John Albert, King of Poland

JOHN ALBERT, King of Poland. - Third-born son of Casimir IV, King of Poland (b. 1459), in 1490 he contended with his elder brother Ladislaus, King of Bohemia, for the crown of Hungary, to which both had been summoned by opposing factions. Defeated and repulsed, he consoled himself by obtaining the crown of Poland upon his father's death (1492). At his court the Florentine Filippo Buonaccorsi (Callimachus Experiens), formerly his tutor and now his secretary, then wielded great influence.

Famous is the political program drawn up for the King by Callimachus (Consilium Callimachi), inspired by concepts that might be called Machiavellian. On Callimachus's advice, J. A. was reconciled with his brother Ladislaus, establishing a concordant domestic and foreign policy (agreements of Buda 1492 and of Lewocra 1494).

In order to carry out the plan of transplanting the Teutonic Order into Wallachia by having Prussia ceded to him, J. A. in 1493 advanced into Moldavia to take from the Turks the ports of Ielija and Bialogrod on the Black Sea and to subdue the hospodar Stephen. The expedition ended with the destruction of the Polish army near Cernovitza, and thus Polish ambitions toward the Black Sea were closed. The absolutist program in domestic policy collapsed as early as 1496 at the Diet of Piotrkow, in which J. A., although relying on the szlachta (rural nobility), had to yield to the magnates to the detriment of the Crown and of the urban bourgeoisie. King J. A. died on 17 June 1501.