Robert Nisbet Bain

“ At first his position was extremely difficult; but the sudden death of the emperor Maximilian at the very moment when that potentate, in league with the Muscovite, was about to invade Poland, completely changed the face of things, and though Stephen’s distrust of the Habsburgs remained invincible, he consented at last to enter into a defensive alliance with the empire which was carried through by the papal nuncio on his return to Rome in 1578. The leading events of Stephen Báthory’s glorious reign can here only be briefly indicated. All armed opposition collapsed with the surrender of Danzig. ”

“ Zapolya rewarded him with the voivodeship of Transylvania, and as the loyal defender of the rights of his patron’s son, John Sigismund, he incurred the animosity of the emperor Maximilian, who kept him in prison for two years. ”