Sigismund I the Old (Polish: Zygmunt I Stary, Lithuanian: Žygimantas I Senasis; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. He was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV and younger brother of Kings John I Albert and Alexander Jagiellon. He was nicknamed "the Old" in later historiography to distinguish him from his son and successor, Sigismund II Augustus. Before ascending to the Polish and Lithuanian thrones, he was Duke of Głogów from 1499, Duke of Opava from 1501, and governor of Silesia from 1504 on behalf of his brother, King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary.
Sigismund was born in the town of Kozienice in 1467 as the fifth son of Casimir IV and Elizabeth of Austria. He was one of thirteen children and was not expected to assume the throne after his father. Sigismund's eldest brother and rightful heir Vladislaus II instead became the King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia as the successor to George of Poděbrady in Bohemia and then to Matthias Corvinus in Hungary, thus temporarily uniting these kingdoms. When Casimir died IV, the Polish-Lithuanian realm was divided between the remaining two older sons, with John Albert being crowned King of Poland, and Alexander as Grand Duke of Lithuania. Alexander inherited Poland following John I Albert's sudden death in 1501. Hence, Sigismund's reign only began when he succeeded Alexander to both titles in 1506 at the age of 39.
A capable monarch and a patron of the arts, Sigismund established Polish rule over Ducal Prussia and annexed the Duchy of Mazovia with Warsaw, while retaining the nation's wealth and prominence in the region. He made sure that his nephew Albert, Duke of Prussia, and Albert's Protestant successors would pay feudal homage or tribute to Polish monarchs as a sign of political and diplomatic dependence. This was observed until the Treaty of Bromberg in 1657, when Brandenburg gained sovereignty over Ducal Prussia. Sigismund and his commander Jan Amor Tarnowski also defeated Moldavia at Obertyn in 1531, and Muscovy in 1535, thereby strengthening the country's eastern borders. His 42 years reign was further marked by decisive contributions to Polish architecture, cuisine, language, and customs, especially at the behest of his second wife, the Italian-born Bona Sforza. Italian styles and fashions dominated at the height of the Polish Renaissance and Polish Golden Age, which developed the Catholic identity of Poland. He was commemorated on a contemporary 200 złoty banknote.
Sigismund was married twice, first to a noblewoman Barbara Zápolya from Hungary and then to Bona Sforza, the daughter of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan. He had only one surviving legitimate son, Sigismund Augustus, who was made his co-king vivente rege in 1529 and formally assumed the throne when Sigismund I the Old died in 1548.
Sigismund was the son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon and Elizabeth of Austria. He followed his brothers John Albert and Alexander to the Polish throne. Their eldest brother Vladislaus became king of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia. Sigismund was christened as the namesake of his maternal great-grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund.
When Casimir IV died in 1492, Sigismund was his only son without any titles or land. From 1495 to 1496, he petitioned his brother Alexander to provide him with land, and Elizabeth of Austria attempted to install him on the Austrian throne. Both efforts failed. In 1497, King John I Albert, his older brother, led an invasion of Moldavia that was intended to place Sigismund on its throne. This, too, was a disastrous failure. Finally, his eldest brother Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary, granted him the duchies of Głogów (1499) and Opava (1501), and in 1504 Sigismund became governor of Silesia and Lower Lusatia.
John I Albert died suddenly in 1501, and was succeeded by Alexander I, who died in 1506. After his death, Sigismund arrived in Vilnius, where he was elected by the Lithuanian Ducal Council on 20 September 1506 as Grand Duke of Lithuania, contrary to the Union of Mielnik (1501), which proposed a joint Polish-Lithuanian election of a monarch. On 8 December 1506, during the session of the Polish Senate in Piotrków, Sigismund was elected King of Poland. He arrived in Kraków on 20 January 1507 and was crowned four days later in Wawel Cathedral by Primate Andrzej Boryszewski.
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
The internal situation in Poland was characterised by broad authorisation of the Chamber of Deputies, confirmed and extended in the constitution of Nihil novi. During Alexander's reign, the law of Nihil novi had been instituted, which forbade kings of Poland from enacting laws without the consent of the Sejm. Sigismund had little control over the act, unlike the senators, whom he personally appointed. Eventually, during his reign, Sigismund benefited from the advice of the local nobility, competent ministers in charge of the royal judiciary system, and the wealthy, influential treasurers of Kraków. Although he was reluctant to the parliamentary system and political independence of the nobility, he recognised the authority of legal norms, supported legalism and summoned annual sessions of the Sejm, usually obtaining funds for state defence. However, he was unsuccessful in attempting to create a permanent fund for defence from the annual income tax. Despite this, in 1527, he established a conscript army and the bureaucracy needed to finance it. He set up the legal codes that formalised serfdom in Poland, placing the peasants into the private estates of nobles.
Likely related to tax matters was an unsuccessful attempt on the life of the king, made on 5 May 1523. The identity of the would-be assassin - who shot the ruler while he was strolling in the evening around the cloisters of the Wawel Castle - and his potential supporters was never established. Unclear motives remained after the assassination attempt. Three weeks before the event, Sigismund I introduced a new edict that was very unfavourable and somewhat hostile to the high-ranking nobles and their interests.
Sigismund I achieved several economic successes, including partial debt reduction, the separation of accounts of public taxation from the royal treasury, the strengthening of the activities of the mint operating in Kraków, and the attempt to organise the processing of income from operating salt mines. Furthermore, he issued a statute for the Armenians (1519) and strongly intended to harmonise the judicial system across the country.
Between 1530 and 1538, the king issued two statutes defining the rules for the selection of the monarch, which permanently established the election viritim. The laws held that all social groups, regardless of their wealth, could watch the election process (unusquisque qui vellet), and the election was to be free (electio Regis libera).
Sigismund successfully organised the agricultural economy, looked after the development of the royal cities and recovered numerous goods of the treasury belonging to the crown that were under lien. During the financial activities, the King received full support of his wife, Queen Bona, who aimed to expand the royal estates by purchasing and improving economic efficiency. In 1514, he set up the Council of Four Lands and put Abraham of Bohemia in charge of it.
Sigismund I vested various localities with town rights, including Choroszcz, Chorzele, Czemierniki, Dobre, Karczew, Kołbiel, Kowal, Kowel, Leszno, Ostrów Lubelski, Rejowiec, Włoszczowa, Andrzejewo, Boćki, Bychawa, Kleszczele, Narew, Waniewo, Brzeżany, Nowogródek, Słonim and Torczyn.
At the start of his reign, King Sigismund I the Old inherited a Kingdom of Poland with a century-long tradition of liberties of the nobility, confirmed in numerous privileges. A rebellion in Lwów widely known as the Chicken War (Polish: Wojna kokosza) was an anti-royalist and anti-absolutist rokosz (revolt) by the Polish nobility that occurred in 1537. The derisive name was coined by the magnates, who for the most part supported the King and claimed that the "war's" only effect was the near-extinction of the local chickens, eaten by the nobles gathered for the rebellion at Lwów in eastern part of Lesser Poland.