sought peace through strong alliances. Though remaining distrustful of the Habsburgs, he maintained the tradition of good relations that the Commonwealth enjoyed with its Western neighbor and confirmed past treaties between the Commonwealth and Holy Roman Empire with diplomatic missions received by Maximilian's successor, Rudolf II. The troublesome south-eastern border with the Ottoman Empire was temporarily quelled by truces signed in July 1577 and April 1579. The Sejm of January 1578 gathered in Warsaw was persuaded to grant Báthory subsidies for the inevitable war against Muscovy. A number of his trusted advisers were Hungarian, and he remained interested in Hungarian politics. In his last years, Báthory, with Pope Gregory XVIII's approval, made a plan with Antonio Possevino for the liberation of Ottoman Hungary by a well organized (mostly Polish) Christian army, and the creation of a strong and independent Hungarian-Polish union under his rule. However, the unfavorable international situation did not allow him significantly to advance any of his plans in that area. In addition to Hungarian, he was well versed in Latin, and spoke Italian and German; he never learned the Polish language. In his personal life, he was described as rather frugal in his personal expenditures, with hunting and reading as his favorite pastimes. War with Muscovy Before Báthory's election to the throne of the Commonwealth, Ivan the Terrible of Russia had begun encroaching on its sphere of interest in the northeast, eventually invading the Commonwealth borderlands in Livonia; the conflict would grow to involve a number of nearby powers (outside Russia and Poland-Lithuania, also Sweden, the Kingdom of Livonia and Denmark-Norway). Each of them was vying for control of Livonia, and the resulting conflict, lasting for several years, became known as the Livonian War. By 1577, Ivan was in control of most of the disputed territory, but his conquest was short-lived. In 1578, Commonwealth forces scored a number of victories in Liviona and begun pushing Ivan's forces back; this marked the turning point in the war. Báthory, together with his chancellor Zamoyski, led the army of the Commonwealth in a series of decisive campaigns taking Polotsk in 1579 and Velikiye Luki in 1580. In 1581, Stephen penetrated once again into Russia and, on 22 August, laid siege to the city of Pskov. While the city held, on 13 December 1581 Ivan the Terrible began negotiations that concluded with the Truce of Jam Zapolski on 15 January 1582.