Editing Władysław II Jagiełło (section)

==King of Poland==

===Early actions===
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On 22 June 1399, Jadwiga gave birth to a daughter, baptised [[Elizabeth Bonifacia of Poland|Elizabeth Bonifacia]], but within a month the mother and daughter died, leaving Władysław sole ruler of the Kingdom of Poland and without an heir nor much legitimacy to rule the kingdom. Jadwiga's death undermined Władysław's right to the throne, and as a result old conflicts between the nobility of [[Lesser Poland]], generally sympathetic to Władysław, and the gentry of [[Greater Poland]] began to surface. In 1402, Władysław answered the rumblings against his rule by marrying [[Anna of Cilli]], a granddaughter of [[Casimir III of Poland]], a political match that re-legitimized his reign.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

The [[Union of Vilnius and Radom]] of 1401 confirmed the status of Vytautas as grand duke under Władysław's overlordship while assuring the title of grand duke to the heirs of Władysław rather than those of Vytautas: should Władysław die without heirs, the Lithuanian [[boyar]]s were to elect a new monarch.<ref name="Jasienica-103"/><ref name="stone-11"/> Since no heir had yet been produced by either monarch, the implications of the union were unforeseeable, but it forged bonds between the Polish and Lithuanian nobility and a permanent [[defensive alliance]] between the two states, strengthening Lithuania's hand for a new war against the Teutonic Order in which Poland officially took no part.<ref name="Sedlar"/><ref name="Dvornik"/> While the document left the liberties of the Polish nobles untouched, it granted increased power to the boyars of Lithuania, whose grand dukes had till then been unencumbered by checks and balances of the sort attached to the Polish monarchy. The Union of Vilnius and Radom therefore earned Władysław a measure of support in Lithuania.<ref name="Jasienica"/>

In late 1401, the new war against the Order overstretched the resources of the Lithuanians, who found themselves fighting on two fronts after uprisings in the eastern provinces. Another of Władysław's brothers, the malcontent [[Švitrigaila]], chose this moment to stir up revolts behind the lines and declare himself grand duke.<ref name="Housley"/> On 31 January 1402, he presented himself in [[Malbork|Marienburg]], where he won the backing of the Knights with concessions similar to those made by Jogaila and Vytautas during earlier leadership contests in the Grand Duchy.<ref name="Jasienica-103"/>

===Against the Teutonic Order===
[[File:Majestic Seal of Jogaila (King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania), featuring Polish Eagle, Lithuanian Vytis (Waykimas) and other coats of arms, 1411.jpg|thumb|200px|Royal seal of Władysław II Jagiełło, 1411]]
The war ended in the [[Treaty of Raciąż]] on 22 May 1404. Władysław acceded to the formal cession of Samogitia and agreed to support the Order's designs on [[Pskov]]; in return, [[Konrad von Jungingen]] undertook to sell Poland the disputed [[Dobrzyń Land]] and the town of [[Złotoryja]], once pawned to the Order by [[Władysław Opolski]], and to support Vytautas in a revived attempt on [[Novgorod]].<ref name="Jasienica-103"/> Both sides had practical reasons for signing the treaty at that point: the Order needed time to fortify its newly acquired lands, the Poles and Lithuanians to deal with territorial challenges in the east and in [[Silesia]].{{cn|date=March 2024}}

Also in 1404, Władysław held talks at [[Wrocław|Vratislav]] with [[Wenceslaus, King of the Romans|Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia]], who offered to return Silesia to Poland if Władysław supported him in his power struggle within the [[Holy Roman Empire]].<ref name="cambridge"/> Władysław turned the deal down with the agreement of both Polish and Silesian nobles, unwilling to burden himself with new military commitments in the west.<ref name="Śląsk"/>

===Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic war===
{{Main|Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War|Battle of Grunwald}}
[[File:Matejko Battle of Grunwald.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Battle of Grunwald]], 1410. Painting by Jan Matejko]]
In December 1408, Władysław and Vytautas held strategic talks in [[Navahrudak Castle]], where they decided to foment a [[Samogitian uprising]] against Teutonic rule to draw German forces away from [[Pomerelia]]. Władysław promised to repay Vytautas for his support by restoring Samogitia to Lithuania in any future peace treaty.<ref name="karwasińska">{{harvnb|Karwasińska|Zakrzewski|1892|p=21}}</ref> The uprising, which began in May 1409, at first provoked little reaction from the Knights, who had not yet consolidated their rule in Samogitia by building castles; but by June their diplomats were busy lobbying Władysław's court at [[Oborniki]], warning his nobles against Polish involvement in a war between Lithuania and the Order.<ref name="Jasienica-106"/> Władysław, however, bypassed his nobles and informed the new Grand Master [[Ulrich von Jungingen]] that if the Knights acted to suppress Samogitia, Poland would intervene. This stung the Order into issuing a declaration of war against Poland on 6 August, which Władysław received on 14 August in [[Nowy Korczyn]].<ref name="Jasienica-106"/>

The castles guarding the northern border were in such bad condition that the Knights easily captured those at Złotoryja, [[Dobrzyń nad Wisłą|Dobrzyń]] and [[Bobrowniki]], the capital of Dobrzyń Land, while German burghers invited them into [[Bydgoszcz]] (German: Bromberg). Władysław arrived on the scene in late September, retook Bydgoszcz within a week, and came to terms with the Order on 8 October. During the winter, the two armies prepared for a major confrontation. Władysław installed a strategic supply depot at [[Płock]] in [[Masovia]] and had a [[pontoon bridge]] constructed and transported north down the [[Vistula]].<ref name="turnbull6"/>

Meanwhile, both sides unleashed diplomatic offensives. The Knights dispatched letters to the monarchs of Europe, preaching their usual crusade against the heathens;<ref name="delbrück"/> Władysław countered with his letters to the monarchs, accusing the Order of planning to conquer the whole world.<ref name="Jasienica-108"/> Such appeals successfully recruited many foreign knights to each side. [[Wenceslaus, King of the Romans|Wenceslas IV of Bohemia]] signed a defensive treaty with the Poles against the Teutonic Order; his brother, [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of Luxembourg]], allied himself with the Order and declared war against Poland on 12 July, though his Hungarian vassals refused his call to arms.<ref name="Jasienica-110"/>

===Battle of Grunwald===
{{Main|Battle of Grunwald}}
[[File:Panorama of Malbork Castle, part 4.jpg|thumb|right|The Teutonic Order's castle at Marienburg]]
When the war resumed in June 1410, Władysław advanced into the Teutonic heartland at the head of an army of about 20,000 mounted nobles, 15,000 armed commoners, and 2,000 professional cavalry mainly hired from Bohemia. After crossing the Vistula over the pontoon bridge at [[Czerwińsk]], his troops met up with those of [[Vytautas]], whose 11,000 light cavalry included Lithuanians, Ruthenians, and [[Tatars]].<ref name="Stone 2001 16"/> The Teutonic Order's army had about 18,000 cavalry, mostly Germans, and 5,000 infantry. On 15 July, at the [[Battle of Grunwald]] after one of the largest and most ferocious battles of the Middle Ages,<ref name="bojtár7"/> the allies won a victory so overwhelming that the Teutonic Order's army was virtually annihilated, with most of its key commanders killed in combat, including Grand Master [[Ulrich von Jungingen]] and Grand Marshal Friedrich von Wallenrode. Thousands of troops were reportedly slaughtered on either side.<ref name="Stone 2001 16"/>

The road to the Teutonic capital [[Malbork|Marienburg]] now lay open, the city undefended; but for reasons the sources do not explain, Władysław hesitated to pursue his advantage.<ref name="turnbull8"/> On 17 July, his army began a laboured advance, arriving at Marienburg only on 25 July, by which time the new Grand Master, [[Heinrich von Plauen]], had organised a defence of the fortress.<ref name="Stone-17"/><ref name="turnbull9"/> The apparent half-heartedness of the ensuing siege, called off by Władysław on 19 September, has been variously ascribed to the impregnability of the fortifications,<ref name=Stone-17/> high Lithuanian casualties, to Władysław's unwillingness to risk further casualties, or to his desire to keep the Order weakened but undefeated so as to not upset the balance of power between Poland (which would most likely acquire most of the Order possessions if it was totally defeated) and Lithuania; but a lack of sources precludes a definitive explanation.<ref name="jasienica2"/>

===Dissent===
[[File:Polish and Lithuanian Conflict with Prussia. 1377-1435..png|thumb|right|Polish and Lithuanian conflict with Teutonic Prussia, 1377–1434.]]
The war ended in 1411 with the [[Peace of Thorn (1411)|Peace of Thorn]], in which neither Poland nor Lithuania drove home negotiating advantages home to the full, much to the discontent of the Polish nobility. Poland regained [[Dobrzyń Land]], Lithuania regained [[Samogitia]], and [[Masovia]] regained a small territory beyond the [[Wkra]] river. Most of the Teutonic Order's territory, however, including towns that had surrendered, remained intact. Władysław then released many high-ranking Teutonic Knights and officials for apparently modest ransoms. The cumulative expense of the ransoms, however, proved a drain on the Order's resources.<ref name="cambridge10"/> This failure to exploit the victory to his nobles' satisfaction provoked growing opposition to Władysław's regime after 1411, further fueled by the granting of [[Podolia]], disputed between Poland and Lithuania, to [[Vytautas]], and by the king's two-year absence in Lithuania.<ref name="Jasienica-121"/>

In an effort to outflank his critics, Władysław promoted the leader of the opposing faction, bishop [[Mikołaj Trąba]], to the archbishopric of [[Gniezno]] in autumn 1411 and replaced him in Kraków with Vytautas supporter [[Wojciech Jastrzębiec]].<ref name="Jasienica-121"/> He also sought to create more allies in Lithuania. The [[Union of Horodło]] on 2 October 1413 decreed that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was "tied to our Kingdom of Poland permanently and irreversibly", and granted the Catholic nobles of Lithuania privileges equal to those of Polish [[szlachta]]. The act included a clause prohibiting the Polish nobility from electing a monarch without the consent of the Lithuanian nobility, and the Lithuanian nobility from electing a grand duke without the consent of the Polish monarch.<ref name=stone-11/><ref name="dvornik11"/>

===Last conflicts===
In 1414, a sporadic new war broke out, known as the "[[Hunger War]]" from the Knights' [[scorched earth|scorched-earth]] tactics of burning fields and mills; but both the Knights and the Lithuanians were too exhausted from the previous war to risk a major battle, and the fighting petered out in the autumn.<ref name="Jasienica-121"/> Hostilities did not flare up again until 1419, during the [[Council of Constance]], when they were called off at the papal legate's insistence.<ref name="Jasienica-121"/>

The Council of Constance proved a turning point in the Teutonic crusades, as it did for several European conflicts. Vytautas sent a delegation in 1415, including the [[metropolitan of Kiev]] and Samogitian witnesses; they arrived at Constance at the end of that year to express their preference for being "baptised with water and not with blood".<ref name="housley"/> The Polish envoys, among them [[Mikołaj Trąba]], [[Zawisza Czarny]], and [[Paweł Włodkowic]], lobbied for an end to the forced conversion of heathens and to the Order's aggression against Lithuania and Poland.<ref name="kłoczowski">{{harvnb|Kłoczowski|2000|p=73}}</ref> As a result of the Polish–Lithuanian diplomacy, the council, though scandalised by Włodkowic's questioning of the legitimacy of the monastic state, denied the Order's request for a further crusade and instead entrusted the conversion of the Samogitians to Poland–Lithuania.<ref name="housley12"/>

The diplomatic context at Constance included the revolt of the Bohemian [[Hussite]]s, who looked upon Poland as an ally in their wars against [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]], the emperor elect and new king of Bohemia. In 1421, the Bohemian Diet declared Sigismund deposed and formally offered the crown to Władysław on condition that he accept the religious principles of the [[Four Articles of Prague]], which he was not prepared to do. After Władysław's refusal, Vytautas was postulated (elected in absentia) as Bohemian king, but he assured the pope that he opposed the heretics. Between 1422 and 1428, Władysław's nephew, [[Sigismund Korybut]], attempted a regency in war-torn Bohemia, with little success.<ref name="bideleux"/> Vytautas accepted Sigismund's offer of a royal crown in 1429—apparently with Władysław's blessing—but Polish forces intercepted the crown in transit and the coronation was cancelled.<ref name=stone-11/><ref name="cambridge13"/>

In 1422, Władysław fought another war, known as the [[Gollub War]], against the Teutonic Order, defeating them in under two months before the Order's imperial reinforcements had time to arrive. The resulting [[Treaty of Melno]] ended the Knights' claims to Samogitia once and for all and defined a permanent border between Prussia and Lithuania. Lithuania was given the province of Samogitia, with the port of [[Palanga]], but the city of [[Klaipėda]] was left to the Order.<ref name=stone-11/> This border remained largely unchanged for roughly 500 years, until 1920. The terms of this treaty have, however, been seen as turning a Polish victory into defeat, as a result of Władysław's renunciation of Polish claims to Pomerania, Pomerelia, and [[Chełmno Land]], for which he received only the town of [[Nieszawa]] in return.<ref name="Jasienica-130"/> The Treaty of Melno closed a chapter in the Knights' wars with Lithuania but did little to settle their long-term issues with Poland. Further [[Polish-Teutonic War (1431–1435)|sporadic warfare]] broke out between Poland and the Knights between 1431 and 1435.

Cracks in the cooperation between Poland and Lithuania after the death of Vytautas in 1430 had offered the Knights a revived opportunity for interference in Poland. Władysław supported his brother [[Švitrigaila]] as grand duke of Lithuania,<ref name="sruogien"/> but when Švitrigaila, with the support of the Teutonic Order and dissatisfied Rus' nobles,<ref name=plokhy-98/> rebelled against Polish overlordship in Lithuania, the Poles, under the leadership of Bishop [[Zbigniew Oleśnicki (cardinal)|Zbigniew Oleśnicki]] of Kraków, occupied [[Podolia]], which Władysław had awarded to Lithuania in 1411, and [[Volhynia]].<ref name="stone-11"/> In 1432, a pro-Polish party in Lithuania elected Vytautas's brother [[Sigismund Kestutaitis|Žygimantas]] as grand duke,<ref name="sruogien"/> leading to an armed struggle over the Lithuanian succession which stuttered on for years after Władysław's death.<ref name=plokhy-98/><ref name=stone-11/>

===Succession and death===
[[File:Jagiełło sarcophagus figure.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Jagiełło's sarcophagus, [[Wawel Cathedral]]]]
At the dying request of the childless Jadwiga, he married a [[Styria]]n lady, [[Anna of Cilli|Anna of Celje]].{{sfn|Nowakowska|2019|p=x}} She died in 1416, leaving a daughter: 
* [[Hedwig Jagiellon (1408–1431)|Hedwig]] (1408–1431). 
In 1417, Władysław married [[Elisabeth of Pilica]], who died in 1420 without bearing him a child.{{sfn|Nowakowska|2019|p=xi}}<br> 
Two years later, he married [[Sophia of Halshany]]{{sfn|Nowakowska|2019|p=xi}} (niece of [[Uliana Olshanska]]), who bore him two surviving sons : 
* [[Władysław III Jagiellon|Władysław]] (1424–1444){{sfn|Nowakowska|2019|p=x}}
* [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir]] (1427–1492){{sfn|Nowakowska|2019|p=xi}} 
The death in 1431 of his daughter Hedwig (Jadwiga), the last heir of Piast blood, released Władysław to make his sons by Sophia of Halshany his heirs, though he had to placate the [[Szlachta|Polish nobility]] with concessions to ensure their agreement since the monarchy was elective. In 1427 the Polish nobles had initiated an anti-Jagiellonian movement, seeking to have Władysław and Casimir excluded from the Polish throne as they had no blood link to the previous ruling Polish dynasty, the Piasts.<ref name="Oxford">{{cite web |title=Jagiellonians Timeline |url=https://www.jagiellonians.com/jagiellonians-timeline |website=Jagiellonians.com |publisher=[[University of Oxford]] |access-date=20 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

During an excursion into [[Przemyśl Land]] in the 48th year of his reign, Władysław caught a cold from which he was unable to recover.<ref name="prazmowska"/><ref name="sruogien"/> He finally died in [[Grodek Jagiellonski|Grodek]] in 1434, leaving Poland to his elder son, Władysław III, and Lithuania to his younger, Casimir, both still minors at the time.<ref name="sedlar"/><ref name="rowell14"/> The Lithuanian inheritance, however, could not be taken for granted. Władysław's death ended the personal union between the two realms, and it was not clear what would take its place.<ref name="stone15"/>