The king is accused of raping a minor wife, the queen is abusively called "a sow exhausted from labor". Illegitimate children, murder of political competitors and secret relationships. What were the biggest scandals of the Jagiellonian era?
The wedding of Jadwiga and Jagiełło. Lithuanian rapist and sex without the consent of Polish gentlemen?
Before Jadwiga, the daughter of King Ludwik Andegaweński, heard about Lithuanian Jagiello, she had long been married to Wilhelm Habsburg, who was not much older than her. In 1378, when she was four and he was eight, their parents arranged a wedding, a wedding and ... their wedding night. Though the children understood little of it, they participated in the seams that would seal the marriage. From then on, Jadwiga was married to Wilhelm and grew up at the Austrian court.
Dmitri from Goraj holds Jadwiga trying to cut her way to Wilhelm with an ax (photo:public domain)
When her father died, the knights chose her to be the king of Poland. Therefore, in 1382 she came to the country. In 1385, William also appeared on the Vistula River, wanting to consummate the marriage and take over Jadwiga's crown. The Polish nobles who planned the marriage of the ruler with the Lithuanian prince Jagiełło managed to thwart the pretender's plans and slam the gates of Wawel in front of him.
When the Austrian returned to Vienna with his tail tucked up, he suddenly changed his version. He began spreading the word that the marriage to the 11-and-a-half-year-old queen had been consummated, and he had slept with her many times. Moreover, he also proclaimed that he had no intention of "fighting for a harlot." When Jadwiga married Jagiełło, in Italy the future pope claimed that the king of Poland did not fulfill his "marriage obligations" voluntarily and a Lithuanian rapes her every night. Anjou was also called an adulteress, and the Austrians filed a complaint in Rome against Jadwiga as a bigamist. William, whose dynastic ambitions offended Polish nobles, tarnished her reputation for good, and her conduct was discussed at half of European courts.
Marriage of Jagiełło with Elżbieta Granowska. Incestuous relationship with an elderly widow?
When Władysław Jagiełło, who was twice widowed, decided to marry Elżbieta Granowska, he took the Polish knighthood by surprise. The powerful came to Sanok for the congress, while the king decided to get married and he did it the day after everyone's arrival. His chosen one did not like the magnates exceptionally.
Before she became involved with Jagiełło, whom she had known for a long time, she managed to become a widow three times. She also had several children from a marriage with the castellan Wincenty Granowski. Most of all, she was accused of not being young. According to some researchers, she was even 45 , with the king himself being up to two decades older.
Jagiello also presupposed incest according to canon law Elizabeth was… the daughter of his godmother. Jagiełło coped with this contradiction without any problems, arranging for the dispensation from the pope.
The king, against the will of his subjects, not only married Granowska, but also led to her coronation. Taking into account the fact that his wife often accompanied him on trips around the country, it can be assumed that the spouses were attached to each other. However, the offended mighty did not give up, constantly attacking the ruler's union. The Queen was accused of having forced Jagiełło to marry by witchcraft. It was also called old and dry. Stanisław Ciołek went the furthest, writing an allegorical fairy tale about this marriage. In the story, he called her a sow exhausted by many labors that tempted the lion. Ciołek was banished by the king for his libel. Jagiełło did not enjoy the company of his wife for a long time. In 1420, Elizabeth died, which did not mean the end of the royal troubles.
The queen's affair with the seven knights. "Illegitimate" offspring of the great monarch?
The last wife of the king was a young, seventeen-year-old daughter of Andrzej, the Holszan prince. The wedding took place in 1422, and two years later Sonka was crowned, who, after converting from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, took the name of Sophia. The king was already elderly when he got married. He was probably 70 years old, although the exact date of his birth is unknown. Polish gentlemen looked at the future of the country with uncertainty. It turned out, however, that only two years after the wedding, Zofia gave birth to an heir to Jagiello - Władysław, later known as the Warnański. In addition, after him, she gave birth to two more boys, although one of them died early.
Instead of rejoicing at the extension of the dynasty, the mighty began to raise doubts. They wondered if it was possible that a king so advanced in age had begotten boys. Or maybe the queen was not faithful to her husband half a century older? People whom Jagiełło had managed to get under the skin immediately used these rumors to hit him, and even tried to question the legality of his descendants. A huge scandal has broken out.
Jagiełło and Sonka in a print by Aleksander Lesser (photo:public domain)
The queen's maids were taken to torture, where they said anything to save themselves from the pain. Zofia was accused of romances with as many as seven knights. Grand Duke Witold, the Teutonic Knights and Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki had their fingers in everything. The king initially believed the slander and even threw the knights in jail, but the case was eventually silenced. The Queen, together with respected matrons, took a cleansing oath, and Kazimierz, born by her, who allegedly was the fruit of an affair, was a small copy of Jagiełło.
Queen, poison and the last Piasts of Masovia
Queen Bona, although she acted with great enthusiasm for her new homeland, did not have the best press among her subjects. The powerful had a grudge against her for meddling in politics, influencing the king, and trying to accumulate the greatest possible fortune in her hand. In addition, she was Italian, so it was considered that she must know something about poisons.
On August 8, 1524, Stanisław, the Duke of Mazovia, died. On March 10, 1526, his younger brother Janusz also passed away. They were both young, just over twenty years old. Neither of them had been ill before. It was soon suspected that someone had helped them say goodbye to this world by administering poison to the princes. Increased attention was focused on the royal couple who, after the death of the last Masovian Piasts, could take over their lands as a result of earlier agreements. Could the principle of Qui bono? apply perfectly here
People began to whisper that it was none other than Bona, who had a reputation as a clever poisoner in the country, who dipped her fingers in this death, so convenient for the crown. Princess Anna, sister of the deceased, refused to bury her other brother before the matter was thoroughly investigated. There was even a commission composed of the inhabitants of Mazovia and representatives of the Polish senate, which examined the body, obviously finding no evidence of poisoning the prince. Given the accusations made against Bona, the case had to be wrapped up. King Zygmunt Stary very quickly announced the results of the "investigation" at the Sejm, stating in the edict issued on February 9, 1528 at the Sejm in Piotrków, that the Masovian Piasts had died of natural causes.
Bona Sforza and Zygmunt Stary in a drawing by Jan Matejko.
According to genealogy Kazimierz Jasiński, the matter was a bit more complicated, and a certain rejected woman could have had a hand in it. Katarzyna Radziejowska, a Płock voivode, fell in love with Prince Stanisław and even hoped that he would marry her. Meanwhile, he only took advantage of her naivety. Catherine, who became a ducal mistress, promised a lot and later rejected her.
As is known, hell knows no more fury than a despised woman, so the days of the faithless ruler were numbered. Katarzyna decided to take her revenge and plotted a conspiracy that resulted in Stanisław's death after ingesting poison. Rejected by her older brother, Radziejowska married her younger brother, Janusz. When he did not fulfill the promises he made to her, she allegedly poisoned him as well ... But we will never know if it really was.
All-time romance or all-time misalliance?
When Zygmunt August entered adulthood, his relationship with his overbearing mother, Bona Sforza, almost overnight collapsed. The young king, married to Elizabeth of Habsburg, sought respite from his wife and mother in Lithuania. It was there that he got into a passionate affair with the widow of a powerful magnate - Barbara Gasztołdowa de domo Radziwiłłówna.
Zygmunt August presents Barbara Radziwiłłówna at the court. Watercolor by Jan Matejko (source:public domain)
A relationship with a high-ranking woman would somehow be forgiven, betraying his dynastic wife as well, but when Sigismund Augustus became widowed in the summer of 1547, he decided to marry his mistress, the subjects could not forgive him. Not only was Radziwiłłówna of low birth, but she also had intercourse with the ruler before the wedding, which the gentlemen of the time considered exceptional licentiousness. Apparently, the fact that Barbara was pregnant outweighed the balance and that with her brother and cousin organized a moral ambush - invited the monarch to a meeting, and the relatives of the mistress caught them frolicking and immediately brought the priest.
When, after a year of keeping the case secret, Sigismund Augustus spread the news, the nobility was furious. Dantesque scenes were played out at the Sejm in Piotrków. The chamber of deputies was completely demolished, and the dignitaries fell to their knees, begging the king to come to his senses. Barbara was also accused of practicing magic, her reputation was tarnished and she was accused of numerous affairs. Zygmunt August, however, did not bend. He consistently put everyone in front of a fait accompli. Although the nobility was furious at the mere thought of the coronation of Radziwiłłówna, the ruler managed to carry out this act as well. In this quest to get his way, he forgot his wife's happiness somewhere along the way, turning her life into a nightmare.