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 646 POLAND ferred from the former to the latter. Livonia, conquered by Sigismund Augustus from the knights sword-bearers, and defended against Ivan the Terrible of Muscovy, remained a com- mon duchy. Warsaw in Masovia was chosen to be the regular seat of the diet. The pow- er, prosperity, and opulence of the state ap- proached their height. Toleration and hospi- tality attracted foreigners of all sects, Luther- ans, Calvinists, and Socinians, while western Europe was the scene of internecine religious strifes. The population of Poland was doubled under the two Sigismunds. With Sigismund Augustus ended the male line of Jagellon (1572). During the interregnum which now fol- lowed, the cardinal rights of the nation were established, each elective head being required to enter into a regular covenant with it and to take the oath of fidelity to the pacta conventa. He was bound to convoke the diet every two years, to have a permanent council consisting of senators and deputies, to respect the rights of the dissidents, not to declare war or to send ambassadors abroad without the consent of the estates, and not to marry without that of the senate. An infraction of the compact was to absolve the people from allegiance. A diet of convocation, assembled by the archbishop of Gnesen as primate, preceded the diet of election, which was held on the eld of Wola before Warsaw, every nobleman having an in- dividual and equal elective vote. The first choice fell upon the most unworthy candidate, the profligate Henry of Valois, duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX. of France. A splendid embassy escorted the duke from Paris, and a splendid coronation took place at Cracow, in 1574 ; but the effeminate prince and the hardy nation were soon heartily disgusted with each other; and after a few months, having re- ceived the news of the death of Charles, he se- cretly ran off to France to succeed him as Hen- ry III. The emperor Maximilian II. appeared as candidate ; but John Zamojski proposed to give the crown to Anna Jagellon, a sister of Sigismund Augustus, choosing for her hus- band Stephen Bathori, prince of Transylvania, and his advice prevailed (1575). This Tran- sylvanian was probably the ablest monarch Po- land ever had. A zealous Catholic himself, he was animated by a spirit of toleration toward others, and as a patron of science and friend of education founded numerous institutions, among others the university of Wilna, which he intrusted to the Jesuits. He reformed the judiciary, strengthened the military forces of the country, organized the Cossacks of the lower Dnieper as guardians of the S. E. fron- tier, and in a war against Russia humiliated Ivan and conquered Polotzk. His principal adviser and right arm was Zamojski, who uni- ted the dignities of chancellor, castellan of Cracow, and hetman or commander-in- chief. Stephen's reign closed the period of Poland's greatest power and prosperity. The reign of Sigismund Vasa (1587-1632), whose Catholic zeal cost him his hereditary Swedish crown, was distinguished by the achievements of the great commanders Zamojski, Chodkiewicz, and Zolkiewski, in wars with the Swedes, Rus- sians, and Turks, but by no favorable results. In the wars with Charles IX. and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Livonia was lost, the Po- lish fleet on the Baltic destroyed, and a part of Prussia given up by a truce in 1629. In internal affairs Sigismund was not more suc- cessful ; the Greeks and other dissidents com- plained, conspired, or rebelled, the regular army extorted its arrears by mutiny, and the royal dignity was more than once humiliated. His son, Ladislas IV. (1632-'48), was success- ful abroad, but had to submit to further limi- tations of the regal authority. The dominant class, the turbulent warrior brotherhood, now exercised its sway in every direction, tyran- nically guiding the king, prohibiting superior titles, entirely excluding the non-nobles from all legislative influence, and more and more bur- dening and degrading the peasantry. Similar oppression, as well as religious persecution, was now begun against the Cossacks, which at the time of Ladislas's death resulted in a dreadful rising under Chmielnicki, who, after a desolating war, finally subjected the rebel- lious warriors to the czar of Moscow. This war and defection was only one of the calam- ities which befell the brother and successor of Ladislas, the religious and brave but fickle John (II.) Casimir (1648-'68). The chief sources of misfortune were legislative anarchy, culmina- ting in the liberum veto, or the right of a single deputy to prevent or annul the action of the diet, internal dissensions, and the readiness of neighboring powers to profit by them, which made John Casimir prophetically predict in the diet the future dismemberment of the coun- try by Brandenburg, Austria, and Russia. In his own reign, simultaneously assaulted by the Russians and Cossacks, Charles Gustavus of Sweden and his ally the great elector of Bran- denburg, and George Rak6czy of Transylva- nia, Poland was on the brink of ruin ; War- saw, Cracow, Wilna, and Lemberg all fell into the hands of enemies; the king was deserted, and fled to Silesia. But a confederation for defence was formed by the Potockis and other patriots ; heroic efforts were made, John Cas- imir returned, the king of Denmark proved a useful ally, and Czarniecki was victorious against all enemies. Peace was conquered, but at great sacrifices. Ducal Prussia was definite- ly ceded to Brandenburg, almost all Livonia to Sweden, and Smolensk, Severia, Tcherni- gov, and Ukraine E. of the Dnieper to Rus- sia. Poland was half a desert. John Casimir, despairing of the future, resigned. Michael Korybut Wisniowiecki was elected his succes- sor, and almost compelled to accept the crown. The hetman (commander-in-chief) John Sobi- eski, who had routed the Moslems at Kho- tin (1673), was elected on his death. Wars with the Turks filled his reign. In 1683 he