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Sigismund III Vasa [a] (20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa .
The Polish–Swedish union was a short-lived personal union between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Sweden between 1592 and 1599. It began when Sigismund III Vasa, elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, was crowned King of Sweden following the death of his father John III.
Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland and Sweden, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Finland Personal coat of arms. Sigismund III Vasa was born when his parents, John III and Catherine Jagiellon, were held prisoner by John's brother King Eric XIV, but John replaced Eric in 1568. Sweden had become Protestant, but young Sigismund was raised Catholic.
The Linköping Bloodbath (Swedish: Linköpings blodbad) on 20 March 1600 was the public execution by beheading of five Swedish nobles in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598–1599), which resulted in the de facto deposition of the Polish and Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa as king of Sweden.
Maximilian attempted to resolve the dispute by bringing a military force to Poland – thereby starting the War of the Polish Succession. [5] He took Lubowla, but after a failed attempt to storm Kraków (the capital of Poland) in late 1587, successfully defended by Zamoyski, he retreated to gather more reinforcements, pursued by the forces loyal to Sigismund.
The Hetman wanted to annex the entire Courland to Lithuania, but Sigismund III Vasa did not agree to this and left complete control over the duchy to Frederick Kettler. Offended at the king, Radziwiłł resigned from the high command in Livonia and handed it over to Colonel Jan Siciński, who, with only 100 soldiers, moved to Estonia.
The two opposing sides had forces nearly evenly matched, with armies about 6,000 strong, roughly half infantry and half cavalry. The battle was an overwhelming victory for the Polish-Swedish faction, led by the Swedish-born king-elect Sigismund III Vasa, over the army of his rival to the throne, Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria.
In addition to his sister being the Queen of Sweden, George William was the vassal of Gustavus' cousin and most inveterate foe, Sigismund III Vasa, in his capacity as duke of the Duchy of Prussia. George William's father had paid homage to Sigismund, and he would later do fealty to his son.