270 



POLAND 



the signal for a contest among the various claimants 

 for the throne, which was speedily followed, as 

 usual, by a division of the country, and during this 

 disturbance I'omerania emancipated itself from 

 Polish rule. In 1226 the Teutonic Knights weie 

 summoned by the Duke of Masovia to aid him 

 against the pagan Prussians : but they soon became 

 as formidable enemies to Poland as the Prussians, 

 and conquered a large part of Podlachia and Lithu- 

 ania. The Mongols swept over the country in 

 1241, committing great devastations, and defeated 

 the Poles in a battle at Liegnitz. Many districts 

 of the country were now colonised by Germans, 

 and numl'cis of Jews took refuse in 1'oluml. The 

 Germans obtained great privileges from the Polish 

 king, and were governed by the Jus Miujtle- 

 luirtjirum. The reign of Ladixlaus Lokietek ( ' the 

 Short ') is important ( 1305-33), because in his reign 

 the first Polish diet ( 1331 ) was summoned at 

 Checiny. In conjunction with Godymin, Grand- 

 duke of Lithuania, a vigorous war was carried on 



of the Jagellons (q.v. ; 

 Lithuania and Poland 



POLAND WITH LITHUANIA 

 after the Treaty of Lublin la 1569 



English Mil.s 

 50 loo 150 



against the Teutonic Knight*. His son. CnMinir 

 tin- Great (1333-70), increased the prosperity of 

 I'lil.unl. Commerce was active, and Danzig and 

 Cracow joined the league of the Hatisa. In 1317 

 was enacted the celebrated Statute of \\ i-lica. the 

 foundation of Polish law ; in this reign also Gulicia 

 wax united to Poland. With CiiHimir the dyna-t\ 

 of the Plant* tiecame extinct, after a rule of 510 

 years, according to the old Polish chroniclers. His 

 nephew, Louix, king of Hungary, succeeded liim by 

 the will of the deceased nnman-h ami the election 

 of the diet. (In his ill-lit h wilhout male heirs the 

 succession fell to his daughter Jadviga or Hedwig, 

 who was induced by the diet to marry Jagielio, 

 (^anil-duke of Lithuania, who founded the dynasty 



1386-1572), and first united 

 thus doubling the extent, 

 though not the population, of the kingdom. In 

 1410 the Teutonic Knights wen- defeated at the 

 battle of (iriinwald. Ills son, Ladislans, \v]i<> was 

 also chosen king of Hungary, fell at the battle of 

 Varna in 1444 fighting against the Turks. ( 'asimir. 

 who succeeded, recovered West Prussia from tin- 

 Teutonic K nights and compelled them to do homage 

 for East Prussia. In 1454 was held the diet of 

 Nieszawa, at which the celebrated statute was 

 enacted which conferred great privilege* upon the 

 Polish nobilitv. The brief reigns of <'a>iimi's two 

 sons were marked only by the increased jMiwer of the 

 diet, which had by this time absorlied all but the 

 symbols of supreme authority, and had turned 

 Poland from a monarchy into an oligarchy. The 

 king thus possessed but little |>wer lieyond what- 

 his personal intluem-e ua\c him. 



Sigismund I. (l.'HHi --4X), also son of ('a.-iiuir 1\'., 

 had a long and prosperous reign, Poland ln-ing at 



that time the 

 dominant coiin- 

 try of eastern 

 Europe. Very 

 dillcicnt opinions 

 have iM-en held 

 aUmt this mon- 

 arch, some Polish 

 histiuiaiis prais- 

 ing his govern- 

 ment, while 

 liohr/.ynski ami 

 others consider 

 him to have Keen 

 :\ weak man. 

 His court was 

 tilled with lac 

 lion- fomented 

 by his wile, Hona 

 Sforxa, daughter 

 of the Duke of 

 Milan, a malig 

 iiant and avari- 

 cious woman. 

 The doctrine- of 

 the deformation 



iienctraled to 

 'olanil, and were 

 a source of fresh 

 discontents. In 

 a war with Basil, 

 the Grand duke 

 of Russia. Sigis 

 imiml lost Smo- 

 lensk, but he was 

 partly compen- 

 sated by obtain 

 ing lordship over 

 Moldavia. In 

 I.VJ1I Sigisinund 

 issued a legal 

 code for Lithu- 

 ania in the White-Russian language, which foims 

 an im|Hirtant monunient of Polish law. In 1537 

 occurred the first rokosz, or retell ion of the nobility 

 against the kingly authority. Sigisinund was 

 about to set out to \Vallachia. anil was obliged 

 to make several concessions before they would 



a pany him. In 1548 the king died at the 



advanced age of eighty- two. 



ll<- wa- succeeded by his son, Sigismund II. 

 (I.VIS-7'2), otherwise called Sigisinund Augustus, 

 but this prince was not elected till a debate had 

 taken place alnmt his marriage. He had secretly 

 espoused as a widower a widow of the great h 

 Uiul/.iwill, and the nobles required the union to lie 

 annulled, because they fancied that the country 



