Casimir IV Jagiellon
| Casimir IV Jagiellon | |
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| Casimir IV, 17th century, unknown Polish painter | |
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| Reign | 29 June 1440 – 7 June 1492 |
| Coronation | 29 June 1440 in Vilnius Cathedral |
| Predecessor | Sigismund Kęstutaitis |
| Successor | Alexander Jagiellon |
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| Reign | 25 June 1447 – 7 June 1492 |
| Coronation | 25 June 1447 in Wawel Cathedral |
| Predecessor | Władysław III of Poland |
| Successor | John I Albert of Poland |
| Spouse | Elisabeth of Austria (d. 1505) |
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| Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary Hedwig Jagiellon St. Casimir Jagiellon John I Albert of Poland Alexander of Poland Sophia, Margravine of Brandenburg Elżbieta Sigismund I the Old Barbara of Poland |
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| Dynasty | Jagiellon |
| Father | Władysław II Jagiełło |
| Mother | Sophia of Halshany |
| Born | 30 November 1427 Kraków, Poland |
| Died | 7 June 1492 (aged 64) Old Hrodna Castle, modern Belarus |
| Burial | Wawel Cathedral, Kraków |
Casimir IV Jagiellon (Polish: Kazimierz IV Jagiellończyk [kaˈʑimi̯ɛʒ jaɡi̯ɛlˈlɔɲt͡ʃɨk] (
listen); Lithuanian: Kazimieras IV Jogailaitis; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) of the Jagiellon dynasty, was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.
Casimir was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna.
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Grand Duke of Lithuania
The death of Žygimantas Kęstutaitis left the office of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania empty. The Voivode of Trakai, Jonas Goštautas, and other magnates of Lithuania, supported Casimir Jagiellon as a pretender to the throne. However many Polish noblemen hoped that the thirteen year old boy would become a Vice-regent for the Polish King in Lithuania.[1] Casimir was invited by the Lithuanian magnates to Lithuania, and when Casimir arrived in Vilnius in 1440, he was proclaimed as the Grand Duke of Lithuania on 29 June 1440 by the Council of Lords, contrary to the wishes of the Polish noblemen—an act supported and coordinated by Jonas Goštautas.[1] This act dissolved the fragile personal union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. When the news arrived in the Kingdom of Poland concerning the proclamation of Casimir as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, it was met with hostility, even to the point of military threats against Lithuania.[1] Since the young Grand Duke was underaged, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Council of Lords, presided by Jonas Goštautas. Casimir had been taught Lithuanian language and customs by appointed court officials.[2]
During the Casimir's rule the rights of Lithuanian nobility - dukes, magnates and bajorai (lesser nobility) - regardless of religion and ethnicity, were given equality to those of the Polish szlachta. Moreover, Casimir promised to protect the Grand Duchy's borders and to not appoint people from Kingdom of Poland to offices of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He also accepted, that decisions on matters regarding Grand Duchy of Lithuania would not be made without the Council of Lords' consent. He gave Samogitia the right to elect its elder. Casimir was the first ruler of Lithuania baptised at birth, becoming the first natively Roman Catholic Grand Duke.
King of Poland
Casimir succeeded his brother Władysław III as King of Poland after a three-year interregnum on 25 June 1447. In 1454, he married Elisabeth of Austria, daughter of the late King of the Romans Albert II of Habsburg by his late wife Elisabeth of Bohemia. Her distant relative Frederick of Habsburg became Holy Roman Emperor and reigned as Frederick III until after Casimir's own death. The marriage strengthened the ties between the house of Jagiellon and the sovereigns of Hungary-Bohemia and put Casimir at odds with the Holy Roman Emperor through internal Habsburg rivalry.
That same year, Casimir was approached by the Prussian Confederation for aid against the Teutonic Order, which he promised, by making the separatist Prussian regions a protectorate of the Polish Kingdom. However, when the insurgent cities of the Teutonic Monastic State of Prussia rebelled against the Order, it resisted with greater strength than expected, and the Thirteen Years' War (1454-1466) ensued. Casimir and the Prussian Confederation defeated the Teutonic Order, taking over its capital at Marienburg (Malbork Castle). In the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), the Order recognized Polish sovereignty over the seceded western Prussian regions, therefore then called Royal Prussia, and the Polish crown's overlordship over the remaining Teutonic Monastic State of Prussia, transformed in 1525 into a duchy, thus consistently called Ducal Prussia.
Elisabeth's only brother Ladislas, king of Bohemia and Hungary, died in 1457, and after that Casimir and Elisabeth's dynastic interests were directed also towards her brother's former kingdoms.
Children
- Hedwig Jagiellon married George the Rich, of the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria. Delegates had gone to Kraków to negotiate the marriage, and their "Landshut Wedding" took place in Bavaria with much pomp and celebration in 1475, starting a tradition which continues to this day.
- Casimir was to have married the daughter of Emperor Frederick III, but instead chose a religious life, eventually being canonized as St. Casimir.
- Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary combined the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia.
- Sophie, married to Margrave Frederick V of Brandenburg-Ansbach
- John I of Poland succeeded him as the king of Poland while other sons, Alexander and Sigismund I the Old, ruled in turns in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in Poland.
- Anna married to Duke Bogislaw X of Pomerania; they had eight children, including Sophie of Pomerania, who became queen of Denmark
- Barbara married to Duke Georg dem Bärtigen of Saxony
- Elizabeth Jagiellon (November 13, 1482 - February 16, 1517) who married Frederick II of Legnica
- Two additional daughters named Elizabeth [3]
See also
- History of Poland (1385-1569)
- History of Lithuania
- Nieszawa Statutes
References
| Preceded by Sigismund Kestutian |
Grand Duke of Lithuania 1440–1492 |
Succeeded by Alexander Jagiellon |
| Preceded by Władysław III |
King of Poland 1447–1492 |
Succeeded by John I of Poland |
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