Alexander of Poland
Alexander the Jagiellonian (
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 Czar
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
hospodar of Moldavia, enabled Poland still to hold her own on the
Danube; while the liberality of
Pope Julius II, who issued no fewer than 29 bulls in favour of Poland and granted Alexander Peter's Pence and other financial help, enabled the
Polish 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 5, 1506), the news of which was brought to Alexander on his deathbed.
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