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Władysław IV Waza
(1595—1648)

Władysław IV was the son of Sigismund III Vasa and his wife, Anna of Austria (also known as Anna Habsburg). Władysław IV reigned as King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from November 8, 1632, to his death in 1648.

In 1610 the teenaged Władysław was elected Tsar of Russia, but did not assume the Muscovite throne due to his father's opposition; he used the title of Grand Duke of Muscovy until 1634. The throne during this time was instead held by Michael Romanov.
Władysław managed to prevent the Commonwealth becoming embroiled in the bloody Thirty Years' War that ravaged western Europe during his reign, and was fairly successful in defending the Commonwealth from invasion. He supported religious tolerance and carried out military reforms. He failed, however, to realize his dreams of fame and conquest, or to reform and strengthen the Commonwealth.

His death marked the end of the Golden Age of the Commonwealth, as conflicts and tensions that Władysław had failed to resolve led in 1648 to the greatest of the Cossack uprisings—the Chmielnicki Uprising—and to Swedish invasion ("The Deluge"). As Władysław Zygmunt Waza-Jagiellon, in 1632 he was elected King of Poland. By paternal inheritance, he legally succeeded as King of Sweden. He was heir to the title of King of Jerusalem.

His father Sigismund III Vasa, grandson of Gustav I of Sweden, had succeeded his father to the Swedish throne in 1592, only to be deposed in 1599 by his uncle, subsequently Charles IX. This led to a long-standing feud where the Polish kings of the house of Vasa claimed the Swedish throne. The effects of this were the Swedish War (1600-1629) and later, The Deluge of 1655. Sigismund, a devout Catholic, pursued other military conflicts abroad, barely avoiding involving the Commonwealth in the Thirty Year War and supported counter-reformation, both policies which lead to increasing tensions inside the Commonwealth.

At first Wladislaw did not want to have deeper relationships with Habsburgs. In 1633 promised equal treating of Protestants and orthodox and forced Albrycht Stanisław Radziwiłł (Catholic) to countersign decree threatened him with giving key posts in Commonwealth to Protestants. In 1633/35 nominated Krzysztof Radziwiłł (Calvinist) on the highest posts in country (wojewoda wileński (of Vilnius – capital of Lithuania), grand Lithuanian hetman). However after Protestant nobles blocked his attempt to wage a war against Protestant Sweden, in 1635 at the Armistice of Stuhmsdorf (Treaty of Sztumska Wieś), he renew his father's alliance with Habsburgs.
Wladislaw IV owed allegiance to the Imperial Habsburgs as a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Wladislaw was married twice. At the very beginning of 1634, or even at the end of 1633 Wladislaw asked pope Urban VIII for permission (or better to say promise of permission, since no name was included) to marry a Protestant princess. The pope refused, and speed of this refusal Wladislaw treated as insult. At the beginning of 1634 Wladislaw sent Aleksander Przypkowski with a secret mission to king of England Charles I. Envoy had to discuss king's marriage plans and English help for reconstruction of Polish fleet. King's marriage plans were discussed on Senate meeting on 19th of March 1635, but only four bishops were present and only one supported plan. There exist also other documents concerning planned marriage of Wladislaw and Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine (daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine (also known as the "Winter King"). However when he was "cheated" during peace talks with Sweden in 1635 - by Polish magnates and nobles, many of the Protestant, by Protestant Swedes and by Protestant representatives of other foreign monarch who all did not want new war between Commonwealth and Sweden, for various reasons, the war Władysław pushed for - then Władysław changed his mind about marrying a Protestant and decided to seek support from the Catholic factions, especially the Habsburgs.

Another marriage briefly considered in 1636 was to Anna Wiśniowiecka, daughter of Michał Wiśniowiecki and sister of Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, of the powerful Polish magnate family of Wiśniowiecki. Although Władysław was quite supportive of the marriage, it was blocked by the Sejm. Anna eventually married Zbigniew Firlej between 1636 and 1638.
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor's proposal of marriage between Wladislaw and Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (sister of future Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor) arrived in Warsaw somewhere during spring 1636. King's trusted, father Walerian (of Franciscan religious order) and voivode Kasper Doenhoff arrived in Regensburg (Polish: Ratyzbona) on 26th of October 1636 with consent and performed negotiations. Archduchess dowry was agreed for 100000 złoty (currency unit), the Emperor promised to pay dowries of Siegmund III both wives: Anna and Konstance. Additionally the son of Wladislaw and Cecilia Renata was to obtain duchy of Opole and Raciborz in Silesia (księstwo opolsko-raciborskie). However before everything was confirmed and signed Ferdinand II died and Ferdinand III backed from giving the Silesian duchy to the son of Wladislaw. Instead a dowry was written/protected by Bohemian estates of Třeboň(Trebon). The marriage took place in 1637.

After Cecilia's death in 1643, he married the French princess Ludwika Maria Gonzaga de Nevers, daughter of Karol I Gonzaga, prince de Nevers in 1646. He had no heirs. He was succeeded by his half brother and cousin Jan II Kazimierz.

Wladislaw was elected to the Polish throne on his father's death in 1632. In an attempt to take advantage of confusion expected after the death of the Polish king, Tsar Michael Romanov ordered an attack on the Commonwealth. A Muscovite army (of approximately 34,500) crossed the Commonwealth eastern frontier in October 1632 and laid siege to Smolensk (which was ceded to Poland by Russia in 1618, at the end of the Dymitriad wars). In the war against Russia in 1632-1634 (the Smolensk War), Wladyslaw succeeded in breaking the siege in September 1633 and then in turn surrounded the Russian army, which was then forced to surrender on March 1, 1634. The resulting Peace of Polyanov (Treaty of Polanów), favourable to Poland, confirmed the pre-war territorial status quo. Muscovy also agreed to pay 20,000 rubles in exchange for Wladyslaw's renunciation of all claims to the tsardom and return of the royal insignia, which were in the Commonwealth possession since the Dymitriads. It was during that campaign that Wladislaw started the modernisation program of the Commonwealth army, emphasising the usage of modern infantry and artillery. He also attempted to create a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy to secure part of the Baltic Sea, although this plan never succeeded.

Following the Smolensk campaign, the Commonwealth was threatened by another attack by the Ottoman Empire. During the wars against Ottomans in 1633-1634 Wladyslaw moved the Commonwealth army south of the Muscovy border and forced the Turks to come to terms with him. In the resulting treaty, both countries agreed again to curb the border raids by Cossacks and the Tatars, to a shared joint suzerainty (a condominium) over Moldavia and Wallachia (Wołoszczyzna).

After the southern campaign, Commonwealth was threatened from the north. Sweden, weakened by involvement in the Thirty Years' War, agreed to sign the Armistice of Stuhmsdorf (also known as Treaty of Sztumska Wieś) in 1635, favourable to the Commonwealth in terms of territorial concessions. Wladyslaw failed, however, to find any method for regaining the Swedish crown, which had been held and then lost by his father.
The king, while Catholic, was very tolerant and didn't support more aggressive policies of the Counter-Reformation. While it can be argued he often played one religious movement against other as a means of conserving his own powers, it is a fact he was in effect one of the most tolerant monarchs of his time. He did fail, however, to resolve the conflict stemming from the Union of Brest split.

Wladislaus was also a connoisseur of the arts and music. He sponsored many musicians and created the first amphitheater in the Warsaw castle, where during his reign dozens of operas and ballets were performed. He also collected paintings and invested in decorative architecture; among his most famous sponsored projects is the monument to his father, the Column of Sigismund which became one of the symbols of Warsaw. Wladislaw assembled an important collection of Italian and Flemish Baroque paintings, much of which were lost in the wars after his death.

Wladislaw used the title of the King of Sweden, although he had no control over Sweden whatsoever and never set foot in that country. He would continue his attempts to regain the Swedish throne, with similar lack of results as his father.

In internal politics he attempted to strengthen the power of the monarchy, but this was mostly thwarted by the szlachta, who valued their independence and democratic powers. Wladyslaw suffered continuing difficulties caused by the efforts of the Polish Sejm (parliament) to check the King's power and limit his dynastic ambitions. The Szlachta viewed Vladislaus' military dreams as an attempt to strengthen his position during war and thus the Sejm strongly opposed the majority of his plans for war (for example, with Sweden in 1635 or Turks in 1646), and usually thwarted them by denying the funds for military campaigns and withholding its cosignature on the declaration of war. Similarly, Wladislaw's foreign ambitions came to little, as his attempts to mediate in the Thirty Year's War between the warring German and Scandinavian powers came to nothing, and his support for the Habsburgs brought him almost nothing in return.

In 1638 Władysław proposed that still not paid dowries of his mother and second wife of Zygmunt III would be protected by one of Silesian duchies (preferably opolsko-raciborskie). In 1642 proposed to give Habsburgs his rights to Swedish throne in exchange for giving him Silesia in deposit. Ludovico Fantoni, sent to Vienna in summer 1644 proposed to exchange Wladysław's incomes from Bohemian estates in Treben for duches opolsko-raciborskie and cieszyńskie (of Cieszyn). At the beginning of 1645, tired by constant stalling of Vienna's court, Władysław said to Emperor's envoy sent to Warszawa, Maximilian Dietrichstein, that Poland will cooperate with Sweden – it was an open threat (that he could take Silesia with Swedes help and against Emperor) pronounced by fact that on 6th of March 1645 Swedish general Lennart Torstensson defeated Emperor's, Bavarian and Saxon forces in battle of Jankov and started march against Vienna. Now Emperor was again ready for discussion and sent Johannes Putz von Adlertum to Warsaw in April 1645 giving him wide prerogatives in transferring rights of duchy opolsko-raciborskie to son of Władysław and Cecylia Renata, Zygmunt Kazimierz as a hereditary fief. Negotiations eventually ended with Habsburgs success and Polish failure. Duchy was given not as a hereditary fief but 50 years long deposit and owner was required to swear allegiance to king of Bohemia (thus it could not be Polish king), but as an exempt Władysław would rule duchy until his son was an adult. Additionally Władysław promised to lend Emperor 1100000 złoty (minus still not paid three dowries).

Many historians argue that Wladislaus was very ambitious and dreamed of achieving great fame through conquests, and in the latter years he planned to use the Cossacks to provoke the Turks into attacking Poland so that his military leadership would be indispensable. On various times he set his sights on regaining the Swedish crown, capturing the Russian throne and even conquering the entire Ottoman Empire. He was often able to convince the restless Cossacks to join his side, but with little support from the szlachta and foreign allies (like the Habsburgs), he constantly failed in those attempts, often resulting in unnecessary border wars and diluting the strength of the Commonwealth, which later proved fatal when the country was finally invaded by its neighbours.

Some Polish historians claim that Wladislaus had short temper and when angered, could act to take revenge without considering all consequences. E.g. when Protestant szlachta blocked his plans for war with Sweden in 1635, he turned back to pro-Habsburg politics, sent them military help and married archduchess Cecylia Renata. Had many plans (dynastic, personal, about wars, territorial gains: regaining Silesia, Inflanty (Livonia), incorporation of Ducal Prussia, creation of his hereditary dukedom etc.), some of them with real chances of success, but because of bad luck or objective obstacles almost nothing went as he planned.

Wladislaw died in 1648. His heart and viscera were interred in the Chapel of St. Casimir of Vilnius Cathedral, which he himself had commissioned. A year after the death of his son, on the eve of the Chmielnicki Uprising and The Deluge. He failed to realize his dreams of conquest and he did not reform the Commonwealth. Wladislaw managed to avoid involving the Commonwealth in the bloody Thirty Year's War but his legacy would end the Golden Era of the Commonwealth. The Cossacks, angered because Wladislaw's promises to them failed to materialize, were beginning their greatest revolt against Polish rule, which would be exploited by Swedish invasion.

Poland, 1999, Władysław IV Waza

Poland, 2001, Władysław IV Waza