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which both Swedes and Poles were involved. Religion, too raised its head. In
1585, the citizens of Riga, incensed by Polish rule in general and by the intro-
duction of the Catholic Gregorian Calendar in particular, rose in revolt and
turned to the Swedish King for protection. As Catholic fortunes ebbed in
Sweden but flowed in Poland-Lithuania, tensions mounted. Most immediate
however, were the problems of the Swedish royal House of Vasa, closely linked
since 1562 with the Polish Jagiellons.
The House of Vasa was divided against itself. The four sons of Gustav I were
each moved by contrasting temperaments and by warring supporters. Eric XIV
was a homicidal maniac, who was deposed in 1568 and eventually poisoned.
John, Duke of Finland, was a scholar and theologian. Charles, Duke of
Sodermanland and master of Stockholm, was the champion of the Protestant
nobility. Magnus, Duke of Ostergotland, was killed with Eric. The Duke of
Finland, who was elected in Eric's place in 1569 as John III, was quickly adopted
by the Catholic Party. His Queen, Katarzyna Jagiellonka, sister of Zygmunt-
August of Poland, was a fervent Catholic. Her dowry consisted of her mother's
Sforza fortune, frozen in Naples but - it was hoped - to be realized by Catholic
influence with the Pope and the King of Spain. On Eric's orders, she had spent
the first four years of her marriage with her husband in the dungeon of
Gripsholm, where their son Sigismund was born in 1566. Her influence on reli-
gious developments was considerable. In 1576, at her instigation, John intro-
duced a new ecumenical liturgy, blending elements from both the Tridentine
Catholic and Swedish Lutheran models; in 1578, he was secretly received into
the Roman faith by Possevini. In his delicate predicament at home, it was only
natural that he should strengthen his hand by exploiting his Polish contacts. In
two Polish elections, in 1573 and 1575, he was unsuccessful; but in 1587, at the
third attempt, he engineered a victory on behalf of his son and heir, Sigismund.
Although the descendants of John III Vasa were to lose control of Sweden, they
remained on the throne of Poland-Lithuania for the next eighty-one years.
Sigismund was succeeded in turn by his two sons Wladyslaw (Ladislas) IV
(1632-48), and Jan Kazimierz (John Casimir, 1648-68).^1
The Polish election of 1587 combined the worst manifestations of the two
preceding occasions - a double election, and a successful candidate who was
more concerned with his homeland than with the affairs of the Republic. It led
to ceaseless strife: to civil wars first in Poland and then in Sweden, and to
repeated and prolonged wars between the two countries.^2 In Poland,
Sigismund's cause was championed by the 'Black' Faction, so-called from the
mourning clothes which they wore in memory of Bathory. Headed by
Zamoyski, and by Bishop Karnkowski, now Primate, they determined once
again to exclude the Habsburg candidate at all costs. Yet the Habsburg court
was confident. Backed by the blessing of the Pope and by the gold of the Spanish
ambassador, Guillen de San Clemente, it was counting on the Archduke
Maximilian, brother of the Emperor Rudolf II. When the electoral Sejm broke
up in disorder, the Habsburgs took to arms. But Zamoyski was ready.