Stephen Báthory (bä`tôrĭ), Pol. Stefan Batory, 1533–86, king of Poland (1575–86), prince of Transylvania (1571–75), son of Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory, 1477–1534, a loyal adherent of John I of Hungary (John Zápolya), was made (1529) voivode [governor] of Transylvania . His youngest son became (1575) king of Poland (see Stephen Báthory , king of Poland) and was succeeded as prince of
..... Click the link for more information. (1477–1534). He was elected to succeed John II as prince of Transylvania. In Poland, he was elected by a majority to succeed Henry of Valois, who had left Poland in 1574 to rule France as Henry III Henry III, 1551–89, king of France (1574–89); son of King Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. He succeeded his brother, Charles IX. As a leader of the royal army in the Wars of Religion (see Religion, Wars of ) against the French Protestants, or Huguenots,
..... Click the link for more information. . A minority voted for Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II Maximilian II, 1527–76, Holy Roman emperor (1564–76), king of Bohemia (1562–76) and of Hungary (1563–76), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I.
..... Click the link for more information. , who died before he could make good his claim. As had been stipulated by the Polish diet, Stephen married Anna, daughter of Sigismund II Sigismund II or Sigismund Augustus, 1520–72, king of Poland (1548–72). Crowned in 1530 to assure his succession, he assumed the royal functions at the death of his father, Sigismund I .
..... Click the link for more information. , the last Jagiello king of Poland. To his brother, Christopher Báthory, he gave Transylvania. With his chancellor, Jan Zamojski Zamojski or Zamoyski, Jan (both: yän zämoi`skē)
..... Click the link for more information. , Stephen fought several successful campaigns against Ivan IV Ivan IV or Ivan the Terrible, 1530–84, grand duke of Moscow (1533–84), the first Russian ruler to assume formally the title of czar.
..... Click the link for more information. of Russia in the lengthy war for the succession to Livonia Livonia (lĭvō`nēə)
..... Click the link for more information. . Peace was made in 1582 through papal mediation, and Poland retained Polotsk and its part of Livonia. Toward the end of his reign Stephen Báthory planned a Christian alliance against the Ottomans. He also schemed to make Russia a vassal state of Poland—a project that he considered a necessary step for his anti-Ottoman crusade. He supported the Society of Jesus (see Jesus, Society of Jesus, Society of, religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Its members are called Jesuits. St. Ignatius of Loyola , its founder, named it Companã de Jess [Span.,=(military) company of Jesus]; in Latin it is Societas Jesu (abbr. S.J.).
..... Click the link for more information. ) in Poland in an attempt to foster the Catholic Reform, and he effected useful judiciary reforms. After his death Sigismund III, a Swedish nephew of Sigismund II, was elected king.

Stephen Báthory

Hungarian István Báthory Polish Stefan Batory

(born Sept. 27, 1533, Szilágysomlyó, Transylvania —died Dec. 12, 1586, near Grodno, grand duchy of Lith.) Prince of Transylvania (1571–76) and king of Poland (1575–86). In 1571 he was elected prince of Transylvania by the Hungarians, and in 1575, as son-in-law of the late Sigismund I, he was elected king of Poland by the Polish nobility. A forceful and ambitious monarch, he successfully defended Poland's eastern Baltic provinces against Russian incursion and forced the cession of Livonia to Poland in 1582. He planned to unite Poland, Muscovy, and Transylvania and was preparing to renew the war against Russia when he died.