Vladislav IV was born on June 9, 1595. His father was Sigismund III. It was assumed that he would ascend the royal throne in Russia in 1610. On August 27 (September 6), he swore allegiance to the Moscow court and people. Consider further what the son of the Polish king, Prince Vladislav, became famous for.
General information
In accordance with the agreement of 1610, concluded near Smolensk between the Moscow court and Sigismund, Prince Vladislav was to receive power. At the same time, the minting of coins in his name began almost immediately. In 1610, Vasily Shuisky was overthrown. However, the successor did not accept Orthodoxy and did not arrive in Moscow. Accordingly, he was not crowned on the royal throne. In October 1612, the boyar group that supported him was deposed.
Korolevich Vladislav: short biography
His mother passed away 3 years after he was born. Ursula Meyerin enjoyed great influence at the court at that time. She raised Vladislav. Around 1600, Ursula seems to have lost some of her influence. Her pupil acquired new teachers, completely different mentors appeared around him. Among them, in particular, were AndrzejSzoldrski, Gabriel Prevanciusz, Marek Lentkowski. In addition, Prince Vladislav made friends with Adam and Stanislav Kazanovsky. There is evidence that he was fond of painting, and later began to patronize artists. The prince spoke only Polish. However, he could read and write in Latin, Italian and German.
Diploma to Sigismund
The vocation of Prince Vladislav was very official. A special letter was sent to him and his father. It outlined the basic conditions for his election as king. In particular, according to the document, power over all cities was transferred to him after he adopted Christianity. Since he was a Protestant, he should have been baptized in Moscow. The future king was supposed to protect the churches from ruin, worship the miraculous relics and honor them. It was not allowed to establish churches of a different faith in any city. Nor was it allowed to forcefully convert people to another religion. In no case was it allowed to take away land, money, crops from churches and monasteries. The prince, on the contrary, had to allocate funds for the life of the servants.
It was not allowed to introduce any changes in the ranks and positions that existed in the state, it was forbidden to appoint Lithuanian and Polish people to manage zemstvo affairs. It was not allowed to appoint them governors, clerks, elders and governors. Former estates and estates for the owners were to be preserved. Changes in state salaries were allowed only with the consent of the Duma. A similar rule applied to the adoption of laws,adjudication, especially death sentences.
The Commonwe alth and Russia were supposed to live in peace and conclude a military alliance. It was forbidden to avenge those who died during the overthrow of False Dmitry the First. The parties also pledged to return the prisoners without any ransom. Trade rules and taxes were not to be changed. In addition, serfdom was to become mutual. A special decision had to be made regarding the Cossacks. Together with the Duma, it was supposed to decide whether to be on Russian soil or not. After the wedding, the land was to be cleared of thieves and foreigners. The king was en titled to an indemnity. The fate of False Dmitry II was also decided in the charter. He had to be either caught or killed. Marina Mnishek was supposed to be returned to Poland.
Seven Boyars and Prince Vladislav (Trouble)
1610 was quite difficult for the Moscow court. Vasily Shuisky was overthrown by the Seven Boyars. A 15-year-old descendant of Sigismund received power in absentia. However, the father put forward conditions for the election of Prince Vladislav. First of all, Sigismund wanted the people to convert to Catholicism from Orthodoxy. The boyars, in turn, were asked to send Vladislav to Moscow to convert him to Christianity. Sigismund answered this with a decisive refusal. However, he offered himself as regent-ruler of the country. This proposal was unacceptable to the boyars. All this led to hostile actions of the parties. In particular, Vladislav IV organized a military campaign. In 1616, he tries to regain power. He even managed to win severalbattles. However, he failed to capture Moscow. Despite the invitation of Prince Vladislav to the Russian throne, he never took it. However, the title remained with him until 1634
Overthrow of the Seven Boyars
Given the current situation, His Holiness Hermogenes began to dissuade the Duma from calling Vladislav. However, the boyars stood firm. The fact is that they have been preparing a coup d'état for a long time. Shuisky was overthrown quite quickly, and an agreement was signed with Sigismund almost immediately. It remained only to bring Vladislav, baptize him and marry him. Hermogenes, realizing that the situation in the state is not developing as expected, begins to worry the people. He sends letters to the cities with calls to go to Moscow and overthrow the power of the Poles. For this he was tortured. However, the unrest among the people did not stop, but, on the contrary, intensified. As a result, an uprising broke out under the leadership of Pozharsky and Minin. The people went to Moscow and overthrew the Boyar Duma. Romanov ascended the royal throne.
Conclusions
It is worth saying that the 15-year-old Vladislav could not be any literate king. At that time, he was still unable to make power decisions, and his father carried out all the actions for him. Moreover, Sigismund set conditions against the proposals of the Boyar Duma. At the same time, the Polish ambassadors were already at court and influenced the wrong decisions. Of course, the Moscow people did not like it. Probably, the impetus for the uprising was the ignorance of traditions by Vladislav. They said that not only was he young and still unable to govern the state, he also did not come to the baptism and wedding. Therefore, his proclamation as the king of Russia had no legal basis.
Military campaigns
Before starting to rule in the Commonwe alth, Vladislav participated in several battles. Among them were trips to Moscow. In addition, he participated in the war with the Ottoman Empire in 1621, Sweden - in 1626-1629. During this time, as well as during his travels through Europe (1624-1625), he became acquainted with the specifics of military art. Prince Vladislav always treated military affairs as the most important. He did not have a special ability to wage war, but he proved to be quite a skilled military leader.
Politics
At first, Prince Vladislav refused to work closely with the Habsburgs. In 1633, he promised equality for Orthodox subjects and Protestants, forcing the Catholic Radziwill to approve the law. The latter had no choice but to meet halfway under the threat of transferring key posts in the Commonwe alth to the Protestants. In the same year, Vladislav appointed Krzysztof Radziwill to the high position of voivode of Vilna. In 1635, the latter becomes the great Lithuanian hetman. Protestant nobles blocked Vladislav's attempt to start a war with Sweden. In 1635, the Treaty of Stumsdorf was signed. In this regard, Vladislav renewed the alliance with the Habsburgs, concluded by his father.
Marriages
PolishPrince Vladislav was married twice. He asked Pope Urban to promise to give him permission to marry a Protestant princess. However, he was refused. At the beginning of 1634, he sent Alexander Pripkovsky to Charles I on a secret mission. The envoy was to discuss matrimonial plans and assistance in the restoration of the Polish fleet. At a meeting on March 19, 1635, a discussion of marriage took place. However, only 4 bishops were present at the time, one of whom supported the plans. The first marriage took place in the spring of 1636. Vladislav married Cecilia Renata of Austria. They had Sigismund Casimir and Maria Anna Isabella. The first died at the age of seven from dysentery, and the daughter died in infancy. Caecilia died in 1644. In 1646, Vladislav married the French princess Marie Louise de Gonzaga de Nevers. They had no children.
Success
In early November 1632, Vladislav became the Polish king after the death of Sigismund. At this time, Mikhail Romanov decides to go to the Commonwe alth with the war. He hoped to take advantage of the temporary confusion after the death of Sigismund. About 34.5 thousand people crossed the eastern borders of the Commonwe alth. In October 1632, the army besieged Smolensk. Russia conceded it according to the Deulino truce of 1618. However, during the hostilities, Vladislav managed not only to lift the siege, but also to surround the army and force him to surrender on March 1, 1634. After that, a new truce was concluded, favorable for the Commonwe alth. His conditions, among other things, assumed the payment of 20 thousand rubles to Vladislav. in exchange for renunciationon the Moscow authorities and the return of the signs transferred to him by the Seven Boyars.
During the war of 1632-1634. in the Commonwe alth there was an active modernization of the army. Vladislav paid special attention to the improvement of artillery and infantry. After a short period of time, the Commonwe alth began to threaten the Turks. Vladislav led an army south of the Russian borders. He forced the Turks to sign a truce on terms favorable to him. The participants in the war again agreed to keep the Tatars and Cossacks from marching beyond each other's borders and a common condominium over Wallachia and Moldova.
After the completion of the southern campaign, it became necessary to protect the northern side of the Commonwe alth. In 1635, Sweden, which was involved in the Thirteen Years' War, agreed to the terms of the Truce of Sturmsdorf. The agreement was again beneficial to the Commonwe alth. Some of the conquered territories of Sweden had to be given back.
Interesting facts
According to many historians, Vladislav was very ambitious. He dreamed of great glory, which he planned to achieve with new conquests. In the last years of his reign, he expected to use detachments of Cossacks to help provoke a war between Turkey and Poland. At various times he sought to regain power over Sweden. Vladislav wanted to return the Russian crown several times. He even had plans to take over the Ottoman Empire. During his reign, he quite often managed to lure the restless Cossacks to his side. However, all his attempts failed due to insufficient support for foreignallies and gentry. Often, instead of major battles, border unnecessary wars took place, scattering the power of the state. Ultimately, this led to fatal consequences for the Commonwe alth.
Some historians believe that Vladislav was very hot-tempered. Angry, he could begin to take revenge, not thinking about the consequences. So, when the Protestants in the gentry blocked his plans to go to war against Sweden, he began to pursue a pro-Habsburg policy. In particular, he provided military assistance to the allies, married Cecilia Renata. Vladislav had many plans, both dynastic, and military, and personal, and territorial. So, he assumed the capture of Livonia, Silesia, the annexation of the Duchy of Prussia, the creation of his own hereditary principality. Some of his plans may well come true. However, due to failures or due to a combination of objective circumstances, almost nothing happened from what was planned.
Dowry dispute
It started in 1638. Władysław wanted the unpaid dowry of his stepmother and mother to be secured by the Principality of Silesia, preferably Opole-Racibórz. In 1642 he offered the Habsburgs his right to rule in Sweden. In return, Władysław asked for Silesia as a pledge. The ambassador sent to Vienna offered to exchange income from the Bohemian possessions of Treben for the Teszyn or Opole-Racibór principality. The trial dragged on, and Vladislav announced to the Habsburg envoy that he was uniting with Sweden. These words acted as a clear threat,because in this case, Vladislav could capture Silesia by military means, without any consent of the emperor.
In April 1645, a new ambassador was sent to Warsaw to negotiate. They ended unsuccessfully for Vladislav, but quite favorably for the Habsburgs. As a result, it was decided to transfer the principality not as hereditary, but for 50-year use. The inheritance was supposed to be subsequently transferred to Casimir, the son of Vladislav. The latter could manage the lands until the age of his successor. In addition, Vladislav promised to give the Habsburgs a loan of 1.1 million gold.
Failures
Vladislav used the title of the Swedish king. However, the country was never under his rule. Moreover, he, as in the case of Russia, did not even set foot on its territory. Despite this, he still sought to take power in Sweden into his own hands. However, all his efforts, like those of his father, were in vain. Vladislav's domestic policy was aimed at strengthening royal power. However, this was constantly prevented by the gentry, who valued their freedom and could not miss the right to participate in government. Vladislav had to overcome some difficulties all the time. Obstacles were created by the Sejm, which sought to control his power and pacify dynastic ambitions. The improvement of the army was regarded as a desire to strengthen the royal position in wartime. Because of this, the Sejm opposed most of Vladislav's plans. He was denied funding, signing declarations on the start of battles. The situation was similar in foreign policy. Vladislavtried to calm the conflicting Germans and Scandinavians during the Thirteen Years' War. However, all his actions led to nothing, and support from the Habsburgs brought almost no results. To protect positions in the B altic, Vladislav began to strengthen the fleet. However, this plan also ended in nothing.
Conclusion
Vladislav died in 1648. His internal organs and heart were buried in the Chapel of St. Casimir, in the Cathedral of St. Stanislav in Vilnius. Vladislav's death came a year after his son Sigismund Casimir died. He was unable to realize all his plans, he failed to rebuild the Commonwe alth. However, he managed to avoid participation in the Thirteen Years' War.
With the death of Vladislav, the golden age of the Polish state ended. After his death, the Cossacks began an uprising. They expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that all the promises were not fulfilled. The uprising of the Cossacks was quite active and was directed at the current Polish government. Sweden took advantage of the situation and launched an invasion of the state.
