609 



SIGISMUND III. (OF POLAND). 



SIGONIO CAROLO. 



510 



instead of the murdered Demetrius. Sigisomnd, taking 'advantage of 

 the distracted state of Muscovy, declared war against that country; 

 and the Polish general Zolkiewski, having defeated the Muscovite 

 army and an auxiliary Swedish force, entered Moscow, and concluded 

 a treaty by which Vladislav, eldest son of Sigismund, was elected Czar 

 of Moscow, 1610, on conditions which limited the absolute power 

 that the monarchs of that country hitherto possessed. Shooyski, who 

 had been deposed previous to the entrance of the Poles, was conducted 

 to Poland, where he died in captivity. Zolkiewski made the noblest 

 use of his victory over the Muscovites. Though he entered their 

 country as a conqueror, he restored tranquillity by placing on the 

 throne a Polish prince, and giving to a nation oppressed by the most 

 abject despotism the advantages of a free government, a benefit which 

 was due not to the demands of the Muscovites, who were anxious only 

 to secure the interests of their church, but to the generous and sound 

 policy of the Polish general, who foresaw the dangers which threatened 

 his own country if a prince likely to become its king should possess 

 despotic power in Muscovy. The inhabitants of Muscovy were willing 

 to swear allegiance to their new king ; but the accomplishment of that 

 fortunate event, which would have established a constitutional govern- 

 ment in Russia, and created a Slavonian empire, and the most powerful 

 state in Europe, was destroyed by the jealousy and incapacity of 

 Sigismund, who instead of confirming those conditions, delayed his 

 confirmation under varioun pretences, and in the mean time endea- 

 voured to possess himself of some towns and provinces of Russia. 

 The Muscovites, justly irritated by Sigisinund's conduct, rose in arms, 

 and a bloody war ensued, during which the Polish general, ill- 

 supported by the king, maintained himself for a long time against the 

 Muscovites, but was finally obliged to retire. The refusal of the diet 

 to grant the necessary supplies produced insubordination iii the army, 

 which was unpaid, and the Russians gained great advantages. Sigis- 

 mund at last made an effort, and sent his son Vladislav to recover, at 

 the head of the army, the throne which was lost through his father's 

 incapacity, and already occupied by Michael Federovich Romanov, 

 who was elected in 1613. Vladislav penetrated to the walls of the 

 capital ; and after an unsuccessful attempt to carry it by storm, 

 occupied a strong position in the vicinity : but the insubordination of 

 the army, which was still badly paid, and several impolitic measures of 

 the king, hastened the conclusion of a truce for fourteen years, by 

 which the Czar Michael Federovich was recognised by Poland, which 

 retained Smolensk with' other provinces. This truce was urgent, on 

 account of the increasing hostilities with Turkey, which originated 

 chiefly in the disputed possession of Moldavia, where many Polish 

 grandees, related to Mohila, prince of that country, espoused his part 

 against the Turks, who had deposed him from his dignity. The 

 constant inroads of the Tartars into the Polish territory, and the 

 depredations of the Cossaks, subjects of Poland, committed in the 

 Turkish dominions on the Black Sea, rendered the preservation of 

 peace difficult ; but war was rendered inevitable by Sigismund's send- 

 ing a considerable force to Hungary against Bethlem Gabor, prince of 

 Transylvania, who, with the Bohemian insurgents, was besieging 

 Vienna. This produced a diversion favourable to Austria, but involved 

 Poland in an unnecessary quarrel with Turkey. Zolkiewski, whose 

 expedition against Moscow we have mentioned, having encountered 

 the Turks with a very inferior force, was defeated and killed in 1620. 

 The Tartars ravaged the border, provinces ; and Sultan Osman 

 marched at the head of an army which is said to have amounted, 

 including the Tartars, to 400,000 men, with the view of conquering 

 Poland, which sent to oppose that overwhelming force only 35,000 

 Poles and 40,000 Zaporogue Cossaks. The Polish army, under the 

 command of Chodkiewich and Lubomirski, occupied a fortified camp 

 near the banks of the Dneister, and resisted all the attacks of the 

 enemy. Peace was concluded on the 7th of October 1621, on con- 

 dition that everything should remain in the same state as before the 

 war. In the meantime the Swedes took Riga and many other towns 

 in Livonia, but a truce restored a part of their conquests. War with 

 Sweden was renewed in 1625 ; but Gustavus Adolphus, unable to 

 obtain any success, proposed, on conditions favourable to Poland, a 

 truce of thirty years, during which the dispute about the succession 

 to the Swedish throne should be settled ; but Sigismund, seduced by 

 a delusive promise of assistance from Spain, rejected those offers, and 

 was obliged to conclude, in 1629, a truce of six years, on much less 

 advantageous terms. 



Sigismund III. died in 1632, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and 

 his son, Vladislaus IV., was elected without opposition. Sigismund's 

 reign of forty-five years was an uninterrupted succession of errors, 

 the immediate effect of which was however in a great degree prevented 

 by the many eminent persons whom Poland produced during his reign ; 

 but the seeds of the future calamities of that country were sown by 

 that king. A strong Roman Catholic, he thought more about the 

 conversion of his opponents than about the interests of his country. 

 Protestantism, which was prevalent in many parts of Poland, was 

 almost entirely destroyed by his efforts, and he effected it not by open 

 oppression, which was rendered impossible by the constitution of the 

 country, but by a cunning system of secret persecution, and by every 

 possible means of seduction. Several bishops of the Greek Church 

 having subscribed to a union with Rome (1 598), the opponents of that 

 union, which was supported by the king and the priests, were exposed 



to much persecution, which scattered the seeds of discontent and 

 future rebellion among the inhabitants of the south-eastern provinces 

 of Poland, and prepared the way for great calamities. Being entirely 

 under the guidance of the Jesuits, the devoted promoters of the 

 interests of Austria, his external policy was constantly subservient to 

 that power, and often at the cost of the interests of Poland. His 

 private character was respectable. 



SIGNORELLI, LUCA, a celebrated Italian painter, born at Cortona 

 in 1439, was the son of Egidio di Ventura Signorelli, by the sister of 

 Lazzaro Vasari : he was the pupil of Piero della Francesca, with 

 whom he worked at Arezzo, where he lived with his uncle Lazzaro 

 Vasari. 



Vasari mentions many of Luca's works, few of which however still 

 exist; but the altar-piece of St. Onofrio, painted in 1484, is still in the 

 cathedral of Perugia, and there are two other pictures in the cathedral 

 of Volterra ; there are also still some pictures by him at Orvieto, 

 Rome, Cortona, at Siena and in its neighbourhood, and iu the Floren- 

 tine gallery. His most celebrated work is the fresco of the Last 

 Judgment in a chapel of the church of the Madonna or cathedral at 

 Orvieto. The painting of this chapel of the Madonna di San Brizio 

 was commenced in 1447 by Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, who however 

 painted only part of the ceiling, and it was completed many years 

 afterwards by Luca Signorelli. The contract concerning the continua- 

 tion of these frescoes by Signorelli is dated April 5, 1499; he under- 

 took the completion of the ceiling for 200 ducats, and the walls for 

 600 ducats, besides free lodging, and two measures of wine and two 

 quarters of corn every month. The ceiling was finished in 1500 ; 

 when the walls were finished is not known, but as the ceiling was done 

 apparently within the first year, and this may from the amount of the 

 remuneration be fairly estimated at about one quarter of the whole, 

 the chapel was probably completed by 1503. The frescoes comprise 

 the history of Antichrist, the Resurrection of the Dead, Hell, and 

 Paradise; and such is the vigour and boldness displayed in these 

 works, especially in the invention and the naked figure and their fore- 

 shortenings, that Vasari and many others have pointed to Signorelli 

 as the immediate precursor of Michel Angelo. Vasari says that 

 Michel Angelo always expressed a high admiration of the works of 

 Signorelli, and observes that all may see that he made use of the 

 inventions of Luca in the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, espe- 

 cially in the forms of the angels and demons, and in the arrangement. 



Luca Signorelli was one of those who competed for the prize of 

 Sixtus IV. in the Sistine Chapel, which was won by Cosimo Roselli. 

 He retired in his old age to Cortona, where his Italian fame was 

 rivalled by the personal respect that was shown him. He is repre- 

 sented by Vasari as having been a man of very high character, and he 

 adds that he always lived more like a nobleman than an artist : he 

 died in 1521, aged eighty-two. The frescoes of the cathedral are 

 described and in part engraved in Delia Valle's ' Storia del Duomo 

 d'Orvieto,' Rome, 1791. The design, though full of power, is hard, 

 and the colouring wants harmony. 



SIGO'NIO CA'ROLO was born at Modena, about 1520. He was a 

 pupil of Franciscus Portus, who taught him Greek. He afterwards 

 studied medicine and philosophy at Bologna, and he also visited 

 the university of Pavia. In 1546 he was invited back to Modena to 

 fill the chair of Greek literature, which had become vacant by the 

 departure of Portus. In 1552 he accepted the chair of belles-lettres 

 at Venice, where he became acquainted with Panvinio, who, like 

 himself, was a diligent student of antiquity. His reputation having 

 become widely spread by various works on classical antiquity, he had 

 invitations both to Rome and Padua, at which latter place he accepted 

 the chair of eloquence in 1560. At Padua he again met with 

 Robortello, with whom he had already had a dispute on the names of 

 the Romans, and the disputes between these two scholars, being 

 renewed, were carried to such a pitch that the senate of Venice found 

 it prudent to silence the combatants. [ROBORTELLO.] 



Sigonio left Padua in the year 1563 for a place in the university of 

 Bologna, where he received a handsome salary, and was made a 

 citizen. His reputation attracted numerous students to Bologna. 

 Roman antiquity was his special subject, and his instruction was 

 characterised both by comprehensiveness and accuracy. He also 

 occupied himself with middle-age history, and with this object he 

 visited the great libraries and collections of Italy. It was at the 

 request of Pope Gregory XIII. in 1578, that he commenced tho 

 ecclesiastical history, of which his friend Panvinio had formed the 

 plan. Sigonio having discovered some fragments of Cicero's ' Da 

 Consolatione,' undertook to restore the work, which he completed and 

 published as a genuine work of Cicero. The fraud was detected and 

 exposed by Riccoboni, one of his pupils ; but Sigonio, instead of con- 

 fessing the fact, endeavoured to reply to the arguments of his opponent. 

 So well indeed has he succeded in imitating the manner and expres- 

 sion of Cicero, that the work 'De Consolatione' long passed for 

 genuine, notwithstanding the criticism of Riccoboni ; and Tiraboschi, 

 who maintained this side of the question, was only convinced by 

 seeing some unpublished letters of Sigonio, in which he acknowledges 

 himself to be the author. Sigonio retired to the neighbourhood of 

 Modeiia, where he died in 1584. His numerous writings were collected 

 by Argellati, Milan, 1732-1737, in 6 vols. folio, to which is prefixed a 

 Life of Muratori. All his works on matters of antiquity are also 



