Biography
James Louis Sobieski was born on November 2, 1667 in Paris, France. He was named after his grandfather Jakub, his godfather King Louis XIV (Ludwik) and the exiled Queen Henrietta (Henryk) Maria of England, his godmother. In 1683, the sixteen-year-old prince fought alongside his father in the battle against the Turks at Vienna. James Louis owed allegiance to the Imperial Habsburgs as a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
On March 25, 1691, James Louis married Hedwig Elisabeth Amelia of Neuburg (1673–1722), the daughter of the Palatine elector Philip William. They had five children, two of whom would have further progeny. As part of his wive's dowry, he received the Principality of Oława.
On the death of James Louis' father, John III, no fewer than eighteen candidates for the vacant Polish throne presented themselves. Family rivalries prevented the election of James Louis Sobieski even though Austria supported his candidacy. James Louis Sobieski’s own mother, Marie Casimire, favored her son-in-law, Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. The powerful King Louis XIV of France supported François Louis, Prince of Conti (1664–1709).
In the end, Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, who renounced Lutheranism and converted to Catholicism in order to qualify, was crowned as Augustus II, King of Poland on September 1, 1697. It was the first time that a deceased monarch's son had not been elected to succeed him; that the rightful candidate had been debarred from the throne by military force; and that the Poles had acquired a German king, which went against a long tradition of keeping German hegemony at arm's length.
Augustus II’s first act as king was to expel the prince of Conti from the country. Then, in 1704 James Louis Sobieski and his brother Alexander were seized by Augustus II’s troops and imprisoned. They remained in prison for two years before finally being released.
James Louis Sobieski died of a stroke on December 19, 1737 in Żółkiew, Poland and is buried there. His only surviving daughter Maria Karolina, inherited his vast land holdings which included 11 cities and 140 villages.
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