Stieltjes polynomials and Lagrange interpolation

Bounds are proved for the Stieltjes polynomial , and lower bounds are proved for the distances of consecutive zeros of the Stieltjes polynomials and the Legendre polynomials . This sharpens a known interlacing result of Szegö. As a byproduct, bounds are obtained for the Geronimus polynomials . Applying these results, convergence theorems are proved for the Lagrange interpolation process with respect to the zeros of , and for the extended Lagrange interpolation process with respect to the zeros of in the uniform and weighted norms. The corresponding Lebesgue constants are of optimal order.