The Polish-Lithuanian Union and Jadwiga the Queen

Abstract

Five hundred years of Piast Dynasty rule in the country was over with the deathof Kazimierz III (Casimir the Great), one of the most prominent leaders of Poland. Sincehe did not have a son to replace after him, he bequeathed his throne to the child of hisnephew who at that time was married to the king of Hungary. Thus, after Kazimierz III’sdeath (1370) King Louis of Hungary ascended to the throne however Louis could not haveany children. That’s why he was forced to sign a treaty with the Polish nobles grantingthem privileges in order to be able to get her daughter Jadwiga to take the throne. So afterthat treaty she became Queen of Poland in 1384. As soon as Jadwiga became a queen, thePolish barons began to seek a husband to her, and they saw fit for Prince Jagiełło ofLithuania. This marriage had a great importance for the future of the country. Because ofthe union that was formed between the two countries was a turning point for the history ofCentral and Eastern Europe due to changing the current political order. During that processthe acreage of the Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian territories that combined with thismanner had totally been reached to 800 thousand square kilometres. In our study, wasprepared by using mainly foreign sources, through the first female leader of her country, inother words the ‘king’, was mentioned to the political and social life of Poland that becamethe most powerful state in the last quarter of the fourteenth century. In the final section ofour paper, Queen Jadwiga’s importance is referred through some American newspapersrelated to her who lived in fourteenth century as she was still mentioned after 600 years ofher death.