was interested in mastering the military art, and proved to be an adept learner. With Batory's support, he began filling in for some of the roles of Grand Crown Hetman Mikołaj Mielecki, particularly when Mielecki was not present. While not campaigning, he was also instrumental in ensuring that the ongoing political support for the war. In 1580 he was hit by another personal tragedy, as his wife died in labor, together with their child; entering a short period of depression. Later that year, in August, he captured Velizh in September he participated in the siege of Velikiye Luki, and then took Zavoloc. On 11 August 1581 he received the nomination for the post of Grand Crown Hetman; this nomination, although uncontroversial at that time, was technically illegal. Following that he participated in the long and inconclusive Siege of Pskov, which ended with the Peace of Yam-Zapolsky in 1582. Though Zamoyski failed to capture Pskov, he drained the Russian resources, and the ongoing siege was a major reason for the final treaty, which was highly favorable to Poland. In June 1583 Zamoyski took his third wife, Gryzelda Bathory, a relative of king Bathory himself. In May 1584 Zamoyski's men captured Samuel Zborowski, a noble whose death sentence for treason and murder had been pending for roughly a decade; shortly afterwards with Bathory's consent Zborowski was executed. This political conflict between Báthory, Zamoyski and the Zborowski family, framed as the clash between the monarch and the nobility, would be a major recurring controversy in internal Polish politics for many years, beginning with a major dispute at the Sejm of 1585. Later years After the death of Batory in 1586, Zamoyski helped Sigismund III Vasa gain the Polish throne, fighting in the brief civil war against the forces supporting Habsburg archduke Maximilian III of Austria. The camp supporting Sigismund was rallied around Zamoyski, whereas Maximilian was supported by the Zborowski family. Zamoyski defended Kraków and defeated Maximilian's forces in the Battle of Byczyna in 1588. In that battle, which Sławomir Leśniewski describes as "one of the most important in Polish history, and the most important in Zamoyski's military career", Maximilian was taken prisoner and in the resulting Treaty of Bytom and Będzin of 1589 had to give up all pretenses to the Polish crown. Later that year Zamoyski proposed a reform of the royal elections, which failed to pass the Sejm. Zamoyski presented