Date of Birth: 17 August 1629
House: Sobieski
Spouse: Marie Casimire Louise, daughter of Henri de la Grange d'Arquien and François de la Châtre
Predecessor: Michael
Reign: 1674 – 1696
Summary: Born to a noble Polish family living in Ukraine, neither of John's parents were royal or powerful by any stretch of the terms. John graduated from Nowodworski College in Kraków then went to Jagiellonian University. Following two decades of study, the man travelled to Western Europe for two years, meeting many of the important monarchs of the day and learning French, German, Italian, and Latin. When the Khmelnytsky Uprising began, John returned to Poland and volunteered for the army. He founded his own cavalry unit and fought with increasing distinction over the years. King John II recognized his talents and sent him to Istanbul in the mid-1650s as an envoy of Poland to the Ottoman Empire. During the Battle of Warsaw, John received recognition for his loyalty to the state and was made Lord Standard-Bearer of the Crown. A decade later, he was made Grand Marshal and then Field Hetman (Field General). He continued to make a name for himself during the Polish-Cossack-Tatar War of the late 1660s and became the highest military leader in Poland beneath the king. When King Michael died in 1673 while John was fighting in the Polish-Ottoman War, John became the leading contender for the throne despite his pedigree. A year later, he was elected king of the Commonwealth.
Date of Death: 17 June 1696
Successor: Augustus II
Other Monarch Deaths:
Boleslaw I, king of Poland (1025)
Dirk V, count of Holland (1091)
Ashikaga Yoshiteru, shogun of Japan (1565)
Agha Muhammad Khan, shahanshah of Persia (1797)
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