Sigismund Báthory, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Sigismund Báthory

Prince of Transylvania

Date of Birth: 20-Mar-1572

Place of Birth: Oradea, Bihor County

Date of Death: 27-Mar-1613

Profession: aristocrat

Zodiac Sign: Pisces


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About Sigismund Báthory

  • Sigismund Báthory (Hungarian: Báthory Zsigmond; 1573 – 27 March 1613) was Prince of Transylvania several times between 1586 and 1602, and Duke of Racibórz and Opole in Silesia in 1598.
  • His father, Christopher Báthory, ruled Transylvania as voivode (or deputy) of the absent prince, Stephen Báthory.
  • Sigismund was still a child when the Diet of Transylvania elected him voivode at his dying father's request in 1581.
  • Initially, regency councils administered Transylvania on his behalf, but Stephen Báthory made János Ghyczy the sole regent in 1585.
  • Sigismund adopted the title of prince after Stephen Báthory died. The Diet proclaimed Sigismund to be of age in 1588, but only after he agreed to expel the Jesuits.
  • Pope Sixtus V excommunicated him, but the ban was lifted in 1590, and the Jesuits returned a year later.
  • His blatant favoritism towards the Catholics made him unpopular among his Protestant subjects.
  • He decided to join the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire.
  • Since he could not convince the Diet to support his plan, he renounced the throne in July 1594, but the commanders of the army convinced him to revoke his abdication.
  • At their proposal, he purged the noblemen who opposed the war against the Ottomans.
  • He officially joined the Holy League and married Maria Christina of Habsburg, a niece of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II.
  • The marriage was never consummated. Michael the Brave, Voivode of Wallachia, and ?tefan Razvan, Voivode of Moldavia, acknowledged his suzerainty.
  • Their united forces defeated an Ottoman army in the Battle of Giurgiu.
  • The triumph was followed by a series of Ottoman victories, and Sigismund abdicated in favor of Rudolph II in early 1598, receiving the duchies of Racibórz and Opole as a compensation.
  • His maternal uncle, Stephen Bocskai, persuaded him to return in late summer, but he could not make peace with the Ottoman Empire.
  • He renounced Transylvania in favor of Andrew Báthory and settled in Poland in 1599.
  • During the following years, Transylvania was regularly pillaged by unpaid mercenaries and Ottoman marauders.
  • Sigismund returned at the head of a Polish army in 1601, but he could not strengthen his position.
  • He again abdicated in favor of Rudolph and settled in Bohemia in July 1602.
  • After he was accused of a conspiracy against the emperor, he spent fourteen months in jail in Prague in 1610 and 1611.
  • He died at his Bohemian estate.

Read more at Wikipedia

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