Lewis still continued to reside in Hungary, and took little care of the government of Poland; hence arose various tumults and petty rebellions, and upon the Poles sending a deputation to him to desire him to come and reside among them, he excused himself by saying that the air of Poland did not agree with him; but at the same time he appointed the duke of Oppelen to be governor of that kingdom, and gave him ample powers to enable him to discharge that important office. But the Polish nobility could by no means bear a fellow subject to rule over them; and sent an embassy to Lewis, to tell him that they were willing to obey his majesty, but that they never would consent to be governed by the duke of Oppelen. Lewis having considered of this request, and fearing, if he continued the duke in his government it might produce discontents that might break out into rebellion, which would give him some trouble to appease, he granted them their request, and immediately re-called the duke of Oppelen out of Poland to the great grief of the duke, and the great joy of the Poles. Lewis found that the religious houses, and the inferior clergy of Poland still refused to pay the Paraldné; and upon this, he sent strict orders into Poland to oblige them to pay their proportions as well as his other subjects; but Florianus bishop of Cracow went to Buda, and there had the good fortune to persuade the king to relinquish his demands, and from that time the tax was never pretended to be collected upon the clergy. In the month of December 1378, the emperor Charles the fourth, died at Prague leaving two sons behind him, the eldest of whom was named Vinceslaus, and was king of Bohemia, and the youngest was Sigismond, marquis of Brandenburgh, who had married Mary the eldest daughter of Lewis, king of Hungary and Poland. In the year 1381, I find there was a great assembly of Poles convened at Buda in Hungary, the reason of this meeting was, the complaints of the clergy against the nobility of Poland, and Lewis had declared that he would adjust their differences in this assembly. In which, however, nothing was done except the naming a regency consisting of the bishop of Cracow, the castellan of Cracow, and the Palatin of Calish for the future government of Poland; but all employments that should be vacant (except some few which Lewis reserved to himself) were to be in the disposal of the bishop alone. It was in the year 1382, that Lewis finding himself very infirm ordered a general assembly of the Poles to be held at Zwolen, a town in Hungary; and at that place he produced his son-in-law Sigismond, marquis of Brandenburgh, and son to the late emperor Charles the fourth, who was at that time 14 years old, and declared to the Poles, that he had married his eldest daughter Mary with that prince with whom he had given the kingdom of Poland for her por tion; after he had said this, he obliged the whole assembly to swear fealty to Sigismond as to their lawful sovereign, which the Poles accordingly did. Then Lewis let them know that he intended sending Sigismond immediately into Poland with a large Hungarian army to suppress all the disorders in that kingdom, and to fix his residence there; and all this being done, Lewis dissolved the assembly, and began to make preparations for Sigismond's march into Poland. |