The personal life of rulers is always curious. For history buffs, rumors that make these people more alive than their monumental heroic images are no less interesting.
Great people, known from history textbooks, as well as ordinary mortals, had minor sins and weaknesses - some had smaller ones, some had bigger ones. But they were all carefully hidden, because the disclosure of such secrets and secrets could harm the authority of an outstanding personality in the eyes of the public. This remark is especially true for people in power, that is, monarchs.
What secrets, for example, did the Polish kings have? We will reveal several secrets of their personal life.
Is truth so important?
Historians stubbornly repeat that to evaluate a particular ruler or statesman it does not matter what kind of husband or father he was, how many mistresses he had and what he ate for lunch. Meanwhile, it turns out that personal life often affects the fate of a particular country. An example is the Polish king Sigismund Augustus and his bedside vicissitudes.
In short, he completely neglected state affairs. He did not give the country an heir, was constantly in completely meaningless love relationships, was surrounded by women, many of whom were called witches.
In addition, astrologers could always be seen in his royal chambers. Sigismund Augustus very often used their services, including the teacher himself, Mr Twardowski. After the loss of his beloved wife, Barbara Radziwill asked him about the seances that were supposed to evoke the spirit of the deceased.
The protege of Catherine II
Another controversial figure in the history of Poland is the last Polish king, Stanislav Augustus Ponyatowski. Indeed, thanks to a love affair with Catherine the Great, he sat on the throne.
From enthusiasm to hatred - he evoked such extreme emotions among his subjects. And his life and reign are the subject of constant historical debate and rather radical assessments, both positive and negative. At the same time, many are inclined to believe that he was only an obedient puppet in the hands of the clever and prudent Catherine II.
Innocent passions of Sigismund III
Contemporaries very ambiguously evaluated this king. Much perplexing was not only his passion for card games, flying a kite, but also innocent painting lessons and a passion for making music. Sigismund III played many instruments and was very fond of singing. And he also liked to dance in court masquerades, which earned him unkind looks, because he could not help but appear on them in the guise of a jester or a burning Spanish woman.
In addition, Sigismund Waza was an introvert and was afraid of strangers, finding happiness in the family. After his arrival from Sweden, he began to cause controversy. At the first meeting with senators, the young Polish king, according to his custom, was silent, as if bewitched, with an inherent suspicion looking at his new subjects. He did not answer their questions, and even if he spoke, then only after some reflection and discussion with trusted people. Someone rated it as a weakness of the mind, and someone as a great oddity.
Serious hobbies
Polish kings were not only distinguished by purely human needs for entertainment, but they also possessed truly serious scientific passions. Vladislav IV, for example, maintained correspondence with Galileo and the Gdansk astronomer Jan Hevelius. And Jan III Sobieski was a good warrior, a lover of literature, art and science. Diplomats were delighted with the intellect of the ruler, and reported about him like this: "The king is devoted to science, constantly reading books from various fields of knowledge." Even in military campaigns, he took a significant library with the works of Galileo, Descartes, Pascal and Moliere.
The Polish king Stefan Batory was also a man with unusual abilities and many talents. Everywhere he left traces of his activity, and in all spheres of state organization his reign was a continuation of the beautiful Jagiellonian era.
Stefan Batory was a good strategist, a great diplomat and an extremely responsible monarch. It is noteworthy that for great accomplishments, he almost completely renounced his personal life, constantly ignored his wife, to whom he did not experience tender feelings. With her, he retained only the appearance of marriage; for all the time of his married life, he visited her bedroom only three times.