Prague in 1348,
Casimir on the 12th of May 1364 established and richly endowed the first
university of Cracow, which had five professors of Roman law, three of
Canon law, two of physics, and one master of arts. The security of the
kingdom was sensibly promoted by the erection of a cordon of fortresses
on its north-eastern borders, and a blow was given to foreign
interference when Casimir succeeded in gaining dominant influence over
the independent Polish principality of Masovia, which had hitherto
gravitated between Bohemia and the Teutonic Order.

Casimir's last political act was the conclusion of a fresh alliance with
Louis of Hungary against Charles IV. at Buda in 1369. He died on the 5th
of November 1370 from the effects of an injury received while hunting.
Though married three times Casimir left no sons; but he had the
satisfaction of knowing that his domains would pass into the hands of a
nephew every whit as capable and sagacious as himself.

See Jan Leniek, _The Congress of Visegrad_ (Pol.), (Lemberg, 1884);
J.K. Kochanowski, _Casimir the Great_ (Pol.), (Warsaw, 1900);
Kazimierz J. Gorzycki, _The Annexation of Red Russia by Casimir the
Great_ (Pol.), (Lemberg, 1889); Stanislaw Kryzanowski, _The Embassy of
Casimir the Great to Avignon_ (Pol.), (Cracow, 1900). (R. N. B.)

CASIMIR IV., king of Poland (1427-1492), second son of Wladislaus II.
Jagiello, was appointed while still a lad grand-duke of Lithuania by his
father, and crowned king of Poland at Cracow in June 1447, three years
after the death of his elder brother, Wladislaus III., at the battle of
Varna. The cause of this long interregnum was the disinclination of the
Lithuanians to part with their prince till their outstanding differences
with Poland, relating chiefly to the delimitation of the frontiers of
the two states, had been settled. Casimir's reign of forty-five years
was epoch-making for Poland. He was without doubt one of the greatest
statesmen of his age, concealing beneath a simple exterior and homely
habits a profound political sagacity and an unerring common-sense, and
possessing in a high degree those useful qualities of patience,
moderation, and tenacity, which characterized nearly all the princes of
the house of Jagiello. Throughout life he steadily followed two guiding
principles--the preservation of the political union between Poland and
Lithuania at whatever cost, and the recovery of the lost lands of old
Poland. It