Sigismund of Luxembourg
Luxembourg, who was nicknamed the Red Fox because of his personality and look, first saw the light of day on 14 February 1368. He was the second surviving son (after Wenceslas) of the Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia Charles of Luxembourg and Elizabeth of Pomerania, daughter of Duke Bohuslav and granddaughter of King Casimir the Great of Poland.
Soon after his birth, the namesake of the Burgundian saint was betrothed to Katherine, the daughter of Friedrich Hohenzollern, purgrave of Nürnberg; in 1372 his fiancée changed to Mary, daughter of King Louis of Anjou, king of Poland (after Casimir’s death) and Hungary. However, the engagement did not take place until 1379.
In 1373, Charles IV acquired the Electorate of Brandenburg to avoid holding two Electoral votes, he granted Brandenburg to his eight-year-old son Sigismund in 1376. His rule is, of course, titular, and Sigismund is raised at the Prague court, even after 1378, when his father dies and his lands are inherited by Wenceslas IV (except for Görlitz/Zgorzełec, which goes to the younger John). After his betrothal to Mary (in Trnava), Sigismund was to become King of Hungary. The second title of Louis of Anjou, the Polish king, the local nobility wanted to grant to the future husband of Mary’s sister, Hedwig. In 1382, Louis urges the Polish nobility to accept Sigismund as their king, to no avail; he dies the same year. Before that, however, Louis appoints Sigismund as governor of Poland and entrusts him with an army to conquer the kingdom. Sigismund tries unsuccessfully for two years, when in 1384 he rushes to Hungary, where Elizabeth, the widow of Louis of Anjou, and part of the Hungarian nobility are trying to take the throne. In the following year (1385), at the cost of considerable debt to his cousins Jodok and Prokop of Moravia, he succeeded in taking control of Hungary.
St. Stephen’s Crown
In the same year, however, a new opponent appeared, the Neapolitan king Charles, who managed to conquer almost all of Hungary and crowned himself king on the last day of 1385. In February 1386 he was murdered by Elizabeth’s people and died. After protracted fighting and negotiations with the Hungarian Estates, Sigismund was crowned King of Hungary in Székesfehérvár on 31 March 1387.
Sigismund was not a strong ruler, he was never able to restrain the powerful magnate and noble clans, in 1401 the monarch was even captured by his own nobility. Problems also mounted on the international scene, and after the Battle of Kosovo Field (1389) Hungary began to be threatened by the Ottomans. Sigismund had already campaigned against them in 1392 and then in 1396, a campaign that ended with the failed Battle of Nikopol.
Despite this, the Hungarian monarch became involved in the Bohemian situation, where he allied himself with the League of Lords against his brother Wenceslaus IV in 1393-1396, and in 1399 he fought against Prokop, who was then entrusted with the administration of the Bohemian kingdom. In 1402 he was even one of the initiators of the capture of Wenceslas, who had meanwhile (1400) been deposed from the imperial throne.
Soon after, Sigismund had to fight again for the Hungarian throne when Ladislaus of Naples declared his claim, a war that also involved the Venetians, and when Ladislaus had himself crowned king in Zadar, it lasted until 1409.
In the meantime, Luxemburg married for the second time, in 1405 he married Barbara, the daughter of a prominent magnate (this was a condition of his release in 1401), Hermann of Celje. At the end of 1408, the Hungarian monarch founded the Order of the Dragon.
Barbara of Celje
In 1410, the Roman king Ruprecht died and a double election of two Luxembourgs took place - Jodok and Sigismund. The Moravian Margrave Jodok dies soon after and therefore Sigismund can add the title of King of Rome to his collection of titles from 1411. He soon became involved again in the war with Venice over Dalmatia, which took place between 1411 and 1413.
Only then was Sigismund able to engage in perhaps the greatest undertaking of his life, the convening of an ecclesiastical council to resolve the problem of the papal schism and the reform of the Church. The Council of Constance sat from 1414 to 1418, and the king was able to prevent its dissolution several times. Nevertheless, the results of the Council were half-hearted, only one pope was elected, but there was no reform of the Church. The condemnation and burning of Jan Hus was important for Czech events and Sigismund’s future life. During the Council, Sigismund tried to reconcile England and France, to end the Hundred Years’ War, in vain.
Sigismund of Luxembourg, his wife and daughter arrive at the Council of Constance, Richental Chronicle, 2nd half of the 15th century
At the moment when the Hussite wars broke out in Bohemia, Sigismund was at war against the Turks. He made peace in Varadin and rushed to the Bohemian kingdom, leading a crusade against the Hussites. The campaign was unsuccessful; after the defeats at Vitkov and Vyšehrad, it was only a small patch that the " Red Fox " had himself crowned King of Bohemia, his authority recognised by Moravia and Silesia. The next expedition in 1421 - 1422 did not bring any results, and after that Sigismund did not take part in the expeditions against the Hussites in person, although he strongly appealed to them. A change of attitude towards the reform movement came in 1429, when, even under the pressure of defeats by the Turks, he began to negotiate with the Hussites. Negotiations moved only after the crushing defeat of another crusade at Domažlice, after which the Hussite delegation is invited to the Council of Basel.
In the meantime, Sigismund marches to Italy, where he is crowned with the Iron Crown of the Italian Kings in November 1431. Soon he again comes into conflict with Venice and is blockaded in Italy. He is crowned emperor only after the peace of 31 May 1433.
The Battle of Lipany a year later marked the defeat of the radical Hussite brotherhoods and greatly facilitated Sigismund’s negotiations with the Czech nobility. After the promulgation of the Basel Compacts, which recognised the dual faith, Sigismund was accepted as King of Bohemia on 14 August 1436.
His reign in Bohemia did not last long. The execution of the rebellious Jan Roháč of Dubá after the capture of his castle Sion stirred public opinion in Hussite Bohemia. There was also the threat of further Turkish invasions. Sigismund left the Bohemian kingdom, but died in Znojmo on 9 December 1437.
Sigismund of Luxembourg around 1420, unknown author
With Sigismund of Luxembourg, the Czech branch of the Luxembourg family in the male line died out. His daughter Elisabeth married the Austrian Duke Albrecht of Habsburg, who succeeded to the Bohemian, Roman and Hungarian thrones after the death of his father-in-law.