Jagiellon Dynasty - Maturity Pattern

Maturity Pattern

Anthropologists have noted the tendency of members of the Jagiellonian dynasty to marry late in life, and not procreate until older. Most of its males over the dynasty's two centuries (approximately between 1360 and 1560) managed to have their heirs only when well into their middle years.

This contrasts with the later Bourbons and Habsburg-Lorraines prolific Roman Catholic dynasties, whose members usually started to produce offspring while still in their teens. Also, interestingly enough, those Jagiellonians who continued the line lived to ripe old ages, while those who died in their twenties or thirties generally did not leave children. Because the average life span was relatively short in that time period, this habit of starting to produce children late axed many potential branches from the dynasty, since persons who were generally potential parents did not start procreating until their thirties.

This was no coincidence. In this dynasty, "maturity" and willingness to settle down occurred only later in life, not in one's twenties. It has been speculated that cultural reasons may have also been co-factors. However, it has been proposed that inherited features were the chief reason. Some female-line descendants within a couple of generations showed similar tendencies, such as Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria, and Albert VII, Archduke of Austria. However, the tendency later diminished, and after the 17th century all members resumed the trait of having their children at a young age.

This tendency to bear children late weakened the potential of the dynasty compared to others of the same era. After just four generations, the dynasty went extinct in its male line. But those same four generations lasted two centuries, averaging approximately fifty years between siring each new generation:

• Algirdas (1291–1377), Ladislaus (1351–1434), Casimir IV (1427–92), Sigismund I (1467–1548) and Sigismund II (1520–72).
• Algirdas (1291–1377), Ladislaus (1351–1434), Casimir IV (1427–92), Ladislaus II (1456–1516) and Louis (1506–26)

(Generational chart: Zeroeth interval 60/60 years, first interval: 76/76 years, second interval 29/40 years, third interval 50/53 years)

1^ Sigismund's illegitimate son, Jan, was born in 1499 when his father was neither ruler of Lithuania nor Poland, and died in 1538. Being illegitimate, he was not entitled to succession

Sometimes, women of this dynasty married only when relatively old. Catherine Jagellon, wife of John III of Sweden, was 11 years older than her husband, having remained unmarried into her thirties. She bore her children at ages 38, 40 and 42.

Jagiello himself was born to a father already in his fifties or sixties.