Władysław II Jagiełło

Jogaila (; c. 1352/1362 – 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło , was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and King of Poland from 1386 until his death. As Grand Duke, he ruled Lithuania from 1377 to 1381 and from 1382 to 1401, at which time he became the Supreme Duke of Lithuania in exchange for naming his cousin Vytautas as the new Grand Duke. Władysław II initially served as King of Poland alongside his wife Jadwiga until her death in 1399, and then the sole ruler until his own death in 1434.

Raised a Lithuanian polytheist, he converted to Catholicism in 1386 and baptized as Ladislaus in Kraków, married the young Queen Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. and became one of the most influential dynasties in late medieval and early modern Europe. He was the son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania of the Gediminid dynasty, and his second wife, Uliana of Tver, who was the daughter of the Yaroslavichi prince Aleksandr of Tver. Joagaila's name had a meaning of more courageous and superior than others. The young Prince spent most of his early time in Vilnius, at his father's manor. Jagiełło's succession, however, soon placed this system of dual rule under strain. According to the Teutonic Order's testimonial, he could not read nor write, and had to listen to others reading for him.

Baptism and marriage

Jogaila's Russian mother Uliana of Tver urged him to marry Sofia, daughter of Prince Dmitri of Moscow, who required him first to convert to Orthodoxy. That option, however, was unlikely to halt the crusades against Lithuania by the Teutonic Knights, who regarded Orthodox Christians as schismatics and little better than heathens. The nobles of Lesser Poland made this offer to Władysław II Jagiełło for many reasons. They wanted to neutralise the dangers posed by Lithuania itself and to secure the fertile territories of Galicia–Volhynia.

Jogaila was officially elected as King on 2 February 1386 in Lublin. He was duly baptised at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków on 15 February 1386 and from then on formally used the name "Władysław" or Latin versions of it. The marriage took place three days later, and on 4 March 1386, Władysław II Jagiełło was crowned the King of Poland by archbishop de Gniezno Bodzanta. He was the first Lithuanian to be crowned Polish monarch. The royal baptism triggered the conversion of most of Jogaila's court and noblemen, as well as mass baptisms in Lithuanian rivers, a beginning of the final Christianization of Lithuania. Though the ethnic Lithuanian nobility were the main converts to Catholicism — both paganism and the Orthodox rite remained strong among the peasants — the king's conversion and its political implications created lasting repercussions for the history of both Lithuania and Poland.

The Union of Vilnius and Radom of 1401 officially declared Vytautas the Grand Duke as co-ruler under Władysław II's overlordship while assuring the succession of the Lithuanian throne to the heirs of Władysław II rather than those of Vytautas: should Władysław II die without heirs, the Lithuanian boyars were to elect a new monarch. The uprising, which began in May 1409, at first provoked little reaction from the Knights, who had not yet consolidated their rule in Samogitia by building castles; but by June their diplomats were busy lobbying Władysław's court at Oborniki, warning his nobles against Polish involvement in a war between Lithuania and the Order. As a result of the Polish–Lithuanian diplomacy, the council, though scandalised by Włodkowic's questioning of the legitimacy of the monastic state, denied the Order's request for a further crusade and instead entrusted the conversion of the Samogitians to Poland–Lithuania.

The Jagiełło Oak, an ancient tree in Białowieża Forest, is named in honour of the fact that he initiated the tradition of royal hunting in the area.

In 2021, asteroid was officially named as Jogaila (the Lithuanian language variant of his name).

Gallery

Family tree