Stephen Báthory
Stephen Báthory (Hungarian: Báthory István; Polish: Stefan Batory; Lithuanian: ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576), Prince of Transylvania (1576–1586), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586).[1]
For other people with the same name, see Stephen Báthory (disambiguation).Stephen Báthory
1 May 1576 – 12 December 1586
1 May 1576
Wawel Cathedral
1576–1586
27 September 1533
Szilágysomlyó, Eastern Hungarian Kingdom
12 December 1586 (aged 53)
Grodno, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
May 1588
The son of Stephen VIII Báthory and a member of the Hungarian Báthory noble family, Báthory was a ruler of Transylvania in the 1570s, defeating another challenger for that title, Gáspár Bekes.
In 1576 Báthory became the husband of Queen Anna Jagiellon and the third elected king of Poland. He worked closely with chancellor Jan Zamoyski. The first years of his reign were focused on establishing power, defeating a fellow claimant to the throne, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and quelling rebellions, most notably, the Danzig rebellion.
He reigned only a decade, but is considered one of the most successful kings in Polish history, particularly in the military realm. His signal achievement was his victorious campaign in Livonia against Russia in the middle part of his reign, in which he repulsed a Russian invasion of Commonwealth borderlands and secured a highly favorable treaty of peace (the Peace of Jam Zapolski).