Alexander I Jagiellon
| Alexander I Jagiellon | |
|---|---|
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Engraving of Alexander, 1521
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| Grand Duke of Lithuania | |
| Reign | 30 July 1492 – 19 August 1506 |
| Coronation | 30 July 1492 in Vilnius Cathedral |
| Predecessor | Casimir IV Jagiellon |
| Successor | Sigismund I the Old |
| King of Poland | |
| Reign | 12 December 1501 – 19 August 1506 |
| Coronation | 12 December 1501 in Wawel Cathedral |
| Predecessor | John I Albert |
| Successor | Sigismund I the Old |
| Born |
5 August 1461 Kraków, Poland |
| Died | 19 August 1506 (aged 45) Vilnius, Lithuania |
| Burial | Vilnius Cathedral, Vilnius, Lithuania (1506) |
| Spouse | Helena of Moscow |
| Dynasty | Jagiellon |
| Father | Casimir IV Jagiellon |
| Mother | Elisabeth Habsburg of Hungary |
| Signature |  |
Alexander I Jagiellon (Polish: Aleksander Jagiellończyk; Lithuanian: Aleksandras Jogailaitis) (5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jagiellon. He was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania on the death of his father (1492), and King of Poland on the death of his brother John I Albert (1501).
Alexander was born as son of the King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland and Elisabeth Habsburg of Hungary, daughter of the King Albert of Hungary. Alexander's shortage of funds immediately made him subservient to the Polish Senate and nobility (szlachta), who deprived him of control of the mint (then one of the most lucrative sources of revenue for the Polish kings), curtailed his prerogatives, and generally endeavored to reduce him to a subordinate position. For want of funds, Alexander was unable to resist the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights or prevent Grand Duke of Muscovy Ivan III from ravaging Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Tatars. The most the Grand Duke of Lithuania could do was to garrison Smolensk and other strongholds and employ his wife Helena, the Tsar's daughter, to mediate a truce between his father-in-law and himself after the disastrous Battle of Vedrosha (1500). In the terms of the truce, Lithuania had to surrender about a third of its territory to the nascent expansionist Russian state.
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