Władysław II Jagiełło

Jogaila, later Władysław II Jagiełło (Polish pronunciation: [vwadɨˈswaf jaˈgʲɛwwɔ]) (c. 1352/1362 – 1 June 1434) was Grand Duke of Lithuania (1377–1434), King of Poland (1386–1399) alongside his wife Jadwiga, and then sole King of Poland. He ruled in Lithuania from 1377. Born a pagan, in 1386 he converted to Catholicism and was baptized as Władysław in Kraków, married the young Queen Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. In 1387 he converted Lithuania to Christianity. His own reign in Poland started in 1399, upon death of Queen Jadwiga, and lasted a further thirty-five years and laid the foundation for the centuries-long Polish–Lithuanian union. He was the founder of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland that bears his name and was the heir to the already established house of Gediminids in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These royal dynasties ruled both states until 1572, and became one of the most influential dynasties in the late medieval and early modern Central and Eastern Europe. During his reign, the Polish-Lithuanian state was the largest state in the Christian world.