SIGISMUND Roman emperor and king of Hungary and Bohemia, was a son of the emperor Charles IV. and Elizabeth, daughter of Bogislaus V., duke of Pomerania. He was born on Feb. 15, 1368, and in 1374 was betrothed to Maria, the eldest daughter of Louis the Great, king of Poland and Hungary. Having become margrave of Brandenburg on his father's death in 1378, he was educated at the Hungarian court from his eleventh to his sixteenth year, and was entirely devoted to his adopted country. His wife Maria, to whom he was married in 1385, was captured by the rebellious Horvathys in the following year, and only rescued with the aid of the Venetians in June 1387. Sigis mund had been crowned king of Hungary on March 31, 1387, and having raised money by pledging Brandenburg to his cousin Jobst, margrave of Moravia, he was engaged for the next nine years in a ceaseless struggle for the possession of this unstable throne. (See HUNGARY.) 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 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, duke of Nevers, son of Philip II., duke of Burgundy. After capturing Widdin, lie sat down before the fortress of Nicopolis, to retain which Sultan Bajazid raised the siege of Constantinople, and at the head of 140,000 men com pletely overthrew the Christian forces (Sept. 25-28, 1396). De prived of his authority in Hungary, Sigismund then turned his attention to securing the succession in Germany and Bohemia, and was recognized by his childless step-brother Wenceslaus as vicar general of the whole empire. But on the deposition of Wences laus (i400) Rupert III., elector palatine of the Rhine, was elected German king in his stead. Sigismund was involved in domestic difficulties out of which sprang a second war with Ladislaus of Naples; and on his return to Hungary in 1401 he was once imprisoned and twice deposed. This struggle in its turn led to a war with Venice, as Ladislaus before departing to his own land had sold the Dalmatian cities to the Venetians for ioo,000 ducats. In 1401 Sigismund assisted a rising against Wenceslaus, during the course of which the German and Bohemian king was made a prisoner, and Sigismund ruled Bohemia for nineteen months. In 1410 the German king Rupert died, when Sigismund, ignoring his step-brother's title, was chosen German king, or king of the Romans, first by three of the electors on Sept. 20, 1410, and again after the death of his rival, Jobst of Moravia, on July 21, 1411 ; but his coronation was deferred until Nov. 8, 1414, when it took place at Aix-la-Chapelle.
During a visit to Italy the king had obtained from John XXIII. a promise that a council should be called to Constance in 1414. He took a leading part in the deliberations of this assembly, and during the sittings made a journey into France, England and Bur gundy in a vain attempt to secure the abdication of the three rival popes. (See CONSTANCe, COUNCIL OF.) The complicity of Sigismund in the death of John Huss is a matter of controversy. He had granted him a safe-conduct and protested against his imprisonment ; and it was during his absence that the reformer was burned. An alliance with England against France, and an attempt to secure peace in Germany by a league of the towns, which failed owing to the hostility of the princes, were the main secular proceedings of these years. In 1419 the death of Wences
laus left Sigismund titular king of Bohemia, but he had to wait for seventeen years before the Czechs would acknowledge him. But although the two dignities of king of the Romans and king of Bohemia added considerably to his importance, and indeed made him the nominal head of Christendom, they 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 gov ernment of Bohemia to Sophia, the widow of Wenceslaus, he hastened into Hungary; but the Bohemians, who distrusted him as the betrayer of Huss, were soon in arms; and the flame was fanned when Sigismund declared his intention of prosecuting the war against heretics who were also communists. Three campaigns against the Hussites ended in disaster; the Turks were again at tacking Hungary; and the king, unable to obtain support from the German princes, was powerless in Bohemia. His attempts at the diet of Nuremberg in 1422 to raise a mercenary army were foiled by the resistance of the towns; and in 1424 the electors, among whom was Sigismund's former ally, Frederick I. of Hohenzollern, margrave of Brandenburg, sought to strengthen their own author ity at the expense of the king. Although the scheme failed, the danger to Germany from the Hussites led to fresh proposals, the result of which was that Sigismund was virtually deprived of the leadership of the war and the headship of Germany. In 1431 he went to Milan where on Nov. 25, he received the Lom bard crown; 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 at Rome on May 31, 1433, and after obtaining his demands from the pope returned to Bohemia, where he was recog nized as king in 1436, though his power was little more than nominal. On Dec. 9, 1437 he died at Znaim, and was buried at Grosswardein. By his second wife, Barbara of Cilli, he left an only daughter, Elizabeth, who was married to Albert V., duke of Austria, afterwards the German king Albert II., whom he named as his successor. As he left no sons the house of Luxemburg be came extinct on his death.
Sigismund was one of the most far-seeing statesmen of his day, and steadily endeavoured to bring about the expulsion of the Turks from Europe by uniting Christendom against them. As king of Hungary he approved himself a born political reformer, and the military measures which he adopted in that country enabled the kingdom to hold its own against the Turks for nearly a hundred years. His sense of justice and honour was slight ; but as regards the death of Huss he had to choose between condoning the act and allowing the council to break up without result.