Sigismund II Augustus of Poland
| Sigismund II Augustus | |
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Sigismund II Augustus. Painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger.
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King of Poland Grand Duke of Lithuania |
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| Reign | 1 April 1548 – 7 July 1572 |
| Predecessor | Sigismund I the Old |
| Successor | Henry III (in 1573) |
| Born |
1 August 1520 Kraków, Poland |
| Died | 7 July 1572 (aged 51) Knyszyn, Poland |
| Burial | 10 February 1574 Wawel Cathedral, Kraków |
| Spouses |
Elisabeth of Austria (m. 1543–1545; her death) Barbara Radziwiłł (m. 1547–1551; her death) Catherine of Austria (m. 1553–1572; her death) |
| Dynasty | Jagiellon |
| Father | Sigismund I the Old |
| Mother | Bona Sforza |
| Signature |  |
Sigismund II Augustus (Polish: Zygmunt II August, Ruthenian: Żygimont II Awgust, Lithuanian: Žygimantas II Augustas, German: Sigismund II. August) (1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. Married three times, the last of the Jagiellons remained childless, and through the Union of Lublin introduced a free elective monarchy.
From the outset of his reign, Sigismund came into collision with the country's nobility, who had already begun curtailing the power of the great families. The ostensible cause of the nobility's animosity to the King was his second marriage, secretly contracted before his accession to the throne, with (said to be beautiful) Lithuanian Calvinist, Barbara Radziwiłł, daughter of Hetman Jerzy Radziwiłł.
So violent was the agitation at Sigismund's first sejm (31 October 1548) that the deputies threatened to renounce their allegiance unless the King repudiated his wife Barbara. He refused and won the day.
By 1550, when Sigismund summoned his second sejm, a reaction had begun in his favor, and the nobility was rebuked by Piotr Kmita, Marshal of the sejm, who accused them of attempting to unduly diminish the legislative prerogatives of the crown.
The death of Queen Barbara, five months after her coronation (7 December 1550), under distressing circumstances, compelled Sigismund to contract a third, purely political union with his first cousin, the Austrian archduchess Catherine, also the sister of his first wife, Elisabeth, who had died within a year of her marriage to him, before his accession.
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