BS, Poland, Lithuania, Sigismund II August, Union of Lublin, Olszewska-Borys

Description: This medal is a part of my Polish medals collection Visit my page with the offers, please. You will find many interesting items related to this subject. If you are interested in other medals, related to this subject, click here, please. Poland; Rulers Medieval Motives Historic Battles Poland; History Teutonic Order; Deutscher Orden The Royal Series of Ewa Olszewska-Borys Artist – Ewa Olszewska Borys (the winner of the prestigious Saltus Award), FIDEM- member since 1969, Vice-President of FIDEM (1987-2000) That series consists of 43 medals; I can offer the complete Royal Series. If you are interested, please, contact me. The Royal Series is represented in the collection of the BRITISH MUSEUM and the VATICAN MUSEUM. The “Royal Series” designed by Ewa Olszewska-Borys was emitted in 1985-2003 upon the initiative of the Koszalin Branch of the Polish Numismatic Society. The series is composed of 43 medals (70 mm), struck in tombac, silver-plated and patina versions, and in finest silver. The number of some of the medals from the series exceeded 3000 copies although some have been minted in very low nomber and they are still sought by collectors. The obverses of the medals depicting the royal portraits were based on the “Gallery of Kings and Dukes” drawn by Jan Matejko, the great Polish nineteenth-century historical painter. These portraits appear in an illusive, spatial relief, typical for the author. An equally spatial treatment, symptomatic for sculpture, was applied in the case of architecture, visible on the reverses, usually sacral and historically associated with a given ruler or originating from the time of his reign. Ewa Olszewska-Borys spent eighteen years working on a royal portrait gallery, executing successively two or three medals annually. The series is artistically cohesive and authentic owing to the fact that was created in a natural manner, parallel to the other works of the author, and in accordance with her own sculpture vision, stemming from a perception of space, included into the arrangement of forms and endowed with a concrete, material shape. This is one of the most important medals related to the POLISH – LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH. It shows the document of Union of Lublin, which finally made of Poland and Lithuania one body politic, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — the "Republic of the Two Nations" (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: Abiejų Tautų Respublika). This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund. Sigismund II Augustus, 1520 - 1572 Sigismund II Augustus (Polish: Zygmunt II August, Lithuanian: Žygimantas III Augustas; 1 August 1520 — 7 July 1572) was the only son of Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. From the outset of his reign, Sigismund came into collision with the country's szlachta (gentry), who had already begun curtailing the power of the great families. The ostensible cause of the szlachta's animosity to the King was his second marriage, secretly contracted before his accession to the throne, with the beautiful Lithuanian Calvinist, Barbara Radziwiłł, daughter of Hetman Jerzy Radziwiłł. av. The figure of the king Sigismund II August, the dates 1548 – 1572. rv. It shows the document of Union of Lublin, which finally made of Poland and Lithuania one body politic, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — the "Republic of the Two Nations" (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: Abiejų Tautų Respublika). This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund. rv. The castle in Niepolomice, foundation of the king diameter - 70 mm (2 ¾ “) weight – 147.50 gr, (5.05 oz) metal – bronze, silver plated Biography From the outset of his reign, Sigismund came into collision with the country's nobility, who had already begun curtailing the power of the great families. The ostensible cause of the nobility's animosity to the King was his second marriage, secretly contracted before his accession to the throne, with (said to be beautiful) Lithuanian Calvinist, Barbara Radziwiłł, daughter of Hetman Jerzy Radziwiłł. So violent was the agitation at Sigismund's first sejm (31 October 1548) that the deputies threatened to renounce their allegiance unless the King repudiated his wife Barbara. He refused and won the day. By 1550, when Sigismund summoned his second sejm, a reaction had begun in his favor, and the nobility was rebuked by Piotr Kmita, Marshal of the sejm, who accused them of attempting to unduly diminish the legislative prerogatives of the crown. The death of Queen Barbara, five months after her coronation (7 December 1550), under distressing circumstances, compelled Sigismund to contract a third, purely political union with his first cousin, the Austrian archduchess Catherine, also the sister of his first wife, Elisabeth, who had died within a year of her marriage to him, before his accession. Sigismund soon lost all hope of children by his third bride; he was the last male Jagiellon in the direct line so the dynasty was threatened with extinction. He sought to remedy this by adultery with two of the most beautiful of his countrywomen, Barbara Giżanka and Anna Zajączkowska but was unable to impregnate either of them. The sejm was willing to legitimatize, and acknowledge as Sigismund's successor, any male heir who might be born to him; however, the King was to die childless. The King's marriage was a matter of great political import to Protestants and Catholics alike. The Polish Protestants hoped that he would divorce and remarry and thus bring about a breach with Rome at the very crisis of the religious struggle in Poland. He was not free to remarry until Queen Catherine's death on 28 February 1572, but he followed her to the grave less than six months later. Sigismund's reign was a period of internal turmoil and external expansion. He saw the introduction of the Protestant Reformation into Poland and Lithuania, and the peero-cratic upheaval that placed most political power in the hands of the szlachta (nobility); he saw the collapse of the Knights of the Sword in the north, which led to the Commonwealth's acquisition of Livonia as a Lutheran duchy and the consolidation of Turkey's power in the south. A less imposing figure than his father, the elegant and refined Sigismund II Augustus was nevertheless an even more effective statesman than the stern and majestic Sigismund I the Old. Sigismund II possessed to a high degree the tenacity and patience that seem to have characterized all the Jagiellons, and he added to these qualities a dexterity and diplomatic finesse. No other Polish king seems to have so thoroughly understood the nature of the Polish sejm. Both the Austrian ambassadors and the papal legates testify to the care with which he controlled his nation. Everything went as he wished, they said, because he seemed to know everything in advance. He managed to get more money out of the sejm than his father ever could, and at one of his sejms he won the hearts of the assembly by unexpectedly appearing before them in the simple grey coat of a Masovian lord. Like his father, a pro-Austrian by conviction, he contrived even in this respect to carry with him the nation, often distrustful of the Germans. He avoided serious complications with the powerful Turks. Sigismund II mediated for twenty years between the Catholic Church and the Protestants. His most striking memorial may have been the Union of Lublin, which united Poland and Lithuania into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—the "Republic of the Two Nations" (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: Abiejų Tautų Respublika). Also, German-speaking Royal Prussia and Prussian cities were included. This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund. Sigismund died at his beloved Knyszyn on 6 July 1572, aged 51. In 1573, Henry III of Valois was elected King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for a few months, but then returned to France where he was crowned King Henry III of France. Shortly thereafter, Sigismund's sister Anna of Poland married Stefan Batory, and they ruled as King and Queen of Poland. In addition to his family connections, Sigismund II was allied to the Imperial Habsburgs by his pledge as member of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Young Sigismund is one of the figures on the Prussian Homage painting by Jan Matejko. But the real forces behind the movement seem to have been the Austrian court and Sigismund's own mother, Bona Sforza, and so violent was the agitation at Sigismund's first sejm (October 31, 1548) that the deputies threatened to renounce their allegiance unless the King repudiated his wife Barbara. He refused, and his moral courage and political dexterity won the day. By 1550, when Sigismund summoned his second sejm, a reaction had begun in his favor, and the szlachta was rebuked by Piotr Kmita, Marshal of the Sejm, who accused them of attempting to unduly diminish the legislative prerogatives of the crown. Sigismund II mediated for twenty years between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestants without alienating the sympathies of either. His most striking memorial, however, may have been the Union of Lublin, which finally made of Poland and Lithuania one body politic, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — the "Republic of the Two Nations" (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: Abiejų Tautų Respublika). This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund. Sigismund II August died at his beloved Knyszyn on July 6, 1572, aged 52. In 1573, Henry III of Valois was elected as King of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth for a few months, but then returned to France where he was coronated as King Henry III of France. Shortly thereafter, Sigismund's sister Anna of Poland married Stefan Batory, and they ruled as King and Queen of Poland. The artist is Ewa Olszewska-Borys (the winner of the prestigious J. Sanford Saltus Award award) Graduated in sculpture from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and in medal engraving from the Ecole des Beaux- Arts in Paris. Has received the Wlodzimiers Pietrzak Artistic Award ( Warsaw, 1989) , the J. Sanford Saltus Award for Signal Achievements in the Arts of the Medal ( New York, 1993). FIDEM- member since 1969 You can see this medal on her webpage. http://www.olszewska-borys.artmedal.net/royal_series.html From the interview with the artist “It was a unique adventure. In 1997, the secretary to Paola, the Queen of Belgians, addressed several artists with the request to submit medals to celebrate Her Majesty's sixtieth birthday. The Queen chose my medal and, pleased with my work, expressed the wish to see me. She suggested me spending a weekend at Saint-Tropez. Regrettably I was unable to go for family reasons. I was convinced the Queen would forget about me, but the invitation was resumed several months later. I went to Brussels and was received by the Queen at a long private audience, as long as an hour (apparently an unprecedented lengthy in the Royal palace. Amiably straightforward, the Queen spoke about the art of the medal with expertness and showed much interest in my work. In a letter received later on, Her Majesty thanked me for the medal made for her.”

Price: 69.9 USD

Location: Sliema,

End Time: 2025-02-12T05:32:47.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12 USD