Sigismund Báthory (; 1573 – 27 March 1613) was Prince of Transylvania several times between 1586 and 1602, and Duke of Racibórz and Opole in Silesia in 1598. His father, Christopher Báthory, ruled Transylvania as voivode (or deputy) of the absent prince, Stephen Báthory. Sigismund was still a child when the Diet of Transylvania elected him voivode at his dying father's request in 1581. Initially, regency councils administered Transylvania on his behalf, but Stephen Báthory made János Ghyczy the sole regent in 1585. Sigismund adopted the title of prince after Stephen Báthory died.
The Diet proclaimed Sigismund to be of age in 1588, but only after he agreed to expel the Jesuits. Pope Sixtus V excommunicated him, but the ban was lifted in 1590, and the Jesuits returned a year later. His blatant favoritism towards the Catholics made him unpopular among his Protestant subjects. He decided to join the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire. Since he could not convince the Diet to support his plan, he renounced the throne in July 1594, but the commanders of the army convinced him to revoke his abdication. At their proposal, he purged the noblemen who opposed the war against the Ottomans. He officially joined the Holy League and married Maria Christina of Habsburg, a niece of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II. The marriage was never consummated.
Michael the Brave, Voivode of Wallachia, and Ștefan Răzvan, Voivode of Moldavia, acknowledged his suzerainty. Their united forces defeated an Ottoman army in the Battle of Giurgiu. The triumph was followed by a series of Ottoman victories, and Sigismund abdicated in favor of Rudolph II in early 1598, receiving the duchies of Racibórz and Opole as a compensation. His maternal uncle, Stephen Bocskai, persuaded him to return in late summer, but he could not make peace with the Ottoman Empire. He renounced Transylvania in favor of Andrew Báthory and settled in Poland in 1599. During the following years, Transylvania was regularly pillaged by unpaid mercenaries and Ottoman marauders. Sigismund returned at the head of a Polish army in 1601, but he could not strengthen his position. He again abdicated in favor of Rudolph and settled in Bohemia in June 1602. After he was accused of a conspiracy against the emperor, he spent fourteen months in jail in Prague in 1610 and 1611. He died at his Bohemian estate.
Early life
Sigismund was the son of Christopher Báthory and his second wife, Elisabeth Bocskai. He was born in Várad (now Oradea in Romania) in 1573, according to the Transylvanian historian, István Szamosközy. At the time of Sigismund's birth, his uncle, Stephen Báthory, was the voivode of Transylvania. After being elected King of Poland in late 1575, Stephen Báthory adopted the title of Prince of Transylvania and made Sigismund's father voivode. Stephen Báthory set up a separate chancellery in Kraków to supervise the administration of the principality.
Sigismund's father and uncle were Roman Catholic, but his mother was Calvinist. According to the Jesuit Antonio Possevino, Sigismund demonstrated his devotion to Catholicism already at the age of seven. His mother mocked him for his piety, saying that he only wanted to secure his uncle's goodwill. Sigismund was especially hostile towards the Anti-Trinitarians in his youth. His mother died in early 1581.
Reign
Voivode
Christopher Báthory fell seriously ill after his wife's death. At his request, the Diet of Transylvania elected Sigismund voivode in Kolozsvár (present-day Cluj-Napoca in Romania) around 15May 1581. Since Sigismund was still a minor, his dying father tasked a council of twelve noblemen with the government. Christopher Báthory's cousin, Dénes Csáky, and his brother-in-law, Stephen Bocskai, headed the council. Christopher Báthory died on 27May.
The Ottoman Sultan, Murad III, confirmed Sigismund's election on 3July 1581, reminding him of his obligation to pay a yearly tribute of 15,000 florins. However, Pál Márkházy, a young nobleman who lived in Istanbul, offered to double the tribute and to pay an additional tax of 100,000 florins if he was made the ruler of Transylvania. The Grand Vizier, Koca Sinan Pasha, supported Márkházy's claim. Taking advantage of the situation, Murad demanded the same payments from Sigismund, but Stephen Báthory and the "Three Nations of Transylvania" resisted. After receiving the customary tribute from Transylvania, the sultan again confirmed Sigismund's rule in November 1581.
Stephen Báthory who took charge of Sigismund's education confirmed the position of his Jesuit tutors, János Leleszi and Gergely Vásárhelyi. According to Szamosközy, Stephen Báthory also ordered Sigismund's companions to talk of foreign lands, wars, and hunting with him during their dinners together. He reorganized the government on 3May 1583, charging Sándor Kendi, Farkas Kovacsóczy, and László Sombori with the administration of Transylvania during Sigismund's minority. The Diet suggested to Stephen Báthory that he dismiss them, but he only dissolved the council on 1May 1585. He replaced the three councillors with the devout Calvinist János Ghyczy, making him regent for Sigismund.
Prince under guardianship
Sigismund adopted the title of Prince of Transylvania after Stephen Báthory died on 13 December 1586. He was still a minor, and Ghyczy continued to rule as regent. Sigismund was one of the candidates to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. His advisors knew that he had little chance to win, but they wanted to demonstrate that the Báthorys had a valid claim to rule the Commonwealth. Kovacsóczy officially announced Sigismund's application at the Sejm (or general assembly) on 14August 1587. Five days later, the assembly elected Sigismund III Vasa king. During the ensuing war of succession, Transylvanian troops supported SigismundIII against Maximilian of Habsburg, who had also laid claim to Poland and Lithuania.
Sigismund's cousins, Balthasar and Stephen Báthory, returned from Poland to Transylvania. Balthasar wanted to take charge of the government, making his court at Fogaras (present-day Făgăraș in Romania) the center of those who opposed Ghyczy's rule. Kovacsóczy, the chancellor of Transylvania, remained neutral in the conflict.
In October 1588 the Diet proposed to declare the sixteen-year-old Sigismund of age if he banished the Jesuits from Transylvania. He did not accept the offer, mainly because he did not want to expel his confessor, Alfonso Carillo. The Diet was dissolved, but Sigismund's cousins convinced him not to resist the Diet, which was dominated by Protestant delegates. The Diet was again summoned in late 1588; on 8December it ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits and declared Sigismund to be of age.
Internal conflicts
Sigismund took the customary oath of the Transylvanian monarchs on 23December 1588. Pope Sixtus V excommunicated him for the expulsion of the Jesuits. Sigismund's cousin, Cardinal Andrew Báthory, urged the pope to lift the ban, saying that the prince's Protestant advisors had forced him to throw out the priests. The pope authorized Sigismund to employ a confessor in May 1589, and the excommunication was revoked on Easter 1590.
Sigismund made several attempts to strengthen the position of the Roman Catholic Church, especially by appointing Catholics to the highest positions of state administration. Carillo and other Jesuit priests returned to Sigismund's court in disguise in early 1591. Sigismund met Andrew and Balthasar Báthory in August to seek their support for the legalization of the Jesuits' presence, but they refused to stand by the priests at the Diet.
Sigismund dispatched his favorite, István Jósika, to Tuscany to start negotiations regarding his marriage to Eleonora Orsini (a niece of Ferdinando I de' Medici), although his cousins had sharply opposed Jósika's appointment. He also invited Italian artists and artisans to his court, making them his advisors or butlers. Szamosközy described them as "the trashiest representatives of the noblest nation". The delegates of the "Three Nations" criticized Sigismund for his prodigal way of life at the Diet in Gyulafehérvár in November. To reduce his authority, the Diet prescribed that Sigismund should only make decisions in the royal council. Sigismund deprived his cousins of the allowances that the royal treasury had paid to them.
Gossip about conspiracies spread during the following months. Sándor Kendi accused Sigismund's former tutor, János Gálffy, of deliberately stirring up debates between the prince and his cousins. Other courtiers claimed that Balthasar Báthory was planning to dethrone Sigismund. A Jesuit priest was informed at Vienna that Gálffy and his allies wanted to murder the prince and his cousins. In late 1591 Sigismund stated that he was willing to renounce in favor of Balthasar if the members of the royal council favored his cousin. His offer was refused, but during the debate Kendi referred to Sigismund and Balthasar as the "two monsters and greatest disasters of the Transylvanian realm". Pope Clement VIII's legate, Attilio Amalteo, mediated a reconciliation between Sigismund and his cousins in the summer of 1592. The pope also urged Sigismund to marry a Catholic princess from the House of Lorraine.
At the demand of the sultan, Transylvania troops assisted Aaron the Tyrant, Voivode of Moldavia. The sultan also ordered Sigismund to pay double the amount of the yearly tribute. Balthasar Báthory murdered Sigismund's secretary, Pál Gyulai, on 10December 1592. He also persuaded Sigismund to order the execution of Gálffy on 8March 1593. That summer, Sigismund went to Kraków in disguise to start negotiations regarding his marriage with Anna, the sister of SigismundIII of Poland. The Holy See had proposed the marriage, which could have enabled Sigismund to rule Poland during the absence of the king, who was also King of Sweden, but the plan came to nothing.
Murad III declared war against the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph in August. The sultan ordered Sigismund to send reinforcements to support the Ottoman army in Royal Hungary. According to diplomatic sources, the grand vizier was planning to occupy Transylvania. At the proposal of Jan Zamoyski, Chancellor of Poland, Sigismund sent envoys to Elizabeth I of England, asking her to intervene on his behalf at the Sublime Porte. She ordered her ambassador at Istanbul, Edward Barton, to support Sigismund.
Pope Clement VIII wanted to persuade Sigismund to join the Holy League that the pope had organized against the Ottoman Empire. After Rudolph's troops defeated the Ottomans in a series of battles in the autumn of 1593, Sigismund decided to join the Holy League, provided that Rudolph acknowledged the independence of Transylvania from the Hungarian Crown. However, the delegates of the Three Nations refused to declare war against the Ottoman Empire at three consecutive Diets between May and July. Sigismund abdicated, tasking Balthasar Báthory with the government in late July. Balthasar wanted to seize the throne, but Kovacsóczy, Kendi, and the other leading officials decided to set up an aristocratic council to administer Transylvania.
The commanders of the army (including Stephen Bocskai), and Friar Carillo jointly convinced Sigismund to return on 8August. They also persuaded him to order the arrest of Kovacsóczy, Kendi, Balthasar Báthory, and twelve other noblemen who had opposed the war against the Ottomans on 28August, accusing them of plotting. Sándor and Gábor Kendi were beheaded along with two other members of the royal council; Balthasar Báthory, Kovacsóczy, and Ferenc Kendi were strangled in prison. All but one murdered noblemen were Protestants, mostly Unitarians. Many of their relatives converted to Catholicism to prevent the confiscation of their estates.
Holy League