WITTINGAU (Czech, Třeboň), a town of Bohemia, 95 m. S. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 5467, mostly Czech. The parish church is a Gothic edifice of the 14th century, with fine cloisters; and the Lušnic château, once belonging to the family of Rosenberg, and now to Prince Schwarzenberg, dating from the 15th century, is reputed to contain the most extensive and valuable archives in Bohemia. The artificial cultivation of fish, now chiefly carp, in the numerous ponds that surround the town dates from the 14th century.
WITU, or Vitu, a sultanate of East Africa included in the Tanaland province of the British East Africa protectorate. It extends along the coast from the town of Kipini at the mouth of the Ozi river (2° 30′ S.) to the northern limit of Manda Bay (2° S.); area 1200 sq. m. The chief town, Witu, is 16 m. N. of Kipini. The state was founded by Ahmed-bin-Fumo Luti, the last Nabhan sultan of Patta (an island off the coast), who was conquered by Seyyid Majid of Zanzibar. Ahmed, about 1860, took refuge in the forest district, and made himself an independent chief, acquiring the title of Simba or the Lion. In 1885 Ahmed was induced to place his country under German protection, and in 1887 the limits of Witu were fixed by international agreement. In 1890 Germany transferred her protectorate to Great Britain. In the September of that year a British naval force under Admiral Sir E. Fremantle was sent against the sultan Bakari, who had succeeded Ahmed in 1887 and by whose orders nine German traders and settlers had been murdered. Disorders continued until 1894, and in the following year Omar-bin-Hamed of the Nabhan dynasty—an ancient race of Asiatic origin—was recognized as sultan. The sultan is guided by a British resident, and the state since the accession of Sultan Omar has been both peaceful and prosperous. The population of the sultanate is over 13,000; of the town of Witu 6000, chiefly Swahilis. The port of Witu is Mkonumbi (pop. 1000).
WIVELISCOMBE (pronounced Wilscomb), a market town in the western parliamentary division of Somersetshire, England, 912 m. W. of Taunton by the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901), 2246. It stands on a picturesque sloping site in a hilly district, and has some agricultural trade and a brewing industry, while in the neighbourhood are slate quarries.
Traces of a large Roman camp may still be seen to the south-east of Wiveliscombe (Wellescombe, Wilscombe, Wiviscombe), which is near the line of a Roman road, and hoards of Roman coins have been discovered in the neighbourhood. The town probably owed its origin to the suitability of its position for defence, and it was the site of a Danish fort, later replaced by a Saxon settlement. The overlords were the bishops of Bath and Wells, who had a palace and park here. They obtained a grant of free warren in 1257. No charter granting self-government to Wiveliscombe has been found, and the only evidence for the traditional existence of a borough is that part of the town is called “the borough,” and that until the middle of the 19th century a bailiff and a portreeve were annually chosen by the court leet. A weekly market on Tuesdays, granted to the bishop of Bath and Wells in 1284, is still held. During the 17th and 18th centuries the town was a centre of the woollen manufacture.
WLADISLAUS (Wladislaw), the name of four kings of Poland and two Polish kings of Hungary.[1]
Wladislaus I. (1260–1333), king of Poland, called Lokietek, or “Span-long,” from his diminutive stature, was the re-creator of the Polish realm, which in consequence of internal quarrels had at the end of the 13th century split up into fourteen independent principalities, and become an easy prey to her neighbours, Bohemia, Lithuania, and, most dangerous of all, the Teutonic Order. In 1296 the gentry of Great Poland elected Wladislaus, then prince of Cujavia, to reign over them; but distrusting the capacity of the taciturn little man, they changed their minds and placed themselves under the protection of the powerful Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, who was crowned at Gnesen in 1300. Wladislaus thereupon went to Rome, where Pope Boniface VIII., jealous of the growing influence of Bohemia, adopted his cause; and on the death of Wenceslaus in 1305 Wladislaus succeeded in uniting beneath his sway the principalities of Little and Great Poland. From the first he was beset with great difficulties. The towns, mostly of German origin, and the prelates headed by Muskata, bishop of Cracow, were against him because he endeavoured to make use of their riches for the defence of the sorely pressed state. The rebellious magistrates of Cracow he succeeded in suppressing, but he had to invoke the aid of the Teutonic Order to save Danzig from the margraves of Brandenburg, thus saddling Poland with a far more dangerous enemy; for the Order not only proceeded to treat Danzig as a conquered city, but claimed possession of the whole of Pomerania. Wladislaus thereupon (1317) appealed to Pope John XXII., and a tribunal of local prelates appointed by the holy see ultimately (Feb. 9, 1321) pronounced judgment in favour of Wladislaus, and condemned the Order not only to restore Pomerania but also to pay heavy damages. But the knights appealed to Rome; the pope reversed the judgment of his own tribunal; and the only result of these negotiations was a long and bloody six years’ war (1327–1333) between Poland and the Order, in which all the princes of Central Europe took part, Hungary and Lithuania siding with Wladislaus, and Bohemia, Masovia and Silesia with the Order. It was not till the last year but one of his life that Wladislaus succeeded with the aid of his Hungarian allies in inflicting upon the knights their first serious reverse at Plowce (27th of September 1332). In March 1333 he died. He had laid the foundations of a strong Polish monarchy, and with the consent of the pope revived the royal dignity, being solemnly crowned king of Poland at Cracow on the 20th of January 1320. His reign is remarkable for the development of the Polish constitution, the gentry and prelates being admitted to some share in the government of the country.
See Max Perlbach, Preussisch-polnische Studien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters (Halle, 1886); Julius A. G. von Pflugk-Harttung, Der deutsche Orden im Kampfe Ludwigs des Bayern mit der Kurie (Leipzig, 1900).
Wladislaus II., Jagiello (1350–1434), king of Poland, was one of the twelve sons of Olgierd, grand-duke of Lithuania, whom he succeeded in 1377. From the very beginning of his reign Jagiello was involved in disputes with the Teutonic Order, and with his uncle, the valiant Kiejstut, who ruled Samogitia independently. By the treaty of Dawidyszek (June 1, 1380) he contracted an alliance with the knights, and two years later, acting on the advice of his evil counsellor, Wojdyllo, enticed Kiejstut and his consort to Krewo and there treacherously murdered them (Aug. 15, 1382). This foul deed naturally drove Witowt (q.v.), the son of Kiejstut, into the arms of the Order; but both princes speedily recognized that the knights were the real enemies of Lithuania, and prudently composing their differences invaded Prussian territory. This was the beginning of the fifty years’ struggle with the Teutonic Order which was to make the reign of Jagiello so memorable. He looked about him betimes for allies against the common enemy of the Slavonic races, and fortune singularly favoured him. The Poles had brought their young queen Jadwiga home from Hungary, and in 1384 Jagiello sent a magnificent embassy to Cracow offering her his hand on condition that they shared the Polish crown. Jadwiga had long been betrothed to William of Austria; but she sacrificed her predilections for her country’s good. On the 15th of February 1386 Jagiello, who had previously been elected king of Poland under the title of Wladislaus II., accepted the Roman faith in the cathedral of Cracow, and on the 18th his espousal’s with Queen Jadwiga were solemnized.
Jagiello’s first political act after his coronation was the conversion of Lithuania to the true religion. This solemn act was accomplished at Vilna, the Lithuanian capital, on the 17th of February 1387, when a stately concourse of nobles and prelates,
- ↑ In Hungarian history the Polish Wladislaus (Mag. Ulászló) is distinguished from the Hungarian Ladislaus (Lászlo). They are reckoned separately for purposes of numbering. Besides the Wladislaus kings of Poland, there were three earlier dukes of this name: Wladislaus I. (d. 1102), Wladislaus II. (of Cracow, d. 1163) and Wladislaus III., duke of Great Poland and Cracow (d. 1231). By some historians these are included in the numbering of the Polish sovereigns. King Wladislaus I. being thus IV. and so on.
