page_title: Andrew Báthory
section_title: Bishop of Warmia
hierarchical_section_title: Andrew Báthory / Church career / Bishop of Warmia
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: Báthory Zsigmond – 1596.
context_page_description: Andrew Báthory was the Cardinal-deacon of Sant'Adriano al Foro from 1584 to 1599, Prince-Bishop of Warmia from 1589 to 1599, and Prince of Transylvania in 1599. His father was a brother of Stephen Báthory, who ruled the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1575. He was the childless Stephen Báthory's favorite nephew. He went to Poland at his uncle's invitation in 1578 and studied at the Jesuit college in Pułtusk. He became canon in the Chapter of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Warmia in 1581, and provost of the Monastery of Miechów in 1583.
  Pope Gregory XIII appointed Báthory cardinal during his visit to Rome in 1584. A year later, he was installed as coadjutor bishop of Warmia. He was in Rome again when Stephen Báthory died in 1586. Andrew was one of the candidates to succeed him in Poland and Lithuania, but Jan Zamoyski, the Chancellor of Poland, convinced him to support another candidate, Sigismund Vasa, and to demonstrate the Báthorys' claim to the crown only through nominating his minor cousin, Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania.
context_section_description: After Marcin Kromer died in early March 1589, Andrew became the Prince-Bishop of Warmia and a member of the Senate of Poland. He supported the introduction of the teaching of philosophy and theology in the Collegium Hosianum in Braniewo, because he wanted to develop it into a university. At the request of Sigismund III Vasa, Pope Sixtus made Andrew coadjutor bishop of Piotr Myszkowski, the elderly bishop of Kraków. However, the Habsburgs wanted to prevent Andrew from seizing the bishopric which was situated near Royal Hungary. The new papal nuncio, Annibale di Capua (who was their supporter) convinced the king to nominate Jerzy Radziwiłł to the see after Myszkowski died on 5 April 1591. Capua emphasized that Andrew had not been an ordained priest. Most Polish noblemen regarded the Lithuanian Radziwiłł's appointment to a Polish see unlawful, but Pope Gregory XIV confirmed the king's decision.
  Sigismund III's confessor and court priest, who were Jesuits, supported Radziwiłł against Andrew. Thereafter, Andrew urged the Holy See to send Franciscan friars to Transylvania instead of the Jesuits (who were supported by Sigismund Báthory). He also suggested that the pope should make a Franciscan friar bishop of Transylvania, with a see in Csíksomlyó (now Șumuleu Ciuc in Romania). He settled Catholic priests in four villages on his estates. The Holy See authorized him to set up deaneries in Transylvania, making him the actual head of the Catholic Church in the principality.
  In August 1591, Maximilian of Habsburg, who still claimed Poland and Lithuania, sent his envoy to Andrew seeking Transylvanian support against Sigismund III. Andrew emphasized that being under Ottoman suzerainty, Transylvania could not openly support Maximilian, but he also promised that Sigismund Báthory would not prevent the mustering of Transylvanian soldiers to fight in Poland. In the same month, Sigismund Báthory's plan to enable the Jesuits to return to Transylvania gave rise to a serious family conflict, because both Andrew and Balthasar refused to support the prince at the Diet. According to contemporaneous gossips, Andrew and his two brothers decided to dethrone Sigismund, replacing him with Balthasar. Pope Clement VIII sent a papal nuncio, Attilio Amalteo, to Transylvania to mediate a reconciliation.
  The Holy See also tried to reach a compromise on the Kraków bishopric, but Jan Zamoyski, who was in conflict with the king, persuaded Andrew to give up his claim in favor of Radziwiłł. Andrew withheld 20,000 gulden from the royal tax of Warmia, saying that the king owed him 40,000 gulden. He started negotiations with John George, Elector of Brandenburg, who promised him the hand of one of his daughters if he accepted the protection of Brandenburg over Warmia. Zamoyski, who had been with Sigismund III, also persuaded Andrew to make peace with the king in May 1593. Andrew renounced the see of Kraków in exchange for the Abbey of Czerwińsk nad Wisłą.
  The pope's new envoy, Alessandro Cumuleo, came to Transylvania to urge Sigismund Báthory to join the Holy League that the pope had set up against the Ottomans. The prince was ready to join the alliance, but Andrew and Balthasar emphasized that Transylvania could not secede from the Ottoman Empire without the participation of Poland in the coalition. Most of Sigismund's advisors supported their proposal, but his confessor, the Jesuit Alfonso Carillo, convinced him to continue the negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II. Carillo prevented Andrew from taking part in the negotiations in Prague. Before long, Andrew left Transylvania for Poland.
  Sigismund Báthory's maternal uncle, Stephen Bocskai, and other commanders of the Transylvanian army, persuaded the prince to get rid of those who did not support the Holy League. Balthasar Báthory and his allies were captured and murdered in late August 1594. Sigismund also confiscated Andrew's Transylvanian estates. The Diet confirmed the prince's acts, convicting Andrew and his brother, Stephen, of treason.
  Andrew sent letters to the Holy See, describing his cous
caption: Andrew's cousin, Sigismund Báthory
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