However, as was often the case with the Polish electoral monarchy, the outcome was strongly contested by the "losers" and the greedy and stubborn Polish nobility who backed Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria. Upon hearing of his election King Sigismund slipped through the clutches of the Protestants in Sweden and landed in Poland on 7 October. He immediately agreed to give up several royal privileges to the "Sejm" (parliament) of the Commonwealth in the hope of winning over some of his enemies and settling the disputed election. Lesser Prussian Treasurer Jan Dulski proclaimed him king on behalf of the Crown Marshal Andrzej Opaliński. On 27 December, he was crowned in Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. It seemed that the issue of who would be King of Poland had been settled when Maximilian III invaded at the head of his army to claim his crown. The hostilities did not last long as Hetman Jan Zamoyski at the head of a Polish army loyal to King Sigismund met and successfully defeated the Austrian troops at the Battle of Byczyna and took Maximilian III as prisoner of war. However, at the request of Pope Sixtus V, King Sigismund III released Maximilian who surrendered his claim to the Polish Commonwealth in 1589. King Sigismund also tried to maintain peace with his powerful neighbor by marrying Archduchess Anna of Austria in 1592. It was always his intention to be allied with Catholic Austria against the Protestant forces that were tearing Christendom apart.