Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/268

* JOHN. 242 JOHN. its suzerainty over East Prussia. Peace was made with Sweden at Oliva in ICGO. By the Treaty ol Andrussovo (ItiOT) the Polish Kinjr ceded White and Red Russia and the L'kraineeast of the DnieiMT to Russia. Broken hy misfortune, John alnlieatcd at the Diet of Warsaw. September 16, IOCS, and retired to France. He died at Nevers, December 12, 1672. See Poland. JOHN III., SOBIESKI ( 162406). King of Po- land from 1GT4 to 1C!)6. and one of the greatest warriors of the seventeenth century. Ue wa9 born at OlesUo, Galicia, June 2, 1624, and was educated with great care, together with his brother Mark, by his father. James Sobieski. Castellan of Ciacow, a man distinguished in the civil and military life of Polaml. Tlic brothers traveled in France. England. Italy, and (iermany. until their father's death recalled them home in 1648. Poland was then on the decline and in- volved in constant wars with Sweden, Branden- burg, Russia, the Tatars, the Turks, and the Cossacks. The Sobieskis, as became their rank and training, entered the military service. Hark fell in battle against the Cossacks; .John dis- tinguished himself by his valor, and became the most efficient Polish leader of iiis time. He be- cajiie grand marshal in 160.5. and commander- in-chief of the Polish forces and Waywode of Cra- cow in 1667. On Xovember 11. 1673. he defeated the Turks in the great battle of Khotin in Bes- sarabia. After the death of King Michael Wis- niowiecki( 167:5)he was unanimously elected King of Poland (May 21. 1671). Ho turned from the French alliance, which seemed cemented by his election, to that of Austria because of a pique on the part of his wife, and when the Turks besieged Vienna in 16S3 .John hastened to its relief with 20,000 Polish troops. Near "ienna he was joined by the Duke of Lorraine and the Imperial troops, and on September 12th the combined army of 70,- 000 assailed the Turkish forces under Kara Mus- tapha in their camp around Vienna. The enemy, whose numbers are estimated at 275,000 men, were overwhelmingly defeated and driven back to the Raab. SoI)ieski was received with acclaim by the Viennese, but the Em|)eror Leopold showed strange ingratitude in his treatment of the de- liverer and of the Polish army. Sobieski became the hero of Christendom, but this was the climax of his career. He was hamtjered by the wretched politics of the aristocratic Polish Republic and by the intrigues of foreign parties in his Court, and the later years of his life were full of dis- appointment. He died of apoplexy June 17. 1696. John Sobieski was not only a statesman and war- rior, but a patron of science and literature. Ilis constant wars, however, prevented that attention to the internal condition of Poland which its critical situation urgently required. He had. too, many of the faults of the high Polish nobility, and he was too much under the influence of his wife, an intriguing and frivolous woman. Con- sult: Tatham. John Sohiesl-i (Oxford. 1881). the Lothian prize essay at Oxford in that year; Dupont. Mrmoircs pour servir a I'hiatoire clc Hohieski (Warsaw. 188.5). by a French officer in the Polish sen'ice under Sobieski ; Salvandy, Uistoire de Pologne avant et sotLi le roi Jean Sobieski (2 vols., new ed.. Paris. 1855) ; Coyer. Ui.itotre de Jean Sohieski (Amsterdam. 1761 and 1783) ; Waliszewski, Arta. extracts from the for- eign archives of France in regard to the rela- tions of Sobieski with that country (3 vols., Cracow, 1684) ; Rieder, Johann III., Eonig von I'olen (Vienna, 1883). JOHN I., The Great (1357-1433). King of I'ditugal from 1385 to 1433, sometimes known as The Bastard.' He was the founder of the illegitimate Burgundian line, and was born at Lisbon, being a natural son of Peter I. In 1364 he was created Grand JIaster of Aviz. At the death of his half-brother. Ferdinand, in 1383. he became Regent and Protector of the Kingdom, and in April, 1385, was chosen King by the Portuguese in violation of the rights of. the Infanta Beatrice, who had married John I., King of Castile. A war followed, resulting in favor of the Portugviese, who won the battle of Aljubarotta, in 1385. In 1415 John took Ceuta from the iloors. The island of jMadeira, the Azores, and the Canaries were discovered in his reign largely through the efforts of his son. Prince Henry the Navigator (q.v. ). The reign of John I., whose conquests and good government earned him the title of 'The Gre.at,' marks the beginning of the heroic age in Portuguese his- torj". He died, after a long and glorious reign of forty-eight years, August 10. 1433, and was succeeded by Edward, the eldest of his six sons by his wife, Philippa of Lancaster. JOHN II., The Perfect (1455-95). King of Portugal from 1481 to 1495. He was born at Lisbon, being the son of King Alfonso V. In his youth he showed himself possessed of high cour- age and attainments. In 1471 he married Leonora of Lancaster, and succeeded his father in 1481. He put to death for conspiracy the Dukes of Braganza and Viseu in 1483. During bis reign the African coasts were thoroughly explored by Portuguese navigators, and Bartliolomeu Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope (1488). By the Convention of Tordesillas ( 1 494 ) Portugal divided with Spain the newly discovered world in the Western Ocean. (See "Dkmahcatio.n. Line (IF.) .John II. was a monarch of remarkable political sagacity and broad views, and scmght in every way to promote commerce, art. and industry in his kingdom. His premature death October 25, 1495. has been attributed to slow poisoning. He was succeeded on the throne by Emmanuel, Duke of Veja, his only son, Alfonso, having died in 1491. JOHN III. (1.502-57), King of Portugal from 1521 to 1557. He was the son of Emmanuel the Great, whom he succeeded in 1521. He found Portugal at the very height of its power, but durinir his reign its influence began to wane, and it lost much of the prestige which it had formerly enjoyed. The Inquisition was introduced, and the control of the University of Coimbra was placed in the hands of the .Jesuits. Colonial enterprise, however, continued under his reign. .'s a result of the Congress of Badajoz (1.524) Portugal's title to Brazil was conceded by Spain, and a beginning was made toward the colonization of the country by its division into captaincies which were granted out to the great nobles to be held in feudal tenure. In the East Indies, too, the Portuguese power was greatly extended. JOHN IV., The Fortuxate (1604.56). King of Portugal from 1640 to lfi56. and the founder" of the Braganza dynasty. He was horn at Villa- viciosa in 1604. being descended from both the legitimate and illegitimate royal families of Por- tugal. Before an almost bloodless revolution