The new king of the joint Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth could not have been more different than Henry Walezy – the previous elective monarch who had chosen to abandon the throne. Although, he too, was a foreigner, a Hungarian nobleman who did not speak Polish, he was a man over forty with the great reputation of being a skilful  Hungarian duke, a soldier and a politician. There were other contenders to the throne, one of the more important being the Emperor Maximillian II. Having won against him and the other  candidates, he married  Anna Jagiellonka, the last descendant of the Jagiellonian dynasty and they were crowned King and Queen of the Commonwealth of Two Nations in the Wawel in 1576.

Stefan Batory – a man of arms

Although the marriage was mostly one that existed only on paper, he was certainly not just a ‘paper’ king. A charismatic, well-educated man of many talents and abilities, he made use of those qualities to confirm his position and status on the Polish throne. He gained funds to rebuild and enlarge the Polish-Lithuanian army. In this he succeeded in creating an infantry composed of peasants who were freed from their feudal duties in order to become soldiers, hiring professional soldiers from abroad, but also creating new kinds of army units, such as the ‘Winged Hussars’, that is, a  heavy cavalry consisting of knights on horseback who had characteristic wings attached to their armour. As  commander of the army in the wars with the Muscovites (1579 – 1582), he managed to regain Livonia and other borderlands and signed a favourable peace agreement in Jam Zapolski in 1582.

Jan Zamoyski’s growth in power

In his efforts Stefan Batory was supported by the Chancellor and Hetman of the Crown, Jan Zamoyski. It was during the time of Batory that Zamoyski grew to become one of the richest and most influential magnates in Poland. He owned multiple towns, villages and vast stretches of land and even his very own private city Zamość which he had commissioned to be designed and constructed mostly in Italian style, in the east of Poland. Although built in 1580, you can visit it today and enjoy its streets, town buildings, town square, baroque churches – just like they were then in the 16^th century! It is a beautiful and exceptional city.

Stefan Batory did not reign for long. He died suddenly in 1586. It was his dream to gain enough military strength to free his native Hungary from the occupation of the Turks. His dreams were not to come true but Hungary was saved from the Ottoman Empire, though after another hundred years and by another Polish king – King Jan III Sobieski.

Illustrations:

Marcello Bacciarelli, Stefan Batory, between 1768 and 1773 

Martin Kober, Stephen Bathory, 1583

Anonymous painter, Stefan Batory. Стэфан Баторы (1583), circa 1583

Karol Wawrosz,  Stefan Batory 1908, 1908

Baltazar Gebhard, Hussars 1604, circa 1605

Jan Matejko, Stephen Báthory at Pskov , 1872