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King John III Sobieski

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Monarch

The Resume

    (August 17, 1629-June 17, 1696)
    Born in Olesko, Ukraine
    Polish cavalry officer
    Named Standard Bearer of the Crown (1656) and Marshall of the Crown (1665)
    Appointed Grand Hetman of the Crown (1668) and de facto commander-in-chief of the Polish army
    King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1674-96)

Why he might be annoying:

    During a Swedish invasion of Poland, he swore allegiance to Sweden (1655), then switched back to the Polish side a year later.
    He was not crowned until two years after he was elected king. (Albeit, mainly because he was busy leading the army against an Ottoman invasion.)
    He launched an unsuccessful campaign to conquer Prussia (1675), which proved so unpopular that a significant bloc of Polish and Lithuanian nobles plotted to replace him as monarch with Charles of Lorraine.
    He ended up so fat that his soldiers reportedly had to lift him up to the battlements of a conquered city because he was unable to climb them.
    Thirteen attempts to erect a monument to him in Vienna failed to pan out; the most recent one (so far) was rejected by the mayor of Vienna on the grounds that it might be viewed as anti-Turkish (2019).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He learned Latin, French, Italian, and German during a tour of Europe, and Turkish and Tartar during a diplomatic mission to Constantinople.
    He overhauled the Polish army, including reorganizing it into regiments, increasing the number of cannons, and adopting new artillery tactics.
    He defeated an Ottoman army nearly twice the size of his combined Polish-German forces at the Battle of Vienna (September 12, 1683).
    After the battle, Pope Innocent XI hailed him as 'the savior of Western Christendom.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying