Misplaced Pages

#870129

109-471: Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1437. He 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

218-734: 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

327-578: 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

436-672: A constitution of the Empire for centuries. Charles not only acquired the duchies of Brabant and Limburg in the west, but also the former March of Lusatia and even the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1373 under the Kingdom of Bohemia . The family's decline began under Charles' son King Wenceslaus , deposed by the prince-electors in 1400 who chose the Wittelsbach Elector Palatine Rupert . In 1410 rule

545-621: 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 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

654-512: 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

763-464: 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,

872-588: 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

981-460: 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 . Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor , originally and officially

1090-552: Is a modern shorthand for "emperor of the Holy Roman Empire" not corresponding to the historical style or title, i.e., the adjective "holy" is not intended as modifying "emperor"; the English term "Holy Roman Emperor" gained currency in the interbellum period (the 1920s to 1930s); formerly the title had also been rendered as "German-Roman emperor" in English. The elective monarchy of the Kingdom of Germany goes back to

1199-577: 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 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

SECTION 10

#1732773273871

1308-686: The Dukes of Limburg . All three families had a place in relation to the succession of the House of Ardennes . Indeed, the Count of Grandpré was the next heir of Conrad II of Luxembourg , who was the last representative of the Ardennes dynasty. But, Emperor Frederick II preferred that Luxembourg was held by a lord Germanic rather than French and attributed the county to Henry of Limburg-Arlon (see below), son of Conrad's aunt Ermesinde and Count Godfrey I of Namur . The Counts of Loon are also in position to claim

1417-652: The Emperor of the Romans ( Latin : Imperator Romanorum ; German : Kaiser der Römer ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Romano-German Emperor since the early modern period ( Latin : Imperator Germanorum ; German : Römisch-deutscher Kaiser , lit.   'Roman-German emperor'), was the ruler and head of state of the Holy Roman Empire . The title

1526-631: 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 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

1635-614: 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 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

1744-577: The Holy Roman Empire . Under the Ottonians , much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire. Since 911, the various German princes had elected the King of the Germans from among their peers. The King of the Germans would then be crowned as emperor following the precedent set by Charlemagne, during the period of 962–1530. Charles V

1853-422: 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

1962-585: 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

2071-623: The King of the Franks and King of Italy , for securing his life and position. By this time, the Eastern Emperor Constantine VI had been deposed in 797 and replaced as monarch by his mother, Irene . Under the pretext that a woman could not rule the empire, Pope Leo III declared the throne vacant and crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans ( Imperator Romanorum ), the successor of Constantine VI as Roman emperor, using

2180-562: The archbishop of Mainz , the archbishop of Trier , the archbishop of Cologne , the king of Bohemia , the count palatine of the Rhine , the duke of Saxony and the margrave of Brandenburg . After 1438, the title remained in the House of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine , with the brief exception of Charles VII , who was a Wittelsbach . Maximilian I (emperor 1508–1519) and his successors no longer traveled to Rome to be crowned as emperor by

2289-586: The (Germanic) Holy Roman emperors as the inheritors of the title of emperor of the Western Roman Empire , despite the continued existence of the Eastern Roman Empire. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser ("Roman-German emperor") is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman emperor on one hand, and that of German emperor ( Deutscher Kaiser ) on the other. The English term "Holy Roman Emperor"

SECTION 20

#1732773273871

2398-535: 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

2507-584: 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 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

2616-580: 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

2725-603: The 5th to 8th centuries were convoked by the Eastern Roman Emperors . In Western Europe , the title of Emperor in the West lapsed after the death of Julius Nepos in 480, although the rulers of the barbarian kingdoms continued to recognize the authority of the Eastern Emperor at least nominally well into the 6th century. While the reconquest of Justinian I had re-established Byzantine presence in

2834-740: 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

2943-584: 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

3052-540: The Holy Roman Empire (800–1806). Several rulers were crowned king of the Romans (king of Germany) but not emperor, although they styled themselves thus, among whom were: Conrad I and Henry the Fowler in the 10th century, and Conrad IV , Rudolf I , Adolf and Albert I during the interregnum of the late 13th century. Traditional historiography assumes a continuity between the Carolingian Empire and

3161-411: The Holy Roman Empire, while a modern convention takes the coronation of Otto I in 962 as the starting point of the Holy Roman Empire (although the term Sacrum Imperium Romanum was not in use before the 13th century). On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned Emperor of the Romans ( Imperator Romanorum ) by Pope Leo III , in opposition to Empress Irene , who was then ruling

3270-767: The Italian Peninsula , religious frictions existed with the Papacy who sought dominance over the Church of Constantinople . Toward the end of the 8th century, the Papacy still recognised the ruler at Constantinople as the Roman Emperor, though Byzantine military support in Italy had increasingly waned, leading to the Papacy to look to the Franks for protection. In 800 Pope Leo III owed a great debt to Charlemagne ,

3379-592: The Italian cities resisting him and by applying diplomatic pressure on him. Due to his frequent absences attending to business in 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

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor - Misplaced Pages Continue

3488-606: 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

3597-601: The Roman Empire from Constantinople. Charlemagne's descendants from the Carolingian Dynasty continued to be crowned Emperor until 899, excepting a brief period when the Imperial crown was awarded to the Widonid Dukes of Spoleto . There is some contention as to whether the Holy Roman Empire dates as far back as Charlemagne, some histories consider the Carolingian Empire to be a distinct polity from

3706-602: 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

3815-702: 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

3924-428: 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

4033-468: 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

4142-462: 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

4251-489: 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

4360-690: 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

4469-420: The concept of translatio imperii . On his coins, the name and title used by Charlemagne is Karolus Imperator Augustus . In documents, he used Imperator Augustus Romanum gubernans Imperium ("Emperor Augustus, governing the Roman Empire") and serenissimus Augustus a Deo coronatus, magnus pacificus Imperator Romanorum gubernans Imperium ("most serene Augustus crowned by God, great peaceful emperor governing

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor - Misplaced Pages Continue

4578-734: The consent of the king. During his long reign, the royal Buda Castle became probably 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

4687-418: The coronation of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor . The period of free election ended with the ascension of the Austrian House of Habsburg , as an unbroken line of Habsburgs held the imperial throne until the 18th century. Later a cadet branch known as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine passed it from father to son until the abolition of the Empire in 1806. Notably, from the 16th century, the Habsburgs dispensed with

4796-454: 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

4905-414: The course of which the Bohemian king was taken prisoner, and Sigismund ruled Bohemia for nineteen months. He released Wenceslaus in 1403. In 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

5014-499: 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

5123-406: The early 10th century, the election of Conrad I of Germany in 911 following the death without issue of Louis the Child , the last Carolingian ruler of Germany. Elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of England , although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The process of an election meant that

5232-445: The election of Rudolf I of Germany (1273). Rudolf was not crowned emperor, nor were his successors Adolf and Albert . The next emperor was Henry VII , crowned on 29 June 1312 by Pope Clement V . In 1508, Pope Julius II allowed Maximilian I to use the title of Emperor without coronation in Rome, though the title was qualified as Electus Romanorum Imperator ("elected Emperor of the Romans"). Maximilian's successors each adopted

5341-406: The election procedure by (unnamed) princes of the realm, reserving for the pope the right to approve of the candidates. A letter of Pope Urban IV (1263), in the context of the disputed vote of 1256 and the subsequent interregnum , suggests that by " immemorial custom ", seven princes had the right to elect the king and future emperor. The seven prince-electors are named in the Golden Bull of 1356 :

5450-478: 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

5559-415: The elector palatine was restored, as the eighth elector. The Electorate of Hanover was added as a ninth elector in 1692, confirmed by the Imperial Diet in 1708. The whole college was reshuffled in the German mediatization of 1803 with a total of ten electors, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. This list includes all 47 German monarchs crowned from Charlemagne until the dissolution of

SECTION 50

#1732773273871

5668-464: The emperor chosen by the prince-electors . Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, became de facto hereditary holders of the title, notably the Ottonians (962–1024) and the Salians (1027–1125). Following the late medieval crisis of government , the Habsburgs kept possession of the title (with only one interruption ) from 1440 to 1806. The final emperors were from the House of Habsburg-Lorraine , from 1765 to 1806. The Holy Roman Empire

5777-475: The empire of the Romans"). The Eastern Empire eventually relented to recognizing Charlemagne and his successors as emperors, but as "Frankish" and "German emperors", at no point referring to them as Roman, a label they reserved for themselves. The title of emperor in the West implied recognition by the pope. As the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict

5886-422: 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

5995-435: The extinction of their senior branch upon the death of Maria Theresa in 1780. Having succeeded to the county of Luxemburg, the younger branch of the House of Limburg -Arlon is the family that succeeded in getting one of its scions elected Holy Roman Emperor. From there descended the Kings of Bohemia, several other Emperors and a King of Hungary as shown below. The royal House of Luxemburg are named after their ancestors in

6104-421: 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

6213-466: The inheritance Luxembourg, albeit weaker position. Henry V's grandson Henry VII , Count of Luxembourg upon the death of his father Henry VI at the 1288 Battle of Worringen , was elected Rex Romanorum in 1308. The election was necessary after the Habsburg king Albert I of Germany had been murdered, and Henry, backed and orchestrated by his brother Archbishop-Elector Baldwin of Trier , prevailed against Charles, Count of Valois . Henry arranged

6322-406: 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

6431-441: 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, 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

6540-418: The later Holy Roman Empire as established under Otto I in 962. Nephew and adopted son of Charles III While earlier Frankish and Italian monarchs had been crowned as Roman emperors, the actual Holy Roman Empire is often considered to have begun with the crowning of Otto I , at the time Duke of Saxony and King of Germany . Because the King of Germany was an elected position, being elected King of Germany

6649-649: 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

SECTION 60

#1732773273871

6758-671: 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

6867-417: The marriage of his son John with the Přemyslid heiress Elisabeth of Bohemia in 1310, through whom the House of Luxembourg acquired the Kingdom of Bohemia , enabling that family to compete more effectively for power with the Habsburg and Wittelsbach dynasties. One year after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, Henry VII, still on campaign in Italy, died in 1313. The prince-electors , perturbed by

6976-409: 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

7085-412: 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 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

7194-416: 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

7303-477: 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

7412-469: The original counts of Luxembourg . They descended instead from the House of Limburg-Arlon , who had been dukes of Lower Lorraine in the 11th century. In 1247 Henry , younger son of Duke Waleran III of Limburg inherited the County of Luxembourg , becoming Count Henry V of Luxembourg, upon the death of his mother Countess Ermesinde . Her father, Count Henry "the blind" , was count of Namur through his father, and count of Luxembourg through his mother, who

7521-505: 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 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

7630-482: 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 ,

7739-401: The pope. Maximilian, therefore, named himself elected Roman emperor ( Erwählter Römischer Kaiser ) in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors. Of his successors, only Charles V , the immediate one, received a papal coronation . The elector palatine's seat was conferred on the duke of Bavaria in 1621, but in 1648, in the wake of the Thirty Years' War ,

7848-581: The position was viewed as a defender of the Catholic faith. Until Maximilian I in 1508, the Emperor-elect ( Imperator electus ) was required to be crowned by the pope before assuming the imperial title. Charles V was the last to be crowned by the pope in 1530. Even after the Reformation , the elected emperor was always a Catholic . There were short periods in history when the electoral college

7957-431: 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 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

8066-456: The prime candidate had to make concessions, by which the voters were kept on his side, which was known as Wahlkapitulationen ( electoral capitulation ). Conrad was elected by the German dukes , and it is not known precisely when the system of seven prince-electors was established. The papal decree Venerabilem by Innocent III (1202), addressed to Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen , establishes

8175-478: 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

8284-486: 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

8393-402: The requirement that emperors be crowned by the pope before exercising their office. Starting with Ferdinand I , all successive emperors forwent the traditional coronation. The interregnum of the Holy Roman Empire is taken to have lasted from the deposition of Frederick II by Pope Innocent IV in 1245 (or alternatively from Frederick's death in 1250 or from the death of Conrad IV in 1254) to

8502-640: The rise of the Luxembourgs, disregarded the claims raised by Henry's heir King John, and the rule over the Empire was assumed by the Wittelsbach duke Louis of Bavaria . John instead concentrated on securing his rule in Bohemia and gradually vassalized the Piast dukes of adjacent Silesia from 1327 until 1335. His son Charles IV acceded to the Imperial throne in 1346. His Golden Bull of 1356 served as

8611-492: 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

8720-743: The same titulature, usually on becoming the sole ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian's predecessor Frederick III was the last to be crowned Emperor by the Pope in Rome, while Maximilian's successor Charles V was the last to be crowned by the pope, though in Bologna , in 1530. The Emperor was crowned in a special ceremony, traditionally performed by the Pope in Rome . Without that coronation, no king, despite exercising all powers, could call himself Emperor. In 1508, Pope Julius II allowed Maximilian I to use

8829-458: 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 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

8938-406: 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 , 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

9047-495: The spiritual health of their subjects, and after Constantine they had a duty to help the Church define and maintain orthodoxy . The emperor's role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresies , and uphold ecclesiastical unity. Both the title and connection between Emperor and Church continued in the Eastern Roman Empire throughout the medieval period ( in exile during 1204–1261). The ecumenical councils of

9156-505: 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 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

9265-461: 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 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

9374-455: The title of Emperor without coronation in Rome, though the title was qualified as Electus Romanorum Imperator ("elected Emperor of the Romans"). Maximilian's successors adopted the same titulature, usually when they became the sole ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian's first successor Charles V was the last to be crowned Emperor. House of Luxembourg As shown below, this royal Luxembourg dynasty were not male-line descendants of

9483-539: 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

9592-645: 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

9701-427: Was "August Emperor of the Romans" ( Romanorum Imperator Augustus ). When Charlemagne was crowned in 800, he was styled as "most serene Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, governing the Roman Empire," thus constituting the elements of "Holy" and "Roman" in the imperial title. The word Roman was a reflection of the principle of translatio imperii (or in this case restauratio imperii ) that regarded

9810-525: 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 , 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

9919-422: 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 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

10028-511: Was also named Ermesinde . This elder Ermesinde was a member of the original House of Luxembourg, which was a branch of the House of Ardenne , and had ruled Luxembourg since the late 10th century. There were two other houses descended from the women of the counts of Luxembourg as shown in the family tree in the House of Ardenne–Luxembourg : the Counts of Loon , the Counts of Grandpré , along with

10137-457: Was assumed by Wenceslaus' brother Sigismund , who once again stabilized the rule of the Luxembourgs and even contributed to end the Western Schism in 1417; however, with his death in 1437, the senior branch of the dynasty became extinct. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, the Habsburg archduke Albert V of Austria . The Habsburgs finally prevailed as Luxembourg heirs, ruling the Empire until

10246-559: 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

10355-681: Was considered by the Catholic Church to be the only successor of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages and the early modern period . Thus, in theory and diplomacy, the emperors were considered primus inter pares , regarded as first among equals among other Catholic monarchs across Europe. From an autocracy in Carolingian times (AD 800–924), the title by the 13th century evolved into an elective monarchy , with

10464-478: 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 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

10573-513: 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 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,

10682-732: 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

10791-637: 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 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

10900-468: 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

11009-483: Was dissolved by Francis II , after a devastating defeat by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz . The emperor was widely perceived to rule by divine right , though he often contradicted or rivaled the pope , most notably during the Investiture controversy . The Holy Roman Empire never had an empress regnant , though women such as Theophanu and Maria Theresa exerted strong influence. Throughout its history,

11118-619: Was dominated by Protestants , and the electors usually voted in their own political interest. From the time of Constantine I ( r.  306–337 ), the Roman Emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity . The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor in the Great Church . Emperors considered themselves responsible to God for

11227-561: Was functionally a pre-requisite to being crowned Holy Roman Emperor. By the 13th century, the Prince-electors became formalized as a specific body of seven electors, consisting of three bishops and four secular princes. Through the middle 15th century, the electors chose freely from among a number of dynasties. A period of dispute during the second half of the 13th century over the kingship of Germany led to there being no emperor crowned for several decades, though this ended in 1312 with

11336-456: Was held in conjunction with the title of King of Italy ( Rex Italiae ) from the 8th to the 16th century, and, almost without interruption, with the title of King of Germany ( Rex Teutonicorum , lit.   ' King of the Teutons ' ) throughout the 12th to 18th centuries. The Holy Roman Emperor title provided the highest prestige among medieval Catholic monarchs , because the empire

11445-427: 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, 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

11554-479: Was that known as the investiture controversy , fought during the 11th century between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII . After the coronation of Charlemagne, his successors maintained the title until the death of Berengar I of Italy in 924. The comparatively brief interregnum between 924 and the coronation of Otto the Great in 962 is taken as marking the transition from the Frankish Empire to

11663-599: Was the last emperor to be crowned by the pope, and his successor, Ferdinand I , merely adopted the title of "Emperor elect" in 1558. The final Holy Roman emperor-elect, Francis II , abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empire's final dissolution. The term sacrum (i.e., "holy") in connection with the German Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa . The Holy Roman Emperor's standard designation

11772-484: 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 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

11881-433: 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

#870129