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Alexander the Jagiellonian (Polish: Aleksander Jagiellonczyk, Lithuanian: Aleksandras Jogailaitis) ( 1461- 1506), king of Poland and grand-duke of Lithuania, fourth son of Casimir IV, king of Poland, was elected grand-duke of Lithuania on the death of his father in 1492, and king of Poland on the death of his brother John Albert in 1501. His relative lack of funds made him from the first subservient to the Polish senate and nobles (szlachta), who deprived him of the control of the mint--then one of the most lucrative sources of revenue of the Polish kings--curtailed his prerogative, and generally endeavoured to reduce him to a subordinate position. This ill-timed parsimony reacted injuriously upon Polish politics. Thus, for want of funds, Alexander was unable to assist the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights or prevent Grand Duke of Muscovy Ivan III from ravaging Lithuania with the Tatars. The utmost the king could do was to garrison Smolensk and other fortresses and employ his wife Helena, the czar's daughter, to mediate a truce between his father-in-law and himself. During his reign Poland suffered much humiliation from the attempts of her subject principalities, Russia and
Moldavia, to throw off her yoke. Only the death of Stephen , the great hospodarHospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning lord ( Russ. gospodar . It is a derivative of gospod lord, and is akin to gosudar which primarily means sovereign, and was also used in Russia as a polite form of address, equivalent to sir. The pronunciation of Moldavia, enabled Poland still to hold her own on the Danube; while the liberality of Pope Julius IIJulius II ne Giuliano della Rovere ( December 5, 1443 February 21, 1513), was pope from 1503 to 1513. He was the son of a brother of Sixtus IV. By his uncle, who took him under his special charge, he was educated among the Franciscans, and latterly sent t, who issued no fewer than 29 bulls in favour of Poland and granted Alexander Peter's Pence and other financial help, enabled thePolish king to restrain somewhat the arrogance of the Teutonic Order.
In Alexander the characteristic virtues of the Jagiellos, patience and generosity, degenerated into slothfulness and extravagance. Frequently he was too poor to pay the expenses of his own table. But he never felt at home in Poland, and bestowed his favour principally upon his fellow-countrymen, the most notable of whom was the wealthy Lithuanian magnate Michael Glinsky , who justified his master's confidence by his great victory over the Tatars at Kleck ( August 5August 5 is the 217th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (218th in leap years), with 148 days remaining. Events 642 Battle of Maserfeld Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia 1100 Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey 1, 1506), the news of which was brought to Alexander on his deathbed.
| Preceded by: John IJan Matejko John I Albert ( Polish: Jan I Olbracht was king of Poland from 1492 to 1501. He was defeated during a military operation in Bukovina in the battle against Moldavia. Polish monarchs. | King of PolandPoland was ruled by dukes (c. 962 1025, 1032 1076, 1079 1295, 1296 1300 and 1306 1320) and kings ( 1025 1032, 1076 1079, 1295 1296, 1300 1305 and 1320 1795). The best-known dynasties are the Piast (c. 962 1370) and Jagiellonian ( 1386 1572): intervening a | Succeeded by: Sigismund I |