1587 Polish–Lithuanian royal election
The free election of 1587 was the third royal election to be held in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which took place after the death of King Stefan Batory. It began on June 30, 1587, when Election Sejm was summoned in the village of Wola near Warsaw, and ended on December 27 of the same year, when King Sigismund III was crowned in Kraków’s Wawel Cathedral.
Image: Sigismund III of Poland Lithuania and Sweden (Martin Kober)
Image: Henseiller Maximilian III of Austria
Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria, painting by Hans Henseiller.
Primate of Poland, Stanisław Karnkowski
Royal elections in Poland
Royal elections in Poland were the elections of individual kings, rather than dynasties, to the Polish throne. Based on traditions dating to the very beginning of the Polish statehood, strengthened during the Piast and Jagiellon dynasties, they reached their final form in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth period between 1572 and 1791. The "free election" was abolished by the Constitution of 3 May 1791, which established a constitutional-parliamentary monarchy.
The first Polish royal election, of Henry III of France in 1573 (1889 Painting by Jan Matejko).
Election of Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki (Michael I) as King of Poland at Wola, outside Warsaw (1669).
Election of August II the Strong at Wola, outside Warsaw (1697). Painting by Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine.
