Born: November 30, 1427, Cracow, Poland
Died: June 7, 1492, Grodno, Poland (presently Hrodna, Belarus)
Early days. Father Wladyslaw II Jagiello (Ladislaus II of Poland), King of Poland 1386-1434; mother Zofia Holszanska (aka Sonka).
Kazimierz was crowned in 1447 after a three year interregnum following the death at Warna of his brother,Wladyslaw III Warnenczyk (Ladislaus of Varna), King of Poland 1434-1444. He limited the influence of Cardinal Zbigniew Olesnicki and of the magnates connected to him.
Marriage, children and dynastic policy. He married in 1454 Elisabeth (1438-1505), the daughter of Albert II of Habsburg, the previous Holy Roman Emperor, and of his wife Elisabeth of Luxembourg, heiress of Bohemia. Her distant kinsman Frederick III of Austria was Holy Roman Emperor, and reigned Germany even after Casimir's death. Her family's and Emperor's relations were strained because of inheritance disputes. Elisabeth's brother Ladislaus V, just recently freed from the imprisonment where the Emperor had kept him almost all his childhood,.was at that time King of Bohemia and Hungary, The marriage strengthened the ties between the house of Jagiello and the sovereigns of Hungary-Bohemia, and put Kazimierz into opposition to the Emperor in that internal Habsburg rivalry.
Kazimierz had six sons and seven daughters. Jan Dlugosz, famous for writing first Polish history book, was the tutor of royal sons. Kazimierz’s son, Wladyslaw II Jagiellonczyk (Ladislaus Jagiellon) became King of Bohemia in 1471 and later, in 1490, the King of Hungary. A daughter, Jadwiga, was married to George the Rich Wittelsbach of Bavaria. Delegates had gone to Cracow to negotiate the marriage. Their so-called Landshut Wedding took place in Bavaria with much pomp and celebration in 1475. His other son, Kazimierz, was to have been married to the daughter of emperor Frederick III but he instead chose a religious life, eventually becoming canonized as Sw.Kazimierz (St.Casimir). His younger sons succeeded him in turns in Poland: Jan I Olbracht (John I Albert), King of Poland 1492-1501, Aleksander Jagiellonczyk (Alexander), King of Poland 1501-1506, and Zygmunt I Stary (Sigismund the Elder) , King of Poland 1506-1548. Last of his sons, Fryderyk, was in turn Bishop of Cracow, Archbishop of Gniezno and a Cardinal. His daughter Zofia married Friedrich von Hohenzollern Ansbach and was the mother of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Daughter Barbara married Georg, Duke of Saxony. His remaining daughters were: Anna, and three Elzbietas. His dynastic policy made Poland the greatest power in Europe.
Interior policy. He wanted to strengthen royal power and for this end he was looking for the gentry’s support, limiting the influence of the magnates and of the Church leaders (like the Cardinal Zbigniew Olesnicki). In the statutes of Nieszawa (1454) he pledged not to call the gentry to arms and not to impose new taxes without prior agreement of gentry’s meetings. He ensured himself the right to nominate the bishops. He guaranteed territorial indivisibility of Lithuania .
War. In 1454 Casimir was approached by the Pomeranians asking for aid against the ruling Teutonic Order, which he gave on March 6, 1454, by the act of incorporation of Prussia to Polish Kingdom (called since the Royal Prussia); however, when the cities of Prussia rebelled against the Teutonic Order, the order resisted with greater strength than expected, and the Thirteen Years' War (1454-1466) ensued. Casimir, in alliance with the Prussian Confederation, defeated the Teutonic Order taking over its capital in Malbork, which in the ensuing Second Treaty of Torun (October 19, 1466) recognized Polish sovereignty over Royal Prussia and the Polish crown's over lordship over Ducal Prussia. In this way Pomerania, the Chelmno County and Warmia as well as the Zulawy region with Gdansk, Torun, Malbork and Lidzbark were incorporated into Poland. Poland regained the access to the sea what considerably improved Polish economic power. Malbork changed from Teutonic Knights hands and became a seat of Polish administrators: the starosta (district elder), the treasurer of Prussian lands, and the wojewoda. The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary retained its spiritual role, but served only as a branch of the town's parish church. In 1476 a royal residence was prepared at Malbork for Polish monarchs. Kazimierz Jagiellonczyk increased Poland’s territory also in other ways. In 1454-56 he incorporated the Oswiecim Duchy. In 1463, after the death of the Mazovian Dukes, he incorporated into the Crown the previous vassalages, Gostyn and Rawa counties in Mazovia. In 1476 he also incorporated the Sochaczew county. On the other hand new dangers appeared in the East: Muscovy started taking away the Ruthenian territories from Lithuania while Turkey occupied the coastal regions of the Black Sea.
This great monarch died in 1492 and was buried in the Wawel Castle in Cracow.
This article uses, among others, material from the Wikipedia article "Casimir IV of Poland" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
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