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Casimir IV Jagiellon (, ; ; 30 November 1427 - 7 June 1492), of the House of Jagiellons, was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.
He was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło, and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna. As 13 years old boy, Kazimierz was invited by Lithuanian nobles under leadership of John Gasztold to come to Lithuania and on June 29, 1440 he was installed as Grand Duke of Lithuania without Polish consent. Kazimierz succeeded his brother after a three-year interregnum on June 25, 1447. In 1454, he married Elisabeth of Austria, daughter of the late Holy Roman Emperor, Albert II of Habsburg, and his also deceased wife Elisabeth II of Bohemia. Her distant relative Frederick III of Austria, became Holy Roman Emperor, and reigned in Germany even after Kazimierz's own death. The marriage strengthened the ties between the house of Jagiełło and the sovereigns of Hungary-Bohemia, and put Kazimierz at odds with the Holy Roman Emperor, in that internal Habsburg rivalry.
That same year, Kazimierz was approached by the Prussians for aid against the ruling Teutonic Order, which he promised, by the act of incorporation of Prussia to the Polish Kingdom; however, when the cities of Prussia rebelled against the Teutons, the Order resisted with greater strength than expected, and the Thirteen Years' War (1454-1466) ensued. Kazimierz, in alliance with the Prussian Confederation, defeated the Teutonic Order, taking over its capital at Malbork. In the ensuing Peace of Toruń (1466), the Order recognized Polish sovereignty over Royal Prussia and the Polish crown's overlordship over Ducal Prussia.
Elisabeth's only brother Ladislas, king of Bohemia and Hungary, died in 1457, and after that Casimir and Elisbeth's dynastical interests directed also towards his former kingdoms.
A daughter of Kazimierz, Jadwiga Jagiellon, married George the Rich Wittelsbach of Bavaria. Delegates had gone to Kraków to negotiate the marriage. Their "Landshut Wedding" took place in Bavaria with much pomp and celebration in 1475.
Kazimierz IV Jagiellon's son Kazimierz was to have married the daughter of Emperor Frederick III but instead chose a religious life, eventually being canonized as St. Casimir. Kazimierz IV Jagiellon's other son, Władysław, combined the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia. His younger sons, Jan I Olbracht, Alexander Jagiellon and Zygmunt I the Old, succeeded him in turns in Poland and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
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Polish monarchs | Lithuanian rulers | Jagiellons | Knights of the Garter | 1427 births | 1492 deaths
Казімір Ягелончык | Kasimir IV. (Polen) | Kazimierz IV | Casimir IV Jagellon | Kazimirs IV | Kazimieras Jogailaitis | IV. Kázmér lengyel király | Kazimierz IV Jagiellończyk | Казимир IV | Kasimir IV
"Casimir IV Jagiellon"