flourishing arts, architecture, literature, and learning. Mikołaj Rej, called the father of Polish literature, and Jan Kochanowski, the Polish Orpheus, were contemporary writers. Sigismund even established the first regular mail service between Kraków and Venice.

His contemporaries rarely called him a great king. His enemies wrote several pasquinades (satires), which described him as improperly educated, false, and tyrannizing and one who died indecently. Several annalists, though, defended him as a prudent and consistent ruler.

Today’s historians are still uncertain how to describe his character. Paweł Jasienica has criticized him as too submissive to the Catholic hierarchy and undecided in his politics. From Jasienica’s point of view, the death of the last Jagiellon caused political emptiness and public disgust. He considered the entire dynasty remiss politically, but he respected the dynamism of Queen Bona.

Most historians esteem Sigismund II Augustus as a tragic and interesting character. He did not create a political school. He consulted his senators, but he ruled independently and made his own decisions; he was also a procrastinator. Nevertheless, his prudence prevented any violent religious conflicts. The last Jagiellon was typical of his time, collecting art, books, jewels, and weapons, which enriched the heritage of Renaissance culture in Poland.

Bibliography

Halecki, Oscar. Borderlands of Western Civilization: A History of East-Central Europe. San Diego, Calif.: Simon Publications, 2000. Presents the history of the Jagiellonian state from a political point of view and in cultural and international context. Readers are led through a labyrinth of sociopolitical dependencies and complications. Originally published in 1952.

Jasienica, Pawel. Jagiellonian Poland. Translated by Alexander T. Jordan. Miami, Fla.: American Institute of Polish Culture, 1978. A vivid historical narrative, full of facts and details, yet ravishing reading; a journey through the entire Jagiellonian era. The author’s evaluation of the successive kings is strongly subjective, yet enriched with numerous anecdotes.

Stone, Daniel Z. The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795. History of East Central Europe 4. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001. This book facilitates a deeper understanding of the specificity of the Polish-Lithuanian union and of the multinational and multicultural state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Tazbir, Janusz. A State Without Stakes: Polish Religious Toleration in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Translated by A. T. Jordan. New York: Kosciuszko Foundation, 1973. Discusses Sigismund II Augustus’s reign from a wide temporal, political, and cultural perspective.