This article will focus on the circumstances which contributed to the 1517 dynastic marriage of Bona Sforza of Milan to Sigismund I the Elder of Poland. It will examine the decline of Sforza and Neapolitan Aragon influence on the Apennine Peninsula in the face of Valois and Habsburg claims to supremacy. This article aims to place Habsburg diplomatic manoeuvring to secure the installation of Maximillian I’s niece as Queen of Poland in the context of Habsburg-Valois rivalry in Italy and Habsburg ambitions for dominance in Central Europe where they challenged the Jagiellon dynasts of Bohemia and Hungary, and of Poland and Lithuania. This article will demonstrate that the contracting of the Sforza-Jagiellon marriage was initiated by Maximillian I as an extension of a deliberate and assertive Habsburg policy. Habsburg policy objectives included removal of the prime claimant to the throne of Milan and the placing of a queen acquiescent to Habsburg strategy at the Jagiellon court in Poland. This article will conclude that the marriage was used by the Habsburgs as a dynastic and political tool to limit the Jagiellon dynasty’s power and authority in Central Europe.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.