Tag: sigismund

Episode 202 – Arms and Armour

Germany emerged as Europe’s premier arms and armor center in the 15th and 16th centuries through skilled craftsmanship, economic strategy, and technological innovation.

Episode 200 – Divide and Lose

In 1485 two brothers split the electorate of Saxony in two, creating the distinctly different Länder of Thuringia and Saxony in the process. All that after 20 years of successful joint rule and at the risk of materially reducing their family’s power. Why did they do it?

Episode 199 – How Holland Was Lost to the Holy Roman Empire (Part 2)

The second part of our series on the exiit of the Netherlands from the Holy Roman Empire, this time with a focus on demographics, economics and climate.

Episode 184 – A German Messalina? Barbara of Celje

Barbara of Celje, second wife of emperor Sigismund was called a German Messalina, a Black Queen of Croatia and even a lesbian vampire. Find out the truth whilst listening to some papal erotic literature….

Episode 178 – No Hill to Die On

The Bohemians had already protested against the treatment of Jan Hus when he was arrested and anger was brewing throughout his trial. Hus hadn’t come to Constance on his own. Several noblemen, including the brave knight John of Chlum had come along to support him. One these man, Petr Mladenovics returned to Prague shortly after the trial and recounted the proceedings in every little detail, complete with copies of letters and other documents. And from that the Bohemians concluded that there had been foul play. Lawrence of Brezowa summarized the view in Prague as follows: “Then on Saturday,[..], 6 July, Master Jan Hus, the scholarly bachelor of Holy Scripture, a man of shining virtue in life and morality and a faithful preacher of the gospel was sentenced to death and unjustly vilified by the Council of Constance. This was based upon the false testimony of the witnesses and the relentless instigations of master Štěpán z Pálče, doctor of Holy Scriptures and Michael de Causis, parish priest of St. Voijtech,[..] representing the Czech clergy and the influence of king Sigismund. This was done despite the fact that he was not given a proper hearing in which to prove his innocence”.
The villains were hence the “despicable clergy” of Bohemia, emperor Sigismund and the council as a whole that, as he wrote further down, had accepted bribes to bring about the conviction of this saintly man.
So on September 2, 1415, the nobles of Bohemia wrote the letter of protest to the Council of Constance….which sets off a sequence of events at the end of which 13 royal councillors fell out of windows

Episode 177 – The Day after the End of Days

The Bohemians had already protested against the treatment of Jan Hus when he was arrested and anger was brewing throughout his trial. Hus hadn’t come to Constance on his own. Several noblemen, including the brave knight John of Chlum had come along to support him. One these man, Petr Mladenovics returned to Prague shortly after the trial and recounted the proceedings in every little detail, complete with copies of letters and other documents. And from that the Bohemians concluded that there had been foul play. Lawrence of Brezowa summarized the view in Prague as follows: “Then on Saturday,[..], 6 July, Master Jan Hus, the scholarly bachelor of Holy Scripture, a man of shining virtue in life and morality and a faithful preacher of the gospel was sentenced to death and unjustly vilified by the Council of Constance. This was based upon the false testimony of the witnesses and the relentless instigations of master Štěpán z Pálče, doctor of Holy Scriptures and Michael de Causis, parish priest of St. Voijtech,[..] representing the Czech clergy and the influence of king Sigismund. This was done despite the fact that he was not given a proper hearing in which to prove his innocence”.
The villains were hence the “despicable clergy” of Bohemia, emperor Sigismund and the council as a whole that, as he wrote further down, had accepted bribes to bring about the conviction of this saintly man.
So on September 2, 1415, the nobles of Bohemia wrote the letter of protest to the Council of Constance….which sets off a sequence of events at the end of which 13 royal councillors fell out of windows

Episode 176 – A Great Idiot of History?

The Bohemians had already protested against the treatment of Jan Hus when he was arrested and anger was brewing throughout his trial. Hus hadn’t come to Constance on his own. Several noblemen, including the brave knight John of Chlum had come along to support him. One these man, Petr Mladenovics returned to Prague shortly after the trial and recounted the proceedings in every little detail, complete with copies of letters and other documents. And from that the Bohemians concluded that there had been foul play. Lawrence of Brezowa summarized the view in Prague as follows: “Then on Saturday,[..], 6 July, Master Jan Hus, the scholarly bachelor of Holy Scripture, a man of shining virtue in life and morality and a faithful preacher of the gospel was sentenced to death and unjustly vilified by the Council of Constance. This was based upon the false testimony of the witnesses and the relentless instigations of master Štěpán z Pálče, doctor of Holy Scriptures and Michael de Causis, parish priest of St. Voijtech,[..] representing the Czech clergy and the influence of king Sigismund. This was done despite the fact that he was not given a proper hearing in which to prove his innocence”.
The villains were hence the “despicable clergy” of Bohemia, emperor Sigismund and the council as a whole that, as he wrote further down, had accepted bribes to bring about the conviction of this saintly man.
So on September 2, 1415, the nobles of Bohemia wrote the letter of protest to the Council of Constance….which sets off a sequence of events at the end of which 13 royal councillors fell out of windows

Episode 168 – From Osman to Nicopolis:

“And since these especially ruinous harms to all of Christendom are not to be tolerated or suffered any longer, so we have completely agreed – with a well-considered disposition, by means of much and various discussion and counsel, which we have earnestly undertaken concerning this among ourselves and with many other princes and lords of the Holy Empire, for the assistance of the Holy Church, the comfort of Christendom and the honour and profit of the Holy Empire – that we want fully and specifically to remove and depose the above-written Lord Wenceslas as a neglectful procrastinator, dismemberer and one unworthy of the Holy Empire from the same Holy Roman Empire and all the dignities pertaining to it with immediate effect.”  End quote

So concluded the Prince Electors of Cologne, Mainz, Trier and the Palatinate on August 20th 1400. King Wenceslaus IV, son of the great emperor Karl IV, king of Bohemia and duke of Luxemburg was to be deposed for his “evil deeds and afflictions [that are] are so clearly manifest and well known throughout the land that they can neither be justified nor concealed” end quote

How could that happen. Last time we looked at the house of Luxemburg, they directly held almost a quarter of the German lands, controlled two of the seven electoral votes, had manoeuvred themselves into pole position to gain the Hungarian and the Polish crown, with even a long-term option on Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Tyrol . But now, a mere 22 years later, the great second Carolingian empire lies in tatters. How is that possible? That is what we will look at today.