Elective Kings
Henryk Walezy
1573 – 1574
A young French prince was chosen by the Polish ‘szlachta’ in the first ‘free election’ to become the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In France the young man was seen as a very clever politician and administrator, as well as being an intelligent and well educated young royal. Perhaps it was for these reasons that he was seen as a promising monarch for the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. He did not, however, speak Polish and at the very outset of his reign, as a condition for him to become king, Henry was asked to sign the so-called Henrician Articles, a set of rules for the young king to follow – rules that limited his powers as a monarch and deprived him of the possibility of passing on the throne to his descendants.
Anna Jagiellonka
Anna Jagiellon, 1575 - 1587
Little did Anna know as a child that of the five children of Zygmunt I Stary and Queen Bona, she would be crowned King of Poland in the Wawel Castle. Her brother King Zygmunt II August had died and the newly elected King Henry Walezy had abandoned the Polish throne. By 1575 Anna Jagiellonka was 50 years old, but she had not been married before and so it was possible to arrange a marriage between her and the Hungarian prince of the noble Báthory family. In 1575 Anna Jagiellonka and Stefan Batory were crowned the King and Queen of Poland in the Wawel. Anna, being the last descendant of the Jagiellonian dynasty, was given the title of king. Thus, as in the times of Queen Jadwiga and King Jagiełło, Poland had not one, but two kings on the throne.
Stefan Batory
1576- 1586
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.
Zygmunt III Waza
1587 – 1632
Sigismund III Vasa was the son of the Swedish King Jan III Vasa and his wife, the Polish princess, Katarzyna Jagiellonka – yes, the sister of Anna Jagiellonka. It is perhaps then no wonder that he was a strong candidate for the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But this being the Poland of the 16th century, not one, but two kings were elected to the throne! A war ensued that Sigismund won and thus he became the King of Poland and Lithuania for the next 45 years!
Władysław IV Waza
1632 – 1648
He was no doubt a popular king in his time. Brought up and educated in the court of his parents Sigismund III Vasa (Zygmunt III Waza) and Anna Habsburg, he was already a favourite among Poles as a child and as a promising young man. His election as King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1632 was one of the most uncontested elections in the history of elective kings. He owed his popularity primarily not due to his political decisions, but to his personal charm and the way he related to others, including the way he managed to win over heads of state and officials of other countries. His personal doctor for many years at the court wrote, ‘Not once have I seen him frown at me.’ And that is despite facing serious difficulties connected with the state or personal tragedies.
Jan II Kazimierz
1648 – 1668
The son of Sigismund II Vasa and Constance Habsburg, he was a King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania during the years 1648 – 1668. These were the most difficult of times to be king. The reign began in the middle of the Cossack Revolt and their joint attack on Poland together with Russia. This was followed by a Swedish attack, so overwhelming and devastating to the country that it was called “the Swedish deluge”. And all this was happening while the noblemen themselves were at odds with each other, sometimes even taking side with the enemy as happened in the case of the support given by some nobles to the Swedish king Charles X Gustav. The Swedish invasion had been put to a stop by Stefan Czarniecki in his celebrated defence of the Częstochowa monastery. Poland was able to regain some of the forcibly occupied lands, but the retreating Swedish army plundered, looted and burnt to the ground many towns and villages.
Jan II Kazimierz abdicated in 1668 and retired to France. Some blamed the nobility for this situation – they demanded too many privileges and did not give the king a chance to rule.
Marcello Bacchiarelli, Jan Kazimierz, between 1768 and 1771
Michał Korbut Wiśniowiecki
1669 –1673
This was another king, himself a rich magnate, who suffered in his reign lasting four years from 1669 to 1673 from the constant disagreements amongst the Polish nobility and an ever growing threat, this time, from the Turks and the Ottoman Empire. The siege of Kamień Podolski where 100,000 of Ottoman’s troops attacked this great fort situated in the east of the country ended with the capitulation of the Polish troops. Thankfully, the Battle of Chocim in 1673 was won by Hetman Jan Sobieski and an invasion by the Ottoman Empire was averted. Some of the losses under Michał Wiśniowiecki’s rule were reversed. But the king himself did not live to witness this victory. He died a day before the Battle of Chocim. What happened next? You guessed . Hetman Jan Sobieski was elected to become the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania.
But that’s another story.
Jan III Sobieski
1674-1696
Jan III Sobieski was a member of the ‘szlachta’, that is a member of those Polish noblemen, who cared greatly about education. As a young man, he studied in Kraków and in Western Europe, travelled widely, learned several languages including French and Italian and learned abroad the skills of organising armies and constructing fortifications for defence. He also took an interest in art and architecture. It is in his time that the beautiful palace in Wilanów was built. You can visit the palace today, not only to admire the building and the surrounding gardens, but also to learn more about the king and his times in the Museum of King III Sobieski. You can also listen to concerts which are often organised in its unique interiors. Being just a few kilometres from Warsaw, it will be a welcome break from the bustle and crowds of a large city.
August II Mocny
1697 –1706; 1709 – 1733
August II Mocny, known as August the Strong, did everything possible to earn this nickname. Not only was he very tall – an imposing man over 2 metres in height, he was also a great horseman and a man of great physical strength. He liked to show off this strength and that is why even some of his contemporaries claimed that when he broke horseshoes with bare hands, some suspected that these horseshoes were specially prepared so that they would break easily.
Stanisław Leszczyński
1704 -1709; 1733 – 1736
He would probably have made a great Polish king who would have introduced reforms and improved the lives of many of his subjects. Unfortunately, he lived in times when this was not possible. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was involved in the wars of its powerful neighbours and was under their strong influence, therefore Stanisław I Leszczyński was a King of Poland and the Duchy of Lithuania twice for very short stretches of time. But he ruled elsewhere and was actually a very good ruler. But not of Poland.
August III Sas
1733 – 1763
After the death of August II Mocny, there ensued a power struggle between Stanisław I Leszczyński and August III Sas, both of whom wished to secure a place on the Polish throne. Leszczyński was favoured by the Polish gentry and chosen by 12,000 votes in the election Sejm (parliament). Augustus III Sas, the son of August Mocny, received 3,000 votes. However, Augustus’s succession to the Polish throne was supported not only by the 30,000 Russian troops who entered Poland for that occasion, but also by some of Poland’s wealthy and corrupt magnates (such as Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki).
Stanisław August Poniatowski
1764 - 1795
He was the last Polish king. Elected to the throne with the help of Empress Catherine II of Russia, he struggled all of his reign with the interference of powerful foreign monarchies (Austria, Prussia and Russia), as well as the rich magnates who had grown in influence during the reign of the Saxon kings.
Despite such unfavourable circumstances, being well educated and caring deeply about his homeland, he made every effort to bring about change in Poland. Some say that those efforts were not sufficient to stop the downfall of Poland during his reign. Others defend him, for they point to the harmful political decisions of those magnates who were ready to take sides with foreign powers for the sake of their own gain.
