Editing Alexander Jagiellon

{{Short description|Grand Duke of Lithuania (1492–1506) and King of Poland (1501–1506)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image          = Goraj Miracle of Saint Simeon Stylites (detail).jpg
| caption = As king of the Saracens, probably the most accurate portrait of Alexander, {{circa|1504}}<ref name=goraj/>
| succession     = [[Grand Duke of Lithuania]]
| reign          = 30 July 1492 – 19 August 1506
| predecessor    = [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]]
| successor      = [[Sigismund I the Old]]
| coronation     = 30 July 1492 in [[Vilnius Cathedral]]
| succession1    = [[King of Poland]]
| reign1         = 12 December 1501 – 19 August 1506
| predecessor1   = [[John I Albert]]
| successor1     = [[Sigismund I the Old]]
| coronation1    = 12 December 1501 in [[Wawel Cathedral]]
| birth_date     = 5 August 1461
| birth_place    = [[Kraków]], Poland
| death_date     = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1506|8|19|1461|8|5}}
| death_place    = [[Vilnius]], Lithuania
| burial_place = [[Vilnius Cathedral]], [[Vilnius]], [[Lithuania]] (1506)
| dynasty        = [[Jagiellon dynasty|Jagiellon]]
| father         = [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]]
| mother         = [[Elisabeth of Austria (d. 1505)|Elisabeth of Hungary]]
| spouse         = [[Helena of Moscow]]
| signature      = Autograph-AleksanderJagiellonczyk.png
}}
'''Alexander Jagiellon''' ({{langx|pl|Aleksander Jagiellończyk}}; {{langx|lt|Aleksandras Jogailaitis}}; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) was [[Grand Duke of Lithuania]] from 1492 and [[King of Poland]] from 1501 until his death in 1506.<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical dictionary of Poland, 966–1945|author1=Jerzy Jan Lerski |author2=Piotr Wróbel |author3=Richard J. Kozicki |year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FPxhOu_n1VYC&q=Alexander+Jagiellon+1461&pg=PA9|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] | isbn=978-0-313-26007-0}}</ref> He was the fourth son of [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir IV]] and a member of the [[Jagiellonian dynasty]]. Alexander was elected grand duke of Lithuania upon the death of his father and became king of Poland upon the death of his elder brother [[John I Albert]].

==Early life==
Alexander was born as the fourth son of King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] and [[Elizabeth of Austria (1436–1505)|Elizabeth of Austria]], daughter of the King [[Albert II of Germany]]. At the time of his father's death in 1492, his eldest brother [[Vladislaus II of Hungary|Vladislaus]] had already become [[king of Bohemia]] (1471) and [[King of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[King of Croatia|Croatia]] (1490), and the next oldest brother, [[Saint Casimir]], had died (1484) after leading an ascetic and pious life in his final years, resulting in his eventual canonization. While the third oldest brother, [[John I Albert]] was chosen by the Polish nobility (''[[szlachta]]'') to be the next king of Poland, the Lithuanians instead elected Alexander to be their next [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|grand duke]]. Alexander maintained a Lithuanian court and multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel of the Polish [[royal court]].<ref name="Dubonis2016">{{cite journal |last1=Dubonis |first1=Artūras |title=The Prestige and decline of the official (state) language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (fifteenth-sixteenth century): problems in Belarusian historiography |journal=Lithuanian Historical Studies |date=2016 |volume=20 |pages=7 |doi=10.30965/25386565-02001002 |url=https://etalpykla.lituanistika.lt/fedora/objects/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2016~1512655799738/datastreams/DS.002.1.01.ARTIC/content |access-date=3 November 2023|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pietkiwicz |first1=K. |title=Dwór litewski wielkiego księcia Aleksandra Jagiellończyka (1492–1506) |date=1997 |location=Vilnius}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kiaupa |first1=Zigmantas |last2=Mickevičius |first2=Arturas |last3=Sarcevičienė |first3=Jolita |title=Lietuvos valstybė: XII-XVIII a. |date=1997 |publisher=Lietuvos istorijos institutas, Lietuvos mokslų akademija |isbn=978-9986-780-08-3 |pages=88–89 |language=lt}}</ref>

== 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.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Johann Haller, Commune Incliti Poloniae regni privilegium constitutionum et indultuum publicitus decretorum approbatorumque (1506, cropped).jpg|King Alexander in [[Senate of the Republic of Poland|Polish Senate]], 1506.
File:Kanclerz.jpg|Alexander and his ''[[kanclerz]]'' [[Jan Łaski (1456-1531)|Jan Łaski]].
File:St. Anne's Church Exterior 2, Vilnius, Lithuania - Diliff.jpg|[[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] [[St. Anne's Church, Vilnius|St. Anne's Church]] in [[Vilnius]] was constructed on his initiative in 1495–1500.
File:Krakow Wawel 20070804 0930.jpg|In 1504 he ordered to rebuild the [[Wawel Castle|Wawel]] in a [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] style.<ref>[http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=4 Wawel Castle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109224310/http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=4 |date=9 November 2016 }}. History of the Royal Residence.</ref>
File:Crown and sword of Grand Duke Aleksandras Jogailaitis, Vilnius, 1931.jpg|Crown and sword of Alexander Jagiellon
File:Lithuanian Denar of Aleksandras Jogailaitis with Vytis (Waykimas) and the Polish Eagle.jpg|[[Lithuania]]n coin with the [[coat of arms of Lithuania]] and [[coat of arms of Poland|Poland]]
File:Seal of Aleksandras Jogailaitis with the Polish Eagle, Lithuanian Vytis (Waykimas) and other coats of arms, 1504.jpg|Seal of Alexander Jagiellon, 1504
File:Alexander of Poland.PNG|Fantasy portrait by [[Bacciarelli]]
File:Coat of arms of Aleksandras Jogailaitis from the speech of Erasmus Vitellius in Rome, 1501 (cropped).jpg|Coat of arms
File:Sword of Aleksandras Jogailaitis, exhibited in the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius in 2023.jpg|Sword of Alexander Jagiellon in 2023
</gallery>

==See also==

* [[History of Poland during the Jagiellonian dynasty]]
*[[Rachela Fiszel]]
* [[Sejm walny]]
* [[St. Anne's Church, Vilnius]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=goraj>{{cite web |author=Marcin Latka |title=Detail of Miracle of Saint Simeon Stylites |url=https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/418905202840511089 |work=artinpl |access-date=31 May 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727201919/https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/418905202840511089/ |archive-date=27 July 2019 }}</ref>
}}

==Sources==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Alexander (king of Poland)|volume=1|page=552}}

==External links==

{{Commons category|Alexander of Poland}}
* [http://www.istorija.net/ Pages and Forums on the Lithuanian History]

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef| before = [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir IV]] }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [[Grand Duke of Lithuania]]
       | years  = 1492–1506 }}
{{s-aft| rows   = 2 | after  = [[Sigismund I the Old|Sigismund I]] }}
{{s-bef| before = [[John I Albert]] }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [[King of Poland]]
       | years  = 1501–1506 }}
{{s-end}}

{{Monarchs of Lithuania}}
{{Monarchs of Poland}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1461 births]]
[[Category:1506 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:16th-century Polish monarchs]]
[[Category:Kings of Poland]]
[[Category:Grand dukes of Lithuania]]
[[Category:Polish Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Jagiellonian dynasty]]
[[Category:Burials at Vilnius Cathedral]]
[[Category:Nobility from Kraków]]