John I Albert
John I Albert was born on December 27, 1459. See ranking, bio blurb, and everyone else born that day.
About John I Albert
John I Albert (Polish: Jan I Olbracht; 27 December 1459 – 17 June 1501) was King of Poland and (disputed) Supreme Duke of Lithuania from 1492 to his death, as well as Duke of Głogów from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty and the son of Casimir IV and Elizabeth of Austria. Related to the House of Habsburg, John Albert was groomed to become emperor in the Holy Roman Empire, a plan that ultimately failed. He was well-educated and tutored by scholars such as Johannes Longinus and Callimachus, whom he had subsequently befriended. Heavily influenced by the Italian Renaissance, John sought to strengthen royal authority at the expense of the Catholic Church and the clergy. In 1487, he led a force against the Ottoman Empire and defeated the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate during the early phase of the Polish–Ottoman War. In the aftermath of the Bohemian–Hungarian War, John Albert attempted to usurp Hungary from his elder brother Vladislaus, but on 20 February 1491, he renounced his claim to Hungary in exchange for the Duchy of Głogów and the suzerainty over half of Silesia. Casimir died in 1492, and John was passed over as the Grad Duke of Lithuania in favour of his younger Alexander, thus de facto breaking the personal union between the two nations, though John claimed the position of Supreme Duke. John was elected as the King of Poland on 27 August of the same year Polish throne in 1492 after to secure his succession he had dispatched an army against the Piast princes from the Duchy of Masovia, which ensured his victory but alienated the higher nobles and magnates. He later invaded Masovia to deprive Konrad III of his ancestral holdings and curtail internal opposition to his rule. In 1497, John Albert launched a personal crusade into Moldavia to uphold Polish suzerainty, establish control over Black Sea ports and dethrone Stephen III in favour of John Albert's brother Sigismund. The campaign's failure greatly hindered Polish expansion into Southern Europe, preventing any significant further expansion. John Albert remains a largely forgotten and overlooked figure in the history of Poland, his relatively short reign ended in a major military setback, and he was criticised during his lifetime for embracing absolutism as well as attempting to centralise the government. He is credited for creating a bicameral parliament, comprising the Senate and the Sejm, which granted lower-class gentry the right of expression in the matters of state. Conversely, he limited the movement of peasants by confining them to nobles' estates for life.