He started his career as a squire and ended up on the royal throne. As a child, he wanted to be treated like a man. Nothing was given him by birth except for political talent and strategic sense. He had to fight for everything else, and always hunt for opportunities. However, being a compulsive and experienced hunter in his private life, he was able to use them perfectly.
Dust settled long ago on the road which Henry of Valois escaped to Paris on the night of June 18-19, 1574, but the nobility did not immediately decide to choose a new ruler. Some of Valesius' supporters counted on his return, sending him requests and threats. After more than a year of interregnum, however, efforts were made for a new ruler.
Stefan Batory, the prince of Transylvania, appeared among those willing to scheda after Valesius. He was tempted to take the Polish throne after the death of Sigismund Augustus in 1572, but he did not feel strong enough to compete with the greats of the world for power after the Jagiellonians. Although this time his candidacy was actually received at the last minute, he was not in a lost position.
Leader and politician
The energetic Transylvania had been building his positive image among the Polish-Lithuanian nobility for a long time. In Transylvania, torn between the Habsburgs and Turkey, Batory initially sided with his pro-Habsburg relatives. Then he changed the front definitely and from 1557 he fought against the Habsburgs in the Battle of Szatmar and took part in the sieges of Eger and Temesvár.
In recognition of his merits, he was entrusted with the commandant of the Szatmár fortress, and then of the Great Varadin - a key point of resistance to the Turkish and Austrian invasions. In 1562, as the commander-in-chief of the Transylvanian forces, he fought a bloody battle at Hadad Castle with the troops of the supporters of Emperor Ferdinand I . Although he did not win the battle and was most likely wounded himself, the losses suffered prompted the emperor to conclude a truce. In 1564, Batory again clashed with the Habsburg supporters. During the siege of Szatmár, he showed off with an extraordinary method of conquering the fortress - his soldiers stormed the city with herds of cattle returning from the pastures.
Stefan Batory turned out to be a great leader
Already as the prince of Transylvania, Batory successfully opposed Vienna's attempts to gain influence in Transylvania. The army of the prince outmaneuvered the forces of the empire supported by Kasper Bekiesz, preventing them from joining the army of the rebel Szeklers (Magyarized people of Turkish-Bulgarian origin living in the eastern part of Transylvania, they were a free population, endowed with special privileges, which were significantly limited in the 16th century).
As a result, on July 10, 1575, there was a bloody clash at Kerelöszentpál, which ended with Batory's decisive victory. The surrounded soldiers of Bekiesz rushed into the current of the Marusza River, finding only death in it. Bekiesz himself escaped from the battlefield, while Batory's six captured commanders were ordered beheaded, and the remaining captives had their noses and ears cut off. This triumph confirmed the opinion of Batory as a capable leader and an energetic and uncompromising ruler . Moreover, his wartime experience made him contempt for comfort and made him brusque in his handling and violent in his behavior.
Election
He also did not neglect activities bordering on PR. In Poland, agitation for Batory was led by his doctor and unofficial MP Jerzy Blandrata . Praising his principal, he spoke of his attachment to the Catholic faith, honesty in action, inborn modesty, experience on the battlefield, commitment to peace and justice. According to the prince's doctor, the great advantage of Batory was his perfect memory. At the same time, he did not hide that Batory did not know Polish, but he spoke Latin perfectly well, which, being in common use at the time, would remove the language barrier that made it difficult to rule a foreign country.
The election was held in an extremely tense atmosphere. In the absence of agreement among the nobility and the powerful, there was a double choice . The magnates elected Emperor Maximilian as king, while the noble masses led by Jan Zamoyski supported Zygmunt August's sister Anna Jagiellon, who was proposed as her husband Stefan Batory.
In this situation, only the determination of the candidates could decide about the election result. And here Batory showed more vigorous action - he allocated 100,000 guilders for the necessary expenses related to it and sent 4,000 soldiers to Poland. Thanks to this, and in the face of the tardiness of Maksymilian, who, instead of going to Krakow, first went to the Reich's Seym in Regensburg, Batory won the race for power and on May 1, 1576 he sat on the Polish throne . Applying the current standards, one could say that here:a foreigner who does not speak the language came to Poland to work and ... made a career.
Stefan Batory won the race for power
The freshly baked king made an impression on his contemporaries because
He was a Lord of high beauty, and quite curly, with a long face, a ruddy black sex, black hair, and strangely white teeth, a bite curved nose, with which Attila is commonly painted.
So the king was painted, but he did not want to be seen as such - Batory wanted to rule! The Polish crown was a great advance for him, but in order to be able to implement all plans, he had to first sort out internal problems. There was no shortage of them, and people willing to help were like medicine. However, the king was able to enforce his will despite resistance from the nobility, which resulted in calling Batory a Hungarian tyrant.
The fact that the king was a true ruler, and not the persona of the slow nobility, was discovered shortly after the coronation . Batory dealt with the supporters of Emperor Maximilian, occupying their headquarters in Lanckorona castle and led to an agreement with Primate Uchański, who had previously proclaimed Maximilian king of Poland. The ruler was recognized by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Royal Prussia, and even Prussian prince Albrecht Frederick Hohenzollern swore allegiance to him by his envoys.
Soon, however, a new problem appeared on the horizon - Gdańsk. But about that and Batory's idea for a modern army and a victorious war with Russia next time.