death_date coa_name birth_date signature reign father death_place house coronation spouse image name caption predecessor succession birth_place issue successor mother article_title
1 april 1548 pogoń litewska 01 january 1467 autograph-zygmuntstary . png 1506 -- 1548 casimir iv of poland kraków , poland jagiellon 24 january 1507 in wawel cathedral , kraków barbara zápolya bona sforza sigismund i of poland.png sigismund i the old '' ` sigismund i the old '' ' alexander i king of poland grand duke of lithuania kozienice , poland hedwig hungary sigismund ii augustus sophia , duchess of brunswick-lüneburg anna , i of poland catherine , queen of sweden electress of bradenburg isabella , queen of sigismund ii augustus elisabeth of austria sigismund i the old

sigismund i the old

sigismund i of poland -lrb- ; -rrb- -lrb- 1 january 1467 -- 1 april 1548 -rrb- , of the jagiellon dynasty , reigned as king of poland and also as the grand duke of lithuania from 1506 until 1548 .
earlier , sigismund had been invested as duke of silesia .
a successful monarch and a great patron of arts , he established polish suzerainty over ducal prussia -lrb- east prussia -rrb- and incorporated the duchy of mazovia into the polish state , securing the nation 's wealth , culture and power .
sigismund i , the fifth son of casimir iv and elisabeth of habsburg , had ruled głogów , silesia , since 1499 and became margrave of lusatia and governor of all silesia in 1504 .
in a short time his judicial and administrative reforms transformed those territories into model states .
he succeeded his brother alexander i as grand prince of lithuania and king of poland in 1506 .
although he established fiscal and monetary reforms , he often clashed with the polish diet over extensions of royal power .
at the diet 's demand he married barbara , daughter of prince stephen zápolya of hungary , in 1512 , to secure a defense treaty and produce an heir .
she died three years later , however , leaving only daughters .
in 1518 sigismund married the niece of the holy roman emperor maximilian , bona sforza of milan , by whom he had one son , sigismund ii augustus , and four daughters .
his daughter catherine later married john iii of sweden , from whom the vasa kings of sweden were descended .
in 1521 sigismund 's army , led by one of the principal advisers and commanders , jan tarnowski , subdued the order of the teutonic knights , a paramilitary religious order that ruled east prussia .
in 1525 the teutonic grand master albert became a lutheran and agreed to do public homage to sigismund in return for being granted the title of secular duke of prussia ; albert then dissolved the order , and ducal prussia came under polish suzerainty .
sigismund added the duchy of mazovia -lrb- now the province of warsaw -rrb- to the polish state after the death , in 1529 , of the last of its piast dynasty rulers .
again under the command of tarnowski , sigismund 's army defeated the invading forces of moldavia at obertyn in 1531 and muscovy in 1535 , thereby safeguarding poland 's eastern borders .
sigismund , influenced by his wife , brought italian artists to kraków and promoted the development of the polish variety of the italian renaissance .
although a devout catholic , he accorded religious toleration to greek orthodox christians and royal protection to jews .
at first he vigorously opposed lutheranism but later resigned himself to its growing power in poland .
sigismund i was a member of the order of the golden fleece .
