Online Encyclopedia

ALEXANDER (1461-1506)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 552 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALEXANDER (1461-1506)  , king of Poland and
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grand-duke of Lithuania,
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fourth son of Casimir IV., king of Poland, was elected grand-duke of Lithuania on the
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death of his
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father in 1492, and king of Poland on the death of his
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brother John Albert in 1501 . His extreme impecuniosity made him from the first subservient to the
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Polish senate and nobles (szlachta), who deprived him of the control of the mint—then one of the most lucrative
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sources of revenue of the Polish kings—curtailed his
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prerogative, and generally endeavoured to reduce him to a subordinate position . This
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ill-timed parsimony reacted injuriously upon Polish politics . Thus, for want of funds, Alexander was unable to assist the Grand Master of the Order of the Sword against
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Muscovite aggression, or prevent
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Tsar
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Ivan III. from ravaging Lithuania with the Tatars . The utmost the king could do was to garrison
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Smolensk and other fortresses and employ his wife Helena, the tsar's daughter, to mediate a truce between his father-in-law and himself . During his reign Poland suffered much humiliation from the attempts of her subject principalities, Prussia and
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Moldavia, to throw off her yoke . Only the death of Stephen, the
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great
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hospodar of Moldavia, enabled Poland still to hold her own on the Danube; while the liberality of Pope
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Julius II., who issued no fewer than 29 bulls in favour of Poland and granted Alexander Peter's Pence and other
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financial help, enabled the Polish king to restrain somewhat the arrogance of the Teutonic Order . In Alexander the characteristic virtues of the Jagiellos,
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patience and generosity, degenerated into slothfulness and extravagance . Frequently he was too poor to pay the expenses of his own table . But he never felt at home in Poland, and bestowed his favour principallyupon his
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fellow-countrymen, the most notable of whom was the wealthy Lithuanian magnate Michael Glinsky, who justified his master's confidence by his great victory over the Tatars at Kleck (August 5, 1506), the
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news of which was brought to Alexander on his deathbed . See V . Czerny, The Reigns of John Albert and Alexander Jagiello (Pol.) (Cracow, 1882) .

End of Article: ALEXANDER (1461-1506)
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