three councillors with the devout Calvinist János Ghyczy, making him regent for Sigismund. Prince under guardianship Sigismund adopted the title of Prince of Transylvania after Stephen Báthory died on 13 December 1586. He was still a minor, and Ghyczy continued to rule as regent. Sigismund was one of the candidates to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. His advisors knew that he had little chance to win, but they wanted to demonstrate that the Báthorys had a valid claim to rule the Commonwealth. Kovacsóczy officially announced Sigismund's application at the Sejm (or general assembly) on 14August 1587. Five days later, the assembly elected Sigismund III Vasa king. During the ensuing war of succession, Transylvanian troops supported SigismundIII against Maximilian of Habsburg, who had also laid claim to Poland and Lithuania. Sigismund's cousins, Balthasar and Stephen Báthory, returned from Poland to Transylvania. Balthasar wanted to take charge of the government, making his court at Fogaras (present-day Făgăraș in Romania) the center of those who opposed Ghyczy's rule. Kovacsóczy, the chancellor of Transylvania, remained neutral in the conflict. In October 1588 the Diet proposed to declare the sixteen-year-old Sigismund of age if he banished the Jesuits from Transylvania. He did not accept the offer, mainly because he did not want to expel his confessor, Alfonso Carillo. The Diet was dissolved, but Sigismund's cousins convinced him not to resist the Diet, which was dominated by Protestant delegates. The Diet was again summoned in late 1588; on 8December it ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits and declared Sigismund to be of age. Internal conflicts Sigismund took the customary oath of the Transylvanian monarchs on 23December 1588. Pope Sixtus V excommunicated him for the expulsion of the Jesuits. Sigismund's cousin, Cardinal Andrew Báthory, urged the pope to lift the ban, saying that the prince's Protestant advisors had forced him to throw out the priests. The pope authorized Sigismund to employ a confessor in May 1589, and the excommunication was revoked on Easter 1590. Sigismund made several attempts to strengthen the position of the Roman Catholic Church, especially by appointing Catholics to the highest positions of state administration. Carillo and other Jesuit priests returned to Sigismund's court in disguise in early 1591. Sigismund met Andrew and Balthasar Báthory in August to seek their support for the legalization of the Jesuits' presence, but they refused to stand by the priests at the Diet. Sigismund dispatched his favorite,