Stefan Batory, the son ot Stefan, governor of Transylwania, was born in 1533. As the prince of Transylvania he was elected king of Poland, in the open election of 1575, and was crowned, together with his wife, Polish princes Anna Jagiellonka, on May 1st, 1576 in Kraków. In 1578-82, after the war with Muscovy, he incorporated a part of Livonia into Poland. He also earned the gratitude of Poland for his reforms: the establishment of the Tribunal of the Crown and the Tribunal of Lithuania, the members of which were elected by the gentry. Stefan Batory introduced many mihtary reforms, among them, the recruitment of infantry regiment consisting of peasants of the Crown demesne. In home affairs he promoted strong royal power and was against the nobles. His goal was the unification of Poland, Muscoey and Transylvania under his rule. His untimely death, in 1586, stopped preparaiions for a new war with Muscovy. Stefan Batory was one of most powerful and ambitious sovereigns of Poland.

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