What was the king whose mistress was Elżbieta Branicka criticized of as the last king of the Commonwealth?
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Elżbieta Branicka Elżbieta Branicka (c.1734-1800) was a Polish noble lady, political plotter, mistress of King Stanisław August Poniatowski.
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Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II Augustus (also Stanisław August Poniatowski; born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798) was the last King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and the last monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–95). He remains a controversial figure in Polish history. Recognized as a great patron of the arts and sciences and an initiator and firm supporter of progressive reforms, he is also remembered as the last king of the Commonwealth whose election was marred by Russian involvement. He is criticized primarily for his failure to stand against the partitions, and thus to prevent the destruction of Poland.
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Maria Aurora von Königsmarck Countess Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (sv: "Aurora Königsmarck") (28 August 1662 – 16 February 1728) was a Swedish and German noblewoman of Brandenburg extraction and mistress of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.
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Jan Karol Chodkiewicz Jan Karol Chodkiewicz ("c". 1560 – 24 September 1621; Belarusian: Ян Караль Хадкевіч, "Jan Karal Chadkievič" , Lithuanian: "Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius" ) was a military commander of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth army who was from 1601 Field Hetman of Lithuania, and from 1605 Grand Hetman of Lithuania, and was one of the most prominent noblemen and military commanders of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth of his era. His coat of arms was Chodkiewicz, as was his family name.
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Kinga of Poland Saint Kinga of Poland (also known as Cunegunda; Polish: "Święta Kinga" , Hungarian: "Szent Kinga" ) (5 March 1224 – 24 July 1292) is a saint in the Catholic Church and patroness of Poland and Lithuania.
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Hedwig of Sagan Hedwig of Sagan (Polish: "Jadwiga żagańska" ; before 1350 – 27 March 1390) was Queen of Poland as the fourth wife of Casimir III. Casimir's lack of male heir spelled the end of the Piast Dynasty in the Kingdom of Poland. After Casimir's death in 1370, she remarried Rupert I of Legnica.
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Union of Kėdainiai Union of Kėdainiai (or Agreement of Kėdainiai, Polish: "Umowa Kiejdańska") was an agreement between several magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the king of the Swedish Empire, Charles X Gustav. It was signed on 20 October 1655 during the "Swedish Deluge", part of the Second Northern War. In contrast to the preceding Treaty of Kėdainiai of 17 August, which put Lithuania under Swedish protection, the purpose of the Swedish-Lithuanian union was to end Lithuania's union with Poland, and set up two separate principalities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. One of these was to be ruled by the Radziwiłł ("Radvila") family, while the rest of the duchy was to remain a Swedish protectorate.
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James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union.
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Anne of Austria, Queen of Poland Anne of Austria (16 August 1573 – 10 February 1598) was queen consort of Poland and Sweden by marriage to King Sigismund III Vasa.
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Stanisław Leszczyński Stanisław I Leszczyński (] ; also Anglicized and Latinized as Stanislaus I, Lithuanian: "Stanislovas Leščinskis" , French: "Stanislas Leszczynski" ; 20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Duke of Lorraine and a count of the Holy Roman Empire.
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Civil war in Poland (1704–06) The civil war in Poland (1704–1706) was a part of a larger European conflict, the Great Northern War. It focused on the struggle for the Polish throne between King Stanisław I supported by his Warsaw Confederation and Sweden, and the Russian-backed Sandomierz Confederation of Augustus II the Strong. The war ended with Stanisław's victory and the Treaty of Altranstädt in 1706 in which August II renounced his claims to the Polish throne. Stanisław's triumph would be short-lived, however, as by 1709 he would be forced to give up the throne to Augustus II once again.
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Barbara Kolanka Barbara Kolanka or Barbara Kołówna h. Junosza (end of the 15th century–1550) was a Polish noble lady. She is best known as the mother of Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł and Barbara Radziwiłł, the latter of whom later became the Queen consort of Poland.
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Zebrzydowski rebellion Zebrzydowski's rebellion (Polish: "rokosz Zebrzydowskiego" ), or the Sandomierz rebellion (Polish: "rokosz sandomierski" ), was a "rokosz" (semi-legal rebellion) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against King Sigismund III Vasa. The rokosz, formed on 5 August 1606 by Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, Jan Szczęsny Herburt, Stanisław Stadnicki, Aleksander Józef Lisowski and Janusz Radziwiłł in Stężyca and Lublin, was caused by the growing dissatisfaction with the King among the nobility (the "szlachta"). In particular, the rebels disapproved of the King's efforts to limit the power of the nobles, his attempts to weaken the "Sejm" (the Polish parliament) and to introduce a hereditary monarchy in place of the elective one. The rebellion (1606–1608) ended in the defeat of the rebels. Despite the failure to overthrow the King, the rebellion firmly established the dominance of the "szlachta" over the monarch in the Polish–Lithuanian political system.
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Nalyvaiko Uprising The Nalyvaiko Uprising (Polish: "powstanie Nalewajki" , ) was a failed Cossack rebellion against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Headed by Severyn Nalyvaiko, it lasted from 1594 to 1596. The second in a series of failed Cossack uprisings, the conflict was ultimately won by the Crown of Poland, but two years of warfare and scorched-earth tactics employed by both sides left much of right-bank Ukraine in ruins.
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Enlightenment in Poland The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in Western Europe, as the Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (Golden Liberty) were in deep crisis. The period of Polish Enlightenment began in the 1730s–40s, peaked in the reign of Poland's last king, Stanisław August Poniatowski (second half of the 18th century), went into decline with the Third Partition of Poland (1795) – a national tragedy inspiring a short period of sentimental writing – and ended in 1822, replaced by Romanticism.
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Janusz Kiszka Janusz Kiszka (born 1600 in Krzywicze (today Belarus) – 1653) was a Polish politician and magnate in the 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Last of the Kiszka family. Royal Rotmistrz, starosta of Parnawa from 1610, Voivode of Polock since 1621, Field Lithuanian Hetman since 1635, Great Lithuanian Hetman since 1646.
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Sophia of Halshany Sophia of Halshany or Sonka Olshanskaya (Belarusian: Соф'я Гальшанская, "Sofja Halšanskaja" ; Lithuanian: "Sofija Alšėniškė" ; Polish: "Zofia Holszańska" ;  1405 – September 21, 1461 in Kraków) was a Grand Duchy of Lithuania princess of Halshany. As the fourth and last wife of Jogaila, King of Poland and Supreme Duke of Lithuania, she was Queen consort of Poland (1422–1434). As the mother of Władysław III, King of Poland and Hungary, and Casimir IV, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, she was the founder of the Jagiellon dynasty.
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Catherine of Bosnia Catherine of Bosnia (Bosnian: "Katarina Kosača" /Катарина Косача; 1424/1425 – 25 October 1478) was Queen of Bosnia as the wife of King Stephen Thomas, the penultimate Bosnian sovereign. She was born into the powerful House of Kosača, staunch supporters of the Bosnian Church. Her marriage in 1446 was arranged to bring peace between the King and her father, Stjepan Vukčić. The queenship of Catherine, who at that point embraced Roman Catholicism, was marked with an energetic construction of churches throughout the country.
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Henry VIII the Sparrow Henry VIII (VI) the Sparrow (Polish: Henryk VIII Wróbel ) (  1357 – 14 March 1397) was a Duke of Żagań–Głogów during 1368–1378 (as a co-ruler with his brothers), from 1378 ruler over Zielona Góra, Szprotawa, Kożuchów, Przemków and Sulechów, and since 1395 ruler over half of Głogów, Ścinawa and Bytom Odrzański.
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Michael Glinski Michael Glinsky (Lithuanian: "Mykolas Glinskis" , Russian: Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky , Polish: "Michał Gliński" ; 1460s – 24 September 1534) was a noble from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of distant Tatar extraction who was also a tutor of his nephew, Ivan the Terrible. As a young man, Glinsky served in the court of Emperor Maximilian I and earned distinction for his military service. Around 1498 he returned to Lithuania and quickly rose in power and wealth, angering local nobles. Just after commanding the victorious Battle of Kletsk against the Crimean Khanate in August 1506, he was accused of conspiracy against the deceased Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon and lost all his wealth. Glinsky began an armed rebellion against Sigismund I, the new Grand Duke. The rebellion was unsuccessful and Glinski retreated to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, where he served Vasili III of Russia. When the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars renewed in 1512, Glinsky was instrumental in helping Moscow to capture Smolensk, a major trading center. However, he was not rewarded with the regency of the city. Angered, he planned to betray Vasili III, but the plot was discovered and he was imprisoned for 12 years. He was freed after his niece Elena Glinskaya married Vasili III in 1526. Before his death in 1533, Vasili appointed Elena and Glinski as protectors of his underage sons Ivan and Yuri. Elena disapproved of Glinsky's influence in the state and had him sent to prison, where he soon died of starvation.
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Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (Russian: Княжна Екатери́на Иоа́нновна ; 12 July 1915 – 14 July 2007) was a great-great-granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and a niece of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. She was the last member of the Imperial Family to be born before the fall of the dynasty, and was ultimately to become the last surviving uncontested dynast of the Imperial House of Russia.
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Cecilia Renata of Austria Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (German: "Cäcilia Renata"; Polish: "Cecylia Renata"; 16 July 1611 – 24 March 1644) was Queen of Poland as consort to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's King Władysław IV Vasa.