Stephen Bathory
Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), Duke of Transylvania, was elected king of Poland in 1575, and crowned in 1576, having previously married Anne Jagiellonian, the sister of Sigismund Augustus. The Polish crown was a great honour for Bathory, who immediately made it clear that he did not take his position lightly. He opposed the licence of the gentry and the magnates, and continued the policy of religious tolerance which the Convocation Seym of 1573 (the so-called Warsaw Convocation) made one of the principles of the political system of Poland. Although a proponent of strong government, he renounced his judicial powers and instead appointed separate tribunals for Poland and Lithuania. He introduced important reforms in the army and the system of taxes. In a war with Muscovy he recovered Livonia. He elevated the Jesuit college in Vilnius to the rank of Academy (university). [art]