Releasing a Caged Bear

In 1527 Queen Bona Sforza of Poland suffered a miscarriage when she fell from her horse. The cause of her fall was that a bear her husband had been hunting, charged at the royal couple. The labor was a child with the name of Wocjiech (whom some sources refer to as Olbracht, Adalbertus or Albert) who promptly died shortly after birth.

As we all know, Bona's only son, Sigismund II was the last of the Jagiellonian kings of Poland. But what if she had not been with on the hunt (since the birth rendered her barren)? No falling from her horse means no miscarriage, and a little bit of luck she can birth the child at full term.

What does the future of the Polish monarchy look like if Sigismund is not destined to be the last of the Jagiellons?
 
The night and early morning hours, on September 20th, 1527, before the hunt, Queen Bona Sforza of Poland, feels pain in her stomuch and desides to miss the hunt. When her husband returns he tells her that one the bears he had been hunting, turned and charged at him and Gian Lorenzo Pappacoda, informing her that Pappacoda, had died after he fell off his horse, hitting his head on the ground.

Two weeks later, October 6th, Queen Bona goes into labor, with the child, a boy being born five hours later with the name of Wocjiech Olbracht, the kingdom praised that mother and child were well and healthy.

With an age gap of 7 years Wocjiech and his brother, Sigismund never saw much of each other during their childhood.

It was not until 1548, when their father died, did the two become close, with Sigismund at the regal age of 18 he was able to rule his nation, with his brother Wocjiech , as heir pressume, a title he will hold until his childless brother's death in 15

The were talks of marrying the young Prince to Princess Elizabeth (daughter of protestant king, King Henry VIII of England) but this was later scapt for him to marry Catherine Vasa (1539-1610) oldest daughter of king Gustav I of Sweden. Their marriage was a happy one resulting in having ten children, which pleased King Sigismund II, that the Jagiellonian house will continue.

This also affects his decission on turning the Poland and Lithuanian Commonwealth into an elective monarchy.

Out of the purest of interests, where do these wonderful ideas come from?
 
I don't believe he was being sarcastic. I believe he was more or less positively acknowledging your POD as being one of those minor incidents of history with potentially big consequences.
 
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I don't believe he was being sarcastic. I believe he was more or less positively acknowledging your POD as being one of those minor incidents of history with potentially big consequences.

My apologies then. I'm not quite sure, TBH. But I do agree it will have massive consequences. I like the idea of Elizabeth Tudor becoming the second lady of Poland, a nice symmetry when Sigismund II proposed to Bloody Mary at a point.

On the other hand, here no messy Polish-Swedish Union, and if Wocjiech is half as smart as his brother, he'll be running circles around the Sejm.
 
Interesting start. Is it possible, if Sigismund has the whole Barbara Radziwiłł thing again, he will be forced/persuaded/decides to abdicate for his brother?

I also think that Elizabeth Tudor (with ten children;)) would be much more interesting wife, with butterflies all around the world
 
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Seems interesting.

Originally posted by Jonathan
This also affects his decission on turning the Poland and Lithuanian Commonwealth into an elective monarchy.
1. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a federation of Poland and Lithuania, was created in 1569 by Sigismund August (the Union of Lublin). Earlier Poland and Lithuania were in a personal union - king of Poland was usually also (not always) ruler of Lithuania. Sigismund August pushed for federation, since he had no successor and wanted to keep Poland and Lithuania together also after his death. With his brother as successor (and a numerous next generation of heirs) union might not happen at all, might happen later or have a different character. Lithuanians were not so enthusiastic about tighter, federal union with Poland.
2. Technically, Polish kings were elected since Władysław Jagiełło (Jogaila); but only the members of Jagiellon dynasty could have been elected; generally election of Jagiellon was accepting the legal successor of deceased king as next king of Poland. However, Jagiellons were hereditary rulers of Lithuania.
3. It's Wojciech, not Wocjiech.
 
I wonder if having a second son/spare heir might persuade Sigismund I to adopt Bona's ideas to reincorporate Silesia into the crown domains in exchange for her duchy of Bari/principality of Rossano. Another thing was the response given by Stanczyk (court jester) to Sigismund's upbraiding for cowardice - and the source of the title: the caged bear referred to the duchy of Prussia, is it possible that Sigismund would've not granted the fief to Albert of Hohenzollern? It was just a thought I had recently.
 
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