Alexander Jagiellon

Alexander I Jagiellon
Engraving of Alexander, 1521
Grand Duke of Lithuania
Reign	30 July 1492 – 19 August 1506
Coronation	30 July 1492 in Vilnius Cathedral
Predecessor	Casimir IV Jagiellon
Successor	Sigismund I the Old
King of Poland
Reign	12 December 1501 – 19 August 1506
Coronation	12 December 1501 in Wawel Cathedral
Predecessor	John I Albert
Successor	Sigismund I the Old

Born	(1461-08-05)5 August 1461 Kraków, Poland
Died	19 August 1506(1506-08-19) (aged 45) Vilnius, Lithuania
Burial	Vilnius Cathedral, Vilnius, Lithuania (1506)
Spouse	Helena of Moscow
Dynasty	Jagiellon
Father	Casimir IV Jagiellon
Mother	Elisabeth Habsburg of Hungary
Signature

Alexander I Jagiellon (Polish: Aleksander Jagiellończyk; Lithuanian: Aleksandras Jogailaitis) (5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland.^[1] He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jagiellon. He was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania on the death of his father (1492), and King of Poland on the death of his brother John I Albert (1501).

Biography

Alexander was born as son of the King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland and Elisabeth Habsburg of Hungary, daughter of the King Albert of Hungary. Alexander's shortage of funds immediately made him subservient to the Polish Senate and nobility (szlachta), who deprived him of control of the mint (then one of the most lucrative sources of revenue for the Polish kings), curtailed his prerogatives, and generally endeavored to reduce him to a subordinate position. For want of funds, Alexander was unable to resist the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights or prevent Grand Duke of Muscovy Ivan III from ravaging Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Tatars. The most the Grand Duke of Lithuania could do was to garrison Smolensk and other strongholds and employ his wife Helena, the Tsar's daughter, to mediate a truce between his father-in-law and himself after the disastrous Battle of Vedrosha (1500). In the terms of the truce, Lithuania had to surrender about a third of its territory to the nascent expansionist Russian state.

Coat of Arms of Alexander I Jagiellon

During his reign, Poland suffered much humiliation at the hands of her subject principality, Moldavia. Only the death of Stephen, the great hospodar of Moldavia, enabled Poland still to hold her own on the Danube River; while the liberality of Pope Julius II, who issued no fewer than 29 bulls in favor of Poland and granted Alexander Peter's Pence and other financial help, enabled him to restrain somewhat the arrogance of the Teutonic Order.

Alexander Jagellon never felt at home in Poland, and bestowed his favor principally upon his fellow Lithuanians, the most notable of whom was the wealthy Lithuanian magnate Michael Glinski, who justified his master's confidence by his great victory over the Tatars at Kleck (5 August 1506), news of which was brought to Alexander on his deathbed in Vilnius.

It is important to note that Alexander was the last known ruler of the Gediminids dynasty to have maintained the family's ancestral Lithuanian language. From his death, Polish became the sole language of the family, thus fully Polonising the Jagiello family.

In 1931, during the refurbishment of Vilnius Cathedral, the forgotten sarcophagus of Alexander was discovered, and has since been put on display.

Gallery

King Alexander in Polish Senate, 1506.
Alexander and his kanclerz Jan Łaski.
Gothic St. Anne's Church in Vilnius was constructed on his initiative in 1495–1500.
In 1504 he ordered to rebuild the Wawel in a Renaissance style.^[1]

^ Wawel Castle. History of the Royal Residence.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Alexander Jagiellon

16. Gediminas of Lithuania

8. Algirdas, King of Lithuania

17. Jewna of Polotsk

4. Vladislaus II, King of Poland

18. Alexander I, Grand Prince of Tver

9. Uliana Alexandrovna of Tver

19. Anastasia Yuryevna of Halych

2. Casimir IV, King of Poland

20. Ivan Olgimuntovich, Prince of Halshany

10. Andrew, Prince of Halshany

21. Agrippina

5. Sophia of Halshany

22. Dimitri of Drutsk (possibly Demetrius I Starshy)

11. Alexandra Dimitrijevna Drutskoy

1. Alexander, King of Poland

24. Albert III, Duke of Austria

12. Albert IV, Duke of Austria

25. Beatrice of Hohenzollern-Nuremberg

6. Albert II of Germany

26. Albert I, Duke of Bavaria

13. Johanna Sophia of Bavaria

27. Margaret of Brieg

3. Elizabeth of Austria

28. Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

14. Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

29. Elizabeth of Pomerania

7. Elisabeth of Bohemia

30. Hermann II of Celje

15. Barbara of Celje

31. Anna, Countess of Schaunberg

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

↑ Jerzy Jan Lerski; Piotr Wróbel; Richard J. Kozicki (1996). Historical dictionary of Poland, 966–1945. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-26007-0.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander of Poland.

Preceded by Casimir IV	Grand Duke of Lithuania 1492–1506	Succeeded by Sigismund I
Preceded by John I Albert	King of Poland 1501–1506	Succeeded by Sigismund I

Monarchs of Lithuania

Early Grand Dukes	Mindaugas (dynasty) Treniota Vaišvilkas Shvarn Traidenis Daumantas

Gediminids	Butigeidis Butvydas Vytenis Gediminas (family) Jaunutis Algirdas (family) Jogaila (family) Kęstutis (family) Skirgaila Vytautas Švitrigaila Sygismund Kestutian Casimir Jagellon Alexander Sigismund I the Old Sigismund II Augustus

Elected	Henry III of Valois Anna the Jagiellonian Stephen Báthory Sigismund III Vasa Ladislaus IV Vasa John II Casimir Vasa Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki John III Sobieski Augustus II the Strong Stanisław Leszczyński August III the Saxon Stanisław August Poniatowski

Monarchs of Poland

Piast dynasty	Piast the Wheelwright Siemowit Lestek Siemomysł Mieszko I Bolesław I the Brave Bezprym Mieszko II Lambert Bolesław the Forgotten Casimir I the Restorer Bolesław II the Generous Władysław I Herman Zbigniew Bolesław III Wrymouth

Fragmentation period	Supreme Princes Władysław II the Exile Bolesław IV the Curly Mieszko III the Old Casimir II the Just Leszek the White Władysław III Spindleshanks Władysław Odonic Mieszko IV Tanglefoot Konrad I Henry I the Bearded Henry II the Pious Bolesław V the Chaste Leszek II the Black Henryk IV Probus Przemysł II see also Dukes of Silesia Dukes of Greater Poland Dukes of Little Poland Dukes of Masovia Dukes of Cuyavia Dukes of Sieradz-Łęczyca Dukes of Gdańsk Pomerania Dukes of Pomerania

Přemyslid dynasty	Wenceslaus II Wenceslaus III

restored Piast dynasty	Władysław I the Elbow-high Casimir III the Great

Capet-Anjou dynasty	Louis I the Hungarian Jadwiga

Jagiellonian dynasty	Władysław II Jagiełło Władysław III of Varna Casimir IV John I Albert Alexander Sigismund I the Old Sigismund II Augustus

Elective monarchy	Henry of Valois Anna Jagiellon Stephen Báthory Sigismund III Vasa Władysław IV Vasa John II Casimir Vasa Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki John III Sobieski August II the Strong Stanisław I August III the Saxon Stanisław August Poniatowski

Italics indicates monarchs of questioned historicity or entirely legendary.

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 15582889 LCCN: n88258788 ISNI: 0000 0001 1041 1135 GND: 119559714 SUDOC: 174972644 BNF: cb16297478x (data) NKC: mzk2011620794

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