The demand for raw materials and semi-finished goods stimulated trade, producing a positive balance, and contributed to the growth of crafts and mining in the entire country.

Following Casimir's death in 1492, John I Albert succeeded him as King of Poland, and Alexander Jagiellon was proclaimed Grand Duke of Lithuania.

[4] Casimir Jagiellon was the third and youngest son of King Władysław II Jagiełło (known as Jogaila) and his fourth wife, Sophia of Halshany.

[7] Stanisław Ciołek, Bishop of Poznań, or Nicholas of Radom composed a panegyric contrafactum titled Hystorigraphi aciem in honour of his birth which was sung at the christening ceremony.

[8] In his early years, Casimir was nursed by his mother and supervised by vice-chancellor Wincenty Kot, the future Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland, as well as by a knight named Piotr of Rytro.

[11][12][13] During Casimir's rule the rights of the Lithuanian nobility — dukes, magnates, and boyars (lesser nobles), irrespective of their religion and ethnicity — were put on an equal footing to those of the Polish szlachta.

[14] Casimir succeeded his brother Władysław III (killed at the Battle of Varna in 1444) as King of Poland after a three-year interregnum on 25 June 1447.

The marriage strengthened the ties between the house of Jagiellon and the sovereigns of Hungary-Bohemia and put Casimir at odds with the emperor through internal Habsburg rivalry.

King Casimir IV died on 7 June 1492 in the Old Grodno Castle in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was in a personal union with Poland.

But he would not commit himself too far, and his ulterior plans were frustrated by the rivalry of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, who even went so far as to stimulate the Teutonic Order to rise against Casimir.

His failure to support Khan Akhmed at the Great stand on the Ugra River contributed to Russia's gaining its independence from the steppe nomads.

According to the Chronica Polonorum by Maciej Miechowita, Casimir was of tall stature and completely bald at the mid-frontal point (advanced receding hairline); his face was oval and lean.

[19] Casimir cared deeply for his children's education and employed the finest tutors, chiefly Jan Długosz, to supervise his sons John Albert and Alexander.

[20] It is likely that Casimir was Poland's last illiterate monarch as there are no surviving signatures, initials or monograms present on official edicts, though this claim is disputed.