SIGISMUND, Emperor of Germany (1411-37), was the son of the emperor Karl IV. He was well educated, and having married Maria of Anjou, on her accession to the throne of Hungary he became chief administrator of that kingdom. The death of his wife in 1392 made him king of Hungary; and at the head of a numerous army of more than 100,000 men, composed of Hungarians, French. Germans, and Poles, he attempted to relieve the Byzantine empire from the fierce Turks, but was terribly defeated at Nicopolis (Sept. 28, 1396). On his return to Hungary, he found on the throne a new monarch, Ladislas of Naples, who imprisoned him (1401); but through the good offices of his elder brother, Wenceslas, he was freed, and obtained the throne (1402), rewarding his elder brother by snatching from him his kingdom of Bohemia, which he retainotl for some time. In 1411 be was proclaimed emperor, On the death of Rupert. Ile was present at the council of Constance, which he had prevailed upon pope John XXIII. to hold for the purpose of putting an end to the Hussite and other schisms. He contented himself with protesting against the violation of the imperial safe-conduct which was given to Huss, and ultimately consented to his judicial murder, for the purpose, as his apologists say, of conciliatiog the council, and so settling the disputes concerning the papacy. His succession to the throne of Bohemia, after his brother's death, was opposed
by the Hussites, who were now in insurrection; and after a fruitless attempt to conquer them, he confined himself to the defense of Hungary against the Turks, whom he defeated in a great battle near Nissa (1419). For ten years afterward, he left Germany very much to the guidance of its self-willed petty rulers, who speedily brought the country into such a deplorable state that they were glad to beseech Sigismund to return to the helm of affairs—which he did, but with little good effect. He obtained, by con cessions to the Calixtines (q.v.), the crown of Bohemia in 1436; but once on the throne, he gradually withdrew these concessions, which provoked such discontent that his death (1437) alone averted a civil war. Sigismund possessed a large intelligence, and remark able political talents, but these were much neutralized by his impetuosity, indecision, selfishness, and extraordinary avarice; and his well-meaning endeavors after peace and improvement ended in nothing. Carlyle distinguishes Sigismund by the epithet supra gramrnaticant, in allusion to his answer to a cardinal at the council of Constance, who ventured to correct his majesty's grammar—"I am the Roman king, and above gram) mar."