| dc.description.abstract | Almost from the beginnings of his reign Sigismund III tried to create the Royalist
Party. The conflict with the mighty Crown Chancellor Jan Zamoyski led to the
opposition the main architect of king's election in 1587. In the beginning it was
Anna Vasa - his own sister - and a group of Swedes who came with a young king
to his new Fatherland who played a decisive role in the environment of the ruler.
The men of the great influence on the royal court were also Jesuits from the king's
intimate circle. It was very soon, however, that Sigismund realized that in his rule
in the Polish Republic he had to lean on the group of loyal magnates from Poland
and Lithuania.
In this article it was given a detailed analysis of the corporate body of laic and
ecclesiastical monarch's favorites. In this group we can find without exception men
who played main roles in the history of the Polish Republic. It is enough to call
the names of: Andrzej Bobola. Hieronim Gostomski. Zygmunt Myszkowski, Feliks
Kryski, Mikołaj Wolski, Stanisław Żółkiewski, Lew Sapieha, Albrycht Stanisław Duke
Radziwiłł, Bernard Maciejowski, Maciej Pstrokoński, Marcin Szyszkowski, Wawrzyniec
Gembicki, Andrzej Lipski and Jakub Zadzik. They all were men of exceptional
education, knowledge of foreign countries and command of foreign languages. All
of them were zealous Catholics. Almost all of them were friends and protectors of
Jesuits. To king's favorites were also given most important State offices and rich
Crown and Church lands. The majority of his favorites served as diplomats in the
king's and State's service as well. What is more, the corporate body of Sigismund
III's favorites was featured by a great internal solidarity. It is true of course that
sometimes there was a lot of animosity among the members of this circle. It had
never led, however, to any dangerous conflicts which could have disintegrated the
whole group of king's favorites. It is worthy to say too, that in the group of laic
favorites of Sigismund III the promotions of only four it's members bore fruit and
gave the Senate promotions to their sons in the future. Also in the group of
ecclesiastical favorites of Sigismund III only four Bishops were able to acquire places
in the Senate for the members of their own families. Another interesting detail is
that the majority of Sigismund Ill's favorites died before their protector. During the
reign of Vladislaus IV only the youngest continued their careers namely - Jakub
Zadzik, Kasper Denhoff and Albrycht Stanisław Duke Radziwiłł. The last from the
old guard - Lew Sapieha - died in July 1633.
Finally, it is worthy to remark that in the late years of Sigismund III's reign
the more and more influent person on the Royal Court was the second king's wife
Constance of Austria. For all this time the influence and importance gained also
the form mistress of the Royal Couple's children - Urszula Meierin. Another very
important connotation is that introvertical, silent and haughty king enclosed himself
with men, who could not gain the sympathy and esteem in the eyes of the majority
of nobility and magnates. The effect of this was the crump of almost all king's
political initiatives both in the internal and international policy.
The separated by the Author corporate body of the oppositionists was divided
into five groups. The first group consisted of the zealous followers of Archduke
Maksymilian during the election of 1587. The majority of them could not approve
the reign of Sigismund till the end. It was this way that stopped and finished their
careers. The second group consisted of the followers of Crown Chancellor Jan Zamoyski.
Pushed back from the Royal Court he had to find support for his policy among the
nobility and his magnate friends. Having gathered the big private fortune and a lot
of Crown lands during the reign of Stefan Batory he became a great magnate almost
independent from the king's will. Among his closest followers there were very influent
magnates - Stanisław Żółkiewski (future favorite) and Mikołaj Zebrzydowski. With
the Chancellor's Party cooperated the leader of Lithuanian dissidents - Krzysztof
Duke Radziwiłł ''Thunderbolt'' as well as the leader of Orthodox believers Konstanty
Wasyl Duke Ostrogski and the leader of Crown dissidents Andrzej Leszczyński. All
of them were rich magnates from the old and influent families. Apart from that we
have to say a word about the leaders of Sandomierz Rebellion (Rokosz) - Janusz
Duke Radziwiłł, Zygmunt Grudziński, Jan Szczęsny Herburt, Stanisław Stadnicki
and Piotr Gorajski. And finally, the last group of the oppositionists which was
analyzed in this article was corporate body consisted of magnates opposite to the
king's policy during last years of his reign: Jerzy Duke Zbaraski, Krzysztof Duke
Zbaraski, Rafał Leszczyński and Krzysztof Duke Radziwiłł.
In the case of the magnates' oppositionists, the king's disgrace could usually
stop or only slow down their political careers. For the oppositionists from the middle
nobility the same disgrace meant the political and property disaster. Also all
oppositionists without any exception received usually the Crown lands less rich if
we compare them to the Crown lands gained by the king's favorites. It is worthy
to remark too, that to the end of the reign of Sigismond III there were plans of his
deposition and put on the throne a candidate most convenient for the opposition.
We also have to say that among the oppositionists we could not find any representatives
of the Episcopacy. The Bishops properly saw in the king the supporter and protector
of the Church. Just to sum up. almost all of the oppositionists gained the popularity
during nobility's assemblies, sejmiki and the Diet (Sejm). While the favorites of the
king were unpopular and disliked in the country. the oppositionists were usually
very popular and adored by the mass of the nobility. | pl_PL |
