War of the Polish Succession[edit]
Stephen Báthory planned a Christian alliance against the Islamic Ottomans. He proposed an anti-Ottoman alliance with Russia, which he considered necessary for his anti-Ottoman crusade. Russia however was heading for its Time of Troubles and he could not find a partner there. When Báthory died, there was a year-long interregnum. Emperor Mathias' brother, Archduke Maximilian III, tried to claim the Polish throne, but was defeated at Byczyna during the War of the Polish Succession (1587–1588). Sigismund III Vasa became the Commonwealth's next king, the first of the three rulers from the Swedish House of Vasa.