One of the several King’s named Casmir to have ruled over Poland included he who they called the Great from 1333-1370. Casimir I had ruled much earlier in the late eleventh century. But under Casimir III, the era was an early highpoint for progressing it’s urban development and acquiring larger territory including the area of Silesia. For much of the century Poland maintained a similar style of governing to that of Charles IV of Bohemia, that comprised of diplomatic and ancestral tradition rather than extensive wars. Casmir III had a compassionate interest for the people of Poland. The Czech land or Bohemian Kingdom as it was otherwise known was more developed with substantial urban areas in Prague, Cracow, and Poznan. Poland was nonetheless not too far behind and largely modeled itself after it’s southern neighbor. Under Casmir, Poland orchestrated a stronger presence for itself as a defined region by way of an agreement with Charles IV for which the Czech King would abandon all claims of it's suzerainty over Polish that had previously been granted to Bohemia by the German Emperor in the mid 12th century. For much of the time though, prior to the 14th century and the reign of Casmir III, the Bohemian state rarely acted decisively upon there particular claim to Poland, leaving it much to its own affairs of self rule .

More so, the aim of King Charles IV was in continuing to effect control over his own large terrirtory and otherwise seeking just subtle expansion of the Czech state. Successfully, he managed to invoke paternal lineage with the ruling house of Hungary by gaining it’s heiress’s hand in a marriage arrangement with Charles’ own son Sigismund that effectively led to his son becoming crowned ruler of Hungary in 1382. For transferring the Bohemian crown, another of Charles IV’s sons, Wenceslas took the honor in 1378 but in a much less effective manner than his father.

Poland, given it’s greater distance from the proximity of the German Empire of the Middle Ages and the associated ecclesiastic center of Rome, managed to refrain from implementing an early state policy of Christianity. In contrast, the Czechs, Austria-Hungarians and other states farther south took religious direction either from the Latin Catholic dioceses in the west or from the Orthodox clergy in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Poland though managed to effect it’s rule largely independent of seeking the protection of the German Empire during the High Middle Ages as the Czech and other central European states were accustomed to.

Casmir welcomed an immigration of non Catholic Europeans who had fled the guise of the HRE while also providing one of the most tolerant habitations for the Jewish population in Europe. A testament of the early religious tolerance of Poland in contrast to that practiced by the HRE was Casmir’s denouncement of the absurdity held by many throughout Europe that somehow the catastrophic Bubonic Plague was to be blamed on the Jews.

For Poland, establishing it’s sizeable territory through assertive assimilation of ethnic Poles, cooperative diplomacy with neighboring powers and war from time to time effectively allowed the state to govern itself often unperturbed from interference of the other major European powers until the eighteenth century. Thus Christianity was late in establishing itself there and didn’t gain national acceptance until the start of the 15th century.

More importantly for Poland, under Casmir, than it’s dealings with the west, were the tensions that had arisen with it’s northeastern neighbor, Lithuania, over a mutually contested territory known as Volhynia. After victorious battles, the area was to be recognized as Polish property. What became important in the coming centuries was that the animosity between Poland and Lithuania was reconcilable in the interests that both nations saw mutual alliance as a valuable defense against the threatening Teutonic Knights of Prussia. The Lithuanian area known as Galicia, a forested expanse with rivers and the city of Lwow that had remained largely unparsed by other major powers at the time, became a territorial gain that extended the Polish border in the east.

As the Poles established greater regional significance, other powers particularly the Hungarian state were amassing themselves on the periphery of the German Holy Roman Empire. Hungary having established prominent royal dynasty among surrounding states during the 13th and 14th centuries prompted coordinated regional interests. The political cooperation from Germany and military support, helped the ruling Hapsburg house establish powerful claims over much of the central and south eastern region of Europe. The rise of this Hungarian power had been born out of generations of established authority among the Hapsburg rulers whose recognition by Germany solidified their legitimacy and the countless intermarriages between the two powers further abetted one another’s position. Poland thus as it was the case all of central Europe, was not immune to this realm of Hungary’s royal influence.

Poland’s cooperation with Lithuania which had been part of the Hungarian power, resulted in a coordinated state of royal possession by Hungary over Poland and Lithuania under an agreement signed in 1374. The terms were favorable enough though for Poland though as Hungary refrained from much political interference even offering exemption to it from having to pay tributes. This edict of titular claim over Poland thus was similar in the manner to which Germany had once proclaimed the Kingdom of Bohemia to be in possession of Poland despite their never being any actual attempt to exercise such control. Thus for Poland to ally with Lithuania in the protective agreement against the Prussian Teutonic Knights, the terms of mutual cooperation with Hungary were set in place.

In the years following Casimir‘s death, King Louis of Hungary ruled briefly over Poland. Upon Louis’s old age though he consequently was in position to appoint someone else to take over that role. He did so through appointing Jagiello as King of Poland, who then was the ruling grand Duke of Lithuania and soon to be married to the Hungarian princess Jadwiga. This initiated an order which became known as the ruling Jagiellon Dynasty over Poland that lasted for several centuries. Jagiello and Jadwiga were named joint king and queen of Lithuania while he re-titled himself King Wladyslaw, a self honorary tribute to a former powerful ruler of Poland from the 13th century. Jagiello’s duplicitous administration over Lithuania and Poland though would only last for a short time.

In 1392 a change took place that forced Jagiello to prevent a feared struggle against his cousin, Witold, who had sought an alliance with the Teutonic Knights that occupied the area of Belarus and parts of Ukraine. Jagiello agreed to cede the title, Grand Duke of Lithuania to Witold in return for assurances that his cousin forgo any cooperation with this feared group of heretic rulers from Prussia. With this acquiescence for Lithuanian rule, Poland became further incorporated into the extended dynastic power of Hungary which maintained a cordial order of complacency among these respective states for several centuries.

Coordinated attempts of expansion for the Hungarian, Czech and Polish powers were made against other regional groups particularly that of the Turkish Ottomans who had infiltrated much of southeastern and central Europe. A fateful unified front between the Polish-Lithuanian force and Hungary to disrupt the Ottoman presence in the Balkans though proved unsuccessful for the Europeans in 1443. For the next several hundred years, Polish national interests would largely be contained within and around it’s own borders.

The line royal of Jagiellon rulers continued to preserve it’s grasp on Polish power. By 1444 the throne was handed to Casimir IV, the brother of Wladyslaw III whom died in battle when fighting alongside against the Turkish armies.

This King Casimir had previously presided as the Duke of Lithuania and was married to the daughter of a former Bohemian Emperor. Such a pedigree elicited the confidence in himself to maximize his realm of regional authority. He neglected to appoint a new Lithuanian Grand Duke intending instead to resume this position himself while acting also as the new ruler of Poland. This singular rule over Lithuania and Poland further integrated the territories effectively resulting in a more established state.

During the early part of Casimir IV's forty eight years in power until 1492, one of his most recognized accomplishments was conducting a thirteen year war against the Prussian Knights, bordering Poland to the northwest. One of Poland’s aims in this conflict was to secure direct sea access to the Baltic for it’s importance in conducting trade amongst other northern European countries. What once had been an alliance between Prussia and Germany was by this time abandoned due to ongoing defiance that the aggressive state had shown against the larger Imperial power.

Eventually a fierce struggle lasting twelve years with a combination of Polish and Bohemian forces led to a periodic demise of the Prussian Knights. The Peace of Torun was signed in 1466 annexing parts of former Prussian territory to Poland and requiring tributary payments to be made for those other lands that weren’t directly surrendered. Acquiring limited access to more seaports occurred but still the reliance on using the Lithuanian coast for Baltic trade remained standard for Poland. Such achievements made it’s Kingdom into one of the largest in Europe by the late 15th century.

While the treaty that annexed areas of Prussia provided additional assurance against the future threat of Teutonic invasion it also prompted consequences for the religious significance that was beginning to occur across much of Europe. In the early years of the Protestant Reformation, this newly acquired Polish territory become a haven for migrants and exiles who fled from the growing hostility of Germany’s repressive Catholic state. In comparison to much of the rest of Europe, the conflict of rivalry between the Catholic and Protestant faiths taking place posed less of a problem in Poland during the late 15th century thus encouraging the arrival of more protestants.

The Czech population on the other hand, experienced an early onset of much more rebellious reformation against the Catholic nobility. A movement that was led mostly by intellectual leaders at the University of Prague and supported by the proletariat class created a major struggle of socio-religious ideology that debilitated the Bohemian Power. But with it’s rather small order of Roman Catholicism in Poland, major religious discord was kept to a minimum. Also to help preclude the contagion of anti-Catholic activism from gaining much momentum, the Polish archbishop Zbigniew Olesnicki tactfully spearheaded a zero tolerance policy towards clerical opposition. The actions of Olesnicki in thwarting disruption from the protestant movement remained seemingly docile by Middle Age standards. Protestant activity though that was deemed detrimental to the state would become more severe however following the death of Casmir, as the reformation began exerting a greater an impact across all of Europe.

Under Casmir IV, avoiding much of the social upheaval that transpired in the Bohemian Kingdom where the peasant population took a stand against the nobility and it’s Catholic religious beliefs kept matters of the Polish state rather calm. The Polish peasants were considerably complacent under the authority of their hierarchical noble protectors. Efforts for introducing the teaching of Martin Luther and John Calvin did find acceptance amongst the Poles during the height of the Reformation owing largely to the more or less tolerant religious policies of the country’s subsequent rulers such as Casimir’s son Sigismund I and even more so when Sigismund II took the crown in 1548.

Despite Poland remaining significantly in line with Catholicism throughout it’s history, little political retaliation was made against the protestant believers. More of an importance to the civilization was the effect that the associated Renaissance Movement would play upon the state.

One of the most renowned Renaissance thinkers to have been from Poland was Copernicus despite him spending most of his life in Italy among the center of the era’s activity. But a preponderance of the influence spawned by this cultural rebirth was imported back to Poland as a result of Sigismund I’s marriage to a Milanese Princess. Bona Sforza helped familiarize the Polish people with the movement’s importance by sanctioning works and promoting the teachings of the Italian intellectuals.

After Sigismund II, a brief succesorship occurred with Henry of Valois, the son of the Italian art patron Catherine di Medici. But lacking a native commitment to reign over Poland, Henry of Valois abdicated after four years when the throne of France was suddenly left vacant upon the death of his brother, King Charles IX. The departure of Henry to France ushered in Stephen Bathory as Polish King. Under him, a parliamentary system of government continued that had initially been formed as a concession to allow the appointment of Henry to the throne. This early representative system whereby the King’s power was shared among the actions of a selected body of nobles was known as the Sejm. In conjunction with the absolute Monarchial system standard in Europe at the time, this early form of parliamentary accountability offered minor assurances for protecting of the population’s interest. For the King though, it was perceived as a burden in his ability to exert omnipotent authority.

Bathory, despite his effectiveness as a military leader who continued strengthening the position that Poland had amassed as the largest in the region east of Germany would encounter something of a new rival. The largest controlling nation along the Baltic had by that time become Sweden. During the mere ten years of Bathory’s reign until 1586 provoked a slight emphasis on Sweden but more so kept an eastward focus to ensure protection against attacks from the perilous capabilities of Russia under Ivan the Terrible.

The military prowess of Bathory prevailed in allowing Poland to fend off the eastern threat and uphold it’s position as a formidable Central Eastern power. For subsequent Polish rulers though both Sweden and Russia would prove more problematic while at the same time pressure from the Catholic Hapsburgs of Austria Hungary and the increased presence of the Turks in Southeastern Europe would test the diplomatic wisdom of leaders who would not always act favorably against continental adversaries.

Another royal descendant by the same name of his uncle Sigismund II, but more importantly the son of the Swedish King, succeeded the Jagiellon lineage as the next Polish King under the name Sigismund III. How he pursued the crown though was too mighty for his own good as he named himself the Swedish King upon his father’s death in 1592. Sweden‘s largely protestant citizenry quickly grew intolerant of the fervent Catholic policy that early on typified the rule of Sigismund III. Sweden in 1599 appointed instead, Sigismund’s Uncle which quickly prompted military clashes between the nations that would remain a continuous conflict for the next sixty years.

Sigismund III’s religious practices were the harshest ever seen in Poland and corresponded with that of the other old anti-Protestant houses of power including Germany, Rome, Spain and Austria-Hungary.

In the east, Russia was left rather feeble after having been immersed in thirty years of aggressive military campaigns under the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Without an appointed successor to power in Moscow and it’s large Ukrainian territory along Poland’s western border, vulnerability existed that a foreign power might exert themselves upon the geographical enormity of Russia in the early seventeenth century. One of the Russian nobles who arose to the challenge of ascending the throne was that of Dmitri who purported to be the youngest son of Ivan and married to an important Polish magnate. What became known as a false period of tsarist rule nonetheless for a brief period of time provided large cooperation between these two countries. After a major episode where Sigismund’s forces quelled an attack by a large anti-Polish resistance group in the western region of Russia. This prompted greater legitimacy to this new Polish alliance as it was accepted by the Zemsky Sobor , an assembly of Moscow nobility. So much in fact that this committee agreed to appoint as it’s tsar Sigismund’s son Wladyslaw. So Poland seemed legitimized in it’s claim of foreign influence over Russia should Wladyslaw act upon taking this immensely powerful title. But Sigismund III refused to instill the position upon his son and instead proclaimed himself as the foreign ruler just as he had unsuccessfully done ten years earlier in Sweden. The result was similarly intolerable in Russia and led to the Zemsky Sobor rejecting Polish authority over it’s country and appointed one of their own to rule over Russia.

Thus two failed attempts of overstretching his claims in the regions to the east and west, resulted in an adversarial relationship for Poland against these countries. At least for Poland during Sigismund III’s rule, it did manage to maintain it’s alliance with Hungary as mutual assistance was often provided in fighting off the Turkish threats across South Central Europe.

Bohemia at the time which was being disastrously overpowered by an army of German mercenaries against it’s own Czech soldiers whose moral was devastated from insufficient compensation was further weakened by Sigismund’s support of the anti Protestant movement. Meanwhile Sweden’s military gains against Poland during this time were significant and would position the Baltic state to a mightier position upon joining in on the side of the Protestant German Princes during the Thirty Years War.

In 1642, Sigismund’s son Wladyslaw succeeded. Any claims to Russian territory had long since been abandoned but securing the borders and attempting authority over areas of present day Ukraine which at the time was partially considered Polish territory remained a prerogative for the new King Cossack soldiers from that area were enlisted to fight off the Turks whose power was waning but still present enough throughout the region. The battles were largely successful but the loyalty of the many Ukrainian Cossacks remained vehemently insubordinate to claims of Polish authority along the eastern border. An uprising against minor claims of Polish rule ensued during 1648 that led to a bloody assertion of sovereignty for the Cossacks.

With a growing power of Russian at the time, the fate of the Cossacks and much of Ukraine would fall within the grasp of Tsar Alexis who assured that the Polish Kingdom remained confined to a border farther to the west. A Polish resurgence in the east though would transpire if only briefly in 1673 under the throne of Wladyslaw’s second successor, a nobleman named John Sobieski who possessed a charismatic enthusiasm for his country. He demonstrated a valiant capacity for battle while he helped to lead defeats against the Turkish Ottoman from encroaching into southeastern borders of Poland and the Ukraine. Domestically though conditions had become irreparable as the strengths of Sweden following the Thirty Years War and Russia’s uncontested rise bred non complacency among most of Poland’s nobility.

The Sejm parliamentary body failed to reach a stasis of power that soon resulted in a frequency of change among those who were appointed to the throne during the eighteenth century. A series of successions occurred that were influenced often by whom every held a mightier position between Sweden and Russia at the time. The War of Polish Succession took place from 1732-34 and secured to Russia’s advantage the second in a lineage of Polish Kings who hailed from the Saxony region of northern France as that nation was amassing greater importance across Europe. Augustus II was therefore crowned instead of the ethnically Polish, Stanislaw Leszcynski who had been favored by the Swedes. The start of the Seven Years War in 1756 between the major powers of Europe over the efficacy of alliances and territorial rights to the New World Colonies left damaging effects for much of the continent and particularly for Poland as Russia maintained a constant occupation.

A forceful ascension of Russian authority occurred in 1772 under Catherine the Great who strengthened a mighty alliance with the Austrian Hapsburgs. Within the next 35 years, Poland would experience a series of three partitionings of it’s borders that would confiscate much of it’s land into the a re-divided realm for Russia, Austria and a reinvigorated Prussia.

The demoralization of the situation for Poland had several affects which for a period of time though could be viewed with some optimism. Still a seemingly recoverable nation remained despite significant territorial setbacks. The loss though prompted an ambition from many of the lower nobility to react with ideas for reshaping the socio-political position of the state. By the mid 18th century the Enlightenment was finding a large acceptance in the minds of educated European people. Largely the influence of French thinkers began spreading to groups of the Polish population. Among several of the most astute subscribers to these teachings were Stanislav Stazic and Hugo Kallataf. They helped reform education throughout parts of the country including the universities in Cracow, Poznan and Warsaw. Major land reforms similar to what was occurring in other parts of Europe also began as farming cooperatives provided some entitlement for the peasantry to cultivate their own parcels but while still falling short of banning serfdom for the nobility.

Constitutional changes were put in place that established a parliamentary monarch that afforded more rights for officials to make constructive legislation. Rights were improved for the urban class and the strong remnants of Catholicism were liberalized. For the twenty years following the first partition, the three victors of territorial gain seemed appeased and left Poland much to it’s own affairs. Russia occupied itself in meddling with the Ottomans in Turkey. Austria-Hungary grappled with it’s own elevated position as a major surviving power in Europe. And Prussia even agreed to a protective treaty with Poland against the potential of a Russian threat.

But in 1792 over what was caustically described as the preservation of lost liberties for the nobility during this period of reform, Russia’s Catherine the Great led a devastating invasion into the country. Prussia did nothing to stand in the way but rather joined in the banality of this eastern aggression and caused what became the second partition of Poland, an even more devastating geographical pillage than before.
The losses now included what was Lithuania, the aforementioned cities where the Polish Universities existed and most everything else except a central region and places along the Vistula River.

The reaction was outrage from nearly all of the population and groups of radicals took action against the invading nations. The rebellions though were put down convincingly and in 1795 led to a complete capture of what land still remained for Poland. This time around Austria-Hungary and Russia augmented their portion of the territory.

Despite the absolving of it’s state, an ethnically intact population still remained and forging into an era of other major European contests of war particularly that of Napoleonic France, many Poles enlisted to aid the French cause. Some initial successes bode rather positively for restoring some of the recognition of a minor Polish state. France through it’s victories against Austria Hungary proclaimed a Duchy of Warsaw that was governed by a Saxon Prince similar to the ruler who had followed the last of the Jageillo dynastic Kings. Poland would be for the next several decades at the mercy of the controlling Russian and Prussian powers. The nationalism movement though that formidably emerged through Europe beginning after 1820 would be a element of hope for the fate of a reemerged Polish nation.