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83-593: The first documentary attestation of the town appears in a diploma issued by Sigismund of Luxembourg , king of Hungary , on the occasion of the battles fought here in 1394. The fortress belonged to the Ottoman Empire , intermittently, between 1417 and 1829, being a Turkish raya . During the Iancu Jianu 's hajduk raids against the Vidin pasha Osman Pazvantoglu , the fortress was burned and destroyed. After

166-571: 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

249-744: A kaza in the Ottoman administrative system. In Wallachia, the raia were located on the northern bank of the Danube , around the fortresses of Turnu Măgurele , Giurgiu and Brăila , while in Moldavia they were situated on the eastern border, around the fortresses of Kiliya , Akkerman , Bender and Khotin . The territories in Wallachia were transferred back to the latter in 1829 by the Treaty of Adrianople . This Ottoman Empire –related article

332-734: 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

415-579: 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

498-530: A decree issued by Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica , the Prince of Wallachia the town was refounded on 27th February 1836. Towards the end of World War II , the city served as an unlikely submarine base, as Romania's two modern submarines, Rechinul and Marsuinul , took refuge in the city's port following the Soviet aerial bombardment of Constanța on 20 August 1944. The village of Islaz , near Turnu Măgurele,

581-513: 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

664-465: 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,

747-588: 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

830-644: A radius of 15 km from the fortress), into Turnu raya . The Ottomans ruled Turnu (Kule in Turkish, Holavnik in Bulgarian) with some intermittencies (between 1462, 1594–1600, and 1772–1774), during the anti-Ottoman rebellions of Vlad III the Impaler and Michael the Brave , until 1826, when it was ceded to Wallachia through the 1826 Akkerman Convention , along with Giurgiu and Brăila . In 1829, following

913-579: A sharp decline as a result of the collapse of industrial and economic activities and the migration of the population to the larger cities as well as to other European states. A ferry plies across the Danube to the Bulgarian city of Nikopol . There are some vestiges of a Roman bridge across the Danube, built in 330 by Constantine the Great . It is built in the Danube plain in a fertile land called Burnas plain. At 4 km (2.5 mi) south-west from it

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996-631: 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

1079-567: 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 . Raya (country subdivision) Raya or raia is a term used in Romanian historiography to refer to former territories of

1162-479: Is notorious for the air pollution it generates (issued gases contain ammonia and hydrogen sulfide , at times above current norms), and it quite possibly does not meet the EU ecological (air pollution) requirements. 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 was elected King of Germany ( King of

1245-484: Is the independence monument, which was built in celebration of the major role that Turnu Măgurele played in the Romanian War of Independence of 1877–1878. A chemical and textile industry center in the past, the city has more recently been diversifying its economy, with enterprises such as ElectroTurris (an electrical engine factory), and ConservTurris (a food processing plant). The chemical plant

1328-423: 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

1411-586: 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

1494-497: The Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829 , the town became part of Wallachia, as a result of the Treaty of Adrianople . After 1829, the locality was relocated on a nearby hill, near the localities of Odaia and Măgurele, and the fortress was demolished. Turnu Măgurele was the residence of Teleorman County from 1839 to 1950, and once again from 1952 until 1968, when, following Romania's administrative reorganization of that year, it lost

1577-540: The Treaty of Adrianople the Turnu, Giurgiu , and Brăila rayas were definitively ceded to Wallachia. The fortress was severely damaged and burned by Iancu Jianu 's hajduks in their campaign (1809) against Osman Pazvantoğlu and was never rebuilt under Turkish rule. After the town finally became part of the Wallachia it was moved to the nearby hill and renamed Turnu Măgurele ( măgurele meaning hillock in Romanian). By

1660-587: 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

1743-580: 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

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1826-740: 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

1909-532: 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

1992-494: 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 ,

2075-610: The Olt River, from the Danube to the Boița Mountains . Procopius of Caesarea , during the time of Justinian the Great , recalls the city of Turris and points to Trajan as its founder. Some historians identify the fortress with the one discovered at Turnu Măgurele. This assertion is not confirmed; according to archaeological research, the Turnu fortress dates from a later period. Historians and archaeologists have not yet agreed on when

2158-523: 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

2241-585: 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

2324-606: 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

2407-563: The Romanians and the Turks on the run with their leaders and we took with a lot of bloodshed the fortress Nicopolis the Little (Turnu), located in Wallachia." The fortress will remain under the rule of Wallachia during the reign of Mircea until around 1417, when Turnu came under Turkish rule and was transformed, together with a security zone (established in the depths of Wallachian territory with

2490-516: 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

2573-602: 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

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2656-533: 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

2739-649: 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

2822-428: 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

2905-468: 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

2988-463: 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

3071-489: 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

3154-692: 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

3237-499: The construction of the Danube fortification began: there are theories about a construction from the time of Constantine the Great or even later, from the time of Justinian I, but none of them is fully accepted by historians. What is certain is that during the reign of Mircea the Elder , this settlement played an important role in the defensive strategy of Wallachia in the face of the Ottoman danger. The first documentary attestation of

3320-505: 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

3403-503: 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

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3486-535: 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

3569-478: 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

3652-545: 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

3735-472: 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

3818-416: The fortress of Turnu appears between the years 1393-1394 in a document (from 1397) of the chancellery of Sigismund of Luxembourg. The document describes the context and history of Sigsmund's struggles in support of Mircea the Elder, his vassal, to return to the throne of Wallachia. In this diploma it is mentioned the recapture of the fortress by the troops allied to Mircea: "After we entered (Wallachia) we put

3901-585: 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

3984-514: 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

4067-699: 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

4150-649: 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

4233-672: 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

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4316-516: 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

4399-411: 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

4482-450: 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

4565-504: The mediaeval principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia held under the direct administration of the Ottoman Empire , as opposed to the principalities, which kept their internal autonomy under Ottoman suzerainty . The term originated from rayah , a generic name for the non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Though mainly populated by Christian populations , a raya was ruled according to Ottoman law. A raia consisted of an important fortress and its hinterland, which generally formed

4648-409: 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

4731-417: 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

4814-477: 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

4897-429: 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

4980-482: 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 ,

5063-478: 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

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5146-435: 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

5229-414: 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

5312-402: The river Olt joins the Danube. Its medium altitude is 31 m (102 ft) above sea level. After the Daco-Roman wars of 101–106 AD , ended by the victory of the Roman armies led by Emperor Trajan and the conquest of Dacia . Emperor Trajan fortified the eastern border of Dacia on the Olt line, building the famous Limes Alutanus , consisting of fortresses and fortresses on either side of

5395-438: 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

5478-423: The status of county residence in favor of the city of Alexandria . The communist urban systematization had a major impact on the town's urban planning and the establishment of the Chemical Fertilizer Plant (1962) transformed the city into an industrial one. Forced urbanization caused the city's population to grow substantially to reach almost 37,000 in 1992. After the 1989 Revolution , the municipality suffered

5561-416: 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,

5644-436: 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

5727-419: 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

5810-444: The town is the Taberei housing estate, nicknamed among the locals as "Katanga", because it was built at the same time as the Katanga conflict in Congo . The major tourist attraction is Saint Haralambios Cathedral in the center of the town. Built by Greek farmers at the beginning of the 20th century, the cathedral is based on the plans of the Curtea de Argeș Cathedral and constructed in a late renaissance style. Another city landmark

5893-481: 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

5976-446: 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 ,

6059-560: 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

6142-465: 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

6225-681: 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

6308-469: 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

6391-409: 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

6474-591: 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

6557-456: 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,

6640-492: Was the initial center of the 1848 Wallachian revolution ( see Proclamation of Islaz ). During the Romanian War of Independence , the town served as a base for the campaign in Bulgaria. After the administrative reform of 1968, it became a municipality. Starting with the 1960s, new apartment blocks were built in the town, however, in smaller numbers as compared to other towns and cities in the country. The newest neighborhood in

6723-434: 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

6806-493: 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

6889-520: 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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