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120-577: The Council entered a second phase after Emperor Sigismund 's death in 1437. Pope Eugene IV translated the Council to Ferrara on 8 January 1438, where it became the Council of Ferrara and succeeded in drawing some of the Byzantine ambassadors who were in attendance at Basel to Italy. Some Council members rejected the papal decree and remained at Basel: this rump Council suspended Eugene, declared him

240-524: A Wagenburg on a strategically advantageous hill, and both armies stood opposite each other for some time. An attempt by the Calixtines / Utraquists to negotiate and peacefully resolve the conflict failed on account of the irreconcilable positions of the two sides. Three days after the unsuccessful negotiations, the Leaguers advanced to the radicals' encampment. Although the following mutual cannonade

360-571: A Grand Duke of Lithuania . He was named after Saint Sigismund of Burgundy , the favourite saint of Sigismund's father. From Sigismund's childhood, he was nicknamed the "ginger fox" ( liška ryšavá ) in the Bohemian Crown lands on account of his hair colour. King Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland always had a good and close relationship with Emperor Charles IV, and Sigismund was betrothed to Louis' eldest daughter, Mary , in 1374, when he

480-651: A heretic , and then in November 1439 elected an antipope , Felix V . After becoming the Council of Florence (having moved to avoid the plague in Ferrara), the Council concluded in 1445 after negotiating union with the Eastern Orthodox Church . This bridging of the Great Schism proved fleeting, but was a political coup for the papacy. In 1447, Sigismund's successor Frederick III commanded

600-734: A Knights Tournament was held in Buda , Hungary, this was also a conference between Hungarian King Sigismund, Polish King Wladyslaw II and Bosnian King Tvrtko II . 2000 knights were present from all over Europe, even England. There were very many princes, lords, knights and servants at the court of Buda in Hungary. Three kings and three other monarchs, a Serbian despot , 13 herzogs and/or dukes, 21 counts, 2000 knights, 1 cardinal, 1 legate, 3 archbishops, 11 other bishops, 86 players and trumpeters, 17 messengers, and 40,000 horses. There were people from 17 countries and languages. A presumably contemporary list of

720-579: A beautiful face, curly, bluish hair, and a gentle look. He wore a long beard out of his attraction to the Hungarians because they also wore long beards once upon a time. He also spent huge amounts of money during his reign to rebuild the Gothic castles of Buda and Visegrád in the Kingdom of Hungary, ordering the transportation of materials from Austria and Bohemia. His many affairs with women led to

840-535: A bull dated 18 September 1437, Pope Eugene again pronounced the dissolution of the Council of Basel and summoned the fathers to Ferrara in the Po Valley . The first public session at Ferrara began on 10 January 1438. Its first act declared the Council of Basel transferred to Ferrara and nullified all further proceedings at Basel. In the second public session (15 February 1438), Pope Eugene IV excommunicated all who continued to assemble at Basel. In early April 1438,

960-513: A failed attempt, owing to the hostility of the princes, to secure peace in Germany by a league of the towns. Also, Sigismund awarded Brandenburg (which he had recovered after Jobst's death) to Frederick of Hohenzollern , burgrave of Nuremberg , in 1415. This step made the House of Hohenzollern one of the most important in Germany. Sigismund began to shift his alliance from France to England after

1080-465: A huge sum of silver to Poland as reparation and again, through diplomacy of his friend Stibor, Sigismund was able to borrow all this silver from King Władysław II of Poland on good conditions. In the light of facts about the diplomatic work of Stibor and the Clan of Ostoja that was following the politics of King Sigismund, one can question whether Sigismund actually joined the anti-Polish alliance. In 1412,

1200-588: A leading part in the deliberations of this assembly, and during the sittings travelled to France , England , and Burgundy in a vain attempt to secure the abdication of the three rival popes. The council ended in 1418, having resolved the Schism and—of great consequence to Sigismund's future career—having the Czech religious reformer, Jan Hus , burned at the stake for heresy in July 1415. The complicity of Sigismund in

1320-470: A new council on Italian soil at Bologna, but he was overruled. The council was held in the Cathedral of Basel, where benches were placed for the 400 and more members, and general congregations were held either in the cathedral or in its chapter house. The clerks of ceremonies were Enea Silvio Piccolomini and Michel Brunout. Sigismund , King of Hungary and titular King of Bohemia, had been defeated at

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1440-445: A number of his cardinals , condemned by most of the powers, deprived of his dominions by condottieri who shamelessly invoked the authority of the council, the pope made concession after concession and ended on 15 December 1433 with a pitiable surrender of all the points at issue in a papal bull , the terms of which were dictated by the fathers of Basel, that is, by declaring his bull of dissolution null and void and recognising that

1560-704: A rupture. The Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaiologos , pressed hard by the Ottoman Turks , was keen to ally himself with the Catholics. He consented to come with the principal representatives of the Byzantine Church to some place in the West where the union could be concluded in the presence of the pope and of the Latin council. There arose a double negotiation between him and Eugene IV on the one hand and

1680-516: A ten-year exile in Florence . In 1438, Pope Eugene convened a new council at Ferrara , which however was transferred to Florence in 1439 because of the danger of plague at Ferrara and because Florence had agreed, against future payment, to finance the Council. Most of the original Council moved from Basel to Ferrara in 1438. Some remained at Basel, still claiming to be the Council. They elected Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy , as Pope Felix V. He

1800-631: A war with the Republic of Venice , as Ladislaus had sold the Dalmatian cities to the Venetians for 100,000 ducats before leaving for his own land. In the following years Sigismund acted indirectly to thwart Ladislaus' attempts to conquer central Italy, by allying with the Italian cities resisting him and by applying diplomatic pressure on him. Due to his frequent absences attending to business in

1920-613: A wide reform of the monarchy and emperorship and the German empire. King Sigismund is portrayed by British actor Matthew Goode in the 2022 film Jan Žižka by director Petr Jákl . King Sigismund is a briefly seen antagonist in the 2018 Warhorse Studios hit action role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance . Battle of Lipany Radical Hussites Moderate Hussites ( Calixtines ) Bohemian Catholics The Battle of Lipany (in Czech: Bitva u Lipan ), also called

2040-520: Is considered an antipope , and was the only claimant to the papal throne who ever took the Basel oath. Driven out of Basel in 1448, they moved to Lausanne . In 1449, Felix V resigned and the rump Council formally closed. The Council had meanwhile successfully negotiated reunification with several Eastern Churches , reaching agreements on such matters as the Western insertion of the phrase " Filioque " to

2160-846: The Battle of Domažlice in the fifth crusade against the Hussites in August 1431. Under his sponsorship, the Council negotiated a peace with the Calixtine faction of the Hussites in January 1433. Pope Eugene acknowledged the council in May and crowned Sigismund Holy Roman Emperor on 31 May 1433. The divided Hussites were defeated in May 1434. In June 1434, the pope had to flee a revolt in Rome and began

2280-545: The Battle of Český Brod , was fought at Lipany 40 km east of Prague on 30 May 1434 and virtually ended the Hussite Wars . An army of moderate Hussite (or Calixtine ) nobility and Catholics , called the Bohemian League, defeated the radical Taborites and Orphans (or Sirotci ) led by Prokop the Great , the overall commander, and by Jan Čapek of Sány , the cavalry commander. The radicals set up

2400-423: The House of Luxembourg became extinct on his death. Sigismund married twice but had little luck in securing the succession to his crowns. Each of his two marriages resulted in the birth of one child. His first-born child, probably a son, was born prematurely as a result of a horse riding accident suffered by Queen Mary of Hungary when she was well advanced in pregnancy. Mother and child both died shortly after

2520-531: The Iron Crown as King of Italy ; after which he remained for some time at Siena , negotiating for his coronation as emperor and for the recognition of the Council of Basel by Pope Eugenius IV . He was crowned emperor in Rome on 31 May 1433, and after obtaining his demands from the pope returned to Bohemia, where he was recognized as king in 1436, though his power was little more than nominal. Shortly after he

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2640-606: The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed , the definition and number of the sacraments, and the doctrine of Purgatory . Another key issue was papal primacy, which involved the universal and supreme jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome over the whole Church, including the national Churches of the East (Serbian, Byzantine, Moldo-Wallachian, Bulgarian, Russian, Georgian, Armenian etc.), and nonreligious matters such as

2760-476: The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges , which became law on 13 July 1438) the benefit of a great number of the reforms decreed at Basel; England and Italy remained faithful to Eugene IV. Finally, in 1447, Frederick III , Holy Roman Emperor , after negotiations with Eugene, commanded the burgomaster of Basel not to allow the presence of the council any longer in the imperial city. In June 1448 the rump of

2880-462: The Tiber , lying in the bottom of a boat, left him at first little chance of resisting the enterprises of the council. Emboldened by their success, the fathers approached the subject of reform, their principal object being to further curtail the power and resources of the papacy. They took decisions on the disciplinary measures that regulated the elections , on the celebration of divine service and on

3000-535: The 1422 Diet of Nuremberg, Sigismund and German territorial princes collaborated to organize two armies against the Hussite rebels. The first army was sent to relieve Karlštejn , which was under a Hussite siege; the second army was ordered to destroy the Hussite field army. But Jan Žižka defeated the Imperial force at the Battle of Kutná Hora and then at the Battle of Německý Brod . These two unexpected defeats at

3120-580: The 406 km long Váh river with surrounding land that was given to him by Sigismund. In the diplomatic struggle to prevent war between Poland-Lithuania, which was supported by the Muscovites, and the Teutonic Knights, Sigismund used Stibor's fine diplomacy to gain financially. The Polish side appointed several negotiators and most of them were also from the Clan of Ostoja , distant relations of

3240-760: The Byzantine contingent, over 700 strong, arrived at Ferrara. On 9 April 1438, the first solemn session at Ferrara began, with the Eastern Roman Emperor, the Patriarch of Constantinople and representatives of the Patriarchal Sees of Antioch , Alexandria and Jerusalem in attendance and Pope Eugene IV presiding. The early sessions lasted until 17 July 1438 with each theological issue of the East–West Schism (1054) hotly debated, including

3360-597: The Council made steady progress on a compromise formula, "ex filio" . In the following months, agreement was reached on the Western doctrine of Purgatory and a return to the pre-schism prerogatives of the papacy. On 6 July 1439 an agreement ( Laetentur Caeli ) was signed by all the Eastern bishops but one, Mark of Ephesus, delegate for the Patriarch of Alexandria, who, contrary to the views of all others, held that Rome continued in both heresy and schism. To complicate matters, Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople had died

3480-543: The Council of Basel as legate of Pope Eugene IV . Under pressure for ecclesiastical reform, Pope Martin V sanctioned a decree of the Council of Constance (9 October 1417) obliging the papacy to summon general councils periodically. At the expiration of the first term fixed by this decree, Pope Martin V complied by calling a council at Pavia . Due to an epidemic the location transferred almost at once to Siena (see Council of Siena ) and disbanded, in circumstances still imperfectly known, just as it had begun to discuss

3600-456: The Council's claim of supremacy, but he did not dare openly to repudiate the conciliar doctrine considered by many to be the actual foundation of the authority of the popes before the schism . He soon realized the impossibility of treating the fathers of Basel as ordinary rebels , and tried a compromise; but as time went on, the fathers became more and more intractable, and between him and them gradually arose an impassable barrier. Abandoned by

3720-740: The Despot Stefan Lazarević , bringing two thousand horses. From Austria, dukes Ernest (the Iron) and Albert II , later successor of Sigismund, also took part in the Buda meeting. Also Heinrich von Plauen . the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order , Stibor of Stiboricz , Nikola II Gorjanski , Hermann II, Count of Celje and his son Frederick II , count of Krbava —Karlo Kurjaković, Ivan Morović-ban of Machva . Długosz reports

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3840-589: The Ethiopians saying "They were black men and dry and very awkward in their bearing. At that time, Rome had delegates from a multitude of nations, from Armenia to Russia , Greece and various parts of north and east Africa . During this time the council of Basel, though nullified at Ferrara and abandoned by Cesarini and most of its members, persisted nonetheless, under the presidency of Cardinal Aleman . Affirming its ecumenical character on 24 January 1438, it suspended Eugene IV. The council went on (in spite of

3960-584: The French defeat at the Battle of Agincourt , which he was also controversially absent from due to hosting a pseudo-council in Perpignan with Antipope Benedict XIII and King Ferdinand I of Aragon . The signing of the Treaty of Canterbury on 15 August 1416 culminated diplomatic efforts between Henry V of England and Sigismund and resulted in a defensive and offensive alliance against France. This, in turn, led

4080-508: The Great and Prokop the Lesser  [ cs ] were killed making a last stand at the wagons. Some prominent leaders of the radicals, including Jan Roháč of Dubá , were captured, but about 700 ordinary soldiers who surrendered after promises of renewed military service were burned to death in nearby barns. As a consequence of the battle, the Taborite army was markedly weakened, and

4200-494: The Hussite movement) are now generally considered by most scholars to be the results of the lack of financial resources and other heavy constraints, rather than personal failings. Born in Nuremberg or Prague , Sigismund was the son of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and his fourth and final wife, Elizabeth of Pomerania , who was the granddaughter of King Casimir III of Poland and the great-granddaughter of Gediminas ,

4320-674: The Orphans virtually ceased to exist as a military force. The road towards acceptance of the Compacts of Basel was now open, and it was signed on 5 July 1436 in Jihlava . The next month, Sigismund was accepted as King of Bohemia by all major factions. Sigismund commented on the Battle of Lipany that "the Bohemians could be overcome only by Bohemians." The last formation of Taborites under

4440-570: The Patriarch of Constantinople faced opposite a cardinal, and the other high-ranking cardinals and bishops faced the Greek metropolitans. The throne of the pope was set slightly apart and higher. With finances running thin and on the pretext that the plague was spreading in the area, both the Latins and the Byzantines agreed to transfer the council to Florence. Continuing at Florence in January 1439,

4560-523: The Poles were unwilling to submit to a German sovereign, nor did they want to be tied to Hungary. The disagreement between Polish landlords of Lesser Poland on one side and landlords of Greater Poland on the other, regarding the choice of the future monarch of Poland, finally ended in choosing the Lithuanian side. The support of the lords of Greater Poland was however not enough to give Prince Sigismund

4680-585: The Polish crown. Instead, the landlords of Lesser Poland gave it to Mary's younger sister Jadwiga , who married Jogaila of Lithuania . On the death of her father in 1382, his betrothed, Mary, became queen of Hungary and Sigismund married her in 1385 in Zólyom (today Zvolen ). The next year, he was accepted as Mary's future co-ruler by the Treaty of Győr . However, Mary was captured, together with her mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia , who had acted as regent, in 1387 by

4800-785: The Processions of the Holy Spirit, the Filioque clause in the Nicene Creed , purgatory , and papal primacy . Resuming proceedings on 8 October 1438, the Council focused exclusively on the Filioque matter. Even as it became clear that the Byzantine Church would not consent to the Filioque clause, the Byzantine Emperor continued to press for a reconciliation. Initially, the seating arrangements were meant to feature

4920-606: The River Sava to the south his control was weak. Sigismund personally led an army of almost 50,000 "crusaders" against the Bosnians , culminating with the Battle of Dobor in 1408, a massacre of about 200 members of various Bosnian noble families. However, although campaign militarily looked like a success, it ultimately failed politically and Hungarians retreated, while the Bosnian crown slowly but surely slipped away out of

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5040-602: The Stibors. However, those "family meetings" could not prevent the war and an alliance of twenty-two western states formed an army against Poland in the Battle of Grunwald in July 1410. Stibor attacked then Nowy Sącz and burned it to the ground, but after that he returned with his army back to the Beckov Castle . After the Polish-Lithuanian victory in the Battle of Grunwald , the Teutonic Knights had to pay

5160-427: The Turks; the islands were returned to Sigismund after Đurađ's death in April 1403. The disaster at Nicopolis angered several Hungarian lords, leading to instability in the kingdom. Deprived of his authority in Hungary, Sigismund then turned his attention to securing the succession in Germany and Bohemia , and was recognized by his childless half-brother Wenceslaus IV as Vicar-General of the whole empire. However, he

5280-431: The arrival in Buda of the envoys of the Jalal al-Din , khan of the Golden Horde and son of Tokhtamysh , who wanted to meet Władysław II of Poland. Jalal al-Din was an ally of the Polish and Lithuanian rulers in their fight against the Teutonic Order , and according to some reconstructions of the events, Sigismund also wanted to rely on the Tatars against the Ottoman threat. A narrative source from Lübeck also mentions

5400-488: The assembly at Basel was a result of both its composition and its organization. Doctors of theology , masters and representatives of chapters, monks and clerks of inferior orders constantly outnumbered the prelates in it, and the influence of the superior clergy had less weight because instead of being separated into " nations ", as at Constance, the fathers divided themselves according to their tastes or aptitudes into four large committees or "deputations" ( deputationes ). One

5520-428: The attack on Poland. Stibor of Stiboricz was of Polish origin and from the main line of the powerful Clan of Ostoja that had also been against choosing Jagiello as King of Poland. With the support of Sigismund, Stibor become one of the most influential men in late medieval Europe, holding titles as Duke of Transylvania and owning about 25% of modern-day Slovakia , including 31 castles of which 15 were situated around

5640-413: The betrayer of Hus , were soon in arms; and the flame was fanned when Sigismund declared his intention of prosecuting the war against heretics. Three campaigns against the Hussites ended in disaster although the army of his most loyal ally Stibor of Stiboricz and later his son Stibor of Beckov could hold the Hussite side away from the borders of the kingdom. The Turks were again attacking Hungary. At

5760-463: The birth in the hills of Buda on 17 May 1395. This caused a deep succession crisis because Sigismund ruled over Hungary by right of his wife, and although he managed to keep his power, the crisis lasted until his second marriage to Barbara of Celje . Barbara's only child, born in the purple on 7 October 1409, probably in the castle of Visegrád , was Elisabeth of Luxembourg , the future queen consort of Hungary, Germany, and Bohemia. Queen Barbara

5880-414: The birth of several legends , as the one that existed decades later during the reign of the King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. According to this, John Hunyadi was Sigismund's illegitimate son. Sigismund gave a ring to the boy's mother when he was born, but one day in the forest a raven stole it from her, and the ring was only recovered after the bird was hunted down. It is said that this incident inspired

6000-429: The city of Basel to expel the Council of Basel; the rump Council reconvened in Lausanne before dissolving itself in 1449. The initial location in the Prince-Bishopric of Basel reflected the desire among parties seeking reform to meet outside territories directly controlled by the Pope , the Emperor or the kings of Aragon and France , whose influences the council hoped to avoid. Ambrogio Traversari attended

6120-472: The coat of arms of the Hunyadis , and later also appeared in the coat of arms of Matthias "Corvinus". Sigismund adopted the Hungarian reverence for Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary , who was considered to be an ideal Christian knight at that time. He went on pilgrimage several times to his tomb in Nagyvárad. Before Sigismund died, in Znaim , Moravia , he ordered to be buried next to the king saint. The bloodline of Sigismund connects through three princesses to

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6240-404: The council "an assembly of copyists" or even "a set of grooms and scullions". However, some prelates, although absent, were represented by their proxies. Nicholas of Cusa was a member of the delegation sent to Constantinople with the pope's approval to bring back the Byzantine emperor and his representatives to the Council of Florence of 1439. At the time of the council's conclusion in 1439, Cusa

6360-449: The council could be useful owing to the progress of heresy , the reported troubles in Germany , the war that had lately broken out between the dukes of Austria and Burgundy , and finally, the small number of fathers who had responded to the summons of Martin V. That opinion and his desire to preside over the council in person, induced him to recall the fathers from Germany, as his poor health made it difficult for him to go. He commanded

6480-401: The council migrated to Lausanne . The antipope, at the insistence of France, ended by abdicating (7 April 1449). Eugene IV died on 23 February 1447, and the council at Lausanne, to save appearances, gave their support to his successor, Pope Nicholas V , who had already been governing the Church for two years. Trustworthy evidence, they said, proved to them that this pontiff accepted the dogma of

6600-419: The council to disperse, and appointed Bologna as their meeting place in eighteen months' time, with the intention of making the session of the council coincide with some conferences with representatives of the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine East, scheduled to be held there with a view to ecumenical union (18 December 1431). That order led to an outcry among the fathers and incurred the deep disapproval of

6720-454: The country. After the death of King Rupert of Germany in 1410, Sigismund—ignoring the claims of his half-brother Wenceslaus— was elected as successor by three of the electors on 20 September 1410, but he was opposed by his cousin Jobst of Moravia , who was elected by four electors in a different election on 1 October. Jobst's death 18 January 1411 removed this conflict and Sigismund was again elected king on 21 July 1411. His coronation

6840-437: The court of Rome. The Council clarified the Latin dogma of papal primacy : "We likewise define that the holy Apostolic See, and the Roman Pontiff, hold the primacy throughout the entire world; and that the Roman Pontiff himself is the successor of blessed Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and the true vicar of Christ, and that he is the head of the entire Church, and the father and teacher of all Christians; and that full power

6960-503: The death of Hus is a matter of controversy. He had granted Hus a safe conduct and protested against his imprisonment, and Hus was burned during Sigismund's absence. When at one point during the council a cardinal corrected Sigismund's Latin , Sigismund replied Ego sum rex Romanus et super grammaticam ("I am king of the Romans and above grammar"). Thomas Carlyle nicknamed Sigismund "Super Grammaticam". His main acts during these years were an alliance with England against France, and

7080-436: The decrees of the Council. Other Eastern bishops did so by sincere conviction, such as Isidore of Kiev , who subsequently suffered greatly for it. Only one Eastern Bishop refused to accept the union, Mark of Ephesus , who became the leader of opposition back in Byzantium; the Serbian patriarch did not even attend the council. The Russian Orthodox Church , upon learning of the union, angrily rejected it and ousted any prelate who

7200-481: The elector of Saxony and Sigismund's loyal partner Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg, and mutual assistance, adjudication, and cooperation in the face of the Hussite threat were stipulated." Sigismund's rule in Germany and in the empire in general was hampered by his complete lack of Hausmacht (domestic power) within the Kingdom of Germany . His rule relied on key allies and the culture of associative political mechanisms in Germany. Duncan Hardy remarks that, "both

7320-422: The empire's core lands, Sigismund was able to make use of these partnerships, and could reasonably expect that the associative activity of princes, nobles, and towns would yield results—as indeed they did, in the form of large-scale collective activity against Duke Frederick IV of Austria—Tyrol in the 1410 and the Hussites in the 1420. Not all of Sigismund's projects came to fruition, and he could not always control

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7440-492: The expense of the reform of the Church, partly because Maximilian was not particularly focused on the matter. In recent years, scholarly interest (especially from East-Central Europe ) has grown greatly in the person and reign of Sigismund —the ruler who had gained and led an imperial association almost reaching the size of the later Habsburg Empire —as well as cultural developments associated with his era. The setbacks which have been seen as his major failures (like dealing with

7560-442: The fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Turkish Ottoman Empire two decades later). Facing the imminent threat, the Union was officially proclaimed by Isidore of Kiev in Hagia Sophia on 12 December 1452. The Emperor, bishops, and people of Constantinople accepted this act as a temporary provision until the removal of the Ottoman threat. Yet, it was too late: on 29 May 1453 Constantinople fell . The union signed at Florence, down to

7680-408: The fathers of Basel on the other. The council wished to fix the meeting-place at a place remote from the influence of the pope, and they persisted in suggesting Basel, Avignon or Savoy . On the other hand, the Byzantines wanted a coastal location in Italy for their ease of access by ship. As a result of negotiations with the East, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos accepted Pope Eugene IV 's offer. By

7800-416: The fortress of Nicopolis . Sultan Bayezid I raised the siege of Constantinople and, at the head of 140,000 men, completely defeated the Christian forces in the Battle of Nicopolis fought between the 25 and 28 September 1396. Sigismund returned by sea and through the realm of Zeta , where he ordained the local Montenegrin lord Đurađ II with the islands of Hvar and Korčula for resistance against

7920-422: The hands of the Hussites "ended the first Imperial and Catholic attempt to crush the Bohemian 'heretic rebellion'." The alliance against the Hussites continued to develop though, joined by Upper German princes and cities, even from "the regions furthest from Bohemia". In January 1424, associative activity of the German electors led to the Union ('einunge') of Bingen, "within which the Rhenish princes were joined by

8040-523: The intervention of most of the powers) to pronounce Eugene IV deposed (25 June 1439), giving rise to a new schism by electing (4 November 1439) duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy , as (anti)pope, who took the name of Felix V. This schism lasted fully ten years, although the antipope found few adherents outside of his own hereditary states, those of Alfonso V of Aragon , of the Swiss confederation and of certain universities. Germany remained neutral; Charles VII of France confined himself to securing to his kingdom (by

8160-410: The king's loyal vassal until death in 1427. Stefan's successor George Branković of Serbia also pledged his allegiance to Sigismund, returning Belgrade to the king. By maintaining close relations with Serbian rulers, Sigismund succeeded in securing southern borders of his realm. Sigismund founded his personal order of knights, the Order of the Dragon , after the victory at Dobor. The main goal of

8280-472: The largest Gothic palace of the Late Middle Ages . In about 1406, Sigismund married Mary's cousin Barbara of Celje , daughter of Count Hermann II of Celje . Hermann's mother Catherine (of the House of Kotromanic ) and Mary's mother Queen Elisabeth of Bosnia were sisters, or at least cousins who were adoptive sisters. Sigismund managed to establish control in Slavonia . He did not hesitate to use violent methods (see Bloody Sabor of Križevci ), but from

8400-432: The legate Cesarini. They argued that the Hussites would think the Church afraid to face them and that the laity would accuse the clergy of shirking reform, both with disastrous effects. The pope explained his reasons and yielded certain points, but the fathers were intransigent. Considerable powers had been decreed to Church councils by the Council of Constance , which amid the troubles of the Western Schism had proclaimed

8520-427: The legates of the pope to preside over them on condition of their recognizing the superiority of the council. The legates submitted the humiliating formality but in their own names, it was asserted only after the fact, thus reserving the final judgment of the Holy See . Furthermore, the difficulties of all kinds against which Eugene had to contend, such as the insurrection at Rome , which forced him to escape by means of

8640-649: The local and the trans-regional dimensions of the political activity displayed by the sources from throughout Sigismund's reign demonstrate that power at every level in the empire was exercised and mediated through the customary institutions and mechanisms of associative political culture. If Sigismund enjoyed considerable successes at certain junctures, it was not in spite of or independently from these institutions and mechanisms, but precisely because he devoted considerable energy to harnessing associative interactions and building strategic relationships with leading actors within elite networks. Even during his prolonged absences from

8760-672: The longer-term outcomes of his policies, but the notion that there were phases of an 'empire without a king' during his reign clearly does not stand up to the abundant evidence of his interactions with regional clients and associations. At the same time, the somewhat adulatory view that has developed in recent years of Sigismund as a masterly politician can be tempered by the evidence that it was often felicitous alliances as much as personal skill which made his successes possible." The alliance between Sigismund and his two key allies in Germany, namely Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg and Albert of Austria (who became his son-in-law and heir through

8880-732: The lords by transferring a sizeable part of the royal properties. (For some years, the baron's council governed the country in the name of the Holy Crown ). The restoration of the authority of the central administration took decades of work. The bulk of the nation headed by the House of Garai was with him; but in the southern provinces between the Sava and the Drava , the Horvathys with the support of King Tvrtko I of Bosnia , Mary's maternal uncle, proclaimed as their king Ladislaus of Naples , son of

9000-582: The marriage with Sigismund's only daughter Elizabeth of Luxembourg ), started the rise of the Hohenzollerns and reboosted the Habsburgs (who returned to the German throne and also inherited the connection with Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia from Sigismund). In 1428, Sigismund led another campaign against the Turks, but again with few results. In 1431, he went to Milan where on 25 November he received

9120-507: The meantime, a group of Hungarian noblemen swore loyalty to the last Anjou monarch, Ladislaus of Naples , putting their hands on the relic of Saint Ladislas of Hungary in Nagyvárad (today Oradea). Ladislaus was the son of the murdered Charles II of Hungary , and thus a distant relative of the long dead King Louis I of Hungary . Ladislaus captured Zara (today Zadar ) in 1403, but soon stopped any military advance. This struggle in turn led to

9240-409: The murdered Charles II of Hungary . Not until 1395 did Nicholas II Garai succeed in suppressing them. Mary died heavily pregnant in 1395. To ease the pressure from Hungarian nobles, Sigismund tried to employ foreign advisors, which was not popular, and he had to promise not to give land and nominations to anyone other than Hungarian nobles. However, this was not applied to Stibor of Stiboricz , who

9360-417: The nominal temporal head of Christendom , they conferred no increase of power and financially embarrassed him. It was only as King of Hungary that he had succeeded in establishing his authority and in doing anything for the order and good government of the land. Entrusting the government of Bohemia to Sofia of Bavaria , the widow of Wenceslaus, he hastened into Hungary. The Bohemians, who distrusted him as

9480-540: The order was fighting the Ottoman Empire . Members of the order were mostly his political allies and supporters. The main members of the order were Sigismund's close allies Nicholas II Garay , Hermann II of Celje , Stibor of Stiboricz , and Pippo Spano . The most important European monarchs became members of the order. He encouraged international trade by abolishing internal duties, regulating tariffs on foreign goods and standardizing weights and measures throughout

9600-493: The other countries over which he ruled, he was obliged to consult Diets in Hungary with more frequency than his predecessors and institute the office of Palatine as chief administrator while he was away. In 1404, Sigismund introduced the Placetum Regium . According to this decree, Papal bulls could not be pronounced in Hungary without the consent of the king. During his long reign, the royal Buda Castle became probably

9720-537: The participants of the meeting has also survived. Besides the host, Sigismund, and his main guest, Władysław II, this text mentions Władysław's cousin Vytautas , Grand Duke of Lithuania , and the king of Bosnia, usually identified as Tvrtko II. Some argue convincingly that it was not Tvrtko II but Stjepan Ostoja who visited Buda at that time. Besides the king, Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić , Sandalj Hranić Kosača and Pavle Radinović also came from Bosnia, and from Serbia ,

9840-538: The periodical holding of diocesan synods and provincial councils, which were usual topics in Catholic councils. They also made decrees aimed at some of the assumed rights by which the popes had extended their power and improved their finances at the expense of the local churches. Thus the council abolished annates , greatly limited the abuse of "reservation" of the patronage of benefices by the Pope and completely abolished

9960-571: The pope in the middle with the Latins on one side and Greeks on the other, but the Greeks protested. It was decided to have the altar with the open Bible in the center of the one end of the chamber, and the two high ranking delegations facing each other on the sides of the altar, while the rest of the delegations were below further in chamber. The Byzantine Emperor's throne was opposite that of the Holy Roman Emperor (who never attended), while

10080-441: The pope, in the negotiations between France and England , which led to the treaty of Arras , concluded by Charles VII of France with the duke of Burgundy . Also, circumcision was deemed to be a mortal sin. Finally, they investigated and judged numbers of private cases, lawsuits between prelates, members of religious orders and holders of benefices, thus themselves committing one of the serious abuses for which they had criticized

10200-694: The present, has not been implemented by the Orthodox Churches. The Council soon became even more international. The signature of this agreement for the union of the Latins and the Byzantines encouraged Pope Eugenius to announce the good news to the Coptic Christians, and invite them to send a delegation to Florence. He wrote a letter on 7 July 1439, and to deliver it, sent Alberto da Sarteano as an apostolic delegate. On 26 August 1441, Sarteano returned with four Ethiopians from Emperor Zara Yaqob and Copts. A contemporary observer described

10320-548: The previous month. The Byzantine Patriarchs were unable to assert that ratification by the Eastern Church could be achieved without a clear agreement of the whole Church. Upon their return, the Eastern bishops found their attempts toward agreement with the West broadly rejected by the monks, the populace, and by civil authorities (with the notable exception of the Emperors of the East who remained committed to union until

10440-478: The proceedings in Buda in 1412. Detmar's Lübeckische Chronik continued for the period of 1400 to 1413. The continuation also gives a detailed description of the participants at the Buda meeting. The royal meeting was accompanied by festivities and various entertainments. At the tournament, a knight from Silesia named Nemsche and a page from Austria won the joust. A Polish priest and chronicler Jan Długosz says in his Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae that in

10560-590: The promise of military assistance against the Ottoman Empire . On 6 July 1439 the union was proclaimed (in both Latin and Greek) in the document Laetentur Caeli ("Let the Heavens Rejoice") which was signed by Pope Eugene and by the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos . All but one of the bishops were present. Some Greek bishops, perhaps feeling political pressure from the Byzantine Emperor, reluctantly accepted

10680-487: The reach for Sigismund and Hungarians. Threatened by Ottoman expansion, King Sigismund managed to strengthen the security of southern Hungarian borders by entering into a defensive alliance with Despot Stefan Lazarević of Serbia . In 1403, Hungarian possessions in northwestern regions of Serbia (city of Belgrade and the Banate of Macsó ), were given to Despot Stefan, who pledged his allegiance to King Sigismund, remaining

10800-465: The rebellious House of Horvat , Bishop Paul Horvat of Mačva , his brother John Horvat and younger brother Ladislav. Sigismund's mother-in-law was strangled, while Mary was liberated. Having secured the support of the nobility, Sigismund was crowned King of Hungary at Székesfehérvár on 31 March 1387. Having raised money by pledging Brandenburg to his cousin Jobst, Margrave of Moravia (1388), he

10920-469: The right claimed by the pope of "next presentation" to benefices not yet vacant (known as gratiae expectativae ). Other conciliar decrees severely limited the jurisdiction of the court of Rome and even made rules for the election of popes and the constitution of the Sacred College. The fathers continued to devote themselves to the subjugation of the Hussites, and they also intervened, in rivalry with

11040-505: The royal Hungarian Árpád dynasty . The Reformatio Sigismundi appeared in connection with efforts to reform the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Sigismund (1410–1437). It was presented in 1439 at the Council of Basel , published by an anonymous author, and referred to the injustice of the German rulers. It included a vision of Sigismund's about the appearance of a priest-king, Frederick, as well as plans for

11160-416: The same time, the Leaguers' heavy cavalry, which had been hidden near the radicals' camp, undertook a surprise attack from the side and penetrated into the open Wagenburg . The radicals' army quickly collapsed and the commander of the Orphans' cavalry, Čapek of Sány, fled with all his men to the nearby town of Kolín . The battle now changed into a massacre of the lightly equipped radical forces. Both Prokop

11280-402: The subject of reform (1424). The next council fell due at the expiration of seven years in 1431; Martin V duly convoked it for this date to the town of Basel and selected to preside over it the cardinal Julian Cesarini , a well-respected prelate . Martin himself, however, died before the opening of the synod. The Council was seated on 14 December 1431, at a period when the conciliar movement

11400-402: The superiority of the council as defined at Constance and at Basel. The struggle for East–West union at Ferrara and Florence, while promising, never bore fruit. While progress toward union in the East continued to be made in the following decades, all hopes for a proximate reconciliation were dashed with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Perhaps the council's most important historical legacy

11520-415: The superiority, in certain cases, of the council over the pope, and the fathers at Basel insisted upon their right of remaining assembled. They held sessions, promulgated decrees, interfered in the government of the papal countship of Venaissin , treated with the Hussites, and, as representatives of the universal Church, presumed to impose laws upon the sovereign pontiff himself. Eugene IV resolved to resist

11640-401: The synod as legitimately assembled throughout. However, Eugene IV did not ratify all the decrees coming from Basel, nor make a definite submission to the supremacy of the council. He declined to express any forced pronouncement on this subject, and his enforced silence concealed the secret design of safeguarding the principle of sovereignty . The fathers, filled with suspicion, would allow only

11760-416: The then 13-year-old Sigismund was sent to Kraków by his eldest half-brother and guardian Wenceslaus, King of Germany and Bohemia , to learn Polish and to become acquainted with the land and its people. King Wenceslaus also gave him Neumark to facilitate communication between Brandenburg and Poland. While Mary was accepted as monarch of Hungary, Sigismund vied for the crown of Poland as well. However,

11880-548: The thirteenth century". He realized the need to carry out reforms of the empire and the Church at the same time. But external difficulties, self-inflicted mistakes and the extinction of the Luxembourg male line made this vision unfulfilled. Later, the Habsburgs would inherit this mission and imperial reform was carried out successfully under the reigns of Frederick III and especially his son Maximilian I , although perhaps at

12000-591: The tournament there were also knights from Bulgaria, probably from the court of prince Fruzhin , Sigismund's vasal who also was at the conference. From 1412 to 1423, Sigismund campaigned against the Republic of Venice in Italy. The king took advantage of the difficulties of Antipope John XXIII to obtain a promise that a council should be called in Constance in 1414 to settle the Western Schism . He took

12120-700: The way to the resolution of the papal schism . The close relationship that developed between Henry V and Sigismund resulted in him being inducted into the Order of the Garter . In 1419, the death of Wenceslaus IV left Sigismund titular King of Bohemia , but he had to wait for seventeen years before the Czech Estates would acknowledge him. Although the two dignities of king of the Romans and king of Bohemia added considerably to his importance, and indeed made him

12240-498: Was Sigismund's closest friend and advisor. On a number of occasions, Sigismund was imprisoned by nobles, but with the help of the armies of Garai and Stibor of Stiboricz, he was able to regain power. In 1396, Sigismund led the combined armies of Christendom against the Turks, who had taken advantage of the temporary helplessness of Hungary to extend their dominion to the banks of the Danube . This crusade, preached by Pope Boniface IX ,

12360-560: Was buried at Nagyvárad , Hungary (today Oradea , Romania ), next to the tomb of the King Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary , who was the ideal of the perfect monarch, warrior and Christian for that time and was deeply venerated by Sigismund. By his second wife, Barbara of Celje , he left an only daughter, Elisabeth of Luxembourg , who was married to Albert V, duke of Austria (later German king as Albert II) whom Sigismund named as his successor. As he left no sons, his line of

12480-458: Was concerned with questions of faith ( fidei ), another with negotiations for peace ( pacis ), the third with reform ( reformatorii ), and the fourth with what they called "common concerns" ( pro communibus ). Every decision made by three "deputations" (the lower clergy formed the majority in each) received ratification for the sake of form in general congregation and, if necessary led to decrees promulgated in session. Papal critics thus termed

12600-518: Was crowned King of Hungary soon after. He fought to restore and maintain authority to the throne. Mary died in 1395, leaving Sigismund the sole ruler of Hungary . In 1396, Sigismund led the Crusade of Nicopolis , but was decisively defeated by the Ottoman Empire . Afterwards, he founded the Order of the Dragon to fight the Turks and secured the thrones of Croatia , Germany and Bohemia . Sigismund

12720-736: Was crowned, Pope Eugenius began attempts to create a new anti-Ottoman alliance. This was sparked by an Albanian revolt against the Ottomans, which had begun in 1432. In 1435, Sigismund sent Fruzhin , a Bulgarian nobleman, to negotiate an alliance with the Albanians. He also sent Daud, a pretender to the Ottoman throne, in early 1436. However, following the defeat of the rebels in 1436, plans for an anti-Ottoman alliance ended. Sigismund died on 9 December 1437 at Znojmo ( German : Znaim ), Moravia (now Czech Republic ), and as ordered in life, he

12840-469: Was deferred until 8 November 1414, when it took place at Aachen . On a number of occasions, and in 1410 in particular, Sigismund allied himself with the Teutonic Knights against Władysław II of Poland. In return for 300,000 ducats he would attack Poland from the south after the truce on St. John's Day, 24 June expired. Sigismund ordered his most loyal friend Stibor of Stiboricz to set up

12960-503: Was elected King of Germany ( King of the Romans ) in 1410, and was also King of Bohemia from 1419, as well as prince-elector of Brandenburg (1378–1388 and 1411–1415). As the husband of Mary, Queen of Hungary , he was also King of Hungary and Croatia ( jure uxoris ) from 1387. He was the last male member of the House of Luxembourg . Sigismund was the son of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania . He married Mary, Queen of Hungary in 1385 and

13080-409: Was engaged for the next nine years in a ceaseless struggle for the possession of this unstable throne. The central power was finally weakened to such an extent that only Sigismund's alliance with the powerful Czillei-Garai League could ensure his position on the throne. It was not for entirely selfless reasons that one of the leagues of barons helped him to power: Sigismund had to pay for the support of

13200-514: Was even remotely sympathetic to it, declaring itself autocephalous (i.e., autonomous). Despite the religious union, Western military assistance to Byzantium was ultimately insufficient, and the fall of Constantinople occurred in May 1453. The Council declared the Basel group heretics and excommunicated them, and affirmed the superiority of the Pope over the Councils in the bull Etsi non dubitemus of 20 April 1441. The democratic character of

13320-409: Was given to him in blessed Peter by our Lord Jesus Christ, to feed, rule, and govern the universal Church." Eugene IV, however much he may have wished to keep on good terms with the fathers of Basel, found himself neither able nor willing to accept or observe all their decrees. The question of the union with the Byzantine church, especially, gave rise to a misunderstanding between them which soon led to

13440-501: Was harmless due to distance between the two armies, to the surprise of the radicals the Leaguers began to retreat with all their wagons. Thinking that the enemy was fleeing, the radicals' commanders opened the Wagenburg to attack the Leaguers' formation, not knowing that the retreat was a trick to draw them out of the Wagenburg . As the radicals approached the Leaguers' army, the Leaguers stopped and began to fire from their wagons. At

13560-477: Was one of the driving forces behind the Council of Constance (1414–1418) that ended the Papal Schism , but which also led to the Hussite Wars that dominated the later period of his life. In 1433, Sigismund was crowned Holy Roman Emperor and ruled until his death in 1437. Historian Thomas Brady Jr. remarks that Sigismund "possessed a breadth of vision and a sense of grandeur unseen in a German monarch since

13680-513: Was six years old and Mary but an infant. The marital project aimed to augment the lands held by the House of Luxembourg . Upon his father's death in 1378, young Sigismund became Margrave of Brandenburg and was sent to the Hungarian court, where he soon learned the Hungarian language and way of life, and became entirely devoted to his adopted country. King Louis named him as his heir and appointed him his successor as King of Hungary . In 1381,

13800-455: Was strong and the authority of the papacy weak. The Council at Basel opened with only a few bishops and abbots attending, but it grew rapidly and to make its numbers greater gave the lower orders a majority over the bishops. It adopted an anti-papal attitude, proclaimed the superiority of the Council over the Pope, and prescribed an oath to be taken by each new Pope. On 18 December Martin's successor, Pope Eugene IV , tried to dissolve it and open

13920-470: Was the lectures on Greek classical literature given in Florence by many of the delegates from Constantinople, including the renowned Neoplatonist Gemistus Pletho . These greatly helped the progress of Renaissance humanism . Attribution Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1437. He

14040-441: Was thirty-eight years old and thus, compared to the other clergy at the council, a fairly young man though one of the more accomplished in terms of the body of his complete works. From Italy, France and Germany, the fathers came late to Basel. Cesarini devoted all his energies to the war against the Hussites until the disaster of Taus forced him to evacuate Bohemia in haste. Pope Eugene IV , Martin V's successor, lost hope that

14160-434: Was unable to give birth to any further issue. Elizabeth of Luxembourg was thus the only surviving legitimate offspring of Sigismund. Sigismund was known to speak fluent Hungarian , wore Hungarian-style royal clothes, and even grew his beard in the Hungarian fashion. Emperor Sigismund, in terms of the quality of his face and the greatness of his stature, was a fairly great man, the world's chief creator blessed him with

14280-493: Was unable to support Wenceslaus when he was deposed in 1400, and Rupert of Germany , Elector Palatine, was elected German king in his stead. On his return to Hungary in 1401, Sigismund was imprisoned once and deposed twice. That year, he aided an uprising against Wenceslaus IV , during the course of which the Bohemian king was taken prisoner, and Sigismund ruled Bohemia for nineteen months. He released Wenceslaus in 1403. In

14400-520: Was very popular in Hungary. The nobles flocked in their thousands to the royal standard, and were reinforced by volunteers from nearly every part of Europe. The most important contingent being that of the French led by John the Fearless , son of Philip II, Duke of Burgundy . Sigismund set out with 90,000 men and a flotilla of 70 galleys. After capturing Vidin , he camped with his Hungarian armies before

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