Sigismund

Sigismund (1368-1437) was king of Hungary from 1385 to 1437, Holy Roman emperor from 1411 to 1437, and king of Bohemia from 1420 to 1437.

Born on Feb. 15, 1368, Sigismund was the second son of the emperor Charles IV and the brother of the emperor Wenceslaus. His reign as king of Hungary and Holy Roman emperor witnessed three of the most crucial events in later medieval history: the Turkish invasion of Hungary and the defeat of the ill-fated Crusade of Nicopolis in 1396; the burning of John Hus as a heretic and the subsequent revolution of the Hussites in Bohemia; and the important Council of Constance (1415-1417), over which Sigismund presided and which ended the Great Schism in the Roman Catholic Church (1378-1415) but which alienated Sigismund from the Czechs and deprived him of the Bohemian resources of the imperial house of Luxemburg, of which he was the last member.

King of Hungary

Sigismund's debut in the political life of eastern Europe occurred at the age of 17, when the death of Louis the Great of Hungary left the crown of Hungary to Louis's daughter Mary (reigned 1382-1395) and to Sigismund, her fiancé. After invading Hungary, Sigismund was recognized as king in 1387 but at the cost of losing Poland to the Jagiellon dynasty of Lithuania and, after 1389, of losing large portions of southern and eastern Hungarian territory to the Ottoman Turks, who established their footing in continental Europe with a shattering victory over Sigismund's crusading army at Nicopolis in 1396.

After Sigismund became king of Hungary, his lavish scale of living—as well as his military expenses and the cost of his later candidacy for the imperial crown—rapidly depleted the resources of the Hungarian royal treasury. Sigismund's fiscal policies crushed the Hungarian peasantry with unbearable burdens of taxation and alienated the restive Hungarian aristocracy. Although Sigismund's prestige in Hungary was somewhat enhanced by his position as Holy Roman emperor after 1411 and by his nominal kingship of Bohemia after 1420, neither of these titles aided Hungary, and Sigismund's reign was a failure.

Holy Roman Emperor

Having spent much of his youth in Hungary, Sigismund was unknown in the West when he was elected emperor in 1411. He was a brave fighter, as his conduct at Nicopolis and elsewhere testified. Sigismund was reasonably well educated, he was a good Latinist, and he remained a patron of learning. In addition to these attributes, however, Sigismund had less attractive ones. He had many amorous adventures; he was subject to fits of extreme cruelty; and his limitless ambition to make his imperial title a reality in the western parts of the empire ill suited his limited financial resources.

The political conditions of the German part of the empire had steadily deteriorated under Sigismund's two immediate predecessors, Wenceslaus (reigned 1376-1400) and Rupert of the Palatinate (reigned 1400-1410). The lack of a uniform law code; the rivalry among electors, lesser nobles, and the city-leagues; and the empire's diversified territories in Germany, Italy, Bohemia, and Hungary—all required the hand of a great ruler with infinite financial and administrative resources. In addition, Sigismund's diplomatic connections distracted his attention far to the east and north, where he established the Hohenzollern house in Brandenburg and negotiated with the Teutonic Knights in their struggle with newly Christianized Lithuania.

Council of Constance

Sigismund's greatest imperial project was the calling of the Council of Constance in 1415. Since 1378 two popes had claimed legitimacy, and since 1409 three had simultaneously claimed St. Peter's chair. Christendom was politically and ecclesiastically fragmented along the lines of loyalty to one or the other of the three popes, and Sigismund saw an opportunity to fulfill his duties as protector of the Church and to enhance his own status. The council settled the papal schism, but it also violated the safe-conduct that the Emperor had issued to the Bohemian reformer John Hus. The council ordered Hus burned at the stake as a heretic. His death aroused great indignation among the Czechs and inaugurated a bloody social war that lasted for 2 decades. Sigismund's prestige in Bohemia was greatly diminished. Sigismund's other imperial reform activities during the period 1415-1417 met equally disastrous results.

Last Years

Sigismund's last years were spent in diplomatic activities on the borders of his wide territories. Problems in Poland, the Bohemian revolt, the Turks in Hungary, and political factionalism in Germany wore the Emperor down. His own limited resources and resistance on the part of his subjects and rivals in the kingdoms over which he ruled made all his attempts at reform fruitless. The settlement that he had greatly helped the Church to achieve was threatened at the Council of Basel, which lasted from 1431 until after Sigismund's death. Only the compromise in Bohemia, which brought the Hussite wars to an end in 1436, brightened the Emperor's last years. He was finally crowned emperor by the Pope in 1433, and the pacification of Bohemia was his last effective act. At his death on Dec. 9, 1437, Sigismund was once again planning to intervene between Pope and council.

Further Reading

The Cambridge Medieval History, edited by J. B. Bury (8 vols., 1913-1936), gives a good account of Sigismund's reign. William Stubbs, Germany in the Later Middle Ages, 1200-1500, edited by Arthur Hassall (1908), contains a chapter on Sigismund, and its conclusions can be checked with those of Geoffrey Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany (1946; 2d rev. ed. 1957). Standard histories of the Hussite movement, such as Frederick G. Heymann, John Zizka and the Hussite Revolution (1955), and of the Council of Constance also contain detailed information on Sigismund. □

Sigismund , 1368-1437, Holy Roman emperor (1433-37), German king (1410-37), king of Hungary (1387-1437) and of Bohemia (1419-37), elector of Brandenburg (1376-1415), son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV .

Accession to the Hungarian Throne

Through his marriage to Mary, who became queen of Hungary in 1382, Sigismund acceded to the Hungarian throne. However, dynastic conflicts there prevented his coronation until 1387. In the interim Mary was deposed, and Charles II ( Charles III , king of Naples) became king (1385). Following Charles's death (1386) Mary was restored, and Sigismund came to power. During this period the Ottomans (Turks) were advancing in Europe, and in 1395 they invaded Hungary. Sigismund led a general European crusade against them but was crushingly defeated in 1396 by Sultan Beyazid I at Nikopol. Sigismund's absence and the death of Mary (1395) had weakened his hold on the Hungarian throne. In 1403 he put down a revolt in Hungary in support of Lancelot of Naples, the son of Charles II.

German King and Holy Roman Emperor

After the death of the German king and uncrowned Holy Roman Emperor Rupert in 1410, both Sigismund and his cousin, Jobst of Moravia, claimed victory in the imperial elections. Since Sigismund's half brother Wenceslaus , who had been deposed from the German throne in 1400, had never waived his title, there were, for a time, three rulers of Germany. The death of Jobst (1411) and the withdrawal of Wenceslaus left Sigismund sole king and Holy Roman emperor-elect.

One of Sigismund's first tasks was to end the Great Schism in the church. He persuaded John XXIII (see Cossa, Baldassare ), the strongest of the three schismatic popes, to summon a council at Konstanz (or Constance, see Constance, Council of ). After three years of deliberation by the council, the schism was ended (1417). John Huss , the Czech religious reformer, had attended the council with Sigismund's guarantee of safe conduct, but, nevertheless, the council began heresy proceedings against him and condemned him to death. Sigismund signed his death sentence.

The burning of Huss hastened the Reformation in Bohemia and earned Sigismund the lasting hatred of the Czechs. When Sigismund succeeded to the Bohemian throne on his brother Wenceslaus's death (1419), he was bitterly opposed. To secure an army against the rebellious Bohemians, Sigismund convinced Pope Martin V to proclaim (Mar., 1420) a crusade against the Hussites . He had himself crowned king of Bohemia at Prague but was defeated by the Hussites under John Zizka and withdrew. In 1421 a Czech assembly declared him deposed, and shortly afterward the Hussites began their incursions into Germany (see Hussite Wars ). Renewed attacks by the Turks occupied Sigismund in Hungary, while in Germany and Bohemia the Hussites continued to be victorious, defeating a new crusade (1431) against them.

Negotiations to heal the breach in the church were held at the Council of Basel (see Basel, Council of ) and resulted in compromise with the drafting of the Compactata. The religious agreement opened the way to Sigismund's acceptance as king by the Bohemians in 1436. Shortly afterward, Sigismund died.

Succession

Sigismund was the last emperor of the Luxemburg dynasty. He arranged for the succession to his titles by his son-in-law, Albert of Austria (later King Albert II ). Sigismund had earlier transferred Brandenburg to Frederick of Hohenzollern ( Frederick I of Brandenburg) as a reward for his support in Sigismund's election as emperor.

Sigismund (1368–1437) Holy Roman Emperor (1411–37), king of Hungary (1387–1437), Germany (1411–37), Bohemia (1419–37), and Lombardy (1431–37), the last emperor of the House of Luxemburg. In 1396 he was defeated by the Turks at Nicopolis but went on to acquire and secure a large number of territories and titles in a long and violent reign, which featured warfare with the HUSSITES, Venetians, and rivals for the thrones of Hungary and Germany. An orthodox Catholic, he acted severely against the Hussites, and put pressure on the pope to call a council at CONSTANCE to end the Hussite Schism; Sigismund promised Huss safe-conduct to attend the council, which subsequently ordered his death.

Sigismund (1368–1437) Holy Roman Emperor (1433–37), and King of Germany (1411–37), Hungary (1387–1437) and Bohemia (1419–37). As King of Hungary, he was defeated by the Ottomans in 1396 and 1427. In Bohemia, he was challenged by the Hussites revolt. As Emperor (crowned 1433), he was partly responsible for ending the Great Schism (1415). He secured the succession for Albert II, his son-in-law, the first ruler of the Habsburg dynasty.

Sigismund ♂ (German) Variant of Siegmund.

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