page_title: History of Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795)
section_title: Southern wars
hierarchical_section_title: History of Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795) / House of Vasa / Sigismund III Vasa (1587–1632) / Southern wars
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Pokłon byłego cara Wasyla IV Szujskiego z braćmi przed królem polskim Zygmuntem III Wazą na sejmie w Warszawie 29.10.1611English: Russian Tsar Vasili IV Shuyski brought by Zólkiewski and compelled to knee before Polish King Sigismund III Vasa at Sejm in Warsaw on 29 October 1611
context_page_description: The early modern era of Polish history follows the late Middle Ages. Historians use the term early modern to refer to the period beginning in approximately 1500 AD and lasting until around 1800.
  The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish diet in 1505 transferred legislative power from the king to the diet. This event marked the beginning of the period known as the "Nobles' Democracy" or "Nobles' Commonwealth". The state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility or szlachta, albeit in intense, and at times destabilizing, competition with the Jagiellon and then elective kings.
  The Union of Lublin of 1569 constituted the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more closely merged continuation of the already existing personal union of the Crown of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The beginning of the Commonwealth coincided with the period of Poland's greatest territorial expansion, power, civilizational advancement and prosperity. The Polish–Lithuanian state had become an influential player in Europe and a vital cultural entity, spreading Western culture eastward.
context_section_description: The Commonwealth viewed itself as the "bulwark of the Christendom" and together with the Habsburgs and the Republic of Venice stood in the way of the Ottoman plans of European conquests. Since the second half of the 16th century, the Polish-Ottomans relations were worsened by the escalation of Cossack-Tatar border warfare, which turned the entire border region between the Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire into a semi-permanent warzone. A constant threat from Crimean Tatars supported the appearance of Cossackdom.
  In 1595, magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth intervened in the affairs of Moldavia. This started a series of conflicts that would soon spread to Transylvania, Wallachia and Hungary, when the forces of the Polish magnates clashed with the forces backed by the Ottoman Empire and occasionally the Habsburgs, all competing for the domination over that region.
  With the Commonwealth engaged on its northern and eastern borders with nearly constant conflicts against Sweden and Russia, its armies were spread thin. The southern wars culminated in the Polish defeat at the Battle of Cecora in 1620. The Commonwealth was forced to renounce all claims to Moldavia, Transylvania, Wallachia and Hungary.
caption: Russia's Times of Troubles and Polish hegemony: Abdicated  Vasili IV compelled to kneel before King Sigismund III Vasa in Warsaw in 1611
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