Sigismund's Change of Heart

Although Sigismund, King of Hungary and brother-in-law to Jadwiga of Poland, had tried to annex parts of Poland and allied himself with the Teutonic Knights (who were engaging in a Crusade against Lithuania) against Poland, he had a change of heart. While the reason for the change of heart is unknown, it is possible that a major defeat against the Ottomans at the Battle of Nicopolis depleted his military sufficiently that he no longer was confident in a potential attempt to take territory from his neighbors.

The Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 was part of a European Crusade, and incredibly demoralizing for Europe, because the Ottomans defeated an army of Hungarian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, Polish, French, Burgundian, German, English, Knights Hospitaller, Iberian, Italian, Bohemian, Serbian, and Byzantine troops. Sigismund was at their head, so it was particularly bad for him. The defeat and loss of several men angered Hungarian lords and led to instability in Hungary. It was at this point that Sigismund met with Jadwiga and Jogaila and offered to mediate between them (Poland and Lithuania) and the Teutonic Order, starting the process that would lead to cessation of the Teutonic Crusade against Lithuania.

Although Jadwiga and Jogaila had seemed to be a good match, working together now for over a decade, they had not yet produced an heir. Contemporary chroniclers claim this was a source of friction for her husband. She finally became pregnant in late 1398. The current Grand Duke of Lithuania, Jogaila's cousin Vytautas, sent a silver cradle for the child, who was predicted by astrologers to be a son. On 22 June, 1399, a daughter was born and given the name Elizabeth Bonifacia. Elizabeth was the name of Jadwiga's mother, and the second name was for Pope Boniface IX, who agreed to be godfather.

Sadly, Elizabeth Bonifacia died a few weeks later, followed four days afterward by Jadwiga. Mother and daughter were buried at Wawel Cathedral on 24 August, 1399.

What followed for Jogaila? Jadwiga had a hand in that. On her deathbed, she advised him to marry again, this time a granddaughter of Casimir III "the Great." And so Jogaila took a second wife on the advice of his first, the teenaged Anna of Cilli. I'll tell you her story tomorrow

Enemies of Poland

The unifying of Poland and Lithuania after the marriage of Jadwiga of Poland and Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, did not resolve all problems. Jadwiga's older sister, Mary, was passed over for rule of Poland when she was married to Sigismund, now King of Hungary.

Sigismund no doubt felt he had some rights to Poland through his bride, and in 1392 began talking to the Teutonic Knights about allying to partition Poland and incorporate part of it into Hungary. Hungary was being assailed on its southern border by Ottomans, however, which slowed the process of marching on Poland.

Sigismund did invade Moldavia (the purple region below the red of Poland in the illustration), and forced its ruler, Prince Stephen I, to swear allegiance to Hungary instead of Poland. Immediately after Sigismund's forces left Moldavia, however, Stephen went to Jogaila and Jadwiga, telling them he wanted to join them against Hungary and the Ottomans and the Teutonic Order.

Mary and Jadwiga's mother, Elizabeth, had been a sharp negotiator on behalf of her daughters. When Mary died on 17 May 1395, by agreement her heir was Jadwiga: Mary had no children (and neither did Jadwiga, for that matter, an issue that for years bothered her husband). A vassal of Hungary, Vlad I of Wallachia, acknowledged Jadwiga as the legitimate successor, for which he was driven out of Wallachia by a close supporter of Sigismund. Poland prepared to march on Hungary, but they were prevented by the archbishop of Hungary.

Konrad von Jungingen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, convinced the Holy Roman Empire that bringing Hungary as well as Poland and Lithuania under Jogaila's influence would be a bad idea for Christendom (Jogaila's recent conversion to Christianity obviously did not engender confidence in the Church of his future actions). Sigismund was away fighting the Ottomans, and his court would not agree to any major changes in government in his absence. Negotiations by them with Poland to create peace led to Jadwiga being named "heir to Hungary" but without any real claim.

In 1396, Jadwiga and Jogaila invited Konrad von Jungingen to Poland to talk. Konrad was still claiming his efforts were a Christian Crusade, so Poland made sure that many aldermen were replaced with Christians. Things were not going well, however, until a surprising twist when a former enemy turned up and offered to smooth things over with the Teutonic Knights. That story, and the next stage in Jadwiga and Jogaila's union—finally having children—will wrap up in tomorrow's post.

The Marriage of Poland and Lithuania

In 1385, Lithuania was a very large territory on Poland's eastern border. Poland's throne was held by the pre-teen Jadwiga, who was supposed to marry William of Austria, then Siemovit of Poland, and finally the 30-year-old Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania. An arrangement like this takes a lot of planning and legal wrangling. In the case of Jadwiga and Jogaila, that legal wrangling was embodied in the Union of Krewo, whose document is seen here.

The prenuptial arrangements in the Union of Krewo (called so because it was signed at Krevo Castle) included a certain sine qua non: Jogaila had to convert to Christianity. Poland was a Christian country; Lithuania was exposed to Eastern Orthodoxy on its eastern border with Russian people, but still embraced polytheism. Jogaila was defending Lithuania from Teutonic Knights, who kept attacking under the pretense of a Crusade. He understood that becoming Christian would create an alliance with other countries and pull the rug out from under the Teutonic Order.

The other promises of the document:

• Conversion of Jogaila, Lithuanian nobles and all pagan Lithuanians to Roman Catholicism
• Paying 200,000 florins to William of Austria for terminating his engagement with Jadwiga
• Returning all lands lost in previous Lithuanian-Polish wars
• Release of all war prisoners of Poland (c.45,000) held by the Lithuanians
• Attaching Lithuanian lands to the Crown of Poland

In light of these promises, Poland agreed that Jogaila could be their king. In February 1386 Jogaila was baptized by Archbishop Bodzanta. As his baptismal name, he chose Wladislaus in honor of Jadwiga's great-grandfather king Władysław I the Elbow-high.

There was a problem with William of Austria, to whom Jadwiga had been promised nearly since birth. William claimed she was officially married to him, and the marriage to Jogaila made her a bigamist. His protests carried weight with Pope Urban VI, who would not confirm the marriage of Jadwiga and Jogaila. It took a few years until Pope Boniface IX (1389-1404) confirmed their marriage. (Boniface had also similarly supported a certain English arrangement that had raised eyebrows.)

Although this union was the start of four centuries of Lithuania-Poland shared history, Lithuania did not appreciate increasing Polish influence, and Jogaila's brother Skirgaila, who had been left behind to rule Lithuania, was unpopular. This gave Jogaila's cousin Vytautas the opportunity to try to gain more power, leading to a Lithuanian Civil War (1389-92), but that was resolved by making Vytautas Grand Duke while leaving Jogaila as his overlord.

Another complication came from an unexpected source: Jadwiga's sister, Mary, whose husband had become King of Hungary and had his own ideas of what should happen to Poland. I'll go into that next time.

Jadwiga of Poland

Jadwiga of Poland (c.1373 - 17 July 1399) was the youngest of three daughters of Louis I, King of Hungary and Poland, and Elizabeth of Bosnia. She was named for her ancestor, St. Hedwig.

Her father wanted the inheritor of his throne to be among his immediate family, so he made it clear to the nobles that one of his daughters would be crowned after him. This made his daughters extremely attractive to neighboring royal bachelors, who would gain a throne along with a bride. The Duke of Austria even proposed marriage between his son William and Jadwiga when she was not even a year old. Louis agreed to the Duke's offer, affirmed on 15 June 1378; the marriage would take place when they both came of age. As part of the arrangement, Jadwiga moved to Austria to learn their language and customs.

Jadwiga's oldest sister, Catherine, died in 1378, and Louis had his nobles swear an oath of loyalty to the middle child, Mary. The plan was for Mary to be the heir to Poland and Jadwiga (with William of Austria) the heir to Hungary.

Louis died on 10 September 1382, leaving a widow and two young daughters. Mary was crowned King of Hungary five days later, but her mother arranged that she would run the country on behalf of the 12-year-old king instead of Mary's intended husband, Sigismund of Luxembourg (then only 14).

The nobles of Poland decided they did not like the idea of outsiders ruling Poland, but they could not easily overturn the marriage promise between Mary and Sigismund (who was likely to be the next Holy Roman Emperor, after his father). The queen mother, Elizabeth, released the nobles from the oath of loyalty to Mary (and Sigismund). Elizabeth offered to have Jadwiga named the next heir to the throne of Poland. The assembled nobles liked this plan, and they wanted her to marry a Polish prince, Siemovit IV, Duke of Masovia.

This looked like a good plan, but in the background another plan was forming. The House of Tęczyński was an influential Polish family, and for reasons of their own started negotiations with Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania. When this became known, Siemovit responded militarily, laying siege to some Polish towns. Delegates from several towns and cities were ready to name him king in order to prevent an outsider from becoming king, unless Jadwiga returned to Poland as soon as possible.

Once Jadwiga was back in Poland and a coronation of a Polish ruler could take place, things calmed down. She was crowned King of Poland on 16 October 1384. Archbishop Bodzanta, who had supported Siemovit originally, threw his support behind the marriage of Jadwiga and Jogaila. It was Bodzanta who baptized Jogaila, presided over their marriage, and crowned Jogaila. (The illustration shows Jadwiga's royal oath being presented by Bodzanta).

King or Queen—what was her title, really? Consensus is that she was crowned king, and her husband would only take that title if she consented. Some scholars think that was only to distinguish her as an actual reigning queen, rather than just a queen consort who had no authority of her own. But contemporary sources refer to her as "king."

How did the marriage go, and their reign afterward? Let's look at the continuing story tomorrow.

Christian At Last

The conversion of Mindaugas, Grand Duke of Lithuania (ruled 1253-1263), was largely a political move to gain allies, and did not extend to the rest of Lithuania with a mass forced conversion. Some of the population of the territory was Eastern Orthodox, however, because of exposure to the Kievan Rus and other neighbors. This did not bother their rulers, who were usually followers of Lithuanian polytheism.

The Teutonic Order continued to attack the region, claiming they were on Crusade (but also probably just looking to expand territory). Mindaugas' nephew (and later Duke) Treniota convinced Mindaugas in 1260 to ignore his Christian conversion and fight back against the Teutonic Knights. The attempt was ineffective, and Treniota allied with Daumantas, a duke of a northern province of Lithuania, to assassinate Mindaugas. (Daumantas is accused of the assassination of Mindaugas and two of his sons, but since Treniota succeeded Mindaugas as Grand Duke, it is pretty likely that he orchestrated the succession.)

Treniota was a staunch pagan and declared that Christianity was not officially part of Lithuanian culture. Unfortunately, a remaining son of Mindaugas, Vaišvilkas, killed him within a year and made himself Grand Duke. Vaišvilkas actually was baptized in a Greek Orthodox rite, and became so drawn into his new religion that he gave up the throne and founded a monastery, which he entered as a monk.

The ensuing decades include very few records, and we are uncertain of even the names of some of the Grand Dukes. Attacks by the Teutonic Knights continued, however, because Lithuania's rulers were not interested in Christianity.

Politically motivated marriages led to some Lithuanian rulers marrying Eastern Orthodox brides, but these made no lasting influence until Jogaila (c.1352 - 1434). Jogaila's mother wanted him to marry Sofia, the daughter of Prince Dimitri of Moscow. Jogaila would have to become Eastern Orthodox, and Lithuania would become a fief of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. A better option would shortly appear, however.

On 15 February 1386, Jogaila married Jadwiga (aka Hedwig), the "King" (Queen) of Poland. This created the opportunity for him to be crowned King of Poland as well as Grand Duke of Lithuania, a prospect that was so tempting that converting to his bride's Christian faith was no problem for him. He took the Christian name Władysław II Jagiełło. The baptism of his court and family followed, and Jogaila/Władysław sent to Pope Urban VI with a request to create an episcopal see at Vilnius, the capital. Vilnius got its cathedral in 1387.

Urban recognized Lithuania officially as a Roman Catholic state on 19 April 1389, although parts of Lithuania held out into the 15th century. (The illustration is called "The Baptism of Lithuania" by 19th century Polish painter Jan Matejko.)

So about Jadwiga: who was she, and was she King of Poland or Queen? That's a good story...for next time.