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The Polish Commonwealth was formed by the union of two separate

states, Poland proper on the west, with a population

predominantly Polish, and Lithuania on the east, with a

population Lithuanian in the north (Lithuania proper) and Russian

in the rest of its territory. After being long at odds with each

other and with the German Knights of the Cross, these two states

were united in 1386 by the marriage of Queen Jadwiga of Poland to

the heathen Prince Jagiello of Lithuania, who thereupon accepted

Christianity (p. 288). They remained under the dominion of the

Jagiellos until the last of the male line of that house, Zygmunt

August (compare note 64), died childless in 1572, and the throne

became elective. The union was at first very loose, depending

only on the person of the sovereign, but it became constantly

closer, until in 1569 the two states agreed to have a common

Diet, sitting at Warsaw.