Coronation sejm of king Stephen in Cracow. 1576.

Sejm was convened by a resolution adopted at the congress in Jędrzejów, which took place in the period of 18-28 January 1576, after the election sejm in 1575, during which the double election of princess Anna Jagiellon and Transilvanian voivode Stephen, who was appointed as her future husband, and the emperor Maximilian, were performed. The supporters of the Anna and Stephen choice gathered in Jędrzejów, set the date of the coronation sejm to 4 March 1576, what turned out to be impossible, because of the distance between Transylvania and Cracow, as well as the winter, which made it very difficult for the future king to reach Poland at that time. The senators and deputies appointed to the coronation sejm gathered anyway and began the proceedings, despite the king’s absence. Andrzej Firlej, the starost [“starostwo” was a Polish term for eldership office] of Sandomierz, was elected the marshal and he directed the proceedings. But only after the elect Stephen reached Poland (detouring, via mountains separating Transylvania from Poland and then through Moldavia) and his coming to Cracow on the Easter Monday, 22 April 1576, followed by the marriage ceremony with queen Anna and his coronation (1 May 1576), the sejm was able to undertake real proceedings of the coronation sejm, with the monarch present. The sejm ended on 29 May 1576. On 30 May 1576 the resolutions of the coronation sejm were announced, including the accepted and confirmed Henrician Articles.

See: Orzelski Ś., Bezkrólewia ksiąg ośmioro, czyli dzieje Polski od zgonu Zygmunta Augusta r. 1572 az do r. 1576 skreslone przez Świetoslawa z Borzejewic Orzelskiego, staroste radziejowskiego. [Eight books of interregna, that is Polish history since the death of king Sigismund I Augustus in 1572 to the year 1576, depicted by Świetosław Orzelski of Borzejewice, a starost of Radziejów] Przełożył z rękopisu Cesarskiej Publicznej Biblioteki, przypisami i życiorysem uzupełnił Włodzimierz Spasowicz [Translated from manuscript of Imperial Public Library, annotations and biographies completed by Włodzimierz Spasowicz], Petersburg 1856; E. Dubas-Urwanowicz, Koronne zjazdy szlacheckie w dwóch pierwszych bezkrólewiach po śmierci Zygmunta Augusta [Royal nobility congresses during two first interregna, following the death of Sigismund II Augustus], Białystok 1998. D. Makiłła, Artykuły henrykowskie (1573-1576). Geneza-Obowiązywanie-Stosowanie. Studium historyczno-prawne [The Henrician Articles (1573-1576). Origin-Validity-Applicability. Legal and historical research], Warszawa 2012. Ustawodawstwo zob. Volumina Constitutionum, T. 2, cz. 1, Design and layout prepared by S. Grodziski, I. Dwornicka, W. Uruszczak, Warszawa 2005, s. 353-379.