See biography by B. Harrow (1955).
See biography by D. J. Abodaher (1969).
(born Nov. 30, 1427—died June 7, 1492) Grand duke of Lithuania (1440–92) and king of Poland (1447–92). He became ruler of Lithuania by will of the boyars and king of Poland on his brother's death. He sought to preserve the political union between Poland and Lithuania and to recover the lost lands of old Poland. Through his own marriage to Elizabeth of Habsburg and the marriages of his children, he formed alliances with various European royal houses and built the Jagiellon dynasty. The great triumph of his reign was the effective destruction of the Teutonic Order (1466), which brought Prussia under Polish rule.
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(born April 30, 1310, Kujavia, Pol.—died Nov. 5, 1370) King of Poland (1333–70). He was the son of Władysław I, who revived the Polish kingship, and he continued his father's quest to make Poland a power in central Europe. He crafted treaties with Hungary, Bohemia, and the Teutonic Order and acquired Red Russia and Masovia by diplomacy. Casimir also arranged a series of dynastic alliances that tied Poland to many royal European families. He codified Teutonic law, gave new towns self-government under the Magdeburg Law, and founded the University of Kraków.
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