Crown of the Kingdom of Poland at the time of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Kartli

Upon the arrival of King Constantine II of Kartli’s envoys in Vilnius in the end of the XV century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, under the rule of Alexander Jagiellon (1461–1506), was no longer bound to the Crown of the Polish Kingdom by a personal union. The unifying factor among these states was the threat posed by a common external enemy – Turkey. However, a military expedition to thesouth led by the Polish king John I Albert (1459–1501) in 1497 ended in defeat, leaving the Polish people with the saying “Under the Albert king, the nobility became extinct”. This well-educated, ambitious and courageous ruler has been judged by history in the harshest terms. Even the Polish nobility remembered him critically, although it was during his reign that a chamber of parliament was established within the Sejm, which significantly strengthened the status of this privileged state. The monarch’s untimely demise precluded any opportunity for him to reclaim his reputation.