13
BATHORY:
The Transylvanian Victor (1576-1586)
If in the case of Henry de Valois, a catastrophic reign was preceded by a model
election, the elevation of Poland's most successful king was preceded by an
interregnum of indescribable chaos.
The confusion caused by Henry's flight provided ideal conditions for political
adventures both internal and international. It lasted for nearly two years. At
first, the headless Republic could make no decision about its absent monarch.
At a meeting of the Sejm held in August 1574, Henry was given nine months'
grace in which to return. At the end of this period, in May 1575, in a huge
wooden rotunda on the banks of the Vistula at Steczyc, the throne was formally
declared forfeit by the assembled nobility. On both occasions, a serious rift
appeared between the Senators and the noble envoys. At Steczyc, the
Lithuanians, fully prepared in chain-mail, disputed the legality of the proceed-
ings, whilst the royal artillery fixed its sights on a private army drawn up by
Adalbert Laski, Palatine of Sieradz. Meanwhile, candidates had been offering
themselves for the throne whether it was officially vacant or not. The electoral
Sejm, which finally met at Warsaw in November 1575, resembled a battle-
ground. There were more Cossacks than voters, and every voter carried an
arquebus, mace, or lance. There were at least half a dozen serious candidates
and twice as many sponsors prepared to spend words and ducats. There was
Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, sponsored in spite of himself by no less than
Dr Solomon Askenazi, a Jewish physician from Constantinople.^1 He was
announced by the poet Guarini, who described his master's 'incredible love for
the Polish Nation'. There was Ivan the Terrible, whose troops happened to be
ravaging the eastern provinces at the time. At the previous election, he had sug-
gested that he would willingly rule over Lithuania, and Poland as well if so
invited, and would multiply their liberties, but that he would like Livonia and
the Ukraine to be given to Moscow. 'It is good to enlarge one's state,' he said,
'not to diminish it'. Then there was the Archduke Ernest again, and John of
Sweden, and another Habsburg, the Archduke Ferdinand. Finally, there was
Stefan Bathory, the Prince of Transylvania. After extraordinary contortions,
in which the Nuncio offered to give Ivan the title of 'Emperor of
Constantinople' if he withdrew in favour of Ernest, whilst the dotty old Primate,
Jakub Uchanski, proposed that Ivan, John Vasa, and the Emperor should rule