Everything about Sigismund B Thory totally explained
» For other nobles of the same name, please see Sigismund.
Sigismund Báthory (
1572 -
March 27,
1613) (
Báthory Zsigmond in
Hungarian) was
Prince of Transylvania.
Biography
Hailing from the
Báthory family's Somlyo branch, he was the son of
Christopher Báthory, Voivod of Transylvania, and nephew of
Stephen Báthory, King of Poland. He was elected prince in his father's lifetime, but being quite young at his fathers death, the government was entrusted to a regency.
In
1588 he attained his majority, and joined the league of Christian princes against the Turk. The obvious danger of such a course caused no small anxiety in the principality, and the diet of
Turda even went so far as to demand a fresh coronation oath from Sigismund. Upon his refusal to render it, the members threatened him with deposition. Ultimately
Bathory got the better of his opponents, and executed all whom he got into his hands (1595).
In
1595, at
Alba Iulia, Sigismund Bathory signed a treaty with
Michael the Brave, the
Voivod of
Wallachia, in which Wallachia came under sovereignty of Transylvania, requiring to Sigismund to send aid to Michael the Brave for fighting the Ottomans.
On
August 13 1595 at the
Battle of Călugăreni near the
Neajlov river, Michael defeated a Turkish army led by
Sinan Pasha. Despite the victory Michael, having too few troops to mount a full scale battle, retreated toward Transylvania. Joining Sigismund Bathory's 40,000-strong army led by
István Bocskay, they liberated
Târgovişte (
October 81595),
Bucharest (
October 121595) and
Brăila. Wallachia was liberated temporarily on
October 291595.
The turning-point of his career was his separation from his wife, the archduchess
Christina of Austria, in
1599, an event followed by his own abdication the same year, in order that he might take orders. It was on this occasion that he offered the throne of Transylvania to the
Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, in exchange for the duchy of
Opole in
Silesia. As Duke of Opole he also was a Prince of the
Holy Roman Empire.
In April
1598 Sigismund resigned as Prince of Transylvania in favor of Emperor Rudolf, reversed his decision in October 1598, and then resigned again in favor of Cardinal
Andrew Báthory, his cousin. This allowed Transylvania to fall under the influence of the
King of
Poland.
Michael the Brave reestablished an alliance with Emperor Rudolf. Michael began a campagain against Transylvania on
October 5 1599, while the
Habsburg general
Giorgio Basta entered Transylvania from the west at the same time.
In
1600, however, Sigismund at the head of an army of
Poles and
Cossacks, he attempted to recover his throne, but was routed by
Michael, voivode of
Moldavia and
Wallachia, at
Suceava. In February 1601 the diet of
Cluj (Klausenburg) reinstated him, but again he was driven out by
Michael the Brave and general
Giorgio Basta, never to return. He died at Prague in 1613.
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