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132-483: Poryck was first mentioned in the first half of the 15th century. In 1557 the town burned in a fire, and King Zygmunt August allowed its owner, Aleksander Porycki to exempt residents from taxes for the period of 10 years. Poryck belonged to several szlachta families, including the Koniecpolski and Czacki families. In 1806, Tadeusz Czacki built here two empire style palaces. Located at the lake, one palace housed

264-452: A Polish-Russian battle took place here. After a Polish victory, Dwernicki issued an appeal to the local residents, urging them to join the rebellion. In 1916, during World War I , the library was ransacked, and the china collection was destroyed, together with Czacki family archive. The residence was burned down, and what remained of the library was transported to Pulawy . In the interbellum period (1918–39) Poryck belonged to Poland . It

396-544: A catafalque and remained at the nearby Tykocin Castle until 10 September 1573 when it was transported back to Kraków through Warsaw . After transporting the remains of Barbara Radziwiłł from Kraków to Vilnius , Sigismund was building a church in the Vilnius Castle Complex which should have served as his family's mausoleum, however it was still uncompleted in 1572. Consequently, he was laid to rest at

528-499: A / (spelled a ), / ɔ / (spelled o ) and / u / (spelled u and ó as separate letters). The nasal vowels are / ɛ w̃ / (spelled ę ) and / ɔ w̃ / (spelled ą ). Unlike Czech or Slovak, Polish does not retain phonemic vowel length — the letter ó , which formerly represented lengthened /ɔː/ in older forms of the language, is now vestigial and instead corresponds to /u/. The Polish consonant system shows more complexity: its characteristic features include

660-621: A Lasco (Jan Łaski) and Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł . Throughout the 16th century, Frycz Modrzewski advocated for renouncing Rome 's authority and establishing a separate and independent Polish Church. His initiative was chiefly inspired by the creation of the Anglican Church by Henry VIII in 1534. Sigismund Augustus was lenient towards the idea, particularly due to the sudden spread of Protestantism among courtiers, advisors, nobles and peasants. Calvinism became especially popular among

792-474: A breach with Rome at the very crisis of the religious struggle in Poland. He was not free to remarry until Catherine's death on 28 February 1572, but he followed her to the grave less than six months later. Unlike his father, Sigismund Augustus was frail and sickly. Shortly before turning 50, his health rapidly declined. Being involved in many affairs and holding a large number of mistresses, historians agree that

924-401: A common religion. Sigismund agreed to the postulates, however, under the condition that Pope Paul IV will be in favour. Instead, Paul IV was enraged that such a proposition emerged for him to accept; he declined and refused to grant consent. Facing potential excommunication , the assembly were forced to abandon their plans. Nevertheless, Protestantism continued to flourish and spread. In 1565,

1056-718: A dialect of Polish. Many Silesians consider themselves a separate ethnicity and have been advocating for the recognition of Silesian as a regional language in Poland . The law recognizing it as such was passed by the Sejm and Senate in April 2024, but has been vetoed by President Andrzej Duda in late May of 2024. According to the last official census in Poland in 2011, over half a million people declared Silesian as their native language. Many sociolinguists (e.g. Tomasz Kamusella , Agnieszka Pianka, Alfred F. Majewicz, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz ) assume that extralinguistic criteria decide whether

1188-669: A few culturally and linguistically related tribes from the basins of the Vistula and Oder before eventually accepting baptism in 966. With Western Christianity , Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet , which made it possible to write down Polish, which until then had existed only as a spoken language . The closest relatives of Polish are the Elbe and Baltic Sea Lechitic dialects ( Polabian and Pomeranian varieties). All of them, except Kashubian , are extinct. The precursor to modern Polish

1320-702: A future anti-German uprising. That view was compounded by OUN's prior collaboration with the Nazis and so by 1943, no understanding between the Polish Home Army and the OUN was possible. ( Massacres in Volhynia ) On 11 July 1943, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and OUN nationalists took first steps and murdered Polish inhabitants of the town. Most people were killed during a ceremony in

1452-530: A large library (the so-called Poryck Library), in which a number of Polish national treasures was kept. Also, Czacki had a rare collection of fine china . Second palace served as a family residence. In 1816, Poryck was visited by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz , who described his stay here in his “Historic Travels”. During the November Uprising , Poryck was one of targets of General Jozef Dwernicki 's raid over Volhynia, Podolia and Ukraine. On 11 April 1831,

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1584-520: A large number of branches in all of these areas) offers services available in Polish at all of their cash machines in addition to English and Spanish . According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England and Wales who consider Polish to be their "main" language. In Canada , there is a significant Polish Canadian population : There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to

1716-543: A lect is an independent language or a dialect: speakers of the speech variety or/and political decisions, and this is dynamic (i.e. it changes over time). Also, research organizations such as SIL International and resources for the academic field of linguistics such as Ethnologue , Linguist List and others, for example the Ministry of Administration and Digitization recognized the Silesian language. In July 2007,

1848-489: A local Roman Catholic church. The Ukrainian sotnia of 20 men surrounded and entered the church filled with people. They threw grenades at the faithful most of whom were women and children. Then they shot at them with machine guns and finally set fire to the church with survivors in hiding. Altogether 300 persons were murdered. Later on, Ukrainian nationalists burned what remained of the Czacki palace. Their plan did not succeed, as

1980-454: A nasal consonant, rather than a nasal vowel. For example, ą in dąb ("oak") is pronounced [ɔm] , and ę in tęcza ("rainbow") is pronounced [ɛn] (the nasal assimilates to the following consonant). When followed by l or ł (for example przyjęli , przyjęły ), ę is pronounced as just e . When ę is at the end of the word it is often pronounced as just [ɛ] . Depending on

2112-436: A pompous wedding ceremony on 30 July 1553. On the other hand, Catherine showed resentment towards Sigismund because of how he treated her sister, Queen Elizabeth. She accused him of negligence and indifference during her sudden illness, which caused premature death. The correspondence between the two remained purely formal and political for the remainder of their lives. Since her coronation, Catherine acted as Austria's puppet at

2244-402: A reversed diacritic hook called an ogonek . Polish is a synthetic and fusional language which has seven grammatical cases . It has fixed penultimate stress and an abundance of palatal consonants . Contemporary Polish developed in the 1700s as the successor to the medieval Old Polish (10th–16th centuries) and Middle Polish (16th–18th centuries). Among the major languages, it

2376-502: A rich collection of tapestries (360 pieces), commissioned by him in Brussels in the years 1550–1560. The king enjoyed reading, especially short stories, poems and satires . Under the influence of bishop Piotr Myszkowski , Poland's then greatest writer and poet Jan Kochanowski joined the royal court in 1563. It is uncertain whether Sigismund and Kochanowski were friends, however, Kochanowski's correspondence clearly highlights that

2508-491: A single word. This applies in particular to many combinations of preposition plus a personal pronoun, such as do niej ('to her'), na nas ('on us'), prze ze mnie ('because of me'), all stressed on the bolded syllable. The Polish alphabet derives from the Latin script but includes certain additional letters formed using diacritics . The Polish alphabet was one of three major forms of Latin-based orthography developed for Western and some South Slavic languages,

2640-477: A third, purely political union with his first cousin, the Austrian archduchess Catherine , to avoid an Austro-Russian alliance. She was also the sister of his first wife, Elizabeth, who had died within a year of her marriage to him, before his accession. Catherine, unlike previous queens, was considered dull and obese. Sigismund Augustus found her immensely unattractive despite accepting the marriage and organizing

2772-405: A verse by Jan Brzechwa ) is W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie [fʂt͡ʂɛbʐɛˈʂɨɲɛ ˈxʂɔw̃ʂt͡ʂ ˈbʐmi fˈtʂt͡ɕiɲɛ] ('In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed'). Unlike languages such as Czech, Polish does not have syllabic consonants – the nucleus of a syllable is always a vowel. The consonant /j/ is restricted to positions adjacent to a vowel. It also cannot precede

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2904-478: A vowel when it precedes another vowel (it represents /j/ , palatalization of the preceding consonant, or both depending on analysis). Also the letters u and i sometimes represent only semivowels when they follow another vowel, as in autor /ˈawtɔr/ ('author'), mostly in loanwords (so not in native nauka /naˈu.ka/ 'science, the act of learning', for example, nor in nativized Mateusz /maˈte.uʂ/ 'Matthew'). Some loanwords , particularly from

3036-711: Is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group within the Indo-European language family written in the Latin script . It is primarily spoken in Poland and serves as the official language of the country, as well as the language of the Polish diaspora around the world. In 2024, there were over 39.7 million Polish native speakers. It ranks as the sixth most-spoken among languages of the European Union . Polish

3168-419: Is also spoken as a second language in eastern Germany , northern Czech Republic and Slovakia , western parts of Belarus and Ukraine as well as in southeast Lithuania and Latvia . Because of the emigration from Poland during different time periods, most notably after World War II , millions of Polish speakers can also be found in countries such as Canada , Argentina , Brazil , Israel , Australia ,

3300-542: Is debatable. Her opponents and family members suggested sexually transmitted diseases due to a number of affairs she had before marrying Sigismund. There were also persistent rumors that she was poisoned by Queen Bona Sforza, who had a long history of eliminating her rivals or enemies quickly and efficiently. However, contemporary historians and experts agree on cervical or ovarian cancer . The death of Queen Barbara Radziwiłł, five months after her coronation and under distressing circumstances, compelled Sigismund to contract

3432-427: Is most closely related to Slovak and Czech but differs in terms of pronunciation and general grammar. Additionally, Polish was profoundly influenced by Latin and other Romance languages like Italian and French as well as Germanic languages (most notably German ), which contributed to a large number of loanwords and similar grammatical structures. Extensive usage of nonstandard dialects has also shaped

3564-447: Is possible to say ko goście zoba czy li? – here kogo retains its usual stress (first syllable) in spite of the attachment of the clitic. Reanalysis of the endings as inflections when attached to verbs causes the different colloquial stress patterns. These stress patterns are considered part of a "usable" norm of standard Polish - in contrast to the "model" ("high") norm. Some common word combinations are stressed as if they were

3696-595: Is subdivided into regional dialects and maintains strict T–V distinction pronouns, honorifics , and various forms of formalities when addressing individuals. The traditional 32-letter Polish alphabet has nine additions ( ą , ć , ę , ł , ń , ó , ś , ź , ż ) to the letters of the basic 26-letter Latin alphabet , while removing three (x, q, v). Those three letters are at times included in an extended 35-letter alphabet. The traditional set comprises 23 consonants and 9 written vowels , including two nasal vowels ( ę , ą ) defined by

3828-524: Is the Old Polish language . Ultimately, Polish descends from the unattested Proto-Slavic language. The Book of Henryków (Polish: Księga henrykowska , Latin : Liber fundationis claustri Sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichau ), contains the earliest known sentence written in the Polish language: Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai (in modern orthography: Daj, uć ja pobrusza, a ti pocziwaj ;

3960-529: Is the most widely-used minority language in Lithuania's Vilnius County , by 26% of the population, according to the 2001 census results, as Vilnius was part of Poland from 1922 until 1939. Polish is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. In Ukraine, it is most common in the western parts of Lviv and Volyn Oblasts , while in West Belarus it is used by the significant Polish minority, especially in

4092-750: Is widely considered as the apex of the Polish Golden Age ; he established the first regular Polish navy and the first regular postal service in Poland, known today as Poczta Polska . In 1569, he oversaw the signing of the Union of Lublin between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , which formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and introduced an elective monarchy . Sigismund Augustus married three times; his first wife, Elizabeth of Austria , died in 1545 at just eighteen. He

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4224-430: The kropka (superior dot) over the letter ż , and the ogonek ("little tail") under the letters ą, ę . The letters q, v, x are used only in foreign words and names. Polish orthography is largely phonemic —there is a consistent correspondence between letters (or digraphs and trigraphs ) and phonemes (for exceptions see below). The letters of the alphabet and their normal phonemic values are listed in

4356-401: The ś in święty ("holy") all represent the sound / ɕ / . The exceptions to the above rule are certain loanwords from Latin, Italian, French, Russian or English—where s before i is pronounced as s , e.g. sinus , sinologia , do re mi fa sol la si do , Saint-Simon i saint-simoniści , Sierioża , Siergiej , Singapur , singiel . In other loanwords

4488-596: The Brest and Grodno regions and in areas along the Lithuanian border. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries. In the United States , Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. According to the 2000 United States Census , 667,414 Americans of age five years and over reported Polish as

4620-498: The Duchy of Milan until Sforza's suspicious death in 1494. Throughout his youth, Sigismund Augustus was under the careful watch of his mother, Bona. Being the only legitimate male heir to the Polish throne throughout his father's reign, he was well educated and taught by the most renowned scholars in the country. It was also his mother's wish to name her only son Augustus, after the first Roman Emperor Augustus . However, this decision

4752-769: The Duchy of Prussia in 1525, but under Polish suzerainty . However, his efforts to introduce Protestantism to the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in the northernmost part of the region was met with fierce resistance and divided the Livonian Confederation . When Albert's brother Wilhelm and Archbishop of Riga attempted to implement a Lutheran church order in his diocese , the Catholic estates rebelled and arrested both Wilhelm and his bishop coadjutor , Christopher, Duke of Mecklenburg . As Prussia

4884-745: The Jagiellonian dynasty . The death of his childless sister, Anna, in 1596 marked the end of the dynasty. In addition to his family connections, Sigismund II Augustus was allied to the Habsburgs as member of the Order of the Golden Fleece . Sigismund's reign was marked by a period of temporary stability and external expansion. He witnessed the bloodless introduction of the Protestant Reformation into Poland and Lithuania, and

5016-804: The Kievan Rus' , were disputed between Lithuania and Russia. However, the Ruthenian nobles were eager to capitalise on the political or economic potential offered by the Polish sphere and agreed to the terms. Previously, the Kingdom of Ruthenia or "Ukraine" was abolished in 1349, after Poland and Lithuania split modern-day Ukraine in the aftermath of the Galicia–Volhynia Wars . Now, under the Union of Lublin, all Ukrainian and Ruthenian territories which were alien in culture, customs, religion and language to

5148-563: The Polish Brethren came into existence as a Nontrinitarian sect of Calvinism. One year after Sigismund's death the Warsaw Confederation was adopted as the first European act granting religious freedoms . Despite this, Protestantism in Poland ultimately declined during the fierce Counter-Reformation measures under the despotic and arch-Catholic Sigismund III Vasa , who ruled for nearly 45 years. For instance,

5280-666: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 's influence gave Polish the status of lingua franca in Central and Eastern Europe . The process of standardization began in the 14th century and solidified in the 16th century during the Middle Polish era. Standard Polish was based on various dialectal features, with the Greater Poland dialect group serving as the base. After World War II , Standard Polish became

5412-543: The Polish–Lithuanian union , thus hoping to leave his throne to his heirs. When Sigismund Augustus was co-crowned, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki organized a preliminary marriage treaty between the young king and Elizabeth of Austria , daughter of King Ferdinand of Bohemia and Hungary . The marriage was signed on 10–11 November 1530 in Poznań , however, the arrangement was delayed by Queen Bona Sforza , who detested

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5544-897: The Royal Castle in Vilnius with the nearby Radziwiłł Palace so that the couple could meet frequently and discreetly. Due to her unpopularity in Poland, Barbara often expressed her wish to reside permanently in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. To ease the situation, Sigismund Augustus provided a luxurious lifestyle and expensive gifts for his wife at Wawel Castle since her arrival in Kraków on 13 February 1549. The monarch also granted Barbara several provinces to administer and provide income. Although ambitious and bright, she showed lack of interest in political life, but had some influence over decisions made by Sigismund. This also caused an uproar among

5676-442: The Union of Lublin , which united Poland and Lithuania into one state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , jointly with German-speaking Royal Prussia and Prussian cities. This achievement might well have been impossible without the monarch's personal approach to politics and ability to mediate. At first, the treaty was perceived as a threat to Lithuanian sovereignty. Lithuanian magnates were afraid of losing their powers, since

5808-522: The United Kingdom and the United States . Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. At the time, it was a collection of dialect groups with some mutual features, but much regional variation was present. Mieszko I , ruler of the Polans tribe from the Greater Poland region, united

5940-534: The Wawel Cathedral on 10 February 1574. The stately funeral ceremony, attended by his sister Anna Jagiellon , was the last spectacle of its kind in the Kingdom of Poland. No other Polish monarch was buried with such pomp and splendour. His death introduced an elective monarchy in Poland which lasted until the final partition at the end of the 18th century. Sigismund Augustus was the last male member of

6072-474: The classical languages , have the stress on the antepenultimate (third-from-last) syllable. For example, fizyka ( /ˈfizɨka/ ) ('physics') is stressed on the first syllable. This may lead to a rare phenomenon of minimal pairs differing only in stress placement, for example muzyka /ˈmuzɨka/ 'music' vs. muzyka /muˈzɨka/ – genitive singular of muzyk 'musician'. When additional syllables are added to such words through inflection or suffixation ,

6204-578: The flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) , as well as the expulsion of Ukrainians and Operation Vistula , the 1947 migration of Ukrainian minorities in the Recovered Territories in the west of the country, contributed to the country's linguistic homogeneity. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak Polish somewhat differently, although the differences between modern-day vernacular varieties and standard Polish ( język ogólnopolski ) appear relatively slight. Most of

6336-555: The peero-cratic upheaval that placed most political power in the hands of the Polish nobility ; he saw the collapse of the Knights of the Sword in the north, which led to the Commonwealth's acquisition of Livonia as a Lutheran duchy and the consolidation of Ottoman power in the southeast. A less imposing figure than his father, the elegant and refined Sigismund II Augustus was nevertheless an even more effective statesman than

6468-404: The standard language ; considerable colloquialisms and expressions were directly borrowed from German or Yiddish and subsequently adopted into the vernacular of Polish which is in everyday use. Historically, Polish was a lingua franca , important both diplomatically and academically in Central and part of Eastern Europe . In addition to being the official language of Poland, Polish

6600-416: The 16th century, which is also regarded as the " Golden Age of Polish literature". The orthography was modified in the 19th century and in 1936. Tomasz Kamusella notes that "Polish is the oldest, non-ecclesiastical, written Slavic language with a continuous tradition of literacy and official use, which has lasted unbroken from the 16th century to this day." Polish evolved into the main sociolect of

6732-486: The 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto (91,810 speakers) and Montreal . The geographical distribution of the Polish language was greatly affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II and Polish population transfers (1944–46) . Poles settled in the " Recovered Territories " in the west and north, which had previously been mostly German -speaking. Some Poles remained in

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6864-525: The Germans. The exact number of Poles deported to Siberia or Central Asia between 1939 and 1941 remains unknown, and has been estimated at from under 500,000 to over 1,500,000. Additionally, tens of thousands of German-speaking people from Volhynia were also moved to German-controlled territory. ( Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia ) After Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, both

6996-511: The Habsburg envoys prior to an audience with the king. She would also dictate what and how the envoys should express their views. When Sigismund Augustus found out of Catherine's intrigues, he sent her to Radom and excluded from political life. As Sigismund lost all hope of children by his third bride, he was the last male Jagiellon in the direct line so the dynasty was threatened with extinction. He sought to remedy this by adultery with two of

7128-621: The Habsburgs. In 1573, the first permanent bridge over the Vistula river in Warsaw and also the longest wooden bridge in Europe at the time was named in Sigismund's honour. Polish language Polish ( endonym : język polski , [ˈjɛ̃zɘk ˈpɔlskʲi] , polszczyzna [pɔlˈʂt͡ʂɘzna] or simply polski , [ˈpɔlskʲi] )

7260-583: The Henryków monastery, noted that "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish"). The earliest treatise on Polish orthography was written by Jakub Parkosz  [ pl ] around 1470. The first printed book in Polish appeared in either 1508 or 1513, while the oldest Polish newspaper was established in 1661. Starting in the 1520s, large numbers of books in the Polish language were published, contributing to increased homogeneity of grammar and orthography. The writing system achieved its overall form in

7392-527: The Old and some nobles showed compassion towards the new Queen, who was disregarded by her husband and scorned by Bona. Sigismund Augustus was indifferent to her health condition; when the seizures continued to intensify he abandoned Elizabeth and returned to Kraków to collect her dowry . He also sent for Ferdinand's doctors to travel the long distance from Vienna knowing that Elizabeth was ailing and deteriorating fast. She eventually died unattended and exhausted from

7524-644: The Polish Brethren were banned, hunted down and its leaders executed. Sigismund Augustus carried on with the development of several royal residencies including Wawel , Vilnius Castle , Niepołomice and the Royal Castle in Warsaw . In the 1560s he acquired the Tykocin Castle and rebuilt it in Renaissance style. During the reign of Sigismund Augustus the structure served as a royal residence with an impressive treasury and library as well as

7656-451: The Polish city of Lublin , were futile. The right of Poles to settle and own land in the Grand Duchy was questioned by Lithuanian envoys. Following Mikołaj Radziwiłł's departure from Lublin on 1 March 1569, Sigismund announced the incorporation of then-Lithuanian Podlachia , Volhynia , Podolia and Kiev provinces into Poland, with strong approval from the local Ruthenian (Ukrainian) gentry . Those historic regions, which once belonged to

7788-497: The Polish court; she was tasked with espionage and obtaining important information for the benefit of the Habsburgs. Sigismund Augustus was aware of the scheme, but, by marrying Catherine, he obtained a promise from Austria to stay neutral and abandon plans with Russia . This neutrality was undermined by Catherine's actions, who followed her father's policy and objected the return of John Sigismund Zápolya and Isabella Jagiellon (Sigismund's sister) to Hungary. She would conspire with

7920-479: The Polish government-in-exile and the Ukrainian OUN-B considered the possibility that in the event of mutually exhaustive attrition warfare between Germany and the Soviet Union, the region would become a scene of conflict between Poles and Ukrainians. The Polish government-in-exile, which wanted the region to return to Poland, planned for a swift armed takeover of the territory, as part of its overall plan for

8052-706: The Polish people would be annexed by Catholic Poland. Strong westernisation and polonisation would follow, including the clandestine suppression of the Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox Church by future King Sigismund III . Ruthenia remained under Polish rule until the Cossack uprisings against Polish domination and the Partitions of Poland , when Ukraine was annexed by the Russian Empire . The Lithuanians were compelled to return to

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8184-559: The Sejm negotiations under Jan Hieronim Chodkiewicz and continue negotiations. The Polish nobility once again pressed for the full incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Poland, however, the Lithuanians disapproved. The parties eventually agreed on a federal state on 28 June 1569 and on 1 July 1569 the Union of Lublin was signed at Lublin Castle , thus establishing the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Sigismund Augustus ratified

8316-671: The Silesian language was recognized by ISO , and was attributed an ISO code of szl. Some additional characteristic but less widespread regional dialects include: Polish linguistics has been characterized by a strong strive towards promoting prescriptive ideas of language intervention and usage uniformity, along with normatively-oriented notions of language "correctness" (unusual by Western standards). Polish has six oral vowels (seven oral vowels in written form), which are all monophthongs , and two nasal vowels . The oral vowels are / i / (spelled i ), / ɨ / (spelled y and also transcribed as /ɘ/ or /ɪ/), / ɛ / (spelled e ), /

8448-797: The alliance against Ivan the Terrible to protect lucrative trade routes in Livonia, thus creating a new valid casus belli against the Russian Tsardom . On 22 January 1558, Ivan invaded the Baltic states and started the Livonian War , which lasted 25 years until 1583. Russia's eventual defeat in the war legally partitioned Livonia between Poland ( Latvia , southern Estonia ) and Sweden (central-northern Estonia). The Polish sector became subsequently known as Polish Livonia or Inflanty ; it

8580-473: The care with which he controlled his nation. According to diplomats, everything went as Sigismund wished and he seemed to know everything in advance. He managed to obtain more funds from the Sejm than his father ever could, and at one of the parliament sittings he won the hearts of the assembled envoys by unexpectedly appearing in a simple grey coat of a Mazovian lord. Like his father, a pro-Austrian by conviction, he contrived even in this respect to carry with him

8712-485: The cases mentioned above, the letter i if followed by another vowel in the same word usually represents / j / , yet a palatalization of the previous consonant is always assumed. The reverse case, where the consonant remains unpalatalized but is followed by a palatalized consonant, is written by using j instead of i : for example, zjeść , "to eat up". The letters ą and ę , when followed by plosives and affricates, represent an oral vowel followed by

8844-713: The corresponding sentence in modern Polish: Daj, niech ja pomielę, a ty odpoczywaj or Pozwól, że ja będę mełł, a ty odpocznij ; and in English: Come, let me grind, and you take a rest ), written around 1280. The book is exhibited in the Archdiocesal Museum in Wrocław, and as of 2015 has been added to UNESCO 's " Memory of the World " list. The medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of

8976-413: The daughter of Hetman Jerzy Radziwiłł . The marriage was announced by the king himself on 2 February 1548 in Piotrków Trybunalski . The young and beautiful Barbara was despised by Queen Bona, who attempted to annul the marriage at any cost. The agitation was also abundant at Sigismund's first Sejm (parliament) sitting on 31 October 1548 where the deputies threatened to renounce their allegiance unless

9108-421: The day Sigismund and Barbara met, she complained of poor health, particularly stomach and abdominal pain. After the coronation her condition deteriorated rapidly. She was tormented by strong fever, diarrhea, nausea and lack of appetite. After careful observation by hired medics, a lump was discovered on her stomach filled with pus. Sigismund Augustus gravely despaired and sent for doctors and even folk healers from

9240-479: The disappearance of yers . Polish can have word-initial and word-medial clusters of up to four consonants, whereas word-final clusters can have up to five consonants. Examples of such clusters can be found in words such as bezwzględny [bɛzˈvzɡlɛndnɨ] ('absolute' or 'heartless', 'ruthless'), źdźbło [ˈʑd͡ʑbwɔ] ('blade of grass'), wstrząs [ˈfstʂɔw̃s] ('shock'), and krnąbrność [ˈkrnɔmbrnɔɕt͡ɕ] ('disobedience'). A popular Polish tongue-twister (from

9372-430: The distinction between regular penultimate and exceptional antepenultimate stress. Another class of exceptions is verbs with the conditional endings -by, -bym, -byśmy , etc. These endings are not counted in determining the position of the stress; for example, zro biłbym ('I would do') is stressed on the first syllable, and zro bi libyśmy ('we would do') on the second. According to prescriptive authorities ,

9504-531: The eastern parts of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth wrote Polish in the Arabic alphabet. The Cyrillic script is used to a certain extent today by Polish speakers in Western Belarus , especially for religious texts. The diacritics used in the Polish alphabet are the kreska (graphically similar to the acute accent ) over the letters ć, ń, ó, ś, ź and through the letter in ł ;

9636-552: The end of his life, the king was losing teeth and vigour, possibly due to tuberculosis . Antonio Maria Graziani recalls that Sigismund was unable to keep standing without a cane when greeting Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone . During spring 1572, Sigismund Augustus became feverish. Untreated tuberculosis made him feeble and impotent, but he was able to travel to his private retreat in Knyszyn . While at Knyszyn, he corresponded with his diplomats and nobles, highlighting that he

9768-420: The end of words (where devoicing occurs) and in certain consonant clusters (where assimilation occurs). For details, see Voicing and devoicing in the article on Polish phonology. Most Polish words are paroxytones (that is, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable of a polysyllabic word), although there are exceptions. Polish permits complex consonant clusters, which historically often arose from

9900-476: The entire country. Polish has traditionally been described as consisting of three to five main regional dialects: Silesian and Kashubian , spoken in Upper Silesia and Pomerania respectively, are thought of as either Polish dialects or distinct languages , depending on the criteria used. Kashubian contains a number of features not found elsewhere in Poland, e.g. nine distinct oral vowels (vs.

10032-426: The entire country. He personally tended to his sick wife despite her foul smell and dedicated himself when necessary; the king hoped to take Barbara to the hunting castle at Niepołomice and ordered to demolish the small city gate so her carriage could pass freely. However, Barbara died on 8 May 1551 in Kraków after continuous pain and agony. It was her dying wish that she'd be buried in Lithuania, her homeland. The body

10164-562: The epileptic attacks on 15 June 1545 at the age of 18. From the outset of his reign, Sigismund Augustus came into collision with the country's privileged nobility , who had already begun curtailing the power of the great families. The ostensible cause of the nobility's animosity to the King was his second marriage, secretly contracted before his accession to the throne, with the Lithuanian , Calvinist and former mistress, Barbara Radziwiłł ,

10296-712: The final defeat in the Livonian War would result in the country's incorporation into the Russian Tsardom . Furthermore, the Poles were reluctant to aid Lithuania without a quid pro quo . The most vocal opponent of the union was Sigismund's brother-in-law, Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł ( Lithuanian : Radvila Rudasis ), who viewed the agreement as "peaceful annexation of Lithuania" by Poland. He also resisted polonisation policies which forced ethnic Lithuanians to change their names and native language to Polish or Latin . As another war with Russia loomed, Sigismund Augustus pressed

10428-549: The first regular Polish postal service operating from Kraków to Venice , thus establishing Poczta Polska (Polish Post). All maintenance costs were borne by the Crown and the post was mostly managed by Italians or Germans. Additional couriers travelled between Kraków, Warsaw and Vilnius. Since 1562, the postal route also encompassed Vienna and cities in the Holy Roman Empire, which enabled continuous correspondence with

10560-467: The following table. The following digraphs and trigraphs are used: Voiced consonant letters frequently come to represent voiceless sounds (as shown in the tables); this occurs at the end of words and in certain clusters, due to the neutralization mentioned in the Phonology section above. Occasionally also voiceless consonant letters can represent voiced sounds in clusters. The spelling rule for

10692-486: The initial euphoria demonstrated by royal subjects, the marriage was unsuccessful from the very beginning. Sigismund Augustus did not find Elizabeth attractive and continued to have extramarital affairs with several mistresses, the most famous being Barbara Radziwiłł . Elizabeth was also known to be timid, meek and apprehensive due to strict upbringing. The young and garrulous king was also repulsed by Elizabeth's newly diagnosed epilepsy and subsequent seizures. Only Sigismund

10824-400: The king had venereal disease which caused him to be infertile . At 16, he also contracted malaria which further contributed to his inability of producing any offspring. By 1558 Sigismund had gout and since 1568 he also suffered from kidney stones , which triggered immense pain. He employed numerous medics, healers or even quack doctors and imported expensive ointments from Italy. By

10956-548: The language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than English , 0.25% of the US population, and 6% of the Polish-American population. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census (over 50%) were found in three states: Illinois (185,749), New York (111,740), and New Jersey (74,663). Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services (which has

11088-563: The last Master of the Order, was granted the newly established Duchy of Courland and Semigallia . Wilhelm was restored to his former position as archbishop on Sigismund's demand, with the Lutheran church order being enacted. The incorporation of Courland into the Polish sphere of influence created an alliance which threatened Russia's plans of expanding into the Baltic coast . Sigismund directed

11220-439: The letter y . The predominant stress pattern in Polish is penultimate stress – in a word of more than one syllable, the next-to-last syllable is stressed. Alternating preceding syllables carry secondary stress, e.g. in a four-syllable word, where the primary stress is on the third syllable, there will be secondary stress on the first. Each vowel represents one syllable, although the letter i normally does not represent

11352-470: The main arsenal of the crown. Sigismund Augustus was a passionate collector of jewels and gemstones . According to nuncio Bernardo Bongiovanni's relation, his collection was cached in 16 chests. Among the precious items in his possession was Charles V 's ruby of 80,000 scudos ' worth, as well as the Emperor's diamond medal with Habsburgs Eagle on one side and two columns with a sign Plus Ultra on

11484-409: The members of parliament (Sejm) for the union, gradually gaining more followers due to his persuasive abilities and auspicious diplomacy. The potential union agreement would lead to the eviction of Lithuanian landowners who opposed the transition of territory from multi-ethnic Lithuania to Poland. Such terms were causing an outrage among the most renowned members of Lithuanian upper classes, but Sigismund

11616-431: The middle aged and young speak vernaculars close to standard Polish, while the traditional dialects are preserved among older people in rural areas. First-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty recognizing the regional and social differences. The modern standard dialect , often termed as "correct Polish", is spoken or at least understood throughout

11748-462: The most beautiful of his countrywomen, Barbara Giza and Anna Zajączkowska but was unable to impregnate either of them. The Sejm was willing to legitimize, and acknowledge as Sigismund's successor, any male heir who might be born to him; however, the King remained childless. The King's marriage was a matter of great political import to Protestants and Catholics alike. The Polish Protestants hoped that he would divorce and remarry and thus bring about

11880-460: The most widely spoken variant of Polish across the country, and most dialects stopped being the form of Polish spoken in villages. Poland is one of the most linguistically homogeneous European countries; nearly 97% of Poland's citizens declare Polish as their first language . Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in areas which were once administered or occupied by Poland, notably in neighboring Lithuania , Belarus , and Ukraine . Polish

12012-540: The nation, often distrustful of the Germans . He also avoided serious complications and skirmishes with the powerful Turks. During Sigismund Augustus' reign, Livonia was in political turmoil. His father, Sigismund I, permitted Albert of Prussia to introduce the Protestant Reformation and secularize the southern part of the Teutonic Order State . Albert then established Europe's first Protestant state in

12144-580: The new bride. The treaty was renewed on 16 June 1538 in Wrocław by Johannes Dantiscus and the betrothal ceremony took place on 17 July 1538 in Innsbruck . Bona continued to lobby against the marriage and instead proposed Margaret of France to potentially form an alliance with the French against the Habsburgs . On 5 May 1543, Elizabeth's escorted convoy entered Kraków and was greeted with enthusiasm by both

12276-404: The new king repudiated Barbara. The nobles portrayed Barbara as an opportunistic prostitute that charmed the king for her own benefit. That perception was shared with Bona Sforza, who decisively eliminated all her rivals by any means to stay in power. The young monarch even considered abdicating . By 1550, when Sigismund summoned his second Sejm, the nobles had begun to be in his favor; the nobility

12408-400: The nobility. To avoid an armed rebellion, Sigismund was forced to form an alliance with his former father-in-law, Emperor Ferdinand I. This allowed for Barbara's coronation as Queen of Poland on 7 December 1550 by Primate Mikołaj Dzierzgowski . Queen Bona eventually succumbed to her son's demand and accepted the marriage sending a messenger in 1551 who informed Barbara of her decision. Since

12540-461: The nobles and the townsfolk. The same day 16-year-old Elizabeth married 22-year-old Sigismund Augustus, whom she met for the first time shortly before marriage vows. The ceremony was performed at the Wawel Cathedral and the wedding continued for two weeks. Bona began to plot against the new queen. As a result, the newly wedded couple decided to reside in Vilnius , far from the royal court. Despite

12672-473: The nobles in Poland–Lithuania in the 15th century. The history of Polish as a language of state governance begins in the 16th century in the Kingdom of Poland . Over the later centuries, Polish served as the official language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , Congress Poland , the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria , and as the administrative language in the Russian Empire 's Western Krai . The growth of

12804-405: The other hand, she was ambitious, intelligent, perceptive and had an exemplar taste in fashion. She always wore precious pearl necklaces when sitting for portraits. The mutual admiration between Sigismund and Barbara made the relationship "one of the greatest love affairs in Polish history". While still married to Elizabeth, Sigismund Augustus ordered the construction of a secret passage connecting

12936-598: The other side. In 1571, after the death of his nephew John Sigismund Zápolya , he inherited the Hungarian Crown used by some Hungarian monarchs. A Swedish Crown was also made for him. The Polish king treated those crowns as a family keepsake, and kept them in a private vault in the Tykocin Castle. He had also a sultan 's sword of 16,000 ducats ' worth, 30 precious horse trappings and 20 different private-use armours . The king's possession included

13068-673: The others being Czech orthography and Croatian orthography , the last of these being a 19th-century invention trying to make a compromise between the first two. Kashubian uses a Polish-based system, Slovak uses a Czech-based system, and Slovene follows the Croatian one; the Sorbian languages blend the Polish and the Czech ones. Historically, Poland's once diverse and multi-ethnic population utilized many forms of scripture to write Polish. For instance, Lipka Tatars and Muslims inhabiting

13200-401: The palatal sounds / ɕ / , / ʑ / , / tɕ / , / dʑ / and / ɲ / is as follows: before the vowel i the plain letters s, z, c, dz, n are used; before other vowels the combinations si, zi, ci, dzi, ni are used; when not followed by a vowel the diacritic forms ś, ź, ć, dź, ń are used. For example, the s in siwy ("grey-haired"), the si in siarka ("sulfur") and

13332-520: The previously Polish-ruled territories in the east that were annexed by the USSR , resulting in the present-day Polish-speaking communities in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, although many Poles were expelled from those areas to areas within Poland's new borders. To the east of Poland, the most significant Polish minority lives in a long strip along either side of the Lithuania - Belarus border. Meanwhile,

13464-589: The proposed union would lower their rank and status to an equivalent with petty nobility rather than wealthier Polish aristocracy. On the other hand, the unification would provide a strong alliance against Russian (Muscovite) attack from the east. Lithuania was ravaged by the Muscovite-Lithuanian Wars which endured for over 150 years. During the Second War , Lithuania lost 210,000 square miles (540,000 km ) of its territory to Russia, and

13596-540: The same applies to the first and second person plural past tense endings -śmy, -ście , although this rule is often ignored in colloquial speech (so zro bi liśmy 'we did' should be prescriptively stressed on the second syllable, although in practice it is commonly stressed on the third as zrobi li śmy ). These irregular stress patterns are explained by the fact that these endings are detachable clitics rather than true verbal inflections: for example, instead of ko go zoba czy liście? ('whom did you see?') it

13728-410: The series of affricate and palatal consonants that resulted from four Proto-Slavic palatalizations and two further palatalizations that took place in Polish. The full set of consonants, together with their most common spellings, can be presented as follows (although other phonological analyses exist): Neutralization occurs between voiced – voiceless consonant pairs in certain environments, at

13860-506: The six of standard Polish) and (in the northern dialects) phonemic word stress, an archaic feature preserved from Common Slavic times and not found anywhere else among the West Slavic languages . However, it was described by some linguists as lacking most of the linguistic and social determinants of language-hood. Many linguistic sources categorize Silesian as a regional language separate from Polish, while some consider Silesian to be

13992-657: The status of an independent ' city state '. 11 Polish privateers sent by Sigismund were eventually executed, which greatly angered the king. Poland then joined Denmark against Sweden for Baltic domination. The war ended as status quo ante bellum in 1570 with the Treaty of Stettin , which was signed by Bishop Martin Kromer on behalf of Sigismund Augustus. However, the ineffective conflict did have its input in establishing Poland's first registered naval fleet (Naval Commission) in 1568. Sigismund's most striking legacy may have been

14124-587: The stern and majestic Sigismund I the Old . Sigismund II possessed to a high degree the tenacity and patience that seem to have characterized all the Jagiellons , and he added to these qualities a dexterity and diplomatic finesse. No other Polish king seems to have so thoroughly understood the nature of the Polish Sejm and national assembly. Both the Austrian ambassadors and the papal legates testify to

14256-494: The stress normally becomes regular. For example, uniwersytet ( /uɲiˈvɛrsɨtɛt/ , 'university') has irregular stress on the third (or antepenultimate) syllable, but the genitive uniwersytetu ( /uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛtu/ ) and derived adjective uniwersytecki ( /uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛt͡skʲi/ ) have regular stress on the penultimate syllables. Loanwords generally become nativized to have penultimate stress. In psycholinguistic experiments, speakers of Polish have been demonstrated to be sensitive to

14388-443: The town was captured by Soviet Red Army on 18 July 1944. On the 60th anniversary of the massacre, Presidents Aleksander Kwaśniewski of Poland and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine unveiled a monument commemorating the event. Both presidents called for forgiveness and reconciliation, with Kuchma saying " In this place where Polish victims rest, on behalf of all Ukrainians who want peace and justice, I wish to express my deep sympathy to all

14520-443: The two had close contact and he assisted the monarch at most important occasions, including military maneuvers in Lithuania in 1567. Kochanowski was also present during the signing of Lublin Union in 1569. Sigismund was fond of foreign craft-makers and employed Italian goldsmiths, jewellers and medalists, very much like his father. One of the more renowned figures brought to Poland was Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio . In Italy, Caraglio

14652-402: The unification act on 4 July, and henceforth governed one of the largest and multicultural countries of 16th-century Europe. In comparison to his staunchly Catholic father, Sigismund Augustus paid little attention to the matters of faith and religion. Having a large number of mistresses before, during and after being married, he was viewed by the clergy as an adulterer and libertine . Sigismund

14784-526: The upper classes as it promoted democratic freedoms and called for rebellion against absolutism , which the privileged Polish nobility favoured. During the 1555 Sejm session in Piotrków , the nobles intensively discussed the rights of priests in the newly proposed Polish Church and demanded the abolition of celibacy . Some Catholic bishops were supportive of the concepts and acknowledged the need for uniting Poland, Lithuania, Prussia and their vassals under

14916-563: The vowel i is changed to y , e.g. Syria , Sybir , synchronizacja , Syrakuzy . The following table shows the correspondence between the sounds and spelling: Digraphs and trigraphs are used: Similar principles apply to / kʲ / , / ɡʲ / , / xʲ / and /lʲ/ , except that these can only occur before vowels, so the spellings are k, g, (c)h, l before i , and ki, gi, (c)hi, li otherwise. Most Polish speakers, however, do not consider palatalization of k, g, (c)h or l as creating new sounds. Except in

15048-443: The word, the phoneme / x / can be spelt h or ch , the phoneme / ʐ / can be spelt ż or rz , and / u / can be spelt u or ó . In several cases it determines the meaning, for example: może ("maybe") and morze ("sea"). In occasional words, letters that normally form a digraph are pronounced separately. For example, rz represents /rz/ , not / ʐ / , in words like zamarzać ("freeze") and in

15180-453: The wronged Poles, all those who suffered as a result of this disaster. We issue a strong condemnation of the violence committed against the Polish civilian population." — Pavlivka 50°37′10″N 24°27′44″E  /  50.61944°N 24.46222°E  / 50.61944; 24.46222 Zygmunt August Sigismund II Augustus ( Polish : Zygmunt II August , Lithuanian : Žygimantas Augustas ; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572)

15312-412: Was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania , the son of Sigismund I the Old , whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the last male monarch from the Jagiellonian dynasty . Sigismund was the only son of Italian-born Bona Sforza and Sigismund the Old. From the beginning he was groomed and extensively educated as a successor. In 1529 he

15444-415: Was inaugurated as Grand Duke of Lithuania and the ceremony was held in the Vilnius grand ducal palace . In 1530, the ten-year-old Sigismund Augustus was crowned by Primate Jan Łaski as co-ruler alongside his father, in accordance with the vivente rege law. Sigismund the Old hoped to secure his son's succession to the throne and maintain the Jagiellonian dynasty 's position in Poland. The move

15576-519: Was a town in the Wołyń Voivodeship inhabited by almost 2000 people, half of whom were Jewish and the remaining part mostly Polish and Ukrainian. The residents had lived peacefully together for the most part. At the beginning of WW2 in this region, the Soviet authorities deported primarily political figures as well as all Polish officials, civil servants, police, and Polish citizens who had fled from

15708-603: Was a tributary state of the Polish Crown, Sigismund Augustus, a Catholic, was forced to intervene in favour of Protestant Albert and his brother Wilhelm. In July 1557 the Polish forces left for Livonia. The armed intervention proved to be successful; the Catholic Livonians surrendered and signed the Treaty of Pozvol on 14 September 1557. The agreement placed most Livonian territories under Polish protection and de facto became part of Poland. Gotthard Kettler ,

15840-493: Was also affected as the trade route from the Baltic ran through Gdańsk and along the Vistula river to the southern province of Lesser Poland . Gdańsk, which was privileged with its own army and government, resisted against Sigismund's order of sending privateers and creating the first Polish Admiralty in their city. Most of the deputies in the city council were merchants and tradesmen of German descent or Protestants who were either politically leaning towards Sweden or fighting for

15972-642: Was also reasonably tolerant towards minorities and supported nobles of different faith and nationality to be part of the national assembly, the Sejm. He continued his father's policies, but was more accepting of the Protestant Reformation in Poland (only to the status of a minority religion). Several magnates converted to Calvinism or Lutheranism during the Reformation started by Martin Luther and John Calvin , most notably Stanisław Zamoyski , Jan Zamoyski , Mikołaj Rej , Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski , Johannes

16104-628: Was crowned vivente rege while his father was still alive. Sigismund Augustus continued a tolerance policy towards minorities and maintained peaceful relations with neighbouring countries, with the exception of the Northern Seven Years' War which aimed to secure Baltic trade. Under his patronage, culture flourished in Poland; he was a collector of tapestries from the Low Countries and collected military memorabilia as well as swords, armours and jewellery. Sigismund Augustus' rule

16236-604: Was crucial to silence the members of nobility who were against the Jagiellons and viewed the action as a step towards absolutism . The law was officially abolished by the Henrician Articles , or the new constitution adopted between the nobles and the newly elected King Henry of Valois in 1573. Sigismund Augustus began his reign as the Grand Duke of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1544 and initially opposed

16368-576: Was decisive and ruthless in this matter. Moreover, the personal union between the two countries created by the marriage of Jadwiga with Jogaila in 1385 was not entirely constitutional. Being the last male member of the Jagiellons, childless Sigismund sought to preserve his dynasty's legacy. The newly proposed constitutional union would create one large Commonwealth state, with one elected monarch who would simultaneously reign over both domains. The initial Sejm negotiations on unity in January 1569, near

16500-458: Was feeling well and hoped to recover. Great Marshal Jan Firlej denied these claims and reported that the king was bleeding severely due to consumption and was troubled by pain in the chest and lumbar . Sigismund died in Knyszyn on 7 July 1572 at 6 in the afternoon, surrounded by a group of senators and envoys. The official cause of death given by the medics was consumption. His body placed on

16632-420: Was met with Sigismund the Old's strong disapproval, who hoped for a lineage of Sigismunds on the Polish throne. Consequently, it was established that the child would bear two names to settle the conflict. The tradition of adopting Augustus as a second or middle name was also observed during the coronation of Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski who became King Stanisław II Augustus in 1764. In 1529, Sigismund Augustus

16764-473: Was one of the first reproductive printmakers . In Poland, Sigismund tasked him with the production of cameos , medallions, coins and jewellery. Numerous medals and roundels from this period feature the last members of the Jagiellonian dynasty . When Sigismund's mother Bona died in 1557, Sigismund had to collect his inheritance from the Italian estates. On 18 October 1558, the king granted the right to arrange

16896-746: Was poisoned. Sigismund finally wedded Catherine of Austria , but remained childless throughout his life. Sigismund Augustus was the last male member of the Jagiellonian dynasty . Following the death of his sister Anna in 1596 the Jagiellonian dynasty came to an end. Sigismund Augustus was born in Kraków on 1 August 1520 to Sigismund I the Old and his wife, Bona Sforza of Milan . His paternal grandparents were Casimir IV Jagiellon , King of Poland, and Elizabeth of Austria . Sigismund's maternal grandparents, Gian Galeazzo Sforza and Isabella of Aragon , daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples , both ruled

17028-424: Was rebuked by Marshal Piotr Kmita Sobieński , who accused them of attempting to unduly diminish the legislative prerogatives of the Polish Crown. Furthermore, Bona was removed from Wawel and sent to Mazovia where she established her own small courtly entourage. Unlike her predecessor, Barbara was disliked by the royal court and led a more secluded life with Sigismund Augustus, who was deeply in love with her. On

17160-467: Was settled with colonists from Poland proper resulting in systematic polonisation of these lands. When the Kalmar Union between Sweden and Denmark was disbanded in 1523 due to Swedish resentment of Danish tyranny, Baltic trade became threatened. The port city of Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland's wealthiest city, faced difficulties due to ongoing conflict on the sea and piracy . The capital, Kraków ,

17292-408: Was then involved in several relationships with mistresses, the most famous being Barbara Radziwiłł , who became Sigismund's second wife and Queen of Poland in spite of his mother's disapproval. The marriage was deemed scandalous and was fiercely opposed by the royal court and the nobility . Barbara died five months after her coronation, presumably due to ill health, however, rumours circulated that she

17424-411: Was transported to Vilnius Cathedral , where she was finally buried on 23 June next to Elizabeth of Austria. Her death was a major blow to Sigismund; he often attended her coffin on foot while being transported to Vilnius in hot weather. Sigismund also became more serious and reserved; he avoided balls, temporarily renounced his mistresses and dressed in black until his death. The cause of Barbara's death

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