Jogaila, later
Wladyslaw II Jagiello (c. 1352/1362 – 1 June 1434) was
Grand Duke of Lithuania (1377–1434),
King of Poland (1386–1399) alongside his wife
Jadwiga, and then sole King of Poland. He ruled in Lithuania from 1377. Born a
pagan, in 1386 he converted to Catholicism and was baptized as
Wladyslaw in
Kraków, married the young Queen Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland as Wladyslaw II Jagiello. In 1387 he
converted Lithuania to Christianity. His own reign in Poland started in 1399, upon death of Queen Jadwiga, and lasted a further thirty-five years and laid the foundation for the centuries-long
Polish–Lithuanian union. He was the founder of the
Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland that bears his name and was the heir to the already established house of
Gediminids in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These royal dynasties ruled both states until 1572, and became one of the most influential dynasties in the late
medieval and
early modern Central and Eastern Europe. During his reign, the Polish-Lithuanian state was the largest state in the
Christian world.