Jogaila was a Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland. He ruled in
Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle, Kęstutis. In 1386, he
converted to Christianity, was baptized as Władysław, married the
eleven-year-old Queen Jadwiga of Poland, and was crowned Polish king
as Władysław Jagiełło. His reign in Poland lasted a further
forty-eight years and laid the foundation for the centuries long
Polish-Lithuanian union. He gave his name to the Jagiellon branch of
the Gediminids dynasty which ruled both states until 1572, and became
one of the most influential dynasties in medieval Europe. Jogaila was
the last pagan ruler of medieval Lithuania. He held the title Didysis
Kunigaikštis. As King of Poland, he pursued a policy of close
alliances with Lithuania against the Teutonic Order. The allied
victory at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, followed by the First Peace
of Toruń, secured the Polish and Lithuanian borders and marked the
emergence of the Polish-Lithuanian alliance as a major European force.
The reign of Władysław II Jagiełło extended Polish frontiers and is
often considered the beginning of Poland's "Golden Age".
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jogaila
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1786:
Peter Leopold Joseph, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgated a penal
reform that made his country the first sovereign state to abolish the
death penalty.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1853:
Russian battleships led by Pavel Nakhimov destroyed an Ottoman fleet
of frigates at the Battle of Sinop in Sinop, Turkey, precipitating the
Crimean War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War)
1936:
The Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in
London, was destroyed by fire.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace)
1939:
The Winter War broke out as the Soviet Red Army invaded Finland and
quickly advanced to the Mannerheim Line, an action judged as illegal
by the League of Nations.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War)
2005:
John Sentamu was enthroned as Archbishop of York, becoming the first
member of an ethnic minority to serve as an archbishop in the Church
of England.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sentamu)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
insinuate: Make a way for or introduce something by subtle, crafty or
artful means.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insinuate)
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Wikiquote of the day:
The truth is, when all is said and done, one does not teach a subject,
one teaches a student how to learn it. -- Jacques Barzun
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Barzun)