The
Jagiellons were a royal
dynastyA dynasty is a succession of people belonging to the same family, who, through various means and forms maintain power, influence or authority over the course of generations. Most commonly the term is used specifically in reference to royal houses and imperial dynasties — their authority manifests...
originating from the
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
n
House of GediminasThe House of Gediminas were the siblings, children, and grandchildren of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania . The Gediminid dynasty ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from ca. 1316 or ca...
dynasty that reigned in
Central EuropeCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
an countries (present day Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, parts of Russia (including nowadays Kaliningrad oblast), Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia) between the 14th and 16th century. Members of the dynasty were Grand Dukes of
LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
1377–1392 and 1440–1572,
kingThe Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
s of
PolandThe Jagiellon Era of 1385–1569 refers to the union of Poland with Lithuania by the Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila. The partnership proved profitable for the Poles and Lithuanians, who played a dominant role in one of the most powerful empires in Europe for the next three centuries.-Jagiellon...
1386–1572, kings of
HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
1440–1444 and 1490–1526, and
kings of
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
1471–1526.
The dynastic union between the two countries (converted into a full administrative union only in 1569) is the reason for the common appellation "
Poland–LithuaniaPoland–Lithuania can refer to:* Polish–Lithuanian union from 1385 until 1569* Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 until 1795...
" in discussions about the area from the
Late Middle AgesThe Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th and 15th centuries . The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the High Middle Ages, and followed by the Early Modern era ....
onwards. One Jagiellonian briefly ruled both Poland and Hungary (1440–44), and two others ruled both
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
(since 1471) and
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
(1490–1526) and then continued in
distaffAs a noun, a distaff is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax, and sometimes wool, but can be used for any type of fiber. Fiber is wrapped around the distaff, and tied in...
line as the Eastern branch of the House of
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
.
Name
The name (other variations used in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
include:
Jagiellonians,
Jagiellos,
Jogailos,
Jagiellas) comes from Jogaila , the first Polish king of that dynasty. In Polish, the dynasty is known as
Jagiellonowie (singular:
Jagiellon, adjective, used of dynasty members, also patronimical form:
Jagiellończyk); in
LithuanianLithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
it is called
Jogailaičiai (sing.:
Jogailaitis), in
BelarusianThe Belarusian language, or Belorussian is the language of the Belarusian people and is spoken in Belarus and abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland...
Яґайлавічы (
Jagajłavičy, sing.:
Яґайлавіч,
Jagajłavič), in
HungarianHungarian is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries...
Jagellók (sing.:
Jagelló), and in
CzechCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. Czech is similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak and, to a lesser extent, to Polish and Sorbian. - Official status :Czech is widely...
Jagellonci (sing.:
Jagellonec; adjective:
Jagellonský), as well as
Jagello or
Jagellon (fem.
Jagellonica) in Latin. In all variations of that name, the letter J should be pronounced as in "Hallelu
jah" (or as Y in "
yes"), and G – as in "
get".
Pre-dynasty background
GediminidsThe Gediminas were a dynasty of monarchs of the medieval Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. They were rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which realm chiefly meant that of Lithuanians and Ruthenians, this area being at least half-Slavic. One branch of this dynasty, known...
, the immediate predecessors of the first Jagiello, were
monarchA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
s of the medieval
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
with the title
didysis kunigaikštis which would be translated as
Mighty King according to the contemporary perception. The later construct for its translation is Grand Duke (for its etymology, see
Grand PrinceThe title Grand Prince or Great Prince ranked in honour below emperor and tsar and above a sovereign prince .Grand Duke is the usual and established, though not literal, translation of these terms in...
). Their realm, the
Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
,was chiefly inhabited by
LithuaniansLithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number slightly over 3 million people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland...
and
RutheniansThe term Ruthenians is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially it was the ethnonym used for the Ukrainian people. With the emergence of Ukrainian nationalism in the mid 19th century, the term initially went out of use first in...
, and was at least half-Slavic.
JogailaJogaila, later ' , was Grand Duke of Lithuania and later King of Poland. He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle, Kęstutis. In 1386, he converted to Christianity, was baptized as Władysław, married the young Queen Jadwiga of Poland, inducted into the Order of the Dragon and was...
, the eponymous first Jagiello ruler, started as the
Grand DukeThe title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
of
LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
. He then converted to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and married the 11-year-old
JadwigaJadwiga was a monarch of Poland from 1384 to her death. Her official title was 'king' rather than 'queen', reflecting that she was a sovereign in her own right and not merely a royal consort. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the daughter of King Louis I of Hungary and Elisabeth...
, the second of Poland's Angevin rulers, and thereby becoming himself King of Poland, founded the dynasty. At the time, he called himself King Władysław, without an ordinal number, but later historians have referred to him as
Władysław II (of Poland),
V (of Lithuania) or sometimes
Władysław II Jagiello of Poland and Lithuania.
The rule of Piasts, the earlier Polish ruling house (c.962–1370) had ended with the death of
Casimir IIICasimir III the Great , last King of Poland from the Piast dynasty , was the son of King Władysław I the Elbow-high and Hedwig of Kalisz.-Royal titles:...
.
Jagiellon rulers
Jagiellons were hereditary rulers of Lithuania and Poland.
The Jagiellon rulers of
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
and
PolandThe Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
(with dates of ruling in brackets) were:
- Ladislaus (Jogaila) (in Lithuania 1377–1401; in Poland 1386–1434). (also known as Władysław II Jagiełło)
- Ladislaus III (1434–44)
- Casimir IV
Casimir IV Jagiellon of the Jagiellon dynasty, was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death....
(1447–92)
- John Albert (1492–1501)
- Alexander (1501–05)
- Sigismund I
Sigismund I the Old of the Jagiellon dynasty reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548...
(1506–48)
- Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus I was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548...
(1548–72) (also known as Sigismund II)
After Sigismund II Augustus, the dynasty underwent further changes. Sigismund II's heirs were his sisters,
Anna JagellonicaAnna the Jagiellonian , daughter of Poland's King Sigismund I the Old, wife of Stefan Batory. She was elected, along with her then fiance, Stefan Batory, as co-ruler in the second election of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
and
Catherine JagellonicaCatherine Jagiellon was Duchess of Finland 1562-83, Queen Consort of Sweden 1569-83 and Grand Duchess of Finland 1581-83 and heir to her mother's claim to the title of King of Jerusalem....
. The latter had married Duke John of Finland, who thereby from 1569 became king
John III VasaJohn III was King of Sweden from 1568 until his death. He was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud. He was also quite autonomously the ruler of Finland from 1556 to 1563...
of
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
, and they had a son,
Sigismund III VasaSigismund III Vasa was King of Polish Crown and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of joined Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
; as a result, the Polish branch of the Jagiellons merged with the
House of VasaThe House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland and Lithuania 1587–1668. In 1611–1613 Duke Charles Philip, Prince of Sweden, was a pretender to Russian throne during Time of Troubles; so was Wladyslaw, the future King of Poland, in 1610–1613...
, which ruled Poland from 1587 until 1668. During the interval, among others,
Stephen BathoryStephen Báthory was a Hungarian noble Prince of Transylvania , then King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania . He was a member of the Somlyo branch of the noble Hungarian Báthory family...
, the husband of the childless Anna, reigned.
Bohemia and Hungary
The Jagiellons at one point also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
(1471 onwards) and
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
(from 1490 onwards), with
Wladislaus JagielloVladislas II, also known as Ladislaus Jagiellon ; was King of Bohemia from 1471 and King of Hungary from 1490 until his death in 1516...
whom several history books call Vladisla(u)s II.
Jagiellon Kings of Bohemia and Hungary:
- Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary
Vladislas II, also known as Ladislaus Jagiellon ; was King of Bohemia from 1471 and King of Hungary from 1490 until his death in 1516...
(Vladislaus Jagiello)
- Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia
Louis II was King of Hungary and King of Bohemia from 1516 to 1526.-Early life:Louis was the son of Ladislaus V Jagiellon and his third wife, Anne de Foix....
(Louis Jagiello). By Louis' sudden death in Battle of MohácsThe Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.The Ottoman victory led to the partition of...
in 1526, that royal line was extinguished in male line.
- Anna of Bohemia and Hungary
Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, also sometimes known as Anna Jagellonica was, by marriage to Ferdinand I, King of the Romans and later Holy Roman Emperor, Queen of the Romans.-Family:She was the elder child and only daughter of king Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his third...
, Queen consortA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles...
, sister of Louis. Her husband Ferdinand I, Holy Roman EmperorFerdinand I was a Central European monarch from the House of Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526. He ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs most of his public life, at the behest of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and...
was elected king of Bohemia based on her rights. He was also elected King of Hungary in dispute at first with John ZápolyaJános Szapolyai or János Zápolya was King of Hungary from 1526 to 1540. His rule was disputed by Archduke Ferdinand I, who also claimed the title King of Hungary between 1526 and 1540. He was the voivode of Transylvania before his coronation.-Biography:He was born at Spiš Castle...
and then with John II Sigismund ZápolyaJohn II Sigismund Zápolya was the son of John Zápolya and Isabella Jagiełło....
.
Maturity pattern
Anthropologists have noted the tendency of members of the Jagiello dynasty to marry late in life, and not procreate until older. Most of its males over the dynasty's two centuries (approximately between 1360 and 1560) managed to have their heirs only when well into their middle years.
This contrasts with the later Bourbons and Habsburg-Lorraines, prolific Roman Catholic dynasties, whose members usually started to produce offspring while still in their teens. Also, interestingly enough, those Jagiellons who continued the line, lived to ripe old ages, while those who died in their twenties or thirties, generally did not leave children. Because the average life span was relatively short in that time period, this habit of starting to produce children late axed many potential branches from the dynasty, since persons who were generally potential parents, did not start procreating until their thirties.
This was no coincidence. In this dynasty, "maturity" and willingness to settle down occurred only later in life, not in one's twenties. It has been speculated that cultural reasons may have also been co-factors. However, it has been proposed that inherited features were the chief reason. Some female-line descendants within a couple of generations showed similar tendencies, such as Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria, and
Albert VII, Archduke of AustriaAlbert VII, Archduke of Austria was, together with his wife Infanta Isabella of Spain, the daughter of Philip II of Spain, co-sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands between 1598 and 1621, ruling the Habsburg territories in the southern Low Countries and the north of modern France...
. However, the tendency later diminished, and after the 17th century, all members resumed the trait of having their children at a young age.
This tendency to bear children late weakened the potential of the dynasty compared to others of same era. After just four generations, the dynasty went extinct in its male line. But those same four generations lasted two centuries, averaging approximately fifty years between siring each new generation:
- Algirdas (1291–1377), Ladislaus (1351–1434), Casimir IV (1427–92), Sigismund I (1467–1548) and Sigismund II (1520–72).
- Algirdas (1291–1377), Ladislaus (1351–1434), Casimir IV (1427–92), Ladislaus II (1456–1516) and Louis (1506–26)
(Generational chart: Zeroeth interval 60/60 years, first interval: 76/76 years, second interval 29/40 years, third interval 50/53 years)
| Monarch |
Birth – death |
Age at birth of first child
to survive to adulthood |
Age at birth of first child |
| Ladislaus |
1351–1434 |
57 |
48 |
| Casimir IV |
1427–1492 |
29 |
29 |
| Sigismund I |
1467–1548 |
46 |
46 |
| Ladislaus II |
1456–1516 |
47 |
47 |
Sometimes, women of this dynasty married only when relatively old.
Catherine JagiellonCatherine Jagiellon was Duchess of Finland 1562-83, Queen Consort of Sweden 1569-83 and Grand Duchess of Finland 1581-83 and heir to her mother's claim to the title of King of Jerusalem....
, wife of
John III of SwedenJohn III was King of Sweden from 1568 until his death. He was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud. He was also quite autonomously the ruler of Finland from 1556 to 1563...
, was 11 years older than her husband, having remained unmarried into her thirties. She bore her children at ages 38, 40 and 42.
Jagiello himself was born to a father already in his fifties or sixties.
See also
- List of Lithuanian rulers
- List of Polish rulers
- List of Hungarian rulers
- List of Czech rulers
- Jagiellonian University in Kraków
Kraków , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow and pronounced
, is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland and a popular tourist destination. Its historic centre was inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites as the first of its kind...
External links