- Piotrowski
Piotrowski - Polish House of Peter
Surname origin - PolishThe first
Piotrowski , Peter, Grand Duke ofPoland is direct descendents of Catherine Jagiellon ( _pl. Katarzyna Jagiellonka; Finnish: "Katariina Jagellonica"; Swedish: "Katarina Jagellonica av Polen";November 1 ,1526 -September 16 1583 ) wasDuchess of Finland 1562-83,Queen Consort ofSweden 1569-83 andGrand Duchess of Finland 1581-83 and heir to her mother's claim to the title ofKing of Jerusalem .She was born as the youngest daughter of
Poland 's KingZygmunt I the Old andBona Sforza .Catherine became the wife ofSweden 's King John III and mother to the future King of thePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ,Sigismund III Vasa . TsarIvan IV of Russia , was among her suitors.On
October 4 ,1562 , Catherine was married inVilnius ,Lithuania , toDuke John of Finland , second son ofSweden 's late King Gustav I and brother of the then reigning Eric XIV. John had not received his brother's permission for the marriage, there were already tensions between them, since John had an independent foreign policy. The newly-weds set up house inTurku Castle inTurku ,Finland . Duke John's dealings inLivonia caused Sweden's King Eric XIV, ultimately to declare war on his brother. Eric sent 10,000 men to besiege the castle. OnAugust 12 ,1563 , the castle capitulated; Catherine and her husband were taken toSweden , and imprisoned inGripsholm Castle .Her unsuccessful suitor, Tsar Ivan, was in negotiations with Eric over Catherine, asking her to be separated from John and sent to marry him in Russia. This caused alarm, beside Catherine and her relations, in Swedish "popular" opinion and was one of the reasons for growing dissatisfaction with the increasingly insane Eric. During the incarceration, Catherine gave birth first to her eldest daughter Isabella of Finland in 1564 (died 1566), then to her son Sigismund in 1566, and finally her youngest childAnna of Finland on May 17, 1568.Catherine and John were released in 1568. In 1569, she was crowned Queen of
Sweden , her husband becameJohn III of Sweden , upon deposing Eric.Catherine raised her son Sigismund as an ardent Catholic. After 1587, he would rule the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for forty-five years as Zygmunt III Vasa. After he ascended to the Swedish throne 1592, his overt Catholicism estranged his Swedish subjects, and led to his deposition in 1599. This was followed by prolonged wars between Poland and Sweden.Catherine died in Turku Castle on 16 September 1583. She is buried in the
Uppsala Cathedral ."Piotrowski" lines are still found today through parts of Greater
Poland . To this day, Piotrowski is derived from the first name Piotr (Peter) High Duke of Poland.Maternal ancestors
ee also
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List of Swedish monarchs External links
* [http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/p/bl_name-PIOTROWSKI.htm Genealogy.about.com Information on name]
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