PINYL: B) The Story So Far Part 1
Added 2019-10-28 06:00:01 +0000 UTC[PATRONS]
After examining how the Commonwealth came to be, in this new three-parter, we look at the story from 1573-1699, and investigate what happened to the Commonwealth in that time to leave it so weakened as it entered the 18th century. The answer revolves around its third post-Jagiellonian King, but arguably its most important - Sigismund III of the House of Vasa. Sigismund's claim to the Swedish throne, his Jesuit education and his refusal to compromise with Poland's nobles, created a rift in Poland just at the wrong moment. It facilitated endless war with Poland's neighbours, the most destructive of which were soon to come, but when Sigismund died in 1632 he left behind an heir who was the fake Tsar of Russia and a claimant to the crown of Sweden. Such ingredients hardly suggested that Poland's neighbours would sit still for the next few years, but in fact, Sigismund's son Vladislav IV enjoyed the final period of peace. This was the calm before the storm. The storm which was soon to sweep all of Poland away...
