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A. D.

1300.

deposed on account of his vices. No sooner was the throne vacant, than it was offered by the unanimous voice of the people to Winceslaus, king of Bohemia, who commenced his reign by persecuting with rigour the deposed monarch and his adherents. The Poles, however, becoming disgusted with his mal-administration, and his preference of the Bohemians, permitted Uladislaus to re- A.D. ascend the throne, on his promising to re- 1305. form his conduct, and to behave himself suitably to his station. He afterwards acted as a wise and prudent king, and caused the nation to forget the errors of his youth.

His son Casimir III. surnamed the

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Great, succeeded him in the throne. His 1333. father had advised him to place no confidence in the promises of the Teutonic knights; and Casimir soon found reason to adopt his sage counsel. But he defended his frontiers against them on the side of Prussia, and also repelled them on that of Russia. He formed a new code of laws, which he committed to writing; for, before the time of Casimir, the Poles had only oral traditions. In embarrassing cases, the formula of an oath was delineated on paper, and delivered into the hands of the party who was to pronounce it. If, in reading it, he hesitated, or made a mistake, he was immediately considered as guilty; but, in any event, both parties paid large fines to the judges. Casimir resolved to reform these abuses, and ordered that the whole of the costs should fall on him whose obstinacy, injustice, or desire of tyrannizing over his fellow-subjects, had occasioned the law-suit. This prince was a model of integrity, wis

dom

dom and prudence; but it is a reproach to his memory, that he divorced his queen, and elevated in her stead an artful and intriguing mis

tress.

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Casimir had been careful to continue the Polish succession in the family of 1370. Piastus, and adopted such measures that, after his death, Lewis, king of Hungary, his nephew by his sister, was declared by the diet sovereign of Poland. During the reign of the late monarch, Lewis had sworn to observe the pacta conventa, which greatly restricted his authority. His partiality to the Hungarians excited the jealousy of the Poles, who, nevertheless, quietly acquiesced in his administration.

On the death of Lewis, the states as

A. D. sembled and elected his daughter Hed

1384.

wiga, on condition that she should not marry without their approbation. She was scarcely seated on the throne before several neighbouring princes sent to demand her in marriage. William of Austria attended in person, and captivated the princess by the beauty of his figure, his magnificence, and polite address; but the diet refused to consent to a union,, which might render Poland a dependent province. Jagello, duke of Lithuania, also demanded the queen in marriage by a splendid embassy, and his proposals seemed so advantageous, that, notwithstanding Hedwiga's predilection for William of Austria, the Poles obliged her to bestow her hand on the Lithuanian. The nuptials were celebrated with the greatest magnificence; Jagello, according to agreement, was baptized in the Christian faith, and assumed the name of Uladislaus; and the duchy of Lithuania was for ever

annexed

annexed to the crown of Poland, but not as a dependent province.

CHAP. II.

From the Extinction of the Family of Piastus, to the Abdication of the Throne by John Casimir.

ULADISLAUS

IV.* no sooner as- A. D.. cended the throne of Poland, than 1388. he proceeded to effect a change in the religious sentiments of the Lithuanians, who were at this time Pagans, and worshipped fire, trees, ser、 pents, and other reptiles, in their obscure forests, and who, it is thought, sacrificed human victims. He killed their serpents, cut down their forests, extinguished their sacred fires, destroyed their temples, and demonstrated to them the impotence of their gods. At first they expected that the signal vengeance of heaven would be inflicted on the perpetrator of these acts; but seeing that he received no injury, they readily embraced Christianity, were baptized in the Christian faith, and instructed in the doctrines of Jesus.

Uladislaus having left a great number of priests in Lithuania, returned to Poland, and constituted his brother Skirgello, viceroy of the duchy. This last measure he had cause to regret. Skirgello was cruel, ambitious, and of

* By some he is called the fourth, by others the fifth, of that name; a circumstance that considerably embarrasses the history of his predecessors. VOL. XXII.

P

dissolute

dissolute manners. The king associated with him his cousin Vitowda, a prince of an amiable character; and also joined to them, in the government of the duchy, his brother Swidrigello. The different interests and designs of these princes occasioned great disturbances in LithuThe ania, which extended to Poland itself.

Teutonic knights, availing themselves of these disorders, made successful irruptions into the country, and wrested from Poland many of its provinces. Uladislaus having raised a numerous and formidable army, penetrated into Prussia, and, engaging the knights in a general battle, obtained a signal victory. Had he pursued this advantage, it is probable he might have given a fatal blow to the order; but certain cabals that were formed at his court induced him to conclude a treaty of peace with the knights. After a prosperous and glorious reign, Uladislaus paid the last debt to nature, and was lamented by his subjects, who equally admired the qualities of his head and the virtues of his heart.

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1435.

On the death of the late king, his son Uladislaus VI. who was then in the ninth year of his age, succeeded to the crown of Poland. This prince had scarcely ascended the throne of his father, when the Tartars made an irruption into Poland, and desolated the country. A few years after, the ambition of the Turkish emperor Amurath induced him to invade Hungary, which engaged the Poles in a war with that monarch. Uladislaus was SO earnest to signalize his courage, against the infidels, that he took the command of the army before he had attained the age at which the

con

constitution of the state allowed him to assume the reins of government. In conjunction with the valiant Hunniades, he defeated Amurath, and obliged him to sue for peace, which was concluded by mutual oaths; and the Hungarians, charmed with the valour of the youthful monarch, conferred on him their crown.

The pope's legate, who had resided with Uladislaus during the whole of this religious war insisted that this was a favourable opportunity for humbling the Ottoman power. He instigated the king, therefore, to a rupture of the treaty, and absolved him from the tie of his oath. The consequence was a sanguinary war; and the famous battle of Varna, in which the Polish monarch, who was then only niueteen years of age, fell covered, indeed, with some glory, but sullied with the disgrace of perjury, and having scarcely worn the two diadems, except to feel their thorns. By his side perished the cardinal legate, the person really guilty of the perjury, since he had abused the credulity of the young prince, and impelled him to violate his oath.

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1445.

Immediately after the unfortunate battle of Varna, Casimir III. brother of the late king, was elevated to the regal dignity. This prince defended his dominions from the Turks, by covering the frontier provinces with garrisons. The tyranny of the Teutonic knights had rendered their government insupportable to the Prussians, who took up armis, and were protected by Casimir. The king defeated the knights in a general engagement, and compelled them to conclude a treaty of peace,

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