Use the Forks, Henry: Difference between revisions

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== A French Fop on the Polish Throne ==

We left off as Queen Bona, estranged from her son, returned from Poland to Italy in 1556 and died by poison a year later. The son, King Sigismund II Augustus, had already married for the third time – to his first wife’s younger sister, Catherine Habsburg. But she, like the two queens before her, failed to provide him with an heir. Thus, with the king’s death in 1572, the entire Jagiellonian dynasty came to an end, and Poland’s 65-year-long Sigismundian golden age – spanning the reigns of Sigismunds I and II – drew to a close. This raised a number of intriguing constitutional questions (which we won’t be exploring here), made all the more pressing by the fact that none of the living politicians could even remember what a royal election was supposed to look like – since Augustus had been crowned without one, in an unconstitutional exception. After lengthy debate, the nobility and the magnates agreed on new rules for choosing a monarch: any noble-born Catholic could be a candidate, though ideally someone from a reigning European dynasty.

We left off as Queen Bona, estranged from her son, returned from Poland to Italy in 1556 and died by poison a year later. The son, King Sigismund II Augustus, had already married for the third time – to his first wife’s younger sister, Catherine Habsburg. But she, like the two queens before her, failed to provide him with an heir. Thus, with the king’s death in 1572, the entire Jagiellonian dynasty came to an end and Poland’s 65-year-long Sigismundian golden age – spanning the reigns of Sigismunds I and II – drew to a close. This raised a number of intriguing constitutional questions (which we won’t be exploring here), made all the more pressing by the fact that none of the living politicians could even remember what a royal election was supposed to look like – since Augustus had been crowned without one, in an unconstitutional exception. After lengthy debate, the nobility and the magnates agreed on new rules for choosing a monarch: any noble-born Catholic could be a candidate, though ideally someone from a reigning European dynasty.

[[File:Henri III.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Henry Valois (1551–1589), King of Poland and France]]

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 == A&nbsp;French Fop on the Polish Throne ==
-We left off as Queen Bona, estranged from her son, returned from Poland to Italy in 1556 and died by poison a&nbsp;year later. The son, King Sigismund II Augustus, had already married for the third time – to his first wife’s younger sister, Catherine Habsburg. But she, like the two queens before her, failed to provide him with an heir. Thus, with the king’s death in 1572, the entire Jagiellonian dynasty came to an end, and Poland’s 65-year-long Sigismundian golden age – spanning the reigns of Sigismunds I and II – drew to a&nbsp;close. This raised a&nbsp;number of intriguing constitutional questions (which we won’t be exploring here), made all the more pressing by the fact that none of the living politicians could even remember what a&nbsp;royal election was supposed to look like – since Augustus had been crowned without one, in an unconstitutional exception. After lengthy debate, the nobility and the magnates agreed on new rules for choosing a&nbsp;monarch: any noble-born Catholic could be a&nbsp;candidate, though ideally someone from a&nbsp;reigning European dynasty.
+We left off as Queen Bona, estranged from her son, returned from Poland to Italy in 1556 and died by poison a&nbsp;year later. The son, King Sigismund II Augustus, had already married for the third time – to his first wife’s younger sister, Catherine Habsburg. But she, like the two queens before her, failed to provide him with an heir. Thus, with the king’s death in 1572, the entire Jagiellonian dynasty came to an end and Poland’s 65-year-long Sigismundian golden age – spanning the reigns of Sigismunds I and II – drew to a&nbsp;close. This raised a&nbsp;number of intriguing constitutional questions (which we won’t be exploring here), made all the more pressing by the fact that none of the living politicians could even remember what a&nbsp;royal election was supposed to look like – since Augustus had been crowned without one, in an unconstitutional exception. After lengthy debate, the nobility and the magnates agreed on new rules for choosing a&nbsp;monarch: any noble-born Catholic could be a&nbsp;candidate, though ideally someone from a&nbsp;reigning European dynasty.
 [[File:Henri III.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Henry Valois (1551–1589), King of Poland and France]]