Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

For other nobles of the same name, please see Sigismund.

Sigismund (14/February 15, 1368 - December 9, 1437) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1410 to 1437.

Names in other languages

German: Sigismund
Hungarian: Zsigmond
Czech: Zikmund
Slovak, Croatian and Serbian: Žigmund
Slovene: Sigismund Luksemburški.

Biography

Early life

The third and last German Emperor and fourth Bohemian king of the Luxembourg dynasty, Sigismund, second son of the Emperor Charles IV, was born in Nuremberg.

Sigismund was margrave of Brandenburg from 1378, succeeding his father, until 1388 he handed it to his cousin Jobst of Moravia. After Jobst's death in 1411, he again became margrave of Brandenburg until 1415, when he granted the territory to Frederick I, burgrave of Nuremberg, making the Hohenzollern family one of the most important in Germany.

In 1381, the then 13-year-old Sigismund was sent to Cracow by his eldest brother and guardian king Venceslaus IV of Bohemia, to learn Polish and to become acquainted with the land and its people, because Sigismund was engaged to Mary of Hungary (1371-95), eldest surviving daughter of king Louis I of Poland and Hungary, who intended Mary to succeed him in the hereditary kingdom of Poland with her future husband as was the custom of the time. King Venceslaus also gave him Neumark to facilitate communication between Brandenburg and Poland.

Through his marriage to Mary 1382-1385 and 1386-1395, Sigismund, always the jealous type, became only her consort. Earlier, because of Sigismund's intrigues, he was expelled from Poland, which was then given to Mary's younger sister Jadwiga I of Poland, who married Jogaila of Lithuania. When an opposing candidate for the Árpád throne appeared, Sigismund fled, leaving his wife Queen Mary and her mother and widow of King Louis, Elizabeth of Bosnia (Elizabeta Kotromanić) at the mercy of conspirators. Years of civil war followed.

King of Hungary

Sigismund arranged the kidnapping of his mother-in-law, who was eventually murdered in 1387 January, and his wife Mary, who was released in July 1387. During his wife's captivity, Sigismund arranged his own crowning as the King of Hungary in 1387 despite opposition among the majority of nobility. Mary never forgave him for the death of her beloved mother. They lived separate lives and had separate households.

Sigismund did not participate, or, more precisely, was not allowed to participate in the Battle of Kosovo in June of 1389 won by Mary's maternal uncle, the Bosnian King Tvrtko I. In 1395 Queen Mary of Hungary died while heavily pregnant under suspicious circumstances.

In 1396 he was forced to organize a crusade to repel the Ottoman Turks, who were threatening Hungary from the south. The Christian forces were routed at the Battle of Nicopolis (now Nikopol, Bulgaria). Sigismund eventually fled and arrived by the Venetian ship to Dubrovnik on the Christmas Day of 1396.

On a number of occasions, Sigismund was imprisoned by nobles, but skilfully bribed his way out.

In about 1406 he remarried Mary's cousin Barbara of Celje (Barbara Celjska), daughter of Hermann II, Count of Celje (Cilli). Hermann's mother Katarina Kotromanić and Mary's mother Queen Elizabeta were sisters, or cousins who were adopted sisters. Tvrtko I was their first cousin and adopted brother, perhaps became even an heir apparent to Queen Mary. Tvrtko might have been murdered in 1391 on Sigismund's order.

Sigismund personally lead an army of almost 50,000 "crusaders" against the Croats and Bosnians, which culminated in 1408 with the Battle of Dobor, and a massacre of about 200 noble families, many of them victors of numerous battles against the Ottomans.

1410

In 1410, in a disputed election, Sigismund was elected Emperor. His rivals to the title were his elder half-brother Wenceslaus of Bohemia, who had never accepted his deposition as emperor ten years earlier, and Jobst of Moravia, who was elected in a rival election. However, Jobst died a few months later and Wenceslaus then resigned his claim to the empire in favour of Sigismund, leaving the latter universally recognised as emperor.

On a number of occasions, and in 1410 in particular, Sigismund allied himself with theTeutonic Knights against Jogaila of Poland. However, he was opposed by most of his noblemen and was prevented to participate in the alliance of 22 Western States against Poland in the decisive Battle of Tannenberg in July of that year.

Council of Constance

As emperor, Sigismund was instrumental in helping convene the Council of Constance (1414 - 1418), which ended the Papal schism and — of great consequence to Sigismund's future career — burned the at the stake for heresy Czech religious reformer Jan Hus in July 1415. Sigismund had given Hus a safe-conduct to the Council but, keen not to endanger the success of the Council, did nothing more than protest verbally when the Council disregarded the safe-conduct and arrested Hus. The monarch signed Hus' death sentence; decades of Hussite Wars followed.

It was also at this Council that a cardinal ventured to correct Sigismund’s Latin, to which Sigismund famously replied, Ego sum rex Romanus et super grammaticam ("I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar"). According to The Nuttall Encyclopaedia, this reply caused him to receive the nickname Super-Grammaticam.

Hussite Wars

It was as King of Bohemia from 1419 in succession to Wenceslaus IV that Sigismund faced the greatest challenge of his reign. Because of his part in the burning of Hus, Sigismund was ejected by the Hussite forces on his attempt to take over the country (1420).

A bitter conflict continued for 15 years, extending across Bohemia's borders. Only in 1437, the year of his death, was Sigismund accepted by the major Czech factions.

Family

Sigismund had no children by Mary of Hungary, but he had an only daughter with Empress Barbara (who was called Messalina of Germany), Elisabeth (1409-1442). She married Albert II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was eventually to succeed his father-in-law as King of Hungary and Bohemia, and as German King.

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