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Stefan Batory (Stephen Bathory, 1533-1586)
Stephen Bathory, Duke of Transylvania, ascended the Polish throne in 1575 as
the husband of Anna the Jagiellonian, youngest daughter of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza.
His reign began at a difficult time for Poland - the male line of the
Jagiellonian dynasty, which had ruled in Poland since the late 14th
century, had become extinct and Poland became an elective monarchy. Henceforth all the male members of the nobility and gentry could vote for their king. However, in 1574, the first elective king of Poland, Henri de Valois, fled back to France after barely four months on the Polish throne. The royal treasury was empty, and the eastern marches
were being menaced by Ivan IV the Terrible, who had successfully accomplished the conquest
of several parts of Livonia.
Despite the enthusiasm on the part of the nobility and gentry, his electors, who proclaimed Bathory king
on 15 September 1575, the Emperor Maximilian also stood in the royal election and put forward his claim to the Polish
throne. One of the first democratic elections in modern history resulted in a 'double election win': Bishop Uchański proclaimed Maximilian king of Poland, and the
country nearly erupted in civil war. However, the Emperor died before the
war could start. In order to establish Bathory's rights to
the Polish throne, he was married to Anna, the last remaining Jagiellon. The
Polish princess was over fifty-two at the time, nearly ten years older
than her husband. The marriage was thus not the best match ever, yet in view
of the claims of other houses related to the Jagiellons, it gave Bathory a chance
to hold on to the crown.
The reign of the newly elected king was highlighted by a series of wars.
Most of them took place beyond Poland's eastern borders, since in 1563 the Russian
Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible had captured the fortress of Polotsk and Livonia all
the way to the River Dvina (Daugava). The uncertain situation
within Poland made him attempt a further expansion, which was met with a vigorous repulse by Bathory. After signing a treaty with King John of Sweden
in 1579, the King of Poland, at the head of a joint Polish-Lithuanian-Swedish army, entered
the captured territories and regained Polotsk. In 1580 he recaptured the fortress
of Wielkie Łuki, and in 1581, after surrounding Pskov, began peace negotiations
with Ivan the Terrible, which ended with a peace treaty signed in Jam Zapolski
(1582). Under this treaty, Poland regained Livonia, while the Tsar
kept the parts of Russia which had been captured by the Poles.
The domestic situation also ended with a conflict. In 1577 the city of Gdańsk,
rebelled against the King in support of the Hapsburgs. The merchants of Gdańsk relied
on the Danish fleet to protect the city from the sea, while Scottish mercenaries
strengthened its ground forces. Faced with this situation, Bathory decided not
to take the city by force; instead he opted for a tax on the city amounting
to two hundred thousand Polish zlotys, which he used for
the war against Ivan the Terrible.
Stephen Bathory died on 12 December 1586, while preparing another expedition
to the East and trying to muster allies against the growing threat from the Turks. His death was so sudden that his two court physicians were unjustly
suspected of poisoning him.
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Facts
In spite of his warlike attitude,
Stephen Bathory was perceived as a very tolerant ruler. Raised to
the throne by the nobility and rank-and-file gentry who included numerous Protestants and arians (Anti-Trinitarians),
he never agreed to the persecution of other religions in Poland.
In 1577 he condemned the desecration of a Protestant cemetery by
students in Cracow, and in 1581 he condemned Bishop Jerzy Radziwiłł
for burning Protestant books in Lithuania. In 1579 he signed
an edict which laid down the death penalty for any attacks on the houses
and churches of other religious denominations. In
his opinion, the faith was to be spread not by force and persecution,
but by preaching and good example.
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