Sigismund II Augustus (Polish: Zygmunt II August, Lithuanian: Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the last male monarch from the Jagiellonian dynasty.
Sigismund was the elder of two sons of Italian-born Bona Sforza and Sigismund the Old, and the only one to survive infancy. From the beginning, he was groomed and extensively educated as a successor. In 1529, he was chosen as king in vivente rege election while his father was still alive. Sigismund Augustus continued a tolerance policy towards minorities and maintained peaceful relations with neighbouring countries, with the exception of the Northern Seven Years' War, which aimed to secure Baltic trade. Under his patronage, culture flourished in Poland; he was a collector of tapestries from the Low Countries and collected military memorabilia as well as swords, armour, and jewellery. Sigismund Augustus' rule is widely considered the apex of the Polish Golden Age; he established the first regular Polish navy and the first regular postal service in Poland, known today as Poczta Polska. In 1569, he oversaw the signing of the Union of Lublin between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Sigismund II Augustus married three times; his first wife, Elizabeth of Austria, died in 1545 at just 18. He was then involved in several relationships with mistresses, the most famous being Barbara Radziwiłł, who became Sigismund II's second wife and Queen of Poland in spite of his mother's disapproval. The marriage was deemed scandalous and was fiercely opposed by the royal court and the nobility. Barbara died five months after her coronation, due to serious illness. Sigismund finally married Catherine of Austria. Neither marriage resulted in living children.
Sigismund II Augustus was the last male member of the Jagiellonian dynasty. Following the death of his sister Anna in 1596, the Jagiellonian dynasty came to an end.
Sigismund Augustus was born in Kraków on 1 August 1520 to Sigismund I the Old and Bona Sforza of Milan. His paternal grandparents were Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland, and Elizabeth of Austria. Sigismund's maternal grandparents, Gian Galeazzo Sforza and Isabella of Aragon, daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples, both ruled the Duchy of Milan until Sforza's suspicious death in 1494.
Throughout his youth, Sigismund Augustus was under the careful watch of his mother, Bona. Being the only surviving legitimate male heir to the Polish throne throughout his father's reign, he was well educated and taught by the most renowned scholars in the country. It was also his mother's wish to name her son Augustus, either to commemorate the month he was born or after the first Roman Emperor Augustus. The tradition of adopting Augustus as a second or middle name was also observed during the coronation of Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski, who became King Stanisław II Augustus in 1764. Sigismund II Augustus was sometimes referred to as Augustus I for being the first Polish-Lithuanian monarch to bear the name “Augustus”, with the other two were Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III the Saxon.
Coregency with Sigismund the Old
As Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was elective monarchy, Sigismund I the Old and Bona tried to secure their son's succession and named him nominal co-ruler during his father's life (vivente rege). On 18 October 1529, Sigismund Augustus was inaugurated as Grand Duke of Lithuania and the ceremony was held in the Vilnius grand ducal palace. He was named King of Poland alongside his father on 18 December the same year. On 20 February 1530, the nine-year-old Sigismund Augustus was crowned the King of Poland by Primate Jan Łaski. While Polish nobility acknowledged Sigismund Augustus as his father's coregent, the vivente rege election was subsequently greatly criticized. The nobles were supportive of continuation of current dynasty, however they wished to have control over who ascends the throne, believing it would lead to the royal children being raised as more competent than in case they would inherit automatically. Their displeasure with succession politics of the royal family eventually became one of the reason of the Lwów Rokosz in 1537.
Sigismund II Augustus began his reign as active Grand Duke in 1544 and initially opposed the Polish–Lithuanian union, thus hoping to leave his throne to his heirs, as the Lithuanian throne was hereditary, while the Polish one was not, hence the grasp of the Jagiellon dynasty on Poland was uncertain.
When Sigismund II Augustus was co-crowned, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki organised a preliminary marriage treaty between the young king and Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of King Ferdinand of Bohemia and Hungary. The marriage was signed on 10–11 November 1530 in Poznań; however, the arrangement was delayed by Queen Bona Sforza, who detested the new bride. The treaty was renewed on 16 June 1538 in Wrocław by Johannes Dantiscus, and the betrothal ceremony took place on 17 July 1538 in Innsbruck. Bona continued to lobby against the marriage and instead proposed Margaret of France to potentially form an alliance with the French against the Habsburgs.
On 5 May 1543, Elizabeth's escorted convoy entered Kraków and was greeted with enthusiasm by both the nobles and the townsfolk. The same day, 16-year-old Elizabeth married 22-year-old Sigismund II Augustus, whom she met for the first time shortly before marriage vows. The ceremony was performed at the Wawel Cathedral and the wedding continued for two weeks. Bona began to plot against the new queen. As a result, the newly wedded couple decided to reside in Vilnius, far from the royal court.
Despite the initial euphoria demonstrated by royal subjects, the marriage was unsuccessful from the very beginning. Sigismund Augustus did not find Elizabeth attractive and continued to have extramarital affairs with several mistresses, the most famous being Barbara Radziwiłł, the daughter of Hetman Jerzy Radziwiłł. Elizabeth was also known to be timid, meek and apprehensive due to a strict upbringing. The young and garrulous king was also repulsed by Elizabeth's newly diagnosed epilepsy and subsequent seizures. Only Sigismund the Old and some nobles showed compassion towards the new Queen, who was disregarded by her husband and scorned by Bona. Sigismund Augustus was indifferent to her health condition; when the seizures continued to intensify, he abandoned Elizabeth and returned to Kraków to collect her dowry. He also sent for Ferdinand's doctors to travel the long distance from Vienna, knowing that Elizabeth was ailing and deteriorating fast. She eventually died unattended and exhausted from the epileptic attacks on 15 June 1545 at the age of 18.
While still married to Elizabeth, Sigismund Augustus ordered the construction of a secret passage connecting the Royal Castle in Vilnius with the nearby Radziwiłł Palace so that he and Barbara could meet frequently and discreetly.
In July or August 1547, two years after Elizabeth's death, Sigismund Augustus and Barbara Radziwiłł married in secret, without the knowledge of Sigismund the Old and Bona. It has been suspected by many historians that the cause of the wedding was presumption of the bride's pregnancy. Barbara was indeed reported to miscarry in November of the same year, in the letter sent to Sigismund Augustus; however the wording used in the text suggests that her pregnancy would be early, probably conceived in September or October, already few months after the wedding, meaning it wasn't the reason for the ceremony. In the writing to his cousin, Albert of Prussia, Sigismund Augustus himself as the reason for marriage to Barbara cited love.
The wedding was announced by the young King to his parents and Polish nobility in February 1548 in Piotrków Trybunalski. Sigismund the Old, after initial acceptance, eventually decided to oppose his son's marriage. He was supported in his actions by Bona. Sigismund Augustus refused to renounce his wife, however, he did not proclaim her the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania until his father's death. The older King died on 1 April 1548, leaving his son as sole ruler and thereby making him free to declare Barbara the Queen and Grand Duchess on the 17 of the same month.