Individual Details
Sigmund Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire King of Bohemia and Hungary
(14 Feb 1368 - 9 Dec 1437)
127 Knight of the Garter - 1415
Elector of Brandenburg
When Emperor Karl IV died in 1378, his 26-year-old son Wenceslas, the son of his marriage to his third wife Anna von Schweidnitz, became emperor-elect. Karl's younger son Sigismund, from his marriage to Elisabeth von Pommern, was only ten.
Wenceslas not only preferred hunting but also was so fond of his dogs that he took them to bed with him. Indeed according to one story his first wife Johanna of Bavaria had been bitten to death by one of them. He took to drink and, roaming the streets at night, would violate the wives of respectable citizens even in their own homes. His brother Sigismund grew up tall, slim and good-looking. He too was a drinker, a womaniser and cruel. On the other hand, he was also charming, ambitious and could speak seven languages.
Upon his father's death, Sigismund had been made margrave of Brandenburg, but he was educated in Hungary. Here he took as his first wife Marie d'Anjou, princess of Hungary, the daughter of Louis I, king of Hungary, and his heiress to the Hungarian crown. In 1387 Sigismund was crowned king of Hungary. Marie died in 1395 without progeny. In 1408 Sigismund married Barbara von Celje, daughter of one of his strongest supporters, Herman II, Graf von Celje, and Gräfin Anna von Schaunberg. They had a daughter Elisabeth who would have progeny.
Apart from trying to stabilise his power in Hungary, Sigismund had to contend with invading Turks. These incursions resulted in a crusade against Constantinople proclaimed by Pope Boniface IX and led by Sigismund. However, quarrels among the knights as well as with the pope resulted in failure of the crusade. Sigismund returned to Hungary and secured it from further invasions.
After thirteen years, the empire had tired of Wenceslas. Sigismund at that time was fighting the Turks, so that when Wenceslas was deposed in 1400 he was replaced as emperor-elect by Rupert III, count palatine of the Rhine, who died in 1410. In these ten years, Sigismund was confronted with the doctrine of Jan Hus, who maintained that all men were equal and God should be worshipped according to one's conscience and not according to the rulings of the Vatican. Hus attracted an enormous following, particular in Bohemia and Moravia.
In 1411 Sigismund became emperor-elect, only to be confronted by a far greater evil: schisms in the Church had produced three popes, each excommunicating the others, and each being supported by different countries. Wycliff and Hus not only complained of the wealth, immorality and corruption of the clergy, they also questioned the authority of the papal position. When Hus was captured, Sigismund at first wanted to release him, but the cardinals maintained that a heretic was worse than the schisms dividing the Church. On 5 June 1415 Hus went to trial but was not allowed to speak nor have anyone defend him. After he refused to recant his teachings, he was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415.
The crusade proclaimed by the pope against the Hussite movement ended in 1436 with the _Compactara_ (agreements) between the Hussites and Catholics, whereby the moderate wing of the Hussites returned to Catholicism. However the radical wing, known as Taborists, although they had been defeated in the war, founded the _Jednota Bratrska_ or _Unitas Fratrum_ (United Brotherhood) in Moravia in 1457. At the beginning of the Reformation in the 15th century this church included about 400 municipalities and 175,000 members, in spite of persecution but with support of some regional princes. During the Reformation the Brotherhood approached the Lutherans in Germany and Calvinists in Switzerland and Holland and absorbed some of the liturgical and theological reforms without joining with the new Protestant churches.
At the death in 1419 of Sigismund's brother, the deposed emperor-elect Wenceslas who was still king of Bohemia, Sigismund also became its king. However, it would take 17 years before his subjects would acknowledge him. Being regarded as the betrayer of Hus, he had little support for putting down the Hussite revolts, and even a papal crusade failed. Though he may have failed in Germany and Bohemia, he nevertheless succeeded in building up the defence of Hungary to make it safe against the Turks for many decades.
The German princes began to move away from papal authority as well as trying to strengthen themselves by keeping the emperor-elect weak. This attitude would support Protestantism a century or so later. In 1431 Sigismund became king of Lombardy, and in 1433 he was finally crowned emperor by the pope. In 1437 he died aged sixty-nine.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Elector of Brandenburg
When Emperor Karl IV died in 1378, his 26-year-old son Wenceslas, the son of his marriage to his third wife Anna von Schweidnitz, became emperor-elect. Karl's younger son Sigismund, from his marriage to Elisabeth von Pommern, was only ten.
Wenceslas not only preferred hunting but also was so fond of his dogs that he took them to bed with him. Indeed according to one story his first wife Johanna of Bavaria had been bitten to death by one of them. He took to drink and, roaming the streets at night, would violate the wives of respectable citizens even in their own homes. His brother Sigismund grew up tall, slim and good-looking. He too was a drinker, a womaniser and cruel. On the other hand, he was also charming, ambitious and could speak seven languages.
Upon his father's death, Sigismund had been made margrave of Brandenburg, but he was educated in Hungary. Here he took as his first wife Marie d'Anjou, princess of Hungary, the daughter of Louis I, king of Hungary, and his heiress to the Hungarian crown. In 1387 Sigismund was crowned king of Hungary. Marie died in 1395 without progeny. In 1408 Sigismund married Barbara von Celje, daughter of one of his strongest supporters, Herman II, Graf von Celje, and Gräfin Anna von Schaunberg. They had a daughter Elisabeth who would have progeny.
Apart from trying to stabilise his power in Hungary, Sigismund had to contend with invading Turks. These incursions resulted in a crusade against Constantinople proclaimed by Pope Boniface IX and led by Sigismund. However, quarrels among the knights as well as with the pope resulted in failure of the crusade. Sigismund returned to Hungary and secured it from further invasions.
After thirteen years, the empire had tired of Wenceslas. Sigismund at that time was fighting the Turks, so that when Wenceslas was deposed in 1400 he was replaced as emperor-elect by Rupert III, count palatine of the Rhine, who died in 1410. In these ten years, Sigismund was confronted with the doctrine of Jan Hus, who maintained that all men were equal and God should be worshipped according to one's conscience and not according to the rulings of the Vatican. Hus attracted an enormous following, particular in Bohemia and Moravia.
In 1411 Sigismund became emperor-elect, only to be confronted by a far greater evil: schisms in the Church had produced three popes, each excommunicating the others, and each being supported by different countries. Wycliff and Hus not only complained of the wealth, immorality and corruption of the clergy, they also questioned the authority of the papal position. When Hus was captured, Sigismund at first wanted to release him, but the cardinals maintained that a heretic was worse than the schisms dividing the Church. On 5 June 1415 Hus went to trial but was not allowed to speak nor have anyone defend him. After he refused to recant his teachings, he was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415.
The crusade proclaimed by the pope against the Hussite movement ended in 1436 with the _Compactara_ (agreements) between the Hussites and Catholics, whereby the moderate wing of the Hussites returned to Catholicism. However the radical wing, known as Taborists, although they had been defeated in the war, founded the _Jednota Bratrska_ or _Unitas Fratrum_ (United Brotherhood) in Moravia in 1457. At the beginning of the Reformation in the 15th century this church included about 400 municipalities and 175,000 members, in spite of persecution but with support of some regional princes. During the Reformation the Brotherhood approached the Lutherans in Germany and Calvinists in Switzerland and Holland and absorbed some of the liturgical and theological reforms without joining with the new Protestant churches.
At the death in 1419 of Sigismund's brother, the deposed emperor-elect Wenceslas who was still king of Bohemia, Sigismund also became its king. However, it would take 17 years before his subjects would acknowledge him. Being regarded as the betrayer of Hus, he had little support for putting down the Hussite revolts, and even a papal crusade failed. Though he may have failed in Germany and Bohemia, he nevertheless succeeded in building up the defence of Hungary to make it safe against the Turks for many decades.
The German princes began to move away from papal authority as well as trying to strengthen themselves by keeping the emperor-elect weak. This attitude would support Protestantism a century or so later. In 1431 Sigismund became king of Lombardy, and in 1433 he was finally crowned emperor by the pope. In 1437 he died aged sixty-nine.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Events
| Birth | 14 Feb 1368 | Nürnberg | |||
| Marriage | 1408 | Barbara von Celje | |||
| Death | 9 Dec 1437 |
Families
| Spouse | Barbara von Celje (1390 - 1451) |
| Child | Elisabeth of Luxembourg Princess of Bohemia and Hungary (1409 - 1442) |
| Father | Karl IV Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1316 - 1378) |
| Mother | Elisabeth von Pommern (1347 - 1393) |