Editing Alexander Jagiellon (section)

== Grand Duke of Lithuania (1492–1506) ==
The greatest challenge that Alexander faced upon assuming control of the grand duchy was [[Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars|an attack on Lithuania]] by Grand Duke [[Ivan III of Russia]] and his allies, the [[Crimean Khanate]]'s [[Tatars]], which commenced shortly after his accession. Ivan III considered himself the heir to the lands of [[Kievan Rus']], and was striving to take back the territory previously gained by Lithuania.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kort |first1=Michael |title=A Brief History of Russia |date=2008 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0829-2 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i8_RH3hhsAMC |language=en}}</ref> Unable to successfully stop the incursions, Alexander sent a delegation to Moscow to make a peace settlement, which was signed in 1494 and ceded extensive land over to Ivan. In an additional effort to instill a peace between the two countries, Alexander was betrothed to [[Helena of Moscow|Helena]], the daughter of Ivan III; they were married in [[Vilnius]] on 15 February 1495. The peace did not last long, however, as Ivan III resumed hostilities in 1500. The most Alexander could do was to garrison [[Smolensk]] and other strongholds and employ his wife Helena to mediate another truce between him and her father after the disastrous [[Battle of Vedrosha]] (1500). In the terms of this truce, which was concluded on 25 March 1503, Lithuania had to surrender about a third of its territory to the nascent expansionist Russian state; Alexander pledged not to touch lands including Moscow, Novgorod, Ryazan, and others, while a total of 19 cities were ceded.<ref name="Shaikhutdinov">{{cite book |last1=Shaikhutdinov |first1=Marat |title=Between East and West: The Formation of the Moscow State |date=23 November 2021 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv249sgn2 |pages=145–179}}</ref> Historian [[Edvardas Gudavičius]] said:<blockquote>"The war of 1492–1494 was a kind of reconnaissance mission conducted by the united Russia. [The terms of] the ceasefire of 1503 showed the planned political aggression of Russia, its undoubted military superiority. The concept of the sovereign of all Russia, put forward by Ivan&nbsp;III, did not leave room for the existence of the Lithuanian state".<ref name="Shaikhutdinov" /></blockquote>

=== Also King of Poland (1501–1506) ===
On 17 June 1501, Alexander's older brother John I Albert died suddenly, and Alexander was crowned king of Poland on 12 December of that year. Alexander's shortage of funds immediately made him subservient to the [[Senate of Poland#Kingdom and Commonwealth|Polish Senate]] and ''szlachta'', who deprived him of control of the mint (then one of the most lucrative sources of revenue for the Polish kings), curtailed his prerogatives, and generally endeavored to reduce him to a subordinate position. In 1505, the [[Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland|''Sejm'' of the Kingdom of Poland]] passed the Act of ''[[Nihil novi]]'', which forbade the king to issue laws without the consent of the nobility, represented by the two legislative chambers, except for laws governing royal cities, crown lands, mines, fiefdoms, royal peasants, and Jews. This was another step in Poland's progression towards a "[[Noble's Democracy]]".

During Alexander's reign, Poland suffered additional humiliation at the hands of her subject principality, [[Moldavia]]. Only the death of [[Stephen III of Moldavia|Stephen]], the great ''[[hospodar]]'' of Moldavia, enabled Poland still to hold her own on the [[Danube]] river. Meanwhile, the liberality of [[Pope Julius II]], who issued no fewer than 29 bulls in favor of Poland and granted Alexander [[Peter's Pence]] and other financial help, enabled him to restrain somewhat the arrogance of the [[Teutonic Order]].

Alexander Jagiellon never felt at home in Poland, and bestowed his favor principally upon his fellow Lithuanians, the most notable of whom was the wealthy Lithuanian magnate [[Michael Glinski]], who justified his master's confidence by his great victory over the Tatars at [[Battle of Kletsk|Kletsk]] (5 August 1506), news of which was brought to Alexander on his deathbed in [[Vilnius]].

According to Giedrė Mickūnaitė, interwar Lithuanian historians assumed that Alexander was the last ruler of the [[Gediminid]] dynasty who understood the [[Lithuanian language]], yet did not speak it, but there is a lack of sources regarding that.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Statkuvienė |first1=Regina |title=Jogailaičiai. Kodėl ne Gediminaičiai? |url=https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/istorija/jogailaiciai-kodel-ne-gediminaiciai-582-1056552 |website=[[15min.lt]] |access-date=22 August 2021 |language=lt}}</ref>

In 1931, during the refurbishment of [[Vilnius Cathedral]], the forgotten sarcophagus of Alexander was discovered, and has since been put on display.