Jan II Zagansky

Representative of the Silesian line of the Polish Piast Dynasty . The youngest (fourth) son of John I (c. 1385-1439), Prince Zagansky (1403-1439), and Scholastica of Saxony (1393-1463), the eldest daughter of Elector Rudolf III of Saxony .

In 1439, after the death of Jan I, his sons Balthazar , Rudolph , Wenceslas and Jan II were jointly owned by the Principality of Zagan . Initially, Jan was under the care of the older brothers Balthazar and Rudolph . In 1449, there was a division of the Zagan principality between four brothers. Balthazar and Rudolph received part of the principality with the capital in Zagan, and Wenceslas and Jan II began to rule another part of the principality with the capital in Przewuz . Wenceslas suffered from a mental illness, so his younger brother Jan II became the de facto ruler of the Przewuz inheritance.

Jan was not satisfied with the division of his fatherly possessions and the Pshevuz inheritance received from his older brothers. He began to demand from the older brothers, the princes Balthazar and Rudolph , a more equitable distribution of land. In 1453, with the mediation of Elector Friedrich of Saxony, Jan reconciled with his older brothers Balthazar and Rudolf Zaganski.

After the death of Prince Rudolf Zhagansky in 1454 and in the absence of another brother Balthazar , who was in Prussia, Jan, as governor, united the whole Principality of Zagan under his authority. Jan II demanded that his vassals take an oath of allegiance, but in 1458, after Balthazar returned from Prussia to Silesia, he was forced to cede Zagan to him.

In 1461, Jan II of Przewuzski, with the help of the troops of the Czech king Jiri from Podebrad , seized the Principality of Zagan , removing him from power and expelling his older brother Balthazar from the capital. In the same year, Jan II added to his possessions the city of Novogrud-Bořany, inherited from his mother Scholastic Saxon, with the district. In 1468, Balthazar, with the support of Prince Henry XI of Glogow, regained power in the Principality of Zagan.

Jan II did not stop the struggle for the Zagan inheritance . In 1472, with the support of the Hungarian king Matthias Hunyadi , who gave him 10,000 florins , Jan re-seized the princely throne of Zagan. His older brother Balthazar was removed from power, captured in Nizhny Vitoshin and imprisoned in the Przewuz castle tower, where he starved to death the same year on the orders of his younger brother Jan.

In the same 1472, Jan II sold the Princes of Zagan and Przewuz to the electors of Saxony, Ernst and Albrecht for 50,000 Hungarian florins . His demented brother Wenceslas received a worthy pension from the King of Hungary Matvey Korvin for refusing to claim Zagan . After the sale of the family principality, the prince of Zagan began to be called Jan Landless.

Despite the sale of the hereditary principality, Yang tried to continue to pursue an active policy. In 1474, at the head of an army recruited by the Hungarian king Matthias Hunyadi , Jan launched a successful raid on Greater Poland , capturing rich booty.

In 1476, Prince Gloguvsky, Henry XI, died, most likely poisoned by order of the Margraves of Brandenburg. Margraves of Brandenburg , the Hungarian king Matvey Corvin , Jagiellons and Jan II began to claim the legacy of the deceased.

At the beginning of the war for the Glogow principality, Jan II enjoyed the support of the King of Hungary Matthias Hunyadi . His opponents from Brandenburg sought support in the Czech Republic and Poland. The Czech king Vladislav II Jagiellon , who also claimed to be Glogow , in 1477 even married Barbara of Brandenburg (1464-1515), the young widow of Prince Heinrich Glogow. However, this union was never consummated, and was canceled under canon law. Jan II used the influence of the King of Hungary in Rome and tried to force the inhabitants of Glogow to take the oath of allegiance in his favor, but they refused. The papal legate then imposed excommunication on the inhabitants of Glogow , forcing them to submit to John II.

On December 7, 1476, in Jagan, Jan II took the oath of allegiance from the camps of the Glogow Principality . On December 8, 1476, the King of Hungary, Matvey Corvin, recognized Jan the Mad as the heir to the Prince of Heinrich Goguv Henry XI. At the turn of 1476/1477 , the Brandenburg detachments were driven out of Spratava and Kozhuhuva . In the hands of Margrave Albrecht of Brandenburg , only Krosno-Odzhanske remained. At the beginning of 1477, a truce was declared between the warring parties, which lasted until April 1477 . Military operations resumed in the spring of 1477 with the participation of Czech and Hungarian troops. The defeat of the Hungarians exacerbated the situation of Jan. Despite this, the inhabitants of Glogow remained faithful to Jan as their prince. The hostilities were interrupted by another truce. Both sides tried to solve the problem through diplomacy, but in the fall of 1477 Jan broke the ceasefire and twice invaded the Margraves of Brandenburg, reaching Berlin and Frankfurt an der Oder . Throughout 1478, hostilities continued with varying success for the warring parties. The position of Prince Jan II of Zagansk on the territory of the Glogow Principality was strengthened. In mid- 1479, a peace treaty was concluded between the warring parties, on the basis of which Margrave Albrecht of Brandenburg refused his claim to the Glogow Principality for an amount of 50,000 florins . Negotiations between Jan and Brandenburg continued until September 1482 . In the end, it was decided to confirm the terms of the cease-fire concluded three years ago in Olomouc . The Glogow principality came under the rule of John II of аньaganski, but its northern part was transferred to Brandenburg ( Krosno-Odzansk , Sulechow , Swiebodzin and Lubsko ). In accordance with the agreement with the King of Hungary Matvey Corwin , Jan the Mad could rule for life in the Principality of Glogow. After his death, the Principality of Glogow should have passed to Matthew Corvin and his successors.

In 1480, the prince of Goguwo-Zagan tried to unite Glogow . The city was divided into two parts, royal and princely, in the royal part was ruled since 1460 by Margarita Tselskaya , the widow of Prince Vladislav Tseshinsky . On May 1, 1480, after a 7-week siege, the Głogów Castle was taken, and the city was united under the sole authority of John II after 150 years of separation.

Meanwhile, the ambitions of Jan Crazed continued to grow, and relations with the Hungarian king Matthew Corwin worsened, which threatened to lead to war. In January 1488, Jan Crazed announced that he would hand over the Principality of Glogow in possession of his three sons-in-law, the sons of Prince Zembitsky Henry I the Elder , who were married to his three daughters: Salome, Anna and Jadwig. This declaration led to war. Jan the Mad wanted at all costs to force the camps of the principality to take the oath of oath to future rulers. By order of Jan, seven representatives of the city council were arrested and sentenced to starvation. In May 1488, the Hungarian army besieged Glogow . The siege ended with the surrender of the city in November 1488 . Jan II Crazy was forced to abandon claims to the Glogow principality for an amount of 20,000 guilders .

In subsequent years, Jan the Crazy tried unsuccessfully to acquire a land allotment in Silesia, in which he could spend the last years of his hectic life. He made claims on Scinavu and demanded the return of Gloguv , but did not achieve positive results.

The last years of his life, Ian Mad spent under the supervision of his sons-in-law. In 1497, the prince Zembitsky Henry the Elder allocated him for life Voluv , where he died on September 22, 1504 , until the end calling himself the prince of Zagansko-Glogow. He was buried in a local parish church.

Jan II was married to Katarina (1443-1505), the daughter of Prince William of Opava (c. 1410-1452) and Salome from Chastolovice. The couple had five daughters in marriage:

• Margarita (1465/1472 - c. 1501), 1st husband - Hungarian tycoon Miklos Banfi, 2nd husband - Hungarian tycoon Janos Hompo
• Salome (1475-1514), 1st husband - Prince Zembitsky and Olesnitsky Albrecht I of Münsterberg (1468-1511), 2nd husband - Silesian Baron Johann von Kurbach (d. 1549)
• Jadwiga (1477-1524), 1st husband - Prince Zembitsky and Olesnitsky George I of Munsterberg (1470-1502), 2nd husband - Baron of Silesia Zhigmunt from Lipa (d. 1518)
• Anna (c. 1480-1541), wife of Prince Zembitsky and Olesnitsky Charles I of Münsterberg (1476-1536)
• Barbara (before 1481-1539), abbess in Strzelin .

• Janusz Chutkowski, Dzieje Głogowa, T. 1, wyd. 2 popr. i uzup., Legnica 1991, s. 97-102
• Barbara Techmańska, Niespokojny książę Jan II Żagański, Kraków 2001
• Josef Joachim Menzel: Johann II., Herzog von Glogau und Sagan . Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , S. 487 f. (Digitalisat).
• Hermann Markgraf: Johann II . Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 14, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, S. 402-409

• Genealogy of the Princes of Zagansk
• Dukes of Sagan