John III Sobieski
From 1674 to 1696, John III Sobieski (17 August 1629 - 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Sobieski was born into Polish nobility and attended Jagiellonian University before touring Europe as a young man. He fought as a soldier and later as a commander in the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the Russo-Polish War, and the Swedish invasion known as the Deluge. During the war against the Ottoman Empire, Sobieski demonstrated his military prowess and established himself as a leading figure in Poland and Lithuania. Following the sudden and unexpected death of King Michael in 1674, he was elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Sobieski's 22-year reign marked a period of Commonwealth stabilization, which was much needed after the turmoil of previous conflicts. Popular among his subjects, he was an able military leader, most famous for his victory over the Turks at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The defeated Ottomans dubbed Sobieski the "Lion of Lechistan," and the Pope hailed him as the saviour of Western Christendom. Sobieski died in 1696, suffering from poor health and obesity in later life, and was buried at Kraków's Wawel Cathedral. Augustus II of Poland and Saxony succeeded him.
Sobieski is remembered in Poland as a "hero king," victor at Vienna who defeated the Ottoman threat, an image that became particularly well recognized after his story was told in many works of 19th-century literature. He is described in the Polish Biographical Dictionary as "an individual above his contemporaries, but still one of them"; an oligarch and a magnate, interested in personal wealth and power.
He failed to reform the ailing Commonwealth and secure the throne for his heir. At the same time, he demonstrated strong military prowess, was well educated and literate, and was a patron of science and the arts. He backed astronomer Johannes Hevelius, mathematician Adam Adamandy Kochaski, and poet and historian Wespazjan Kochowski. His Wilanów Palace was the first of many palaces that would dot the Commonwealth's lands over the next two centuries.
