From Luxemburg to Oradea

II. Abstracts
The medieval journey of the traveling king ended in Znaim. It had begun in Nrnberg, his place of birth. The political journey however had started much earlier in Luxemburg. Sigismund of Luxemburg was very careful in terms of origins and image. A mostly contested ruler, in Hungary, in Bohemia or else where he was compelled to watch over matters of substance and matters of form. The mostly foreign ruler needed active symbols, preferably domestic ones. One of them was St. Ladislas of Hungary, a king buried in Oradea.

Two major aspects separate Sigismund of Luxemburgs Europe from our modern and early modern continent. Constantinople was still the capital city of the Byzantine Empire and the Atlantic Ocean was still a frontier. Inside these limits, the continent, medieval Christendom, had started to change.

Sur lorigine et lhistoire du duch de Luxembourg

Camil Mureanu Acadmie Roumaine, Institut dHistoire George Bari, Cluj-Napoca Ce bref essai tente desquisser un prcis dhistoire du duch et la famille portant le nom mme du duch, dont Sigismond fut le dernier reprsentant de grande marque. N sur lancien territoire du tribu celtique des Trvires, o se trouve aujourdhui la ville de Trier (Trves), soumis lors de la conqute de la Gaule par Csar, le duch, qui fut aussi partie, pendant les migrations, des territoires rattachs la ligne germanique des Francs et, plus tard, partie de lempire de Charlemagne, a connue une histoire bien mouvemente. Aprs la dissolution de lempire, dans la seconde moiti du Xe sicle, le comte dArdennes, Siegfried, a fait btir une forteresse, tout proche de la rivire Arzette, nomme Ltzelburg, le noyau de la future ville de Luxembourg. Un processus politique, y compris alliances, mariages, hritages, de plus de trois sicles, a pouss Henri VII et notamment Charles IV de Luxembourg sur le trne de lEmpire Allemand. Charles, le pre de Sigismond, fit lev le comt au rang du duch et assur, par la suite, au nouveau duch une place dclat dans la politique europenne du XIVe et XVe sicle. Aprs la mort de Sigismond, suite un nouveau imbroglio, matrimonial dabord, le duch chut la Bourgogne et puis la maison dHabsbourg (la branche autrichienne et puis aussi celle espagnole) jusqu la fin du XVIIIe sicle quand la France rvolutionnaire a pris le contrle sur le duch de Luxembourg.
36

Sigismund of Luxemburg became soon aware of the changes and of the fact that it was virtually impossible to halt them. Nevertheless, he retained his medieval values and his will to preserve the tradition in which he had been raised. The actions of the otherwise very pragmatic ruler therefore tend to recall Cervantes knight. This is only one of the several paradoxes implied by the reigns, territories, actions and deeds of Sigismund of Luxemburg.

Le congrs de Vienne fit du dsormais grand-duch de Luxembourg, qui t devenu quand mme possession personnelle de la maison royal dOrange, membre de la Confdration Allemande jusquen 1867, quand suite la dis solution de la Confdration, le duch a reu de la part des grandes pouvoirs de statut de neutralit perptuelle. En 1890, la ligne male de cette maison est arrive sa fin et par consquent la maison a perdu ses droits (de mme que les Pays Bas) sur le duch, devenue ainsi compltement indpendant et possession de la famille de Nassau, une branche collatrale de la maison dOrange. Malgr son statut de neutralit perptuelle le duch fut envahi en 1914 et 1940, mais cest ce statut qui aujourdhui assure au grand-duch une place bien importante et particulire sur le plan des relations internationales. Sigismunds predecessors from the Luxemburg family were not regarded as great politicians or monarchs; but neither was he, most of the time, during his life. His actual decisions and the evolution of his realms point how ever to a different medieval reality. Nevertheless, the question remains wide open.

1486, may challenge his reputation, yet Sigismunds laws about urban and ec clesiastical matters, military reforms, chancellery practice, and remained the only ones regularly referred to down to the end of the independent kingdom. During the fifty years of his reign, Sigismund issued (according to the critical edition of Decreta Regni Hungariae) twenty-four laws and submitted several additional propositions to the noble diets. In my contribution, I intend to investigate that-- although decress usually lost their force after the demise of the legislatorwhat part of these legal decisions survived the kingemperor and remained lasting elements of Hungarian law and custom.

Sigismund of Luxemburg and the Romanian Countries

Ioan-Aurel Pop Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca King Sigismunds Romanian (Walachian) picture remains controversial. A major reason for it is the fact that the only overall documented study of his politics towards the Romanian countries dates back to 1914. In spite the notable works of erban Papacostea, Konrad Gndisch or Ioan Drgan that have brought new insights on the Walachian, Oriental policies of the king, the book of Ilie Minea remains a landmark in Romanian historiography, even though, marked by rather natural, given its age, national and documentary bias. The Moldavian partition project of Lublau of 1412, concluded, at king Sigismund of Luxemburgs proposal between him and the Polish monarch, Wladislaw (Wadysaw) II Jagiello, was instrumental in this respect. Equally or perhaps even more detrimental to the kings Romanian (modern) image were the competition for Kilia-Licostomo (between him and the Romanian rulers) or the anti-Ottoman actions and propaganda that involved the king and the Walachian monarchs, namely Mircea I cel Btrn (the Old). Trapped, also from a chronological perspective, between the (very) negative Romanian image of Louis (Lajos) I of Anjou and the (very) positive, also Romanian, picture of John (Ioan/ Iancu, Jnos) Hunyadi, Sigismund became a prisoner of stereotypes. Re-evaluating Sigismund is a long process. His Hungarian images fate is probably the best proof for it. However, even if only from a Transylvanian point of view for the moment, given his unquestionable changes brought by his reign on the royal Hungarian approach of the Romanian and Orthodox (Greek rite) matters, a Romanian reassessment of his personality is compulsory.
38

1. Politics and Law

Probably one of the most desired titles as a medieval monarch was that of law giver, as Solomon was still a model. In this respect, by his actions, by the rulings of the Hungarian Diet, Sigismund deserved the title. On the other hand, on the political level, namely in foreign affairs, his successes are, when added up, not so impressive or at least not too lasting. But this could be said about most rulers from his time. In fact, it seems that the actual late medieval time for great monarchs was the second, not the first, half of the 15th century.

Sigismund of Hungary as Legislator

Jnos M. Bak Central European University, Budapest Even though Sigismund of Luxemburg had left the government of his first kingdom, Hungary, most of the time to his able barons, his decreta constitute a central part of medieval Hungarian statute law. Among his predecessors and successors only Matthias (Mtys, Matia) Corvinus, with his Decretum Maius of
37

La place de la Mer Noire dans la politique de Sigismond de Luxembourg

acharnement quil russit assurer son rgne, malgr quelques brves interruptions, la libre communication entre son royaume et la Mer Noire. As tempting as it seems to find specific times for greatness, the search usually turns out vain. The unfavorable circumstances, in regard to those of the early and mid 1300 or late 1400 (although, studies on these periods tend to underline that times were rather worse, if not worser) make Sigismund of Luxemburgs achievements even greater. On the level of domestic politics, in his various possessions and realms, these results are at times the most obvious, for they tend to reflect an unstable balance of aims and means.

erban Papacostea Acadmie Roumaine, Institut dHistoire Nicolae Iorga, Bucarest Lieu de rencontre des grandes routes du commerce intercontinental, source primordiale des produits du monde asiatique la soie et les pices en premier lieu - , la Mer Noire a occup une place de premire importance dans la politique de Sigismond de Luxembourg, qui a poursuivi avec une remarquable tnacit le but dassurer son royaume de Hongrie la fonction dintermdiaire principal des changes internationaux sur les marchs de lEurope Centrale. Devenue plaque tournante du commerce international selon la brillante formule synthtique de Gheorghe I. Brtianu , la Mer Noire a t, partir de lanne 1204 date de la conqute de Constantinople par les croiss et de louverture des Dtroits le lieu de rencontre principal des grandes routes commerciales euro-asiatiques, surtout aprs la cration de lEmpire Mongol qui a largement ouvert les portes de lAsie aux marchands mditerannens. Depuis le rgne de Louis (Lajos) I-er dAnjou, son prdcesseur la couronne de Saint Etienne, la Hongrie avait russi imposer sa suzerainet aux territoires situs au Sud et lEst de la chane des Carpates orientaux, qui lui assurait le contrle quasi-exclusif des changes entre lEurope Centrale et le bassin pontique. La conservation du libre accs la Mer Noire en faveur des marchands de son royaume et ensuite de ceux de lEmpire dont il avait assum la couronne a t lune des proccupations dominantes du long rgne du roi-empereur Sigismond de Luxembourg. La matrise des routes commerciales qui liaient la Hongrie la Mer Noire travers le territoire des principauts roumaines de Valachie et de Moldavie et la libre circulation entre les Bouches du Danube, domines par le port de Kilia-Licostomo, et la mer, taient les prmices indispensables du succs de sa politique commerciale et de la lutte quil mena contre Venise tout au long de son rgne. La question du commerce oriental a t lune des permanences de la politique trangre de Sigismond de Luxembourg, de son effort constant dassurer aux marchands du royaume dHongrie laccs aux sources des marchandises orientales, voire le monopole du commerce euro-asiatique. Cette ncessit primordiale explique lacharnement dont il fit preuve dans sa lutte contre les puissances rivales ou hostiles et ses affrontements avec Venise, la Pologne, la Lituanie, la Moldavie et la Valachie. Cest grce cet
39

2. Society and Economy

Other than in terms of basic needs, aims and means of the parties in volved, it this difficult to trace a unitary political approach of social, financial or commercial questions in the actions and deeds of Sigismund of Luxemburg. This is not so much the result of a royal inconsistency, but a historic product, due namely to diversity, in terms local customs, duties or legal and political traditions, foremost, of the territories under the monarchs rule. From the area of Italian Peninsula to northern Hungary such differences were significant.

Il Privilegio di Sigismondo di Lussemburgo ad Andrea Don (1434)

Gianfranco Giraudo Universit CaFoscari, Venezia M. Marcella Ferraccioli Biblioteca Museo Correr, Venezia Dalle collezioni del Museo Correr di Venezia un inedito privilegio concesso da Sigismondo al patrizio veneziano Andrea Don, le cui vicende personali e politiche presentano non pochi aspetti ambigui. Verr presentata la trascrizione integrale del testo latino, preceduta da un profilo del Don e da unanalisi dei rapporti interni al patriziato veneziano e dei rapporti politici complessi tra la Repubblica e lImpero nel primo terzo del XV secolo.
40

La condizione degli ebrei nell'Europa centro-orientale al tempo di Sigismondo di Lussemburgo

Alberto Castaldini Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Bucarest Universit Europea, Roma La relazione esamina la condizione sociale e politica degli ebrei dellEuropa centro-orientale nella prima met del secolo XV. Essa intende fornire un profilo della presenza ebraica nel cuore dellImpero in un momento di svolta sia sotto il profilo politico-religioso che economico. Let di Sigismondo segna il tramonto del mondo medievale e la nascita dellet moderna. In questo contesto si colloc anche il progressivo ripensamento della presenza ebraica in Occidente.

Wandlungen in der Agrarstruktur des Karpatenbeckens im Zeitelter Sigismunds von Luxemburg

Gyrgy Szkely Etvs Lornd Universitt, Budapest Die Struktur der Grossgrundbesitze der Aristokraten und der Ritterorden war in den sdwestlichen bzw. sdlichen Teilen des Karpatenbeckens am meisten entwickelt. Im Jahre 1396 in Blavr (Belovar) erwhnt das Urbarium die verschieden Arbeiten der Hrigen und darber Geldcollecta nach Hufen. 1397 treffen wir auf dei Formel: cum allodyo seu colono wulgo Maior dicto, also ein Betrieb. Das Urbarium von (Sremska) Raa (Racsa), am Fluss Save (Sava, Szva), aus dem Jahre 1403, die Lasten der Hrigen, zu Teil in Gold gulden, zu Teil in Futter und Getreide, aber auch in Robotarbeiten und dazu kammen die Geschenke. Die verschiedenen Verkaufsgeschfte zwischen adlige Geschlechter bezeugen die Bedeutung des Viehhaltens (prati seu particule terre). In mehreren Gemeinden war das Schweinhalten von Bedeutung. Die Entwicklung der Marktflecken war in diesen Regionen auch bedeutend (z.B. Kamanc (Kamenica) 1408: civitas seu oppidum). Jnos Karcsonyi, Pl Zoltn
41

Szab, Erik Molnr, Elemr Mlyusz oder Tibor Kardos haben das Reichtum an Getreide, Obst und Wein dieser Region schon unterstriechen, Die traditionelle Betriebsorganisation der Prelatengrossgrundbesitze, zerstreut in verschiedenen Regionen wird fter in den Urkunden erwhnt (1390: die Besitze des Graner (von Esztergom) Erzbistums im Komitat Neutra (Nitra), 1383, 1394: Pflugfelde und Weinberge des Wesprimer (von Veszprm) Bistums. Die Landbesitze der lteren und neueren Mnchorden haben sich auch vermehrt (1389: neue Ackerfelde und Weinberge des Nonnenklosters von Veszprmvlgy, 1392: die Besitze und Hrige der Pressburger (von Bratislava/ Pozsony) Klarissen, 1398: das Ackerfeld, die Wiese und der Wald des Nonnen klosters auf der Margareteninsel (Margitsziget), 1388: bekamm Klostermarien burg (Borsmonostor) Ackerfelder, eine Wiese und dazu eine Wassermhle als Schenkung). Die Klster des Paulinerordens besassen in mehreren Gebieten Ackerfelder, Weinberge, Wiesen, Wlder, Mhlen (1382-1407). Immer haufiger is aber, wie schon Gusztv Wenzel betonte, die bergabe in Pacht (1394: Bozk sub pacto seu censu annuo im jhrlichen Geld). Viel mals wurde diese Erscheinung mit verschiedenen Fachwrtern in den Urkunden ehrwhnt (nomine feudali, sub pacto feudali, titulo iuris feudali, in feudum pro censu annuali scilicet fewdali). Wichtige Elemente der kirchlichen Besitztmer waren die Fischteiche (piscatura, piscina) und die Mhlen (molendinis et locis molendinorum). Pongrc Srs hat schon bemerkt dass die Pachten manchmal ein Resultat des Drucks des Adels waren. Spter, haben Istvn Barta und Lajos Elekes die Wege und Formen, auf die und unter die, die Aristokraten kirchliche Geldeinkommen oder Besitztmer erwerben konnten, analysiert. Die Wandlungen in der Agrarstruktur wurden auch von der Eingliederung nicht-ungarischen Volkselementen in den Feudalgesellschaft beinflusst. Das war auch, wie Ferencz Eckhart betonte, der Fall der Rumnen, Hter der hohen Berge und Wege, Untertane des Knigs, bzw. der Knigin, angefhrt von Knesen und Woiwoden, die knigliche Wrdetrger und Adlige wurden. Die untere Schicht der Bevlkerung sank, wie im Falle der Ungarn, in die Hrigkeit, als Dorfbewohner (1393: Olahos iobagiones; 1434, in Jf (Dobra, Judendorf), die Struktur der Gesellschaft: nobiles et kenesii populique et iobagiones). Die erhaltenen Daten ber den Ackerbau der Rumnen bezeugen, dass ein Knes einen Mhlenplatz besass (1387), oder dass sie den Weinbau betrieben (1397). Das Grossgrundbesitzsystem wurde durch die Ansiedlung, im Gebiete rund um Munkatsch (Munkcs, Mukachevo) und Bergsass (Beregszsz, Beregovo), der Ruthenen gestrkt (1396-1406: die Herzge Theodor (Todor) und Wazul Korjatovitsch (Koriatovi, Koritovics)). Die territoriale und wirtschaftliche Entvicklung der Grossen Ebene (Nagy Alfld) ist durch die Besieldlung der Kumanen und Jszen und das Entstehen ihrer Organisation (szlls, szk) ist fortgesetzt. Die Zigeuner kamen erst in kleinen Gruppen, dann massenhaft um
42

1420. 1422 gab Sigismund von Luxemburg dem Woiwoden Ladislaus einen Freipass, so dass die Stdte die Zigeuner ankommen lassen mssen.

A.
Sigismund of Luxemburg is viewed rather often as a reformer. Still, the meaning of this title is quite different from the early modern and modern va lue of the word. His Hungarian, foremost, predecessor, Louis I of Anjou, was also awarded the title of reformer, but the difference in context and action between the two reigns was not a just a matter of historic image. Sigismund had to face domestic anarchies that forced him to rely on social and political solutions that marked a break between him and the traditional Middle Ages.

Images and Impact: The Faces of an Age

Drei Statuten des Heiligen Ladislaus von Grosswardein aus der Zeit Sigismunds

Ern Marosi Etvs Lornd Universitt, Budapest Der Vortrag widment sich den Darstellungen des Hl. Ladislaus (Lszl) in Grosswardein (Oradea, Nagyvarad), und hat zum Ziel einiges ber die Aus bildung bzw. die Befestigung seiner Ikonographie auszusprechen, sowie das Verhltnis zwischen Lokaltradition und Hofkunst zu untersuchen. ber die erste Statue, das verlorengegangene berhmte Reiterstandbild von 1389 (1390?) der Gebrder Martin und Georg von Klausenburg (Cluj, Kolozsvr), kann man allein Aufgrund der Zeichnung des Cesare da Porta soviel feststellen, dass es nher zur Prager Reiterstatue des Hl. Georg stand, als bislang angenommen. Das Kopfreliquiar, heute in Gyr (Raab), wird als ein Produkt der sigismundinischen Hofkunst, wohl in Buda (Ofen), betrachtet, mit der statuarischen Produktion und der Goldschmiedekunst am Hofe in Beziehung gebracht und wesentlich spter als die bisher schwankenden Datierungen, um oder nach 1420 angesetzt. Das Torso im Museum zu Grosswardein wird als ein schwcheres lokales Werk der spteren Sigismundszeit dem Einflusskreis der Hofkunst zugewiesen. In terms of symbols and symbolic (personal) thinking, the break between emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg and the Middle Ages was how ever minimal, not only in terms of sincere and interested devotion. In fact this matter poses another question, that of how much he was pleased by his accom plishments. The difficult and quite un-orthodox answer may never be given.
43

In the Late Middle Ages, visual representation, both as a pious act and as an act of reward, historiography, both official and private, and devotion, both personal and common, were strongly interconnected for they were, at times, the most eloquent acts of Gods will, whether direct interventions or divine intentions put into practice by men, crusaders or commoners. In the Modern Age, these aspects, these domains grew further apart, although the means and aims of political legitimacy still preserved the medieval essence, in several cases, because they tried to replace the medieval official values and symbols. In Sigismund of Luxemburgs lands of (East-) Central Europe, the Middle Ages were however more persistent than in the rest of the continent. In the case of Sigismund, it is rather risky to over-emphasize the value of medieval or modern features. The reason is quite simple. By his travels, by his territories, he collected opposite structures, which can hardly be labeled.

I. Historiography and History

There are not too many monarchs who have undergone such dramatic historic re-evaluations as emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg. The massive amount of documents and chronicles regarding his personality and reign has played both a negative, namely until the 1900, and positive part, in particular in the later decades of the last century, in this reassessing his rule and character. Two problems however surpassed these boundaries. Sigismund was the monarch crushed at Nicopolis and the ruler who burnt Jan Hus. Very few men of state would have survived, first in their time and then in history, such events and acts, of which namely the defeat of 1396 became a landmark in the history of late medieval thought. The Reformation brought an increase to these problems, unlike in the case of king Matthias Corvinus, where the 1500 and 1600 settled several image problems. The conflicts and ideologies of the later centuries were mostly detrimental to the image of the monarch. One could say that it was only the birth and re-birth of the European concept that finally turned the tables in favor of Sigismund of Luxemburg.
44

1. The Late Medieval Perspective

There are probably very few domains of the historical sciences where the words are more needed than in historiography. This is still namely a modern feature, but it is nevertheless worth noting that quite a few words, more even than were needed because of his rank, were devoted to Sigismund in the Mid dle Ages, a time not known for its excessive historiographic use of words. In return, not all, some would say not even most of them, of these words were kind. For some, Sigismund appeared to be even a prequel to king Wladislaw II Jagiello of Bohemia and Hungary who later ruled for almost five decades. Nevertheless, emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg was an intriguing figure for his contemporaries, including those who wrote on him decades after his death. For some writers, his experiences at Christendoms borderlands made him interesting. For others, it was the Western matters that brought him to their attention. However, Sigismund was almost universally acknowledged as a rarity, whether it was in Paris, Krakow, Adrianople (Edirne) or in Byzantium, although he could not find a place among the classic immortal emperors.

Sigismundus and Hungary in the 15th century French Literature

Vladimir Agrigoroaiei Dimtrie Cantemir University Bucharest Medieval Hungary had long time stirred up rumours, memories, and, most of all, fantasies of the Western World. Located towards the Eastern border of Catholic Christendom, the Kingdom of Hungary had been the customs office of Western culture as early as the 11th century. The Hunagrian kingdoms Cuman, Russian, Tartar, Serbian, Bulgarian and Walachian neighbours turned it over to fantasy just as much as they were the counterparts of the Wester ners hunger for Oriental legends and monsters. Therfore, (the Kingdom of) Hungary managed to enter the realm of chivalric stories, where it played, just as much as the real Hungarian Kingdom, the role of an ultima Thule. We do not wish to describe and analyze all the quotations and citations of the Kingdom of Hungary in the French romans courtois of the 15th century. One may wish only to analyze a particular novel, that of Messire Charles Roi de Honguerie, one that envisages Charles Robert (Carlo, Kroly-Rbert) of Anjou but tells his story through a careful inspired pattern that leads to emperor and king Sigismundus. This working hypothesis will deal with a care ful re-examination of the aforesaid novel and with constant comparisons with various pieces of evidence otherwise related with the figure of Sigismundus of Luxemburg, pertaining either to a literary context, or to a manuscript one.

Die Persnlichkeit Knig Sigismunds Eberhard Windecke nach

Renta Skorka Ungarische Akademie der Wissenschaften Institut fr Geschichte, Budapest Eberhard Windecke hat jahrelang dem ungarischen und rmischen Knig, Sigismund von Luxemburg gedient. Nach dessem Tod (9. Dezember 1437), wurde der in Mainz geborene Kaufmann von den deutschen Frsten und Herren aufgefordert die Geschichte der Geschehnisse aus seinen, am knig lichen Hof und im kniglichen Geleit, verbrachten Jahre, zu verfassen, als Erinnerung an das Zeitalter und die Taten des verstorben Herrschers. Die in der Mitte des 15. Jahrhunderts entstandenen Denkwrdigkeiten erweisen sich nicht nur eine bedeutungsvolle Geschichtsquelle fr die Forschungen der europischen Mentalitts-, Kultur-, Politik- und Kirchengeschichte des Spt mittelalters zu sein, sondern knnen auch den Historikern verhelfen den Herrscher als Mensch kennenzulernen. Mein Vortrag beschftigt sich mit den von Eberhard Windecke oft realistisch betrachteten und dargestellten Eigenschaften, mit den Charakter und der Persnlichkeit Knig Sigismunds.
45

The Perspectives of the Chroniclers Thurczy and Tindi on King Sigismunds (1387-1437) Personality: A Comparison

Szabolcs Marton University of Szeged There are two important Hungarian narrative historical sources on the age of emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg. One of them is the Chronicle of Thurczy, in Latin, the other, Tinodis Rhymed Chronicle in Hungarian. Given the different languages in which they were written, the sources cannot be compared by the
46

classic philological method. The present paper is an inquiry on the subjectmatter of these two sources. Its aim is to answer the questions whether the later work of Tinodi used an information source other than the chronicle of Thurczy and, if so, what is the difference between the two chronicles and, thus, its influence on the historic image of king Sigismund of Luxemburg.

Sigismund of Luxemburgs Personality as reflected in Aeneas Silvio Piccolominis Historical Works, Memoirs and Letters

Ovidiu Murean Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca Before he became, as pope Pius II, an inspiration source and a protector for the historians at the papal court, Aeneas Silvio Piccolomini himself was involve in the tumultuous history of the first half of the 15th century, as the secretary of cardinal Domenico Capranica, at the Council of Basel, of antipope Felix V, of emperor Frederic (Friedrich) III of Habsburg and also of other high-ranking prelates. The aim of the present lecture is to offer an accurate perspective on the portrait of emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg, of his political actions. Although Aeneas Silvio Piccolomini did not directly focus on Sigismund of Luxemburgs career, emperor and king Sigismunds figure was a constant, and rather strong, presence in the vast historic work of the future pope (e.g. Cosmographia or Historia rerum ubique gestarum, Historia Frederici III, Historia Bohemica), in Piccolominis memoirs (Comentarii de gestis Basiliensis concilii) or in his vast diplomatic and personal correspon dence. Aeneas Silvio Piccolomini, prior and after his election as pope, can be regarded as a relatively trustworthy source for medieval history, because, to a certain degree, Piccolomini was either an eyewitness or, at least, a contemporary to most of the events he described in his works or in his letters.

fame not so much because of his crusader results, but because of his efforts. The split of Western Christendom played a significant part in this course of events. It also had a side-effect, one could say, in this historic respect. Most writings focused on Sigismund of Luxemburg foreign policy. The attention given to his domestic politics was in general limitated to Bohemia. The Bohemian Hussite case became thus for some the key to understanding and depicting the regin of Sigismund. Under these circumstances, the image became predominantly negative, as the monarchs achievements in terms of foreign policy were precieved under the influence of the Nicoplis defeat. The quest for a national German identity in the 1800 was also of importance. Therefore, a real change in prespective did not occure until more scholarly attention was given to his (Hungarian) domestic policy, until these domestic policies became the key to actually understanding his foreign actions.

Sigismondo di Lussemburgo in alcune opere della storiografia italiana dellet della Controriforma e del Barocco

Florina Ciure Museo rii Criurilor, Oradea Cristian Luca Universit Dunrea de Jos, Galai La relazione, riferendosi alla storiografia italiana dellet della Controriforma e del Barocco, studia il modo in cui Sigismondo di Lussemburgo viene ritratto nelle opere apparse dopo la sua morte. Le opere esaminate, appartenenti ad autori pi o meno celebri, delineano le gesta dellimperatore: egregio coman dante militare nella guerra contro gli Ottomani e diplomatico fortemente impe gnato nel coalizzare la Cristianit contro lavanzata della Porta nei Balcani. Ma levento che produsse leco pi persistente nella storiografia italiana fu senzaltro il fallimento della crociata di Nicopoli (1396), e gli eventi successivi, che videro il futuro imperatore Sigismondo di Lussemburgo obbligato ad un lungo e indegno girovagare per raggiungere lUngheria. Questo evento produs se scalpore in Occidente e contribu a radicare la convinzione che lavanzata ottomana poteva essere affrontata soltanto da una vasta coalizione che riunisse le forze militari della Cristianit occidentale e orientale. La personalit dellimperatore scaturisce, in questo contributo, dallanalisi di brani tratti dalle
48

2. Modern and Early Modern Points of View

Though defeated at Nicopolis, emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg grew into a symbol the crusade. Symbol of the futility of the later crusades for some, symbol for the immortal crusading spirit, as king Wladislaw I (III) of Poland and Hungary, after the catastrophe of Varna, Sigismund rose to
47

opere di Girolamo Albrizzi, Ludovico Dolce, Giacomo Filippo Foresti, Francesco Sansovino, Giorgio Tomasi, e altri autori del CinqueSeicento.

Urkundliche Auszge zur Geschichte der Grosswardeiner Grabsttte des Kaisers Sigismund von Luxemburg
Mihai Georgi Rumnisches Nationalarchiv, Kreis Bihor Abteilung, Grosswardein Die vorliegende Abhandlung behandelt, im berblick, die Ausknfte aus Chroniken oder aus Berichten der durch Oradea (Grosswardein, Nagyvarad) Reisenden die die Grabsttte des Kaisers Sigismund von Luxemburg, ein Hauptreiseziel der Gegend, in der Grosswardeiner Festung beschrieben haben. Nach der Eroberung der hiesigen Festung durch die Osmanen haben die Truppen des Sultans berall nach dem sagenumwobenen Schatz im Sarg des Kaisers Sigismund gesucht. Eine Urkunde aus dem Jahre 1692, nach dem die Habsburger Armee die Festung wiederum erobert hatte, berichtet ber die Entdeckung, mehr als ein halbes Jahrhundert zuvor, im Jahre 1638, eines kaiserlichen Schatzes in einer Gruft. Damals vermutete man dass die Gruft Sigismund von Luxemburg gehrt hat. Die Suche nach der Gruft, nach ihrem sehr wertvollen Inhalt, ging aber weiter. Jahzehnte spter, im Jahre 1755, berichtete sogar der General De Ville der Kaiserin Maria Theresia, dass er in der Festung Grosswardein eine kaiserliche Krone entdeckt htte.

kings impact on the Hungarian Kingdom and on European affairs. Given the vivid debates concerning such aspects, revealing the different nuances involved by the fashion in which emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg was depicted by various authors is a needed as well as meaningful scientific endeavor. Under the present circumstances, historiographic clarity in this matter is rather compulsory, not only in strict Sigismundian historical terms. The German historiography of 19th century Transylvania represents a complex phenomenon all by itself. It involves works of Transylvanian Saxons as well as those of the Schwabs of the Banat(e), published as self-standing books, as studies in collective volumes, but also the shorter articles printed in different journals, calendars or other writings of scientific vulgarization. An extensive research of these works necessarily implies a detailed study of the delicate and complex context in which the writings were drafted and edited. By underlining the context of the age, the content of the materials and the conceptions of the authors, we can place the 19th century historic interest of the German historiography of Transylvania and the Banat in the personality of emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg on an average level. Sigismund of Luxemburg was no key figure of such studies and researches, but was a rather constant presence in the writings in question. Due to this apparent balance between an average interest and constant mention, an overview of the works written more than four centuries after the end of king and emperor Sigismund of Luxemburgs reign(s) is an important topic, beyond the German limits of the modern historiographies of Transylvania and the Banat.

The Changing Image of King Sigismund

The Personality of Sigismund of Luxemburg in 19 Century Transylvanian Historiography of German Language

Lornd Mdly Romanian Academy George Bari Institute of History, Cluj-Napoca Sigismund of Luxemburgs historic personality has been a challenge for historians, for medieval chroniclers and modern scholars alike, due to the
49

th

Enik Csukovits Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History, Budapest The present lecture analyses the changing historic image of emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg in the eyes of posterity, namely Sigismund of Luxemburgs actions and character features revealed during his reign that were deemed of importance by his contemporaries and by historians. Particular attention is therefore given to those aspects and personal marks that have influenced the controversial historic image, historic picture, of emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg from the Middle Ages until the present day.
50

II. Between the Churches

Sigismund of Luxemburg inherited two schisms. One was already a clas sic and rather distant problem. The other had occurred less than a decade be fore he rose to the Hungarian throne and stood for a major problem. Decades later the two matters were intimately connected. This was largely due to the monarchs decision to deal with both of them, to try to settle one via the other. It could be said that it was Sigismund who instated the rule that whoever won the schismatic Greeks won also the Latin conflict. He did not live to seen none of the two matters formally settled. Sigismund profited, namely in Hungary, and suffered greatly, namely in the Balkans and in Bohemia, from both of them

King Sigismund and his Efforts to end the Schism in 1415

Ferenc Sebk University of Szeged Sigismund of Luxemburg came to the throne in Hungary in 1387. In the first years of his rule he was compelled to focus his policies on strengthening his domestic position. From 1391 onwards, he had to face the ever-increasing threat of the Ottomans too, which lead eventually to the battle of Nicopolis (1396). At the turn of the century, he had to deal with Ladislas of Naples bid for the Hungarian crown. However, due to his excellent diplomatic skills, the king managed to retain his crown and halt the Ottoman advance in the area. Nevertheless, the perhaps greatest challenge arose after 1410, when he was elected king of the Romans. By this, Sigismund was also regarded as advocatus ecclesiae, as the sovereign capable of putting an end to the western schism. The schism, ensued after 1378, had widened after 1409, when the synod of Pisa elected a third different pope to head the Latin Christian Church. Initially, Sigismund of Luxemburg supported John XXIII, the pope elected in Pisa, for John XXIII was also at odds with Ladislas of Naples, Sigismunds rival to the Hungarian throne. Later, Sigismund changed his mind and stated that all existing three popes should resign, so that the synod of Constance (Konstanz) could elect a legitimate pope. Having also John XXIIIs approval of his plan, he convened the synod of Constance for the 1st of November 1414. Making pope Benedict XIII resign seemed to be the most difficult task. Benedict had the support of the kings of the Iberian Peninsula, of a large part of the French clergy and the king of Scotland. Sigismund suggested a personal meeting to settle all the prevailing questions through the offices of king Ferdinand of Aragon. They planned to meet in Nice, but due to Ferdinands the illness, king Sigismund agreed to hold the negotiations in Perpignan. The parties arrived in Perpignan in early autumn 1415. Sigismund under took considerable financial strains to promote the cause of Christendom by traveling there himself. Though he could not convince Benedict XIII to resign, he managed to seriously weaken his party. Soon after, in December the treaty of Narbonne was sealed. According to it, most of Benedicts former supporters left his camp and agreed to send their representatives to the Constance. Still, in fact, the Iberian prelates arrived there only in the autumn of 1416. Sigismund accomplished his goal. All three popes resigned their title (1417). A new pope, universally acknowledged, was elected. This historic achievement can be regarded as the greatest and the most lasting success of Sigismunds diplomacy. Still, such a success would have been impossible without the security ensured to him by a firm and stable Hungarian Kingdom at his back.
52

1. Latin Christendom
The figure of Jan Hus will always be associated to that of Sigismund of Luxemburg. Hus figure will always remain a dark shadow over Sigismunds rule. The fact that Sigismund did not aim at eliminating Hus still accounts for little. On the European level, the events of Constance tend to overhelm the entire Church policy of Sigismund. His efforts to end the Western schism or the Hungarian consequences of the royal patronage right are often pushed into the category of details, when in fact such decisions and actions were the defining matters and aspects for Sigismund of Luxemburgs policy and even for his personality, that of a pious, yet far from holy, medieval ruler.

Limperatore e il santo
tefan Damian Universit Babe-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca L'autore tenta un parallelo tra l'attivita' dell'Imperatore Sigismondo di Lusemburgo, volta a rappacificare l'Europa centrale e orientale, la Chiesa cattolica e le nuove tendenze (ussite) e l'attivita, all'inizio intransigente, svolta da Giovanni da Capestrano, e ulteriormente sempre piu propensa ai compromessi, man mano con l'aggravarsi della minaccia turca. Anche se non c'e' stato un rapporto diretto, le loro azioni sono state parallele e spesse volte congiunte, come lo dimostra l'autore.
51

Catholic Ecclesiastical Structures in the Banat in the First Half of the 15th Century

Adrian Magina Museum of the Mountainous Banate, Reia The origins of the Roman-Catholic (Latin) Church in the Banat date back to the early 11th century, when the Bishopric of Cenad (Csand) was founded. In the first half of the 15th century, the traditional administrative structure of this bishopric was still in place, on the parrish level, where most believers lived in the urban environment, as well as on the level of the six arch-deaconries (Cenad, Arad, beyond the Mure (Maros) river, Timi (Temes), Between the Timi Rivers (Temeskz), Cara (Karas) and Keve (Cuvin)-Torontal). Several monastic orders had settled down too in the area. In particular, the Franciscans were a strong presence in the Banat. During the reigns of Louis (Lajos) I the Great and Sigismund of Luxemburg their main task was to convert the schismatic Romanians, which they did, supported by Sigismunds legal decisions namely on the level of the noble elite. However, despite the support granted to the Franciscans by the Hungarian kingship, they were rather unsuccessful on the level of the common Orthodox (Greek) believers, that is some 90% of the local, mostly rural, population of the Banat. In this respect, the developments in the first half of the 15th century had two major effects. First, they reveal an elite willing to change rites in return for social and administrative advantages. Second, they prove that this type of propaganda (and pressure) had little or no impact on the common Greek rite believer. Such situations were quite frequent over the later decades.

of his life the perhaps most wanted crown in the Europe at that time, that of the Holy Roman Empire. Over the last decades it became evident that this prominent ruler of the 1400 can be regarded as a traveler king too. During his long life Sigismund traveled throughout Europe, from Hungary to France, from England to Italy. From all his travels, the journey made in the early 1430, on the occasion of his coronation as emperor, is one of great significance. A great number of Hungarian nobles accompanied the king on probably his most important journey. Sigismund of Luxemburgs stay in Rome provided these noblemen not only with the occasion of attending an imperial coronation ceremony, but also presented them with the opportunity of drafting numerous applications addressed to the papal court. The nobles in the future emperors suite made benefit also from the positive response of pope Eugene IV to Sigismund of Luxemburgs request regarding the price of the papal bulls. According to the pope, the Hungarian nobles, who drafted supplications for indulgences, were exempted from the payment of the charge for the papal bullas. More than 150 supplications were thus addressed to the papacy. Most of them, preserved in the supplication registers of the Vatican archives, were published at the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century. The exciting character of these sources resides in their inhomogeneous nature. Most of the sources are naturally indulgences, in the classic and strict sense of the term, given to the churches (indulgentiae locales). Still, we find also permissions for choosing confessors (facultas eligendi confessorem), letters certifying confessions made on the occasion of jubilee indulgences (litterae confessionales), as well as indulgences that were issued together with an authorization for the absolution of sins (plenaria remissio peccatorum). The present paper attempts to present the indulgences of Sigismund of Luxemburgs age in their general contemporary framework. Special attention will be given to the topic and motif of the medieval requests. By focusing on these peculiar aspects, it will thus be possible to shed light on the intensity of the devotion of the believers, on their places of worship and also on their religious customs, matters of great value in understanding the times spirit.

The Indulgences of Sigismund of Luxemburgs Age

2. Greek Christendom
Louis I of Anjou, Sigismund of Luxemburgs great predecessor, became during his lifetime a synonym for intolerance towards the schismatic Greeks. Sigismund upheld several of Louis political features and namely decisions in this respect, but most importantly he brought a major change, at least on the royal Hungarian level, of the official approach of Greek (Orthodox) issue. Sigismund made use of the pragmatic spirit present even in the days of Louis.
54

Maria Mak Lupescu Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca Sigismund of Luxemburg is best known to scholars as the most long vive king of Hungary, who also ruled over Bohemian and who gained at the end
53

Sigismund needed Byzantium, as a symbol, as a partner, in his clash with the Ottoman Empire and also in his Latin combats. He needed for the same reasons the support of his Greek rite subjects and vassals. But he also needed them because of the Hungarian domestic strife. In the end, at least so does rumor have it, Sigismund valued the Greeks more than the Latins.

monastero dallo stesso patriarca. una prova che si fossero prodotti molti cam biamenti nella giurisdizione ecclesiastica cominciare con il re Sigismondo.

Sigismondo di Lussemburgo e lunione con la Chiesa orientale

I documenti storici riguardanti il monasterio di Peri in Maramorusio. Un approccio storico-filologico

Iulian Mihai Damian Universit Babe-Bolyai, Cluj-Naoca Sigismondo ha agito nei confronti della Chiesa universale come un vero restaurator Ecclesiae, favorendo la sua unit non soltanto per quanto riguarda lOccidente, ma anche in rapporto con la Chiesa orientale. Agli occhi dei con temporanei greci e latini il re imperatore fu considerato in varie occa sioni il reale garante dellunit dei cristiani, spesso a discapito del pontefice romano. Significativo ci risulta, in tal senso, il favore e la fiducia che vant non soltanto agli occhi dei futuri unionisti della Chiesa greca, ma anche da parte di importanti membri dellopposizione al decreto fiorentino di unione. Loggetto dellintervento consiste nel ripercorrere le fonti coeve, alla ricerca di una visione sullunit dei cristiani sviluppata da Sigismondo e dal suo entourage. Fin a che punto si pu parlare di una visione organica, di un progetto ben definito e quanto dovuto a fattori contingenti? Lopposizione alla visione unionistica elaborata dalla Chiesa romana in seguito al Concilio di Firenze, il ripetuto ricorso di greci, ma anche di latini, ad un nuovo concilio illustrano in maniera significativa il peso che luscita prematura di scena di Sigismondo di Lussemburgo ebbe su questappuntamento ecclesiale mancato.

Vasile Rus Universit Babe-Bolyai, Cluj-Naoca Giovanni (Ioan) Mihlyi di Apsa aveva pubblicato nella sua ormai classica collezione di documenti storici riguardanti la contea di Maramorusio (Mara mure, Mramaros, Maramosch) conosciuta sotto il titolo Diplome maramureene din secolul XIV. i XV, stampata nella tipografia di Mayer e Berger a Sziget nellanno 1900 la cos-detta traduzione latina della lettera del patriarca orto dosso di Costantinopoli Antonio scritta in 1391, il 13 di Agosto a favore dei fratelli Balitza (Balia) e Drag Mester di Maramorusio. Infatti questo diploma latino, visto che Giovanni Mihlyi segue lordine cronologico dei documenti, stato distaccato dallaltro diploma,quello del re Uladislaus (Ulszl) II dellanno 1494, 14 Maggio, a sua volta proveniente dal la trascrizione fatta nellanno 1721 tramite i requisitori delle lettere del capitolo romano-cattolico di Alba Iulia e pubblicata da August Treboniu Laurian in Magasin istoric, III, ed altrettanto dal vescovo Andrea aguna in Adaus la promemoria dellanno 1850. Nella nota nr. 5 al diploma di 1391, Mihlyi ci diceva che il diploma patriar cale originale presentato dal prevosto Ilario del monastero di San Michele in Peri al re Uladislao assieme alla traduzione latino dello stesso diploma fosse scritto in greco moderno e che il testo greco trovato da qualche parte in Moldavia fosse stato pubblicato da Michele Koglniceanu in Archiva romn. Lo stesso editore ci diceva ancora che il professore Ivan Tlfy dellUniversit di Pesta avesse dichiarato che il testo latino sarebbe stato una traduzione fidele. Il punto di questo saggio di mostrare appunto che non si traterebbe di una traduzione fidele del diploma del patriarca costantinopolitano, ma che abbiamo a che fare con una interpretazione cercata per far ottenere dal re privilegi prima di tutto economici e giurisdizionali per il prevosto di quel tempo, la dove un secolo prima soltanto il patriarca lo poteva fare visto il regime di stavropighia dato al
55

Die Teilnahme Orthodoxer Delegationen am Konstanzer Konzil (1414-1418)

Ioan-Vasile Leb Babe-Bolyai Universitt, Klausenburg Es ist schon bekannt, dass die Rmische Kirche im 14. Jahrhundert, vor allen im spten 14. Jahrhundert, eine sehr schwierige Lage durchgelebt hat,
56

denn das abendlndische Schisma (1378) ganz negative Auswirkungen auf das christliche Leben in West- und Mitteleuropa hatte. Deswegen wurde das Streben nach einer reformatio in capite et membris immer grsser. In diesem Rahmen tagte das Konzil von Konstanz (1414-1418), wo man die Spaltung beseitigen konnte. Aus dem Orthodoxen geschichtlichen Sichtspunkt ist das Konzil von Konstanz, auf dem Sigismund von Luxemburg, Knig von Ungarn und Bhmen und knig der Rmer eine einflussreiche Rolle spielte, deswegen wichtig, weil eine Orthodoxe Delegation auch dabei war, eine Delegation die unter ihrer Mitglieder auch Vertreter der Frstentmer der Walachei und der Moldau zhlte, was in diesem Aufsatz zu Wort kommen wird.

Orthodox Monasteries from the Banat Area at the Beginning of the 15th Century

Futhermore, the royal charters issued by Sigismund for the Greek rite monastery of Vodia (1418, 1429) offer a different perspective on the fashion in which the Catholic (Latin rite) elities of the realm regarded these monasteries. They also offer a different prespective on the way in which such Greek rite monasteries could have been founded in the Banat in the early 1400. In this respect, the medieval archaeological evidences come namely from the sites of Bazia, Cusici, Zlatia (Zlatica, Nraaranyos), Sirinia and emlacu Mic (Klein-Semlok, Kissemlak). The excavations of the last decades allow us to have a better understanding of the beginnings of the monastic architecture in the area of the Banat. The exacvations also ensure a clearer perspective on the extent of the contacts to the Serbian Orthodox milieu. The Orthodox monasteries of the Banat belong to a border area. Their foundation and position is undoubtedly connected with the political and the confessional events and developments in the early 1400. These evolutions played a significant part in the history of the Lower Danube Area.

Dumitru eicu Museum of the Mountainous Banate, Reia The matter of the Orthodox (Greek rite) monasteries of the Banat(e) in the Late Middle Ages has been a privileged topic for the local historiographies, regardless of their language and yet marked by different perspectives. On the Orthodox level, over the last century, researches in these matters were sig nificantly influenced by the Serbian-Romanian dispute that was born after the ecclesiastical, hierarchical, separation of the two Churches, in the year 1865. Therefore, some essential aspects (for instance, the foundation dates of the different monasteries, the patrons and founders of these monasteries, their personal ethnic background, and, last but not least, the general ethnicdemographic structure of the Banat in the 15th century) were neglected in the traditional historical writings devoted to the Banat area and this topic. Consequently, the present paper is a reassessment of the matter, based on the recent documentary and archaeological discoveries and interpretations. The charters issued in the first half of the 15th century, during the age of Sigismund of Luxemburg, provide us with several informations regarding the Orthodox (Greek rite) monasteries. In the Clisura Dunrii (Banatska Klisura) region, various estates of Romanian nobles existed in the neighborhood of the Bazia (Bzis), Moldova Veche (moldova) and Sirinia (Szirinyatelep) monas teries. These facts and details of geographic and also feudal vicinity enable the hypothesis that some of monasteries in question had Romanian founders.
57

III. Image and Belief

Medieval belief was matter of touch. Image had to reflect and prove the written word that only some 3% of the population could read. It seemed as if the true patron of medieval Christian belief was the unbeliever, St. Thomas. In return, Sigismund of Luxemburgs reign coincided with a time when art and belief started parting their ways. Art, painting, sculpture became more than just visual appendix for religious feelings in societies found of their customs. The changing mentality of the age had to combine tradition, both oral and written, with the evolution in the perception of the world. Closed spaces were still present, but their supremacy was no longer undisputed. Maps and cotes of arms too reveal the widening of the medieval personal circle.

1. Saints, Sinners and Instruments

A waring society, such as the medieval one, regardless of the actual per spective on warfare, placed altogether no great space between the symbols of faith and tools of war in its everyday pantheon. The pagan, turned at times apocryphal, heritage played a great part in this symbolic as well as practical, on occasion, coexistence. This feature reflects the context in which sensitive evolutions and trends, of theological origin, found their foremost visual place in society, as very subtle aspects coexisted with very explicit messages. It was combination of old and new that caused several medieval debates.
58

Weaponry Items produced by the Guilds of Sibiu and preserved in the Arms and Armor Collection of the Brukenthal Museum of Sibiu

Anca Nioi Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu The Arms and Armor collection of the Brukenthal Museum from Sibiu (Hermannstadt, Szeben) holds a number of medieval and late medieval items produced by the guilds from the city which have not been properly explored up until the present moment. Along with the development of the blacksmith guild a series of connected branches like that producing weapons rose to a high development level in the period of time under scientific analysis. Beginning with the second half of the 15th century, after the reign of king Sigismund of Luxemburg, the blacksmith guild of the Saxon city of Sibiu, along with it the branches developed from it, began one of the most flourishing periods of their existence, during the reign of king Matthias (Mtys, Matia) Corvinus (1458-1490). The account book from that period reveals rather high figures with regard to the number of sword makers, bow makers, shield makers, crossbow makers, and armoureds mentioned in the city of Sibiu.

Communication Strategies in the Middle Ages: The figure of an Apocryphal Saint, Saint Anne in the Sermons of Pelbartus de Themeswar and in the Legends of the Teleki-Codex

the Late Middle Ages. Consequently, the figure of Saint Anne was subject to a number of debates, of theological nature namely, throughout the Middle Ages. The cult of Saint Anne reveals both theological and anthropological issues. Different attitudes toward the saints cult by different social groups (such as, for instance, the friars, the nuns, the bishops, the bourgeoisie) refer to the ideological differences among them concerning the devotion to Saint Anne. Thus the late medieval cult of Saint Anne can not be interpreted without dealing with (personal and) collective mentalities in the time span in question, namely those concerning issues such as sainthood, motherhood and virginity. Until now, little or no scientific attention has been given to Saint Annes cult in the medieval Hungarian Kingdom. Nevertheless, different approaches were used in this paper, especially those regarding ethnography, iconography and literature. Still, these approaches do not provide us with an overall view of the devotion to Saint Anne, treating it by considering late medieval piety. Therefore, we focus on two main research paths and patters. On one hand, attention will be given to the presentation and interpretation of three Saint Anne Franciscan sermons concerning the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and also popular belief. On the other hand, the earliest medieval Hungarian version preserved of Saint Annes legend will be analyzed from an anthropological point of view. These two different approaches underline the complexity of late medieval devotion towards Saint Anne. Both also bring up different question regarding the cult of the saint in medieval Hungary. How was the cult of Saint Anne constructed from the Franciscan point of view? Who were the readers of the first Saint Anne legends, miracles and prayers in medieval Hungary? What were mentality issues that were reflected in the saints cult? All questions refer to Saint Annes cult in the late medieval Hungarian realm, but can not be answered without Western references.

Sigismund of Luxemburgs Patronage and the Liturgical Evolution in Transylvania

Emke Nagy Babe-Bolya University, Cluj-Napoca Etvs Lornd University, Budapest Although Saint Annes cult has apocryphal origins, the mother of the Virgin Mary became one of the most popular mother saints in Latin Christendom
59

Ciprian Firea Romanian Academy, Institute of Archaeology and the History of Art, Cluj-Napoca The paper tries to illustrate the patronal involvement of king Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387-1437) in Transylvanian churches and especially in the
60

churches from the urban environment (namely those of Sibiu (Hermannstadt, Szeben), Cluj (Klausenburg, Kolozsvr), but also others). The royal support for some specific liturgical trends ensured a wider reception and a closer observation from the part of those responsible in the local communities. At the same time, these evolutions triggered a change of the liturgical content. Given the data at hand, in my point of view, the artistic patronage is preceded by and closely linked with the liturgical patronage. Therefore, an investigation of the form of the liturgy provides a necessary frame for the artistic endowment of the different Transylvanian churches. The present paper presents a preliminary approach of a field very scarcely investigated so far, at least in terms of the medieval Transylvanian evidences.

The Price of Fidelity: Donations of Coats of Arms for Nobles from Transylvania during the Reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg

Szidonia Weisz Central European University, Budapest The aim of the present research is to study the phenomenon of granting nobles from Transylvania with grants of arms during Sigismund of Luxemburgs reign (1387-1437). During his rule several changes affected the different layers of society and the countrys organization. Many aspects of these changes have already been studied. Still a study, from the perspective of social history, on the grants of arms received by a certain social fraction has not yet been written. Why did the king of Hungary choose this type of reward for the nobility of his realm? What was Sigismund of Luxemburgs aim? How can the grants illustrate the relationship between the contested king and the nobility? Another aspect worth studying is the place and role of these donations. It is worth finding out whether such grants was more important than some other types of privileges. Therefore, who were these people and for what reasons did the aristocracy apply for coats of arms and why in such large numbers? The question could arise why the nobility from Transylvania is discussed separately from the Hungarian one. The answer would be that my research is a case-study applied to a certain area. The extent to which the nobility from Transylvania was a part of the realms nobility or stood apart from it represents a self-standing matter that can not be discussed in this research context. Transylvanians depended not only on the king, but also on the voivode. They were in a more delicate position. They had to comply with the voivodes policy and to keep, in the mean time, direct access to the king and his court. The study of grants of arms, which implied strong ties to the king and his retinue, can contribute to a more balanced view of this social stratum. Since the grants of arms are per definitionem exclusively royal donations, they can shed light on those instances, when Transylvanian nobles had direct ties to the royal court, either personally or through the mediation of their domini. During Sigismund of Luxemburgs fifty year long reign, the Hungarians received coats of arms in greater numbers than in the previous decades. The specific features of Hungarian heraldry thus emerged. The coats of arms issued in the period of time in question represented an important category that was depicted in Gothic style and respected the rules of Gothic heraldry.
62

2. Heraldry, Cartography and Patterns

Western civilization had long been part of Hungarys history in the late 1300. The early Eastern face of the realm seemed to have stayed in the age of the Arpadians. The Anjou age had brought closer together the kingdom and the Western world. The rule of Sigismund of Luxemburg strengthened this evolution. Hungary was Christendoms borderland as well as Christendoms member. Charters and cotes of arms are probably some of the best physical evidences for these developments. In return, the way in which the king and his subjects made of the charters and cotes of arms was a reflection of local traditions and local power relations, revealing the realms particular structure.

The Heraldic Charters of King Sigismund

Gyrgy Feiszt Hungarian National Archives, Archives of the Vas County, Szombathely The first granting of arms in Hungary dates back to king Sigismund of Luxemburgs rule. These documents are of special importance in Hungarian heraldry. Still, as most of the coats of arms were granted outside Hungary during king and later emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg's European travels, their study from a historical perspective is also of importance. This paper is a survey of all of Sigismund of Luxemburgs grants as well as an attempt to place them in their late medieval historical, political and social context.
61

In my view, it was a conscious royal policy to choose this type of reward. Endowed, with a good sense of politics, Sigismund had a real talent in making the most out of his possibilities. It is thus no surprise that he found a way of repaying loyalty that allowed him to earn the utmost with the least investment. The granting of coats of arms stood for a kind of donation that assured good relations between king and nobility. The nobility of the realm was repaid for the services rendered to king Sigismund of Luxemburg. Therefore, the loyalty of the nobles towards the king became even stronger. To improve his relationship with the nobles and to assure further fidelity was one of king Sigismund of Luxemburgs aims when he granted this type of privileges.

B. The Realm, its Monarch, his Subjects: Structure and Exception

Medieval Mapping of Transylvania: Cartography at the Time of Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368-1437)

Many of the challenges Sigismund of Luxemburg had to face, whether in Hungary or in Bohemia, to name the classical two examples for his realms, were of domestic nature. Sigismund became a figure of history because of his foreign policies, but it were his domestic decisions and results that en abled him to stand on the great political level. The connection between foreign and domestic politics was stronger than previously as also his various titles and possessions made it rather difficult to distinguish between the two. The medieval relation between state, ruler and subject was thus instrumental.

Lszl Grf Military College, Oxford Although very few maps have survived from the reign of emperor and king Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387-1437), there were nevertheless, at that time, significant advances in both the concept and the methodology of carto graphy. The change from the theocentric to the geocentric approach in de picting the world had already begun. The resulting late medieval maps were thus based increasingly on scientific survey showing physical reality rather than being primarerily a statement of Christian belief and faith. We are extremely fortunate indeed that one such maunscript map has survived showing the area between Belgrade (Beograd, Nndorfehr vr) and Constantinople (later, sixteen years after the death of king Sigismund, the Ottoman city of Istanbul). The map in question was made in all probability for king Sigismund of Luxemburg's Nicopolis campaign of 1396 against the Ottoman Empire that had taken over almost the entire Balkan Peninsula. This paper will endeavour to trace those changes in the concept and methodology of cartography and examine the resulting Codex Latin 7239' military' map of the Balkans. The analyzed map was drawn during the reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg, then taken as war booty to Constantinople from the library of king Matthias (Mtys, Matia) Corvinus in Buda (Ofen) by the Ottomans. The map is now housed in the Bibliothque Nationale in Paris.
63

I. Rex, reguli et regnum

There were few kings how had to confront as many autarchs, within a single realm, as Sigismund. In order to overcome theme, he had to reinforce both the authority of the monarch as well as, in a more modern sense, the authority of the state. Such endeavors involved making of use of the legal concepts, of local structures and of several rewards. This was particularly difficult as the political context left little room for mistake and as the rulers need for money was hard to exhaust and usually led to the exhaustion of the realm. Until his death, Sigismund of Luxemburg tried to avoid such collapses.

1. The Center and its Limits

In Hungary, in particular, Sigismund of Luxemburg had to deal with a strong sense of local power and personal privilege and right. The respect for these freedoms, some a great burden for a monarch struggling to impose his will, was the actual constitution of the realm. He thus tried not so much to respect the existing rulings, but their legal and formal essence, and to enforce the idea of privilege by his own acts and by his own men. To a certain degree, the king tried to replace the existing structure of freedoms with his own.
64

Les nobles et knezi Roumains pendant les combats du roi Sigismond pour la consolidation de son rgne (1387-1404)
Ioan Drgan Archives Nationales Roumaines, Dpartement de Cluj, Cluj-Napoca Le rgne du roi Sigismond de Luxembourg a t une tape dcisive dans lvolution de llite Roumaine du Royaume de Saint Etienne. Notamment dans les premires deux dcennies du rgne de Sigismond, prendrant les lourds combats pour la consolidation de son pouvoir royal contre, en mme temps, ou la fois, les barons hongrois et lEmpire Ottoman, la structure de cette lite Roumaine a subi des dveloppements importants. Lors de la victoire du roi Sigismond contre les barons rebelles, en 1403-1404, parmi lesquels la famille Drago, avec Balc, Drag et leurs familiers du Maramure (Mramaros, Maramosch) la tte, un grand nombre de knezi et nobles Roumains, surtout du Haeg (Htseg, Hotzing) et du Banat, se trouvaient du cot du roi. Notre prsentation se borne retracer les tapes de cette volution et confrontation et leurs consquences pour le statut socio-juridique de llite roumaine du Royaume mdival dHongrie, partir du rgne de Sigismond de Luxembourg.

Die berlieferung der Sigismunds Dekrete vom 1405

Gza rszegi Ungarisches Nationalarchiv, Budapest In der zweiten Hlfte des 14. Jahrhunderts und am Anfang des 15. Jahr hunderts, nahm die Entwicklung der ungarischen Stdte einen strmischen Aufschwung. Sigismund von Luxemburg hat schon frh diesen Aufschwung durch die Verleihung von Privilegien, Messe- und Zollbegnstigungen ge frdert. Der zunehmende Verkehr und die wirtschaftlichen und politischen Bestrebungen des stdtischen Brgertums erforderten die Regelung der Rechtslage der Stdte und deren Handelsverbindungen. Das bewog, im Frh ling des Jahres 1405, den Herrscher die Vertreter der Stdte, Marktflecken
65

und kniglichen Drfer zusammenzurufen und nach Anhren ihrer Beschwer den und Privilegien, diese mit den Vornehmen des Landes errternd, sein erstes Dekret des Jahres 1405 zu erlassen. Gegenwrtig, werden ein Dutzend Versionen (Kopien) dieses ersten Dekrets des Knigs Sigismunds aus dem Jahre 1405 in verschiedenen Stadtarchiven aufbewahrt. Nach Beratung mit den aus den Stdten und freien Drfern einberufenen Abgesandten entstand, der Einleitung nach offensichtlich auf dem Reichs tag, Sigismunds zweites Gesetz (eingegeben im Corpus Iuris als III. Dekret des Knigs Sigismund). Das Original ist nicht mehr erhalten und auch das Datum des Dekrets ist strittig. Dem Corpus Iuris, dem verlorenen grsseren Esterhzy-Kodex und dem Kodex von Kaschau (Koice, Kassa) nach, wurde das Dekret, in festo sancti Dominici confessoris (5. August bzw. 24. Mai), aus gefertigt. Dem Ilosvay-Kodex nach, wurde des in festo beati Gregorii papae (12. Mrz), ausgestellt. Die im Kollr-Kodex erhalten Fassung trgst als Ausstellungsdatum den 18. Juni (in festo sacratissimi corporis Christi). Aufgrund dieser Quellen setzt Kovachich die Entstehung des Dekrets auf den Tag des Heiligen Dominikus. Schmitth, Katona, Fejr verffentlichen das Dekret demgegenber mit dem Datum 31. August 1404, wie auch die gemeinsame Fehlerquelle, das Diplomatarium crucigerorum de Alba, worin die Jesuiten das nach Pressburg (Bratislava, Pozsony) gerettete Privatarchiv des Kreuzritterkonvents von Stuhlweissenburg (Szkesfehrvr) kopierten. Die Frage des Datums des Sigismunds Dekrets wird durch das, dem Original nchststehende Exemplar entschieden. Dieses findet sich im Privat archiv des Kreuzritterkonvents von Stuhlweissenburg, im authentischen Trans sumpt des Kapitels von Stuhlweissenburg vom 23. April 1406. Die Klrung des Datums ist vor allem deshalb wichtig, da das hier ange nommene Datum das Dekret in gewissen Einzelheiten als Wiederholung des Stdtegesetzes erscheinen lsst. Dabei rechnet es mit den Privilegien des Adels, untersagt die Missbruche der kniglichen Beamten, Richter, Steuer eintreiber. Es bietet sogar auch den Leibeigenen wichtige Sicherheiten: es besttigt ihr Recht freih umzusiedeln, beschrankt die Anwendung dr Verstm melung als Strafe und kmpft gegen Eigenmachtigkeit u.s.w. In der Fachliteratur war es strittig, ob dieses Dekret auf einem Reichstag enstanden ist. Diejenigen, die diese Frage bejahten, glaubten darin einen Beweis dafr zu sehen, dass die Stdte zur Zeit des Knigs Sigismund auf den Reichstagen vertreten waren und sich das Brgertum zu einem Stand organisierte. Elemr Mlyusz lieferte durch die grndliche Analyse des Wort lautes des Dekrets den Beweis dafr, dass die Beratung aus dem Jahre 1405 nicht als ungarischer Reichstag betrachtet werden kann, weil die Abgesandten der Komitate (der Gespannschaften) nicht daran teilnahmen. Das Dekret des Knigs Sigismunds von Luxemburg ist nach Beratung aufgrund der Verhandlung des kniglichen Rates und seiner Beschlsse entstanden.
66

Es beachtenswert ist, dass das, auf dem 2. April 1405 datierte, und der Stadt Debreczin (Debrecen) verliehene Privileg nicht nur im Geiste des De krets verfasst worden ist, sondern dessen Artikel III-IV. beinahe wortwrtlich enthlt. Vom allgemeinen Brauch abweichend, sandte Knig Sigismund von Luxemburg das Dekret der Versammlung des Komitats Pest-Pilis - und wahrscheinlich auch anderer Komitaten - zu. Dieses ungewhnliche Verfahren zeugt von der Anerkennung und Untersttzung der stndischen Bestrebungen des Gemeinadels.

Les congrgations gnrales en Transylvanie sous le rgne de Sigismond

2. Local Powers and Regional Ambitions

Transylvania was the special province of the Hungarian realm. This was no novelty for any medieval politician. The fact that it had no crown on its own did not seem to hinder all too much local Transylvanian autonomy. This autonomy was further subdived into several real or attempted small ler local autonomies. In fact, Transylvania, taking into account both its me dieval and its modern structure, could have been viewed, from Buda to the East, as a succession of appendixes. Royal administration was therefore a challenge for every holder of office, for his career as well as that of a local potentate depended largely on an least two kinds of power relationships.

Zoltn Korde Universit de Szeged Les congrgations gnrales (congrs juridiques) se transforment sous le rgne du roi Sigismond de Luxembourg. Cest alors que commence la formation du corporatisme transylvanienne. La confrence examine le processus jusqua la fin du rgne de Sigismond de Luxembourg, cest--dire jusqua lunion de Kpolna (Cplna), le 16 septembre 1437, union qui est lacte symbolique de la naissance du corporatisme transylvanien.

Spuren einer vom niederen Adel ausgebten Autonomie aus Siebenbrgen des ausgehenden 14. Jahrhunderts
Szilrd Stt Miskolc Universitt Eine der grssten Gestalten ungarischer Medivistik des 20. Jahrhundert, Josef Der, hat am Ende seines Essays ber das mittelalterliche Siebenbrgen die Eigenart der transsylvanischen Gesellschaftsentwicklung mit den folgenden Worten charakterisiert (vom Verfasser aus dem Ungarischen berstzt):
Wollen wir um jeden Preis nach einer Kontinuitt zwischen dem mittelalter lichen Siebenbrgen und demjenigen der Neuzeit suchen, knnen wir diese ausschlielich nur als ein festes antidemokratisches Moment erkennen.

The Court of Queen Barbara

Tams Plosfalvi Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History, Budapest

Im Laufe aber des Aufarbeitens der ra zwischen dem Tode Ludwigs (Lajos) des Grossen und der Thronbesteigung Sigismunds von Luxemburg sind einige, zum
67 68

grssten Teil frher unedierte und von dem obigen Gesichtspunkt aus nicht aus gewertete Urkunden ans Licht gekommen, denen zufolge die zitierte Aussage, mindestens was das spte 14. Jahrhundert angeht, modifiziert werden muss. Die Bedeutung dieser zwischen 1384 und 1386 verfaten Urkunden kann nur vor dem Hintergrund der gesamtungarischen politischen und gesellschaft lichen Entwicklung jener Epoche richtig aufgefat werden. Whrend der chaotischen Zeit zwischen Ludwig und Sigismund ist in Ungarn nmlich anhand mehrerer legislativer Quellen, sowie der besten erzhlenden, von dem Venezianer Lorenzo de Monacis gebotenen Darstellung dieser Jahre eine frher unvorstellbare, und auch jetzt nur vorbergehend auftretende geschichts formende Kraft zu beobachten, und zwar die des niederen Adels. In der engeren, im Titel des Vortrags angegebenen Beziehung handelt es sich um von verschiedenen Ausstellern stammende Urkunden, die direkt oder indirekt entweder auf die sich vergrerte Macht des von dem Woiwoden nicht mehr abhngigen, gegebenenfalls korporativ angesehenen Siebenbrger Adels, oder auf dessen transsylvanisches Selbstbewutsein hindeuten. So ist es z.B. besonders aufschlureich, da sich manche Mchtige von Ungarn unter ihnen auch selbst der woyuoda Transsilvanus [!] in einer Steuerangelegenheit am 8. Juni 1384 von Ofen aus an den Siebenbrger Adel (universis et singulis nobilibus in regno Transsilvano existentibus atque commorantibus) wenden, ihn hflich ansprechen (vestre igitur scribimus nobilitatibus [sic!]), von ihm eine Strafbemessung erwarten, und sich der Entscheidung des Adels unterwerfen (et nos, si non fecerimus, gravamen per vos ordinatum ad nos recipiemus). In einem anderen Fall von hchstem Interesse geben die Kniginnen Maria und Elisabeth dem Weissenburger Kapitel einen Statutionsbefehl am 25. Juni 1386 aus, aus dem hervorgeht, da die Siebenbrger Adeligen (quod nobiles partis Transsilvane predicte) ein Landgut des Woiwoden eigenmchtig (possessionem suam [...] contra nostram et ipsius domini Ladislay [sic!] voyvode voluntatem) okkupiert haben. Kein Wunder, dass der Statution dann gemss dem Judiz des Siebenbrger Adels (ad deliberationem nobilium partis Transsilvane et iudicium et adiu[dicationem]) widersprochen wurde. Nach solchen und hnlichen Erscheinungen darf man darin keine Unmg lichkeit mehr sehen, da es in einer vom 11. Juli 1386 datierten, und leider nur als neuzeitliche Kopie erhaltenen Urkunde, die zwar von den Kniginnen Maria und Elisabeth ausgestellt, trotzdem nach einem in Siebenbrgen ausgefertigten Konzept geschrieben worden ist, der ehemalige Knig Ludwig nicht als Knig von Ungarn, sondern nur als Knig von Siebenbrgen (condam excellentissimi principis domini Ludovici regis Transsilvaniae) vorkommt. Die frhere Forschung hat diese Urkunde fr Flschung gehalten, ihre Einwnde haben sich aber nicht als stichhaltig erwiesen: im Gegenteil, es gibt mehrere Indizien, nach denen es kaum zu bestreiten ist, da der heutigen Kopie eine, vielleicht interpolierte, aber jedenfalls im Jahre 1386 geschriebene Urkunde zugrunde lag.
69

Die oben dargestellte Machtstellung des Siebenbrger Adels scheint mit der Thronbesteigung Sigismunds und der Konsolidation der Magnatenherrschaft aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach noch in der Phase der Institutionalisierung dahin geschwunden zu sein, und dieses Phnomen ist aufgrund der sporadisch er haltenen Angaben nicht mehr mit voller Sicherheit nachzuvollziehen. Die in ihm augenscheinlich sehr starke transsylvanische Komponente darf nicht fr den Ausgangspunkt, sondern eher fr ein rein partikulares Element angesehen werden. Alles in allem: das jetzt skizzierte Intermezzo steht in keinem Gegen satz zur frher nicht eingehend genug erforschten gesamtungarischen Ent wicklung dieser Jahre, sondern ergnzt vielmehr unsere Kenntnisse davon.

Universitas Hungarorum et Valachorum: North-Western Transylvania at the Time of the Boblna Uprising (1437-1438)

Tudor Slgean National Museum for the History of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca The Boblna uprising (1437-1438) broke out in the last days of king Sigismund of Luxemburg reign. Its causes and developments are to the present day controversial and lack satisfactory explations. The initial territorial area of the uprising, its center, is surprisingly similar to the early Transylvanian dominium of the Hungarian ruler Tuhutum that was formed after the conquest of a local political structure, a structure described by Anonymous (Magister P). Unable to enter the ranks of the nobility during the 14th century, the halfprivileged families of that area nevertheless kept on claimining their ancient freedoms. The main leaders of this movement of Hussite extraction, such as master Paul (Pl) of Voivodeni (Vajdahza), flag bearer of the university of the Hungarians and Romanians, Anton (Antal) the Great from ()Buda (Bodonkt, Budendorf, Vechea) or master Thomas of Sic (Szk(akna), Secken), came from the villages and boroughs in the vicinity of Cluj (Klausenburg, Kolozsvr). After the initial victory of the rebels against the voivodes army, a peace agreement was signed in Cluj-Mntur (Kolozsmonstor, Abtsdorf), on July 6, 1437. For it was not confirmed by aging king Sigismund of Luxemburg, it was ignored by the nobles, like the later agreement of Apatiu (Dellapti), of September. Later that same year, the radical wing of the revolted peasants once again took up arms, under the leadership of Anton the Great (Budai Nagy
70

Antal). This time, the aim of the rebels was to overthrow the existing order and replace it with a new kind of freedom (libertatis nova specie).

1. Charters and Profit

Few reigns in the East-Central European history of the 14th and 15th centuries have left so much archive material as the Hungarian reign of king Sigismund of Luxemburg. The quite impressive documentary material, only a fraction of the charters issued in that period, provides the image of an almost bureaucratic society with altogether rather modern aims and needs. It is quite difficult to say whether the society preserved in part in these charters was a more learned society, in respect to the mid and late 1300 or just a society more conscientious, following also the experience of the age of the Anjous, of the importance of written proofs and agreements. Nevertheless, the value of documents in these late medieval relations, social, political or commercial, is a further proof for development of an active society focused on profit.

The Authorities of the Dbca County in the Middle Ages

Andrs W. Kovcs The Society of the Transylvanian Museum, Kolozsvr Most of the charters of the authorities (i.e. the count and the two seat judges) of the Dbca (Doboka) county are the result of the local judicial matters, but offer also information on the place of the county in regional and state politics. The charters, though they are mainly the result of lawsuits and judicial sentences and decisions, are not only valuable for the history of law, but offer also important insights into the local literacy issue, the local legal proceses, the local genealogy. In a word, the charters and deeds in question are important sources for the history of the local history and medieval nobility. The lecture focuses on the more or less known careers of the local office holders, as well as on life of the lower nobility which was active namely within the administrative and geographic borders of the county, revealing thus also a system of social, family, relations. At the same time, a more general me dieval picture begins to surface, that of the organization, functioning and of the institutional development of the counties of Transylvania. These counties reveal feature that differ to a certain degree from those of the Hungarian ones.

Die Deutschen und die Italiener in dem ungarischen Bergbau (Kupfergewinnung in der Sigismund-ra)

Istvn Draskczy Etvs Lornd Universitt, Budapest Aufgrund der vorherigen Forschungsergebnissen kamen die frheren Historiker zu der Auffassung dass die oberdeutschen Unternehmer in Ungarn Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts eine wichtigere Rolle, als die Italiener spielten. Die neuesten Forschungen (Andrs Kubinyi, Zsuzsa Teke, Istvn Draskczy, Krisztina Arany) wiesen in der ungarischen Fachliteratur jedoch darauf hin, dass die italienischen Unternehmer, nach wie vor, bedeutende Positionen im Bergbau in Ungarn behielten. Die die Geschichte der ungarischen Kupfer kammer betreffenden sporadischen Angaben belegen weiter diese Meinung. Unter den Kupferkmmerern in der Regierungszeit Knigs Sigismund von Luxemburg sind nicht nur Deutsche, sondern auch Italiener nachzuweisen. Der Florentiner, Tommaso Melanesi, hat im Jahre 1435, als Kupfergespan, die Kammern in Schmlnitz (Smolnk, Szomolnok) und Glnitz (Hnilec) an Urban Polner, Brger von Leutschau (Levoa, Lcse), verpachtet. Er hatte die Beziehungen zu den oberdeutschen Unternehmer. Der Pachtvertrag zwischen Tommaso Melanesi und Urban Polner aus dem gleichen Jahre 1435 stellte einen regelrechten Geschftsabschluss dar, wodurch die Partner die Preise, die Transportwege, ber Ofen (Buda), nach Deutschland und Italien und die
72

II. Revenues and Rewards

After a decade of rule, the royal revenues and estates had decreased to a Hungarian level not known since the end of the Arpadian dinasty. The king had to confront the Ottoman Empire basically with little or no means. What happened over the next decades therefore resembles a miracle, even though Sigismund of Luxemburg did not change the face of the realm or bring back the royal domains back to their extent from the Anjou age. The monarch managed however to salvage the royal institutions and establish a wide enough base for his foreign actions. Regional and local social, political and commercial structures sensed the change and responded to it.
71

Gewinne gemeinsam regelten. Zu jener Zeit wirkten also die Mitglieder der zwei Interessengruppen in der Kupfergewinnung ttig zusammen.

Die Regelung der Ttigkeit der Glaubwrdigenorte zur Zeit des Knigs Sigismund
Kroly Vekov Babe-Bolyai Universitt, Klausenburg Die Ttigkeit einer der Einrichtungen, die am meisten fr die Schrift kundigen des privaten Rechtes charakteristisch war der Glaubwrdigenorte/ Beglaubigungsorte (loca credibilia) stand in enger Verknpfung mit der allgemeinen Entwicklung des ungarischen Knigreiches, mit der immer tiefer gehenden Vernderung der Eigentumsverhltnisse. Diese Vernderungen der Eigentumsverhltnisse und die immer mehrschichtigeren juridischen Trans aktionen bewirkten die Zunahme der Anzahl der mittelalterlichen Urkunden der Glaubwrdigenorte, und gleichzeitig ihre stilistische Diversifizierung. Die Tradition dieser mittelalterlichen ungarischen Einrichtung fortsetzend, werden die Urkunden der Anjou- und Sigismund-Epoche in stilistischer Hinsicht immer verschiedenartiger. Deshalb, parallel mit der Regelung der Ttigkeit der kniglichen Kanzlei wurde auch die neue Regelung auf Landesebene der lokalen Beglaubigungsttigkeit, inklusive die genaue Bestimmung der Gebhren fr die Urkunden der Glaubwrdigenorte vorgenommen. Diese Regelungen, zusammen mit den spteren, vereinheitlichten auf Landesebene die Ttigkeit aller dieser Einrichtungen. Gleichzeitig trug die immer bessere Bestimmung der Ttigkeit dieser zu einer wirkungsvollen Rolle bis ins 19. Jahrhundert.

denen eine betrchtliche Anzahl von Siegeln (mehr als 10 Stck) zu finden ist. In den meisten Fllen sind diese Urkunden Staatsvertrge, welche die hohen Wrdentrger des ungarischen Knigreiches (z.B. hohe Geistliche, Barone, Vornehme) durch das Anhngen ihrer persnlichen Siegel bekrftigt haben. Hierzuzhlen sind weiterhin auch die Abkommen, die die Untertanen des ungarischen Knigs mit ihrem Herrscher abgeschlossen haben. Diese vielbesiegelten mittelalterlichen Urkunden wurden in allgemeinen nicht in dem kniglichen Archiv von Buda (Ofen) aufbewahrt, Archiv welches zur Zeit der Trkenherrschaft zerstrt wurde. Diese Urkunden gerieten in das mittelalterliche Archiv des anderen Vertragpartners, d.h. zumeist ins Ausland. So konnten manche der Urkunden in Frage erhalten werden. Die Bearbeitung der Siegel dieser Urkunden wurde auf der Initiative von Pl Engel begonnen. Zusammen mit ihm haben wir mehr als 25 Urkunden registriert. Die bercksichtigten Urkunden sind heutzutage in Wien (Bcs), Warschau (Warszawa), Dubrovnik (Ragusa) und Budapest aufzufinden. An diesen Urkunden hngen insgesamt viel mehr als 800 Siegel.

2. Families and Followers

The rule of Sigismund of Luxemburg brought significant changes on the level of the political feudal elite of Hungary, already affected by the crisis of the interregnum. In particular, after the Hungarian rebellion of the early 1400, the changes that eventually led to what was later named the social mobility of the fifteenth century became evident. In this respect it is worth noting that the rise of the low-born national dynasty of the Hunyadi would have been impossible without the rule of Sigismund, forced to seek supporters outside the ranks of the traditional elite. Such successes were however short-lived.

Court Nobility during King Sigismund of Luxemburgs Reign: The Himfi Family between the 1380 and the 1440 Vielbesiegelte Urkunden in Ungarn im 14-15. Jahrhundert
Pl Lvei Nationalamt fr die Bewahrung des Kulturebes, Budapest Die wichtigsten, bis auf den heutigen Tag mehrheitlich unausgenutzten Quellen der mittellaterlichen Siegel in Ungarn stellen die Urkunden dar, an
73

Cosmin Popa-Gorjanu 1st of December University, Alba Iulia The Himfis had become members of the court nobility during the reigns of the Anjou kings (Charles Robert (Carlo, Kroly-Rbert), Louis (Lajos) I). They
74

succeeded in climbing the social ladder and in attaining the rank of magnates through one of their most succesful members, namely Benedict (Benedek) Himfi, who became ban of Bulgaria in 1370. For almost thirty years, Benedict Himfi had his place among the key political players of the Hungarian realm, as count of various counties, diplomat, or warlord. The Himfis were among the richest landowners in the Banat, but also they had several estates in their native county of Veszprm and in other other western Hungarian counties. Still, the most significant fact about the medieval Himfi family is that an exceptionally great number of 14th-15th century charters from her archives have survived. The case of the Himfis is thus much better documented than those of many other more important Hungarian noble families. Several pieces of the Himfis private and official correspondence, reflecting the workings of the political life in the first half of the 15th century, have survived. The last decades of Louis I the Greats reign represented the apogee of the Himfis political activities. This situation is in contrast with the less important careers of the next generation of Himfis. Their relative unsuccess fulness in preserving their position of royal court politicians can be partially explained by various factors (e.g. demography), as well as by political rivalries. Pushed out from the royal palace, the members of the Himfi family kept their status of royal knights (milites aule regie). They were often recorded as participants in the royal Hungarian anti-Ottoman campaigns of the 13901400. The Himfis were thus forced to seek employment in the service of influential potentates holding offices in the borderareas of the Banat. During the rebellion of 1403-1404, members of the Himfi family fought against king Sigismund of Luxemburg, as familiares of the rebellious voivods of Transylvania. However, towards the end of the conflict, the Himfis changed sides. During the next decades, members of the family served the counts or bans of Timi (Temes), such as Pipo of Ozora or Frank of Talovac.

hierarchy of the Hungarian royal court. The history of the Suky family during the late 1300 and early 1400 is a good example for such ascension. Give their rather quick social rise during Sigismund of Luxemburgs nevertheless long rule, the Suky family can be used as an example in our analysis. The presentation is also an attempt to draw the development line of a noble family and its status from local noblemen to court nobility. Prior to the rule of Sigismund of Luxemburg, during the Anjou age and the interregnum the Suky family was mainly involved in county politics and less in central politics. These facts pose an important question that needs to be answered. What was the role played by the royal court in the ascension of the Sukys and which are the actual achievements that they can be credited with?

Hereditary Countships in the Age of Sigismund of Luxemburg

Norbert C. Tth Hungarian National Archives, Budapest Hereditary countship is by no means a hitherto unknown institution in the history of the medieval kingdom of Hungary. Some of the prelates had enjoyed the right to bear the title of hereditary count of a given county since the end of the rpd era, whereas members of the secular aristocracy are known to have done the same from the second half of the 15th century. The beginnings of the institution were discussed by Imre Hajnik, Az rks fispnsg a magyar alkotmnytrtnetben [Hereditary countship in Hungarian constitutional history] (1888), or Richrd Horvth, in Gyr megye hatsgnak oklevelei (13181525) [The charters of the county of Gyr] (2005). As for the late 1400, the era of king Matthias (Mtys, Matia) is relatively well-known due to the research done by Andrs Kubinyi, in his study, A megysispnsgok 1490-ben s Corvin Jnos trnrksdsnek problmi [The counties in 1490 and the problems of John Corvinus Accession to the Throne] (1982). On the other hand, the situation in the late Anjou era (the last period of king Louis (Lajos) I the Greats rule and the interregnum) and early under the reign of king Sigismund of Luxemburg has not yet been put to scientific analysis. The present paper intends to shed light on these particular time spans, make use mainly of the new information base offered by the charter collection (ZsO) of the age of king Sigismund of Luxemburg.
76

The Suky Family and the Royal Court of Sigismund of Luxemburg

Enik Rsz-Fogarasi Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca The present paper is a survey of the possibilities and opportunities that lay before a medieval Transylvanian nobleman aiming to the advance in the
75

DHenri VII Sigismond de Luxembourg: une dynastie impriale lpreuve du poison

Franck Collard Universit Paris X Nanterre Le dernier empereur de la maison de Luxembourg, Sigismond, na pas chapp au sort accablant sa ligne. Sil nen est pas mort, Sigismond (13681437) il passe pourtant, comme ses anctres et son frre Wenceslas (Wenzel, Vclav), roi de Bohme (1378-1419), pour avoir t confront lempoisonnement alors quil ntait encore que roi de Hongrie en 1404. La confrence aura pour but de remettre en perspective cet pisode peu connu, rapport notamment par Thomas Ebendorfer, en rflchissant plus gnralement sur le sens des affaires de poison survenues ou censes tre dans la dynastie Luxembourg. Rien moins quanecdotiques, elles ont en ralit jou un rle de lgitimation ou de justification jusquici peu remarqu.

The Danube-Tisza-Maros Region During the Reign of King Sigismund

Istvn Petrovics University of Szeged In the first part of the paper, the geographical, administrative and ethnic characteristic features of the region bordered by the rivers Danube (Dunre, Duna), Tisza (Tisa), Maros (Mure) and the Ruska Mountains (Munii Poiana Rusci) are described and submitted to a brief scientific analysis in terms of historical geography. Afterwards, the lecture focuses on two main questions: 1. The increasing Ottoman incursions and raids that threatened the region in question from the late fourteenth century on, and consequently the efforts made by Sigismund of Luxemburg and his barons of the realm in order to halt the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, under the lead of sultans Bayezid I and Mehmed I in the late 1300 and the first decades of the 15th century. 2. The urban development of the region, namely the history of medieval Temesvr (Timioara, Temeswar) which played a significant role in the antiOttoman wars, for the town was the centre of Temes (Timi) county.

III. Royal Borderlands

In particular the southern and eastern borders of the realm gave the king reason for concern. Unlike the other borders of the Hungarian kingdom, they did not separate the realm from Latin rite neighbors but mainly from Muslim infidels and Greek schismatics. The system of banates and the Voivodate of Transylvania had already recieved special attention from the crown, also because of their inner particularities. Sigismund of Luxemburg became soon aware after his rise to the throne that a frontier was not a line, but an area.

Die Befestigungssysteme in Sdsiebenbrgen (Ende des 14. Jahrhunderts-Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts)

Ioan Marian iplic Lucian Blaga Universitt, Hermannstadt Whrend der letzten Jahre der Herrschaft von Karl Robert (Carlo, KrolyRbert) von Anjou begann auch der Machtrckgang der Goldenen Horde. In diesem Zusammenhang sollte auch die Errichtung staatlicher Strukturen stlich und sdlich der Karpaten betrachtet werden. Ludwig (Lajos) I., der Nachfolger Karl Roberts, fhrte die Politik seines Vorgngers im Bereich der verwaltungs technischen und militrischen Reorganisation des Knigreichs weiter. Das Ende der tatarischen Machtausbung im Raum zwischen der Donau und den Karpaten steht in enger Verbindung mit der Ausdehnung des litauischen Staates in Richtung Schwarzes Meer, der whrend eines Jahrhunderts selb
78

1. Defense, Trade and their Consequences

Sigismund of Luxemburg had to invest in his borderlands, making use also of several foreigners, not of natives. A peculiar result of these actions was, for instance, the development of a small Renaissance culture in the area of the Banat. The usually intense trade in these regions encouraged the rise of a strong local identity, namely in the case of the Saxons. It is worth noting that in some border areas such royal investments had the potential to backfire, by widening the gap between the center and the increasingly strong border area.
77

stndig oder in Verbindung mit Polen eine entscheidende Rolle in Osteuropa gespielt hat. Zwei Anfhrer ersten Ranges haben diese bemerkenswerte interna tionale Behauptung Litauens personifiziert: der Knese Olgierd (Algirdas) (13451377) und sein Neffe Witold (Vytautas) (1384-1430). Der litauische Vorstoss zum Schwarzen Meer hat die tatarische Herrschaft auf dem Gebiet der Moldau von der nordpontischen Steppe abgetrennt, die immer noch unter der Herrschaft der Goldenen Horde oder verschiedener daraus gebildeter Formationen blieb. Die Politik der Angevinen war nicht einzigartig in diesem Teil Europas. hnliche Muster gibt es in anderen benachbarten Gebieten, in Polen, zu dem Siebenbrgen starke hnlichkeiten aufweist. In der Zeit des Knigs Kazimir (Kazimierz) III. dem Grossen (1333-1370) wurden hier eine Reihe von Grenzbe festigungen errichtet und den grsseren Stdten wurde auch das Befestigungs recht zugesprochen, da man die Bildung eines Systems anstrebte, dass Krakau (Krakw) schtzen sollte. Ein weiteres System von Grenzbefestigungen, errichtet als Antwort auf das System aus Sdsiebenbrgen war das der Walachei, voll stndig herausgebildet am Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts, in dem eine wichtige Funktion den Befestigungen von Ceteni, Poienari, Turnul lui Doang zukam.

entrusted by Sigismund of Luxemburg with administrative, political, military and religious charges in these (border) areas of the Hungarian realm. The entourage of the Scolari and Buondelmonti was made up also by Florentine artists and humanists active in the Banat and Criana regions. An inquiry on personalities and activities of these artists and humanists sheds new light on their efforts and achievements, financed and or ordered by the families Scolari and Buondelmonti under scientific scrutiny. Likewise, such a research is a contribution to the study of the Italian Renaissance at its oriental limits, as well as a more than needed complement to the cultural history of the areas between the Carpathians and the Mid and Lower Danube.

Sigismund von Luxemburg und Langenau (Cmpulung)

The Italian Renaissance and Humanism at their Eastern Limit: Timioara and Oradea. The Role of the Families Scolari and Buondelmonti

Alexandru Ciocltan Rumnische Akademie Nicolae Iorga Institut fr Geschichte, Bukarest Sigismund von Luxemburg hat in Mittel- und Sdosteuropa hauptschlich drei Ziele verfolgt: die Bekmpfung der Osmanen, die Kirchenunion und die Aus rottung der hussitischen Ketzerei. 1393 erreichte das Osmanenreich die Donau grenze und bildete somit eine ernsthafte Bedrohung fr den ungarischen Staat. Zwei Jahre spter schloss der Herrscher der Walachei, Mircea I. cel Btrn (der Alte), mit dem ungarischen Knig ein Schutz- und Trutzbndnis gegen die Trken angefhrt vom siegreichen Sultan Bayezid I, der Sohn Murad I. Die zweimalige Anwesenheit Sigismunds von Luxemburg in Langenau (Cmpulung) steht in unmittelbarem Zusammenhang mit seinem Kampf gegen die osmanische Grossmacht. Die am sdlichen Ausgang des Trzburger (Bran) Passes gelegene Ortschaft Langenau eignete sich vortrefflich als strategi sches Sprungbrett fr seine Vorhaben. Unter Bentzung dieser Basis gelang es 1395 seiner Truppen die in der Walachei eingedrungenen Trken zu besiegen und die Donaufestung Turnu zurck zuerobern. Der ungarische Knig besuchte Anfang April 1427 unter hnlichen Umstnden wieder die Stadt. Fnf seiner hier verfertigten Urkunden bezeugen seine Ttigkeit. Whrend seiner Besuche in Langenau knpfte Sigismund von Luxemburg enge Beziehungen zur schsischen Gemeinde. Zumindest zwei ihrer Mitglieder haben ihm wertvolle Dienste geleistet. Der erste unter ihnen, Haidmcz von Langenau, vertrat seine Heimatstadt auf dem vom letzten Luxemburger
80

Ioan Haegan Romanian Academy, Titu Maiorescu Institute for Socio-Humanistic Research, Timioara The lecture focuses on a less researched topic. The passage ways of the Italian Renaissance and Humanism from the Italian Peninsula to Timioara (Temeswar, Temesvr) and Oradea (Grosswardein, Nagyvarad) in the early 1400, during the second half of the Hungarian reign of king Sigismund of Luxemburg fully deserve our scientific attention. The passage in question, of the first Italian Renaissance, made, to the East, over the Alps, involved a cul tural process with the cities of Timioara and Oradea as its eastern limits. Two Florentine families, the Scolari and the Buondelmonti played a major part in this process, by some of their most significant representatives, Filippo and Andrea Scolari, respectively Giovanni Buondelmonti. They were
79

geleiteten Konstanzer Konzil (1414-1418). Der zweite, und auch der bekan nteste, Petermann de Longocampo, trat wahrscheinlich 1427 in Sigismunds Dienst anlsslich des Feldzuges gegen die Osmanen. Als armiger in der knig lichen Gefolgschaft nahm er 1433 am Romzug und an der Kaiserkrnung seines Gnners teil. Er liess die Gelegenheit nicht verpassen und verlangt vom Papst Erlassbriefe fr diejenigen seiner Mitbrger, die sich an der Ausbes serung der Sankt Jakobuskirche in Langenau beteiligten. Seine treuen Dienste belohnte der Knig mit drei Drfer in Siebenbrgen. 1432, als Folge des Plnderzuges der Osmanen, flchtete Petermanns Familie samt vieler anderer Bewohner von Langenau ber die Karpaten in Siebenbrgen. Die trkischen Einflle von 1395, 1421 und 1432 zogen die Ortschaft, die sich auf dem Hauptweg, der die Walachei und das Burzenland (ara Brsei) verband, schwer in Mitleidenschaft. Knig Sigismund von Luxemburg erbat, im Jahre 1427, den ppstlichen Legat, die Privilegien des Dominikanerklosters, die whrend einer kriegerischen Unternehmung der Trken verschollen sind, zu erneuern. Die trkischen Einflle haben die ethnische Zusammensetzung der Stadt Langenau grundlegend verndert

2. Duties and Freedoms

King Sigismund of Luxemburgs need and search for supporters and revenues determined an unprecedented number of privileges. In his quest for stability, Sigismund supported urban trading activities and the growth of loyal noble domains in the areas most likely to come under foreign attack and most likely to offer him support, because of this, in times of crisis. Under these circumstances, dependent namely in the Transylvanian area also on his relations to the Walachias, local structures enjoyed a series of advantages.

Die Handelsprivilegien der Siebenbrger Sachsen zur Zeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg

Maria-Emilia Crngaci iplic Rumnische Akademie, Institut fr Sozio-Humanistische Studien, Hermannstadt In der vorliegenden Studie untersucht die Verfasserin die von den Sieben brger Sachsen der Sieben Sthle und des Distriktes Kronstadt (Braov,
81

Brass) zur Zeit der Herrschaft Sigismunds von Luxemburg erteilten Handels privilegien. Indem sie sich in ihrem Unterfangen vor allem auf eine Quelle, das Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der Deutschen in Siebenbrgen bezieht, versucht die Autorin anhand der komparativen Methode die Informationen hervorzuheben, die sich auf das Erlassen, die Besttigung/ Bekrftigung, die Urkundenanzahl betreffend den Handel und den Typus der den Sachsen zur Zeit Ludwigs I. verliehenen Handelsprivilegien beziehen, im Vergleich zu jenen, die sie unter Sigismund von Luxemburg zugeteilt erhielten. Aufgrund der auch vom statistischen Gesichtspunkt durchgefhrten Analyse der Urkunden ist es mglich, neue Ergebnissen zusammen zu tragen, die sich auf die vorwiegenden Ausrichtungen des in Hermannstadt (Sibiu) und Kronstadt getriebenen Handelsbeziehen. Aus den Urkunden geht hervor, dass Hermann stadt zur Zeit Ludwigs (Lajos) I. eine besondere Rolle fr den Handel spielte, der sich zwischen dem Ungarischen Reich und Mitteleuropa abwickelte. Whrend der Handel der Stadt und auch der Provinz Hermannstadt zur Zeit Ludwigs vorwiegend zum Abendland hin ausgerichtet war (1370 z.B. erwirkten die Hndler einen Zollerlass fr den Handelsweg zwischen Buda und Zara mit Ausnahme der Abgabe des Dreissigsten von Buda), war zur Zeit Sigismunds auch der Handel mit dem Sden, durch und in Richtung der Walachei, von immer grerer Bedeutung. Aus dem Vergleich der Anzahl der an die Stdte Kronstadt und Hermannstadt verliehenen Privilegien geht zweifelsohne hervor, dass Kronstadt, vor allem zur Herrschaftszeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg, die Mehrzahl an Handelsbeziehungen zur Walachei pflegte. Die Rolle der Handelsbeziehungen zwischen Hermannstadt und den sd lichen Regionen (der Walachei) geht auch aus dem recht frh (ab 1378) er folgten Beleg des Stapelrechts fr die durch fremde Hndler gehandelten Transit waren; diese Bedeutung geht auch aus der 1412 erlassenen Urkunde hervor, durch die Knig Sigismund den Kronstdter den Auftrag erteilte, den fremden Hndlern zu verbieten, in den Gebieten jenseits von Kronstadt, in der Walachei, Handel zu treiben, da sie dadurch den Hermannstdter Kauf leuten grossen Schaden zufgten. Erstaunlich ist es jedoch dass, im Unterschied zu Kronstadt, fr Hermannstadt keine von den walachischen Frsten erteilten Handelsprivile gien belegt sind, obwohl die kommerzielle Ttigkeit rege war. Was fr Hermann stadt im Vergleich mit Kronstadt nicht belegt ist, ist das Fehlen der Privilegien fr den Warentransit durch die Walachei. Hermannstadt erfreute sich jedoch einer Reihe von Privilegien, die sich auf den Zollerlass fr den Handel mit und in Richtung der Walachei bezogen, z.B. den Erlass des Dreissigsten in Kronstadt fr die aus der Walachei eingefhrten Waren. Die Nutzniesser der in der zweiten Hlfte des 14. Jahrhunderts und in der ersten Hlfte des 15. Jahrhunderts erteilten Handelsprivilegien sind von einer Zeitspanne zur anderen und von einer Handelsrichtung/von einer Region zur anderen unterschiedlich. So sind die Nutzniesser des ersten fr Kronstadt er
82

haltenen Handelsprivilegs (1358) der Richter, die Geschworenen und alle Patri zier und Gste von Kronstadt (iudici, iuratis et universis civibus ac hospitibus), die von Ludwig I. den freien Durchgang durch die Walachei, zwischen Buzu und Prahova bis zur Donau, zugesprochen erhielten. Whrend Ludwig I. fr Kronstadt fr den Fernhandel (nach Westen hin Dalmazien) nominelle Zoller lasse verlieh (1370; Nikolaus Seidlini, Johann Toyhann und Laurentius Seidlinii mit ihren Familien), erteilt Knig Sigismund von Luxemburg, im Jahre 1395, den Kronstdter Patriziern und Kauf leuten (cives et mercatores) infolge der von diesen dem Knigshaus erwiesenen Dienste das Recht, auf dem gesamten Gebiet des Ungarischen Reiches freien Handel zu treiben sowie auch in Teilen anderer fremder Lnder, vor allem nach Wien. Die bedeutenden von Hermannstadt und auch von Kronstadt erwor benen Privilegien sind auf den Einfluss und das Eingreifen vonseiten jener Personen zurck zu fhren, die aus den Reihen der Grfen stammten, die mit zahlreichen betuchten Familien von stdtischen Kaufleuten eheliche Ver bindungen eingegangen waren. Eine herausragende Persnlichkeit jenes Zeitalters war Comes Andreas von Hermannstadt, Knigsrichter von Hermann stadt (14131435); er war es auch, der sich im Jahre 1419 an Knig Sigismund wandte, um die Nichteinhaltung der Zollfreiheit Hermannstadts zu beanstanden.

king Sigismund of Luxemburg. Afterwards, the administration of these taxes is examined, as well as the way, the means of the payment (the coins used, the date of the payment) and the persons of the tax-collectors.

Ambitions et chances: La noblesse roumaine du Banat au temps de Sigismond de Luxembourg

Ligia Boldea Muse du Banat de Montagne, Reia Au seuil du XVe sicle, le rgne de Sigismond de Luxembourg a ressenti lascension sans prcdent des ligues nobiliaires, hostiles au roi encore de la priode de linterregnum. Pour neutraliser les structures, les alliances hostiles, le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg a tent de sassurer de lappui de la petite et moyenne noblesse, des villes et mme, notamment dans le cas de la fodalit roumaine, concentr dans des zones comme le Banat, le Haeg (Htseg, Hotzing), le Maramure (Mramaros, Maramosch) ou le Fgar (Fogaras, Fogarasch), de lappui des communauts rurales et des lites locales, qui combattaient pour leurs anciens privilges. La dfaite de Nicopolis (1396) a alourdi une fois de plus les relations entre le roi et les barons, la crise culminant avec la rvolte de 1403, touffe avec grande difficult par le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg. Pendant ces vnements les nobles du Banat ont prouv leur loyaut envers Sigismond de Luxembourg, notamment en ce qui concerne les vovodes rebelles de la Transylvanie, Nicolas (Mkls) Cski et Nicolas Marczaly, car les principales possessions de ces vovodes se trouvaient en Banat. Ainsi, les nobles de Mtnic (Mutnok) ont t rcompenss par le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg, en 1404, par la reconfirmation de la possession royale Vozeti, quils avaient matris auparavant moyennant le droit coutumier knziaux. Grce au contexte politique et militaire, la premire partie du rgne de Sigismond de Luxembourg a fourni le cadre favorable pour laffirmation de la noblesse roumaine du Banat. Dans cette priode, une bonne partie de cette catgorie sociale avait fait la transition du statut de knzes vers celui de knzes nobles par les titres du nouveau don. La couronne hongroise avait ainsi rcompens ceux qui, dj lpoque, taient regard comme les meilleurs lments de lutte et de rsistance la frontire du royaume.
84

The Tax Duties of the Transylvanian Saxons during the Age of Sigismund of Luxemburg

Zsolt Simon Romanian Academy, Gheorghe incai Institute of Social-Humanistic Research, Trgu Mure The medieval Transylvanian Saxons paid two types of taxes to the king of Hungary: the so-called tax of Saint Martins day (census sancti Martini) and the extraordinary tax (subsidium, taxa, contributio). The tax of Saint Martin was the ordinary tax of the Transylvanian Saxons that was paid on yearly base to the king of Hungary as their landlord, a tax established for the first time in the Andreanum of 1224. The extraordinary tax during the period in question could only be levied with the approval of the Hungarian Diet. The present paper analyzes the sum of these tax duties. The sum is reported then to the total incomes of the kingship, namely during the reign of
83

Lune des figures marquantes de lhistoire militaire du Banat dans la premire moiti du XVe sicle a t celle du fameux condottiere italien Filippo Scolari, descendant dune famille noble appauvrie des alentours de Florence et auteur dune brillante carrire la cour du Sigismond de Luxembourg. Le sauvetage du roi de 1403, rendu possible par le courage de Scolari et par son esprit entreprenant, a eu pour consquence lacquisition de la fonction de comte de Timi (Ternes), offerte par le roi, conjointement avec la garde de la frontire danubienne du royaume. De ce moment, Scolari a t le commandant des troupes du Banat dans tous les conflits majeurs de lage. Les documents mdivaux ont gard le nom des quelques dirigeants roumains distingus pendant ces guerres. Sigismond a confirm la famille de Dionisie, fils de Ciuc, la possession Mihlen du district Comiat (Komjt), r compense pour les services rendus pendant plusieurs expditions (1406), en spcial pendant la guerre de Bosnie. Un document de 1413 porte tmoignage sur la participation du knz noble Pierre (Petru) De de Temeel (Temeshely) aux campagnes anti-vnitiennes des annes prcdentes, Pierre acqurant le titre de comite avec la possession royale Orbagy du district Mehadia (Mehdia). Les combats de Severin (Szrny) ont apport au noble Bogdan de Mtnic la rcompense royale. Dans la mme anne 1420, la famille des knzes de Mgoia a t confirme dans la possession de trois knzats en rcompense pour les fidles services militaires offertes loccasion de ces combats. Aprs la mort de Filippo Scolari, la frontire du sud du royaume est reste sans dfense, car la Valachie non plus ne pouvait opposer des forces notables contre loffensive ottomane. Lexpdition de 1428 et la dfaite de larme royale sous les murs du fort Golu(m)bac ont produit un trs grave dsquilibre dans le systme de dfense de la rgion du Banat. En revanche, lors des combats de Golubac, un bon nombre de knzes nobles Roumains du Banat (parmi lesquels: Nicolas et Iacob de Bizerea, Lado de Bizerea et ses fils, Michel (Mihail) et Blasiu de Cerna) ont gagn la reconnaissance du roi. Beaucoup dautres sont tombs en lutte. On rappelait ainsi les noms de Roman et Michel de Mcica (Macsks). Aprs les combats, en rcompense, le roi a confirm, moyennant un nouveau don, toute la famille des nobles de Mcica leur possession sur les domaines ancestraux. La mme anne les nobles de la famille De ont t renforcs dans leur droit de matrise des domaines Iablanita et Zalyn, en signe de gratitude pour leurs fidles services militaires. Lanne suivante, pour les mmes considrants, une cour Caransebe (Karnsebes, Karansebsch) a t donne la famille Bizerea. En fait, ces insuccs ont marqu le fin de la politique orientale offensive du roi Sigismond et le passage vers une strictement dfensive au Danube. Le fait aura un impacte ngatif sur le Banat, affaibli cause des luttes et soumis une pression directe de la part du pouvoir ottoman. Dans ce
85

contexte, Sigismond avait recours une ultime solution, sollicitant lOrdre des Chevaliers Teutons sassumer la dfense de la frontire du sud du royaume, par ladministration des forts danubiens dentre Belgrade (Beograd, Nndorfehrvr) et Severin. En ralit, le roi dHongrie avait repris un de ses plus anciens plans, contourn immdiatement aprs la dfaite de Nicopolis mais, le dcroissement du pouvoir ottoman aprs son dfaite de Ankara et le conflit des Teutons avec le Royaume de Pologne, avait temporis son application. La venue des Teutons en Banat sest produit probablement dans la dernire partie de lanne 1429, le grand-matre de lordre, Nicolas de Radwitz, faisant lui-mme le dplacement, accompagn par un nombre obscure de servants personnels, artisans, pcheurs et navigateurs. Projet comme une opration de sauvetage de la frontire, compte tenu de la grave situation dont se trouvait le royaume hongrois, le dplacement des Teutons en Banat na pas tard a prouver ses dficiences. Si auparavant les Roumains du Banat taient les units de dfense, subordonns seulement au ban de Severin ou au comte de Timi, ces troupes taient dsormais complte ment soumis lautorit teutonne et employes, comme simples forces auxiliaires, la construction et rparation des forts et pour le ravitaillement. Le conflit entre les lites Roumains du Banat, qui avaient rjouisse dune fiscalit favorable, ayant une quelconque autonomie administrative et juridique, et le nouveau ban de Severin, le grand-matre Nicolas de Radwitz, est n vite, suite aux immixtions juridiques et fiscales (des nouveaux impts) des Teutons. Cest concevable que la rvolte du noble Lado de Bizerea, la suite de quelle, celui-ci se rfugie dans la Valachie, la cour de Dan II, a t la consquence de lobligation des nobles Roumains de participer la rparation de la forteresse de Deva (Dva, Diemrich) et, galement, de son refuse de reconnatre lautorit de Nicolas de Radwitz. Nanmoins, en 1430, les nobles et les knzes Roumains du district Almj ont repouss la juridiction du ban de Severin et sollicit que le procs entre Dionisie de Almj et Emeric (Imre) de Remetea (Remete) soit jug par le roi Sigismond lui-mme. Lincursion ottomane de 1432, la plus difficile pour les Teutons, a dtermin la fin de leur mission au Danube, bien que lopinion des quelques auteurs concernant la passivit des knzes ne soit pas soutenue du point de vue documentaire. Il parat que leur dpart avait eu des causes plus profondes, comme la destruction du systme dalliances danubien cre par Scolari et Dan II par la solution dfensive adopte par le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg qui a conduit, dans la mme anne, a une entente entre la Valachie et les Ottomans. Press par les Hussites en Bohme, par les Ventses en Bosnie et Croatie, par les Ottomans dans le Sud-est, le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg a essay de reformer lorganisation militaire de la Hongrie par la loi militaire de 1433 qui avait accord aux comitats du Banat un rle accru.
86

King Sigismund and the passagium generale (1391-1396) C. Crowns, Emperors and Kings Political Shapes and Military Forms
Attila Brny University of Debrecen The paper examines king Sigismund of Luxemburgs efforts to organize a grande scheme, a great crusading enterprise against the Ottomans in the first half of the last decade of the 14th century, leading up to the battle of Nicopolis. It was the negotium of prime importance for king Sigismund of Luxemburg in the first decade of his rule in Hungary. It was also a major achievement in the period of the Later Crusades to arouse the spirit of the cruciata in the West against the Balkan advance of the Ottoman Turks. The paper investigates king Sigismund of Luxemburgs work of several years to negotiate over the participation of most of the European powers, through numerous Hungarian embassies to France, Venice, Burgundy and the court of the duke of Lancaster in Bordeaux. In the organization of the new crusade Sigismund of Luxemburg welcomed in the Kingdom of Hungary most illustrious figures of the European chivalrous society, such as, for in stance, Marchal Boucicaut, the earl of Huntingdon, Henry of Bolingbroke, the earl of Derby. Sigismund also received several envoys from the court of Charles VI, king of France, and Philippe the Bold, duke of Burgundy. The present lecture gives insight into the smaller crusading enterprises organized by Sigismund of Luxemburg preceding Nicopolis, partly with the help of Western contingents, highlighting the campaing of Philippe dArtois, count dEu, conntable de France or the participation of English knights in the war effort of the Hungarian realm in the years 1392-1394. It will focus also on king Sigismund of Luxemburgs work in the defense of the frontier and launching counter-attacks from the year 1390-1391, actions and measures which, in a way, prepared the basis for the grand enterprise of 1396. The paper tries to find answer for the question in what and in what respects Sigismund of Luxemburg was different than the leading apostles of the crusading spirit of the late 14th century, such as Peter de Lusignan, king of Cyprus or count Amadeo of Savoy. King Sigismunds achievement lies in the fact that he was more or less the only ruler in medieval Europe able to recognize the real threat posed by the Ottoman Empire and the importance of the southern borderline of Hungary as a propugnaculum Christianitatis. King Sigismund of Luxemburg was the one to awaken the European public of the dangers of the Ottoman menace, and to make the leading powers of the
88

It is difficult to a time span of a few years in which one of Sigismund of Luxemburgs armies was not involved in military clashes. Thus, statistically speaking, there would be no great difference between Sigismund and Louis I of Anjou, who spent most of his four decade rule on campaign. Yet there is a great difference between the knight Louis and the diplomat Sigismund. Sigismund was mainly compelled to fight, while Louis compelled others to fight. Sigismund rule was contested from the South (from Naples) and from the North (from Krakow) and confronted with rebels and rivals to the East and the West. Sigismund had a heavier political burden than Louis I the Great.

I. Crusade and Diplomacy

Prior to the reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg, the Ottoman Turks had been just another pagan menace for Christendom. It was however not at Gallipoli, but at Kossovopolje that the Ottomans eventually entered political Europe. Inspite of his very realistic aproach of the Ottoman question, inspite of the extensive diplomatic negotiations, Sigismund could not defeat the growing Ottoman Empire. One can hardly imagine what Byzantiums, but also Budas fate would have been like, had Bayezid I been not defeated at Ankara. Sigismund of Luxemburg to find alternative solutions to the problem.

1. Ottoman Affairs
Because of the magnitude of the Ottoman threat, Sigismund pushed the European chivalrous spirit to one of its greatest defeats. This would be a classic perspective on Nicopolis. Sigismund needed warriors from the West and he got knights looking for another gesta Dei per Francos. The gesta Dei per Hungaros was postponed or at least restricted to border combats. At the same time, in the South, Byzantium had only half a century left to live.
87

continent realize that the state of Osman and its people were not like one of the many warlike emirates against whom the small-scale campaigns of the mid-1300 might have been successful, but that the Ottoman Turks are of a completely different quality in statecraft and army organization. Sigismund of Luxemburg wished to open the eyes in the West that there is no point in organizing small, passagium particulare-type of ventures with ther participation of knights of great renown, like the attack on Sattalya or the capture of Alexandria. The king of Hungary wanted to have the Wester ners acknowledge that it was no longer Jerusalem that had to be recaptured but it was Christemdom itself, the Latin Occidens that was under assault and had to be protected by a grand enterprise of all the monarchs in the Latin Christendom. Sigismund of Luxemburg, an inexhaustable propagator of the negotium Dei, has an absolutely different view and reception in the eyes of contemporary Westerners than the basically negative judgement prevalent in Hungarian and Central European history-writers (such as, for instance, Jnos (John) Thurczy or Jan (John) Dugosz), never being able to forgive king Sigismund of Luxemburg the 1396 failure of Nicopolis and his refusal to lead a grand campaign into the Balkans in the tradition of the Angevin kings. The paper will also introduce Sigismund of Luxemburgs great respect and in the works of the contemporaries at the end of the 14th century and early 15th century (for instance: Alan Chartier; Saint Bernard of Siena), celebrating Sigismunds crusading fervour and praising his Christian deliberation as zelator catholicae fidei. In the minds of the Western contemporaries, king Sigismund of Hungary, John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Marchal Boucicaut did fight as milites Christi and earned the geratest honour on earth as athletae fidei. There is no trace of a pessimistic view and the achievements of those who fought on the battlefield of Nicopolis are duly appreciated. The paper will also investigate what role is attested to the Kingdom of Hungary and its monarch in the works of the 14th-century prophets of crusading (e.g. Philippe de Mzires, king Leo of Armenia, Robert the Hermit). One of the major advocates of the Crusade against the Ottomans was Philippe de Mzires, Sigismund of Luxemburgs major compatriot in the understanding that an Anglo-French peace was the essential precondition for restoring the unity of the Catholic Church. The paper explores the Western attitude towards the crusade and towards the crusading role of the Kingdom of Hungary mainly through his writing: Letter to King Richard II (Une poure et simple epistre dun vieil solitaire des celestins de paris adressant a tresexcellent, &c. Richardt par la grace de dieu Roy dangleterre). Philippe de Mzires found the help of the Hungarians and of their king inevitable in the organization of a crusade. According to Philippe de Mzires, the only remedy was the co-operation of all the Christian powers, standing side-by-side in a
89

brother hood-in-arms established by a new Order of Knighthood, Militia Passionis Jhesu Christi called forth in the piece Nova Religio Passionis. King Sigismund of Luxemburgs greatest performance was to divert the crusading zeal of the illutrious English, Burgundian and French knights towards the Balkans and make them conscious that the real challenge is not to fight the Moors in a voyage de Barbarie or the unarmed Livonian peasants in Reyse, but the real danger, the well-disciplined war machine of the Janissaries in a voyage de Turquie, not beyond the seas in the Outremer, and not for the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem any longer, but for the security of Christendom.

Denn der Krieg umschliet uns von allen Seiten: Vorboten und Nachwehen der Schlacht von Nikopolis 1396 im Sprengel des Patriarchats von Konstantinopel

Johannes Preiser-Kapeller sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Institut fr Byzanzforschung, Wien Das Zitat, das als Titel des Vortrages gewhlt wurde, entstammt einem der beiden Schreiben aus dem Register des Patriarchats von Konstantinopel (Franz MIKOSICH-Joseph MLLER, Acta et Diplomata graeca medii aevi II. Wien 1860 (Nachdruck 1968), 283), in dem auf die Bemhungen Knig Sigismunds von Luxemburg um einen Kreuzzug gegen die Osmanen direkt Bezug genom men wird (MIKOSICH-MLLER, Acta et Diplomata graeca medii aevi II, Nr. 515, S. 280-282; Nr. 516, S. 282-285; Jean DARROUZS, Regestes des Actes du Patriarchat de Constantinople I-6. Paris 1979, Nr. 3039 und 3040). Beide entstanden im Januar 1397, kurz nach dem Aufenthalt des Knigs Sigismund von Luxemburg in Konstantinopel als Flchtling vom Schlachtfeld in Nikopolis (1396), und spiegeln die Hoffnungen wider, die Knig Sigismund trotz seiner verheerenden Niederlage in Byzanz mit seinen Versprechungen noch erwecken konnte. Adressaten der beiden Schreiben waren Wladislaw (Wadysaw II.) Jagieo, Knig von Polen und Gross-Herzog von Litauen, und der Metropolit Kyprianos von Kiev, der zu jener Zeit ber eine Kirchenunion mit dem nunmehr katholischen Gedyminiden verhandelte. Wenn der damalige Patriarch von Konstantinopel, Antonios IV., auch nicht eben enthusiastisch auf die Unions bemhungen Kyprians reagierte, so dokumentieren die Briefe zumindest den Versuch des Patriarchen, die Kreuzzugsbemhungen Sigismunds von
90

Luxemburg durch Appelle an den polnischen Knig, von dessen Konflikten mit dem Luxemburger er offenbar informiert war, zu untersttzen. Nach einer kurzen Darstellung dieser expliziten Hinweise auf die Nach wehen der Schlacht von Nikopolis in den Dokumenten des Patriarchats, die ja schon in den Arbeiten von John W. BARKER (Manuel II Paleologus (13911425): A Study in Late Byzantine Statesmanship. New Jersey 1969) oder John MEYENDORFF (Byzantium and the Rise of Russia. A Study of ByzantineRussian Relations in the Fourteenth Century. New York 1989) recht umfnglich behandelt wurden, konzentrieren sich die berlegungen vor allem auf die patriarchalen Schreiben in den Jahren vor und nach dem Kreuzzug von 1396. Dabei vermitteln die frheren Urkunden - vielleicht beraschend - den Eindruck, als ob sich die seit Frhjahr/Sommer 1394 anhaltende Bedrngnis Konstantinopels durch Sultan Bayezid I. kaum auf die Lenkung des im Gegen satz zum Kaiserreich noch wahrhaft kumenischen Sprengel von Klein asien bis zu den Donaufrstentmern und nach Ruland ausgewirkt htte, whrend das Patriarchat sogar seinen Einflubereich vergrern konnte durch die Rckgewinnung lange verlorener Stdte wie Korinth (1395) oder die Ausdehnung seiner Administration auf den Sprengel des 1393 unterge gangenen bulgarischen Patriarchats von Trnovo. Erst mit der Intensivierung der osmanischen Belagerung nach Nikopolis ab dem Frhjahr 1397 wurde in den patriarchalen Urkunden die Bedrohung mehr mals auch beim Namen genannt und die eine oder andere administrative Massnahme damit begrndet. Ebenso wurden die militrischen Auswirkungen der osmanischen Feldzge vor und nach Nikopolis, wie etwa die Eroberung vorher noch dem Byzantinischen Reich verbliebener Stdte an der Schwarz meerkste, auf die Kirche greifbar. Mit welchen Mitteln und gegen welche Wider stnde das Patriarchat unter Matthaios I. (1397-1410) von seinem belagerten Sitz aus weiter versuchte, fr die Verwaltung seines Sprengels Sorge zu tragen (u. a. mit besonderem Augenmerk auf die Kirchenpolitik gegenber den Frstentmern Moldau und Walachei), whrend die Unruhe im vom Fall be drohten Konstantinopel auch auf die Synode und die Kirche bergriff und Kaiser Manuel II. in Westeuropa weilte, wird der abschlieende Teil der Unter suchung zu beleuchten versuchen. Dabei soll auch der Frage nachgegangen werden, ob das Patriarchat in dieser Zeit tatschlich noch auf Hilfe von ausserhalb sei es durch Sigismund, sei es durch einen der Herrscher, die Kaiser Manuel II. Palaiologos aufsuchte hoffte. Den zeitlichen Abschluss der berlegungen wird das Jahr 1402 bilden, mit dem nicht nur die osmanische Niederlage bei Ankara gegen Timur Leng Byzanz noch einmal den Fortbestand ermglichte, sondern in das auch die mehr oder weniger letzten Dokumente, die in byzantinischer Zeit in den zweiten erhaltenen Registercodex des Patriarchats (Cod. Vind. hist. gr. 48) eingetragen wurden, zu datieren sind.
91

Les controverses de la Croisade de Nicopolis

Ovidiu Cristea Acadmie Roumaine Institut dHistoire Nicolae Iorga, Bucarest Malgr une abondante bibliographie le dbat sur la croisade de Nicopolis reste ouvert plusieurs raisons. Dabord la question des ngociations qui ont prcd le dpart des chevaliers occidentaux vers lOrient. Bien quon connaisse les raisons qui ont empch la participation des rois de la France et dAngleterre, restent encore la question du retard de la dlgation hongroise aux ngociations droules Venise (janvier 1395) et de la participation de la Rpublique de Saint Marc la croisade de Nicopolis. Les chroniques vnitiennes qui racontent une expdition des navires portant la bannire de Saint Marc sur le Danube doivent tre regards avec prudence, ainsi que les chiffres concernant les effectifs de la flotte vnitienne. Ensuite, le dsaccord historiographique lgard des causes de la dfaite. Pour certains historiens la droute chrtienne a t le rsultat de lindiscipline des chevaliers occidentaux, tandis que, pour dautres, la retraite prcipite des contingents hongrois et valaques a provoqu de dsastre. Chaque point de vue est appuy par des sources contemporaines et, par consquent, peut constituer une lecture lgitime sur le droulement de lvnement. Un examen plus attentif des sources montre lexistence de quelques strotypes employs pour lexplication dun revers militaire. Ces topoi ont le rle de proposes au lecteurs une lecture moralisatrice, dintgrer les gestes et les paroles des hommes dans un schma interprtatif plac sous le jugement de Dieu. Ainsi, dans le cas de la croisade de Nicopolis, on distingue deux modles explicatifs: celui de la trahison et celui de lorgueil et de lindiscipline. Pour les chroniqueurs dvous aux valeurs chevaleresques (la prouesse individuelle, la vaillance et lhardiesse) la trahison des hongrois (c'est--dire les sujets du roi Sigismond de Luxembourg) reste la cause fondamentale de la catastrophe. Par contre, pour les auteurs hostiles la chevalerie, issus du milieu ecclsias tique, la dfaite a t la consquence de la dgradation des murs des croiss qui a attir la colre divine. La cupidit, la luxure, loutrecuidance et lorgueil ont t les vraies ennemis qui, finalement, ont inflig une sanglante dfaite a larme chrtienne. La discussion de cette controverse montre, en dernier lieu, que les rcits de la croisade de Nicopolis ont construit plutt un discours moralisateur sur la dfaite quune histoire vraie de lvnement.
92

Sigismondo di Lussemburgo e Nicopolis nel contesto globale di mille ani di relazioni euro-turciche

Diplomacy and Warfare: King Sigismund of Luxemburgs Early Ottoman Years (1387-1392)

Livio Missir de Lusignan Commission Europenne, Bruxelles 1. Perch il lungo tempo dei 1000 anni (pi esattamente dalla battaglia turco-bizantina di Mantzikert -1071- alla Repubblica turca -1923-). I Turchi (Selgiuchidi prima, Ottomani e Turchi poi) hanno condizionato, attraverso la loro avanzata verso lEuropa, la nascit di una coscienza continentale cristiana diversa dalla coscienza e dallo statuto della nazione musulmana (oumma o, in turco, mmet): 1453-1529 (Vienna/ Wien, Bcs) 1571 (Lepanto) 1683 (ancora Vienna) 1699 (Karlowitz/ Sremski Carlovci, Karlca) ma 1739 (Belgrado/ Beograd, Nndrofehrvr). Impact della Rivoluzione francese dal 1789 al 1923. 2. La peculiarit del regime politico ottomano: le etno-religiose comunit o nazioni (millet) in un isola Stato (Impero) chiamato ufficial mente Memaliki-liyei-osmaniye (sublimi territori ottomani) cf. la Porta ottomana o Sublime Porta. Queste nazioni etno-religiose erano cinque (1 musulmana, 1 ebraica, e 3 cristiane), di cui solo quattro menzionate dal prof. Kitsikis (Histoire de lEmpire Ottomain, Paris, 1994), con particolare riferimento alla musulmana e a una sola cristiana (la ortodossa), mentre quella cattolica stata trascurata, se non proprio ignorata. Come sono evolute queste cinque nazioni ottomane? Tema delicato da riservare a un prossimo colloquio

Alexandru Simon Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca In October 1392, king Sigismund of Luxemburg returned from his first major anti-Ottoman campaign in the Balkans. At first look, his successes did not seem to be overwhelming. They were however enough to strengthen his domestic position and improve his foreign political credit. They were also enough in order to determine sultan Bayezid I to call for a peace settlement. The negotiations carried on in Buda (Ofen) are probably the first officially recorded Ottoman-Hungarian peace-talks. They are known because of the data preserved in the archives of Genoa. The republic of Genoa acted as an intermediary between the Sigismund and Bayezid, but also between them and the relatively young Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus. Manuel II too had sent his messengers to the victorious Hungarian king. Genoa was the alternative of the royal Hungarian crown to Venice, since the days of Louis (Lajos) I of Anjou. The republic was also an official ally and a nevertheless wondering friend of the Ottoman Empire since 1387. As the former Ottoman hostage, Manuel II, Genoa, the head of a centrifugal empire, tried to conciliate opposite political approaches of the increasing Ot toman menace. Such political actions, complicated by the conflicts of the Italian Peninsula eventually led to Genoas treasonable behavior of 1396. Another party involved in the Genoese talks of 1392 was Walachia. Her messengers arrived also in Genoa, in what is apparently the first recorded Western embassy of one of the Walachias. Under the rule of Mircea I cel Btrn (the Old), Walachia had at first opposed Sigismund of Luxemburg as the new king of Hungary and found support (1389-1390) at the Jagellonian court in Krakow (Krakw, Krakau). The clashes with the Ottomans because of namely areas of the Dobrudja forced Mircea to reconsider his position. The events of 1392 allow us to take a look back, namely from the Italian archival perspective, at Sigismunds first steps in the Ottoman issue, perhaps more than they allow us to view them as a prequel to the far better known events of 1395-1396. From the beginning of Sigismunds rule, his Christian (Greek and Latin) and Muslim concerns were strongly inter connected. An action in the Ottoman South had consequences in the Christian North.
94

2. Frontier Efforts and Movements

King Sigismunds most enduring Hungarian solution (it lasted until the 1460) to the Ottoman expansion was the creation of a network of buffer states. It was no perfect solution. For instance, neither Bosnia nor Walachia was willing to destroy itself in a clash with Ottoman Empire. Still, it was a solution that assured a certain amount of stability to the realm. In return, it must be said that this solution did not come up quickly, nor did it involve a less costly royal Hungarian defense. Besides, dealing with the Ottomans meant not only being involved in the Balkans. It meant facing and exploiting the intrigues and conflicts in the Italian Peninsula and in Byzantium.
93

The Hungarian-Walachian Dispute over Severin and its Settlement by King Sigismund of Luxemburg and Voivode Mircea the Old
Viorel Achim Romanian Academy, Nicolae Iorga Institute of History, Bucharest A long dispute over the Banat (banatus) of Severin (Szreny) characterized the 14th century relations between the Kingdom of Hungary and Walachia. Established in 1231/ 1232 by the Hungarian crown, the banat of Severin was destroyed in 1291, when the Mongols (Tartars) seized the territory between Southern Carpathians, the Danube and the Olt River. The western part of the banat, i.e. the southeast corner of the nowadays Banat area, remained however under Hungarian rule. In the early 1300, the territory subjected by the Mongols became part of the newly founded Principality of Walachia and enjoyed for several centuries a regime of autonomy, as a Banat. From the 1320 on, the kings Charles (Carlo, Kroly-Rbert), Louis (Lajos) I of Anjou repeatedly tried to recover the Walachian part of the former banate. In the short periods of time when the royal crown held the fortress of Severin, a Hungarian banus was installed and Hungarian records spoke once again of the Banat of Severin as a Hungarian province. Nevertheless, Walachian rule over this contested territory was maintained most part of the 14th century. At that time, one of the military officials in the Banat had the title of banus of Severin, but he was only a banus in spe. The solution used several times was to include Severin in the system of feudal Hungarian-Walachian relations. The voivode of Walachia acknowledged the suzerainty of the king. The Severin province, under effective Walachian rule, became a fief. Because of this, the Walachian voivode held the title of banus of Severin (e.g., Vladislav (Ladislas) Is title of 1368: Ladislaus [...] woyuoda Transalpinus et banus de Zeurinio). The Hungarian-Walachian dispute over the Severin ended in the last decade of the 14th century, during the rules of king Sigismund and voivode Mircea I cel Btrn (the Old). During the first stage of his reign, Sigismund maintained in Walachian affairs the policy of Louis I. He didn not launch a new campaign against Walachia, but kept a banus at the Hungarian-Walachian border. In 1395, the relations between Sigismund and Mircea improved. The voivode paid homage to the king, and a treaty was signed, in Braov (Kronstadt, Brass), on March 7, 1395. In exchange for his obligations toward the suzerain, Mircea the Old recieved some territories, including Severin, as
95

fief. In the 1395 treaty, Mircea bore, among other titles, the title of banus of Severin. Soon, king Sigismund of Luxemburg renounced the legal fiction of the Hungarian rule over Severin. Sigismund of Luxemburg acknowledged that the Severin area was part of the Walachian principality of Mircea the Old. This important change in the Hungarian approach of the Severin issue can be explained by the new policy initiated by Sigismund following the defeat of the crusaders at Nicopolis (1396). He realized the anti-Ottoman potential of the states at Hungarys southern and south-eastern borders. King Sigismund proposed to integrate these states in a political system headed by Hungary. Walachia became part of the defensive system created by Sigismund of Luxemburg, Mircea the Olds rule over Severin was thus no longer contested and the issue by no means hindered the relations between the Hungarian king and the Walachian ruler. Under these circumstances, the issue of the Banate of Severin lost its previous royal Hungarian importance and significance. In fact, king Sigismund of Luxemburg abandoned the traditional policy of the Hungarian realm towards the territories south of the Carpathians. In autumn 1419, taking advantage of the domestic troubles in Walachia, Sigismund annexed the fortress of Severin and its surroundings, threatened by the Ottomans. In that very moment, nobody thought of the historical rights of the Hungarian crown over the Banat of Severin. Afterwards, the question never returned on the political agenda of Hungarian-Walachian relations.

Sigismund of Luxemburg at Golumba (1428)

Lszl Veszprmy Hungarian Institute of Military History, Budapest After his most important military action against the Ottomans of 1396, king Sigismund of Luxemburg successfully made use of the newest military technologies for land and sea combat. King Sigismund carefully planned his actions, but he underestimated the importance of military intelligence and was misled by the real power relations in the Balkans. Similar as in 1396, these factors led to the failure of king Sigismund of Luxemburgs campaign. Besides, after the death of Pipo of Ozora, there was no warlord, no military expert experienced enough for such combats, although Matk Tallczi had already made his military appearance and started his later great career.
96

The study confronts the depictions of the campaign in the Hungarian charters and documents with those provided by Turkish and Serbian sources, previously neglected by the Hungarian historiography. The Hungarian defeat had no significant impact on the course of Ottoman-Hungarian warfare, as the defeat was largely compensated by the capture and preservation of the city of Belgrade (Beograd, Nndrofehrvr). However, the Hungarian and Polish literatures had a great impact on the historic image and memory of the campaign and the siege of Golu(m)ba, a vivid memory until the present day.

Vlad Dracul's Relations with Sigismund of Luxemburg's Transylvania and Hungary. Revaluation and Meanings

Daniela Monica Mitea Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca The aim of the present study is to revaluate the economical and political relations (including diplomatical and military aspects, with their Christian and anti-Ottoman implications), between Vlad II Dracul, contender to the throne of Walachia (1431-1436) and then ruler of Walachia (1437-1442, 1444-1447), on one hand, and, on the other hand, both Transylvanian and royal Hungarian authorities, during and after Sigismund of Luxemburg's great rule, as king of Hungary (1387-1437) and Holy Roman Emperor (1433-1437). The coexistence between Sigismund and Vlad as medieval monarchs was nevertheless limited to just 1 year, from the 20th of January (prior to this date, Vlad had risen for the first time to the Walachian throne) to the 9th of December 1437 (the day of king Sigismunds death). This fact alone restricts the number of clues to our avail for the understanding the real meaning of such complex relations. Therefore, the researched time span was extended (1430-1447). On one hand, Vlad IIs first mention as Mircea I cel Btrns (the Old) son, living at Sigismunds court, dates back to 1430. On the other hand, Vlads political career and life end in 1447. The extension allows us to take a closer look at the political and military career of this Sigismundian chivalric creation, after king Sigismund of Luxemburgs death and the political rise of John (Ioan/ Iancu, Jnos) Hunyadi's, in the context of constant Ottoman threats. Most of the medieval data taken into account (of political, economical, ecclesiastical nature) has been published and republished over the last two
97

centuries (we make use of namely the Zsigmondkori oklevltr [The Archive/ Documents of Sigismunds Age] (ZsO), I-IX, and the Documenta Romaniae Historica, D series, devoted to the medieval relations between the Romanian Countries, the first and only volume, collections and volumes), but still needs to be reevaluated. Likewise, a critical approach of the most important historiogra phical perspectives (from the 1800) is needed, as most of the perspectives, on the Romanian level namely, failed to provide clear or coherent approaches for the topic. By this we refer also to the works devoted to the rule of Vlad Dracul, in general or only in particular, beginning with writings of Ilie Minea (e.g. Principatele Romne i politica oriental a mpratului Sigismund [The Romanian Principalities and the Emperor Sigismunds Oriental Policy] 1919; Vlad Dracul i vremea sa [Vlad Dracul and his Time], 1928; both works were initially printed, the same year, as studies in Convorbiri literare [Literary Conversations], XLVIII, and in Cercetri Istorice [Historical researches], IV). His views were perpetuated and also partially corrected by the studies of Virgil Ciocltan (e.g. ntre mprat i sultan: Vlad Dracul n 1438 [Between the Emperor and the Sultan: Vlad Dracul in 1438], Revista de Istorie [The History Review], XXIX (1976), 11) or those of Pavel Chihaia (for instance: Vlad Dracul voievod al rii Romneti i cavaler al ordinului Dragonului [Vlad Dracul, Voivode of Walachia and Knight of the Dragon Order], in Idem, Tradiii rsritene i influene occidentale n ara Romneasc [Eastern Traditions and Western Influences in Walachia] (Bucharest 1993), namely). Prior to 1437, Vlad had a better support, than later, from the part of the royal Hungarian and Transylvanian authorities, for he was contender to the throne. After he became ruler, the situation changed significantly because of Ottoman military pressures, in the first place. His position was the result of the balance of power between the colliding Christian and Muslim Worlds. After his first mention at king Sigismunds court (1430), Vlad Dracul was sent to Transylvania and entrusted with the defense of the south-eastern borders of the realm, against namely the Walachian voivodes, Dan II and Alexander (Alexandru) Aldea (December 1430-January 1431). On, probably, February 8, 1431, in Nrnberg, Sigismund of Luxemburg invested Vlad, his vassal, as ruler of Walachia. He received the Transylvanian estates (duchies) of Fgra (Fogaras, Fogarasch) and Amla (Omls, Almasch). In return, he had to support the activity of the Franciscans in Walachia. He was also granted the right to establish a royal mint in Sighioara (Schssburg, Segesvr), later moved to Braov (Kronstadt, Brass). The mint, which functioned until some time between 1437 and 1443, and coined dinars, used in the trade relations between Transylvania Walachia, was also a token of Vlad IIs allegiance towards the king. Sigismund was not only his suzerain but also his master for Vlad had been made a member of the Order of the Dragon that had to defend Christendom against Heretics and Pagans, Hussites and Ottomans
98

However, king Sigismund of Luxemburg did not push for Vlad II Draculs ascension to the throne. Vlad remained in Transylvania until Alexander Aldea died in the summer of 1436. Before the end of the same year, Vlad Dracul was instated ruler of Walachia, with military support from Transylvania. On the 24th of January 1437, the new ruler, Vlad Dracul, granted commercial privileges to the Saxon city of Braov, reconfirmed on the 7th of August 1444. From the first days of his rule (late 1436-early 1437), Vlad had to give in to Ottoman pressure and acknowledge the sultan as his suzerain (this occurred a second time between 1438 and 1442). In 1438, Vlad was compelled to join the Ottoman campaign against Transylvania and Hungary. This fact gradually compromised his Transylvanian and Hungarian credibility (his second rule was achieved with Ottoman support) and gave him a place of John Hunyadis list of the obvious enemies of Hungarian Kingdom (February 1, 1448). The present lecture sets out to follow Vlad Draculs political journey from a loyal vassal of the Hungarian realm to one of the most dangerous enemies of Christendom and the changes thus occurred in his Christian image, from 1430 to 1447. These perspectives are meant also to reflect king Sigismund of Luxemburgs influence on the medieval Romanian communities and states.

Entre Sigismond de Luxembourg et Mircea le Vieux. Les circonstances singulires de la signature du trait de Braov (Mars 7, 1395)
Constantin Rezachevici Acadmie Roumaine Institut dHistoire Nicolae Iorga, Bucarest Les relations trs complexes, de plus dun quart de sicle entre Mircea I cel Btrn (le Vieux), prince de Valachie (1386-1418), et Sigismond de Luxembourg ne sont que partiellement connues. En ralit, contrairement lopinion partage actuellement, que les relations entre les deux ont t dtermines par la lutte commune contre lEmirat Ottoman, qui, aprs avoir soumis la Serbie, en 1389, attaqua, en 1391, la Valachie et la Hongrie, tout au long de son rgne, Mircea le Vieux considra que le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg au nord tait un voisin plus dangereux que les Turcs Ottomans. Ceci cause du fait que le Sigismond poursuivait, lexemple de son beau-pre, Louis Ier (Lajos) dAnjou, lintroduction en Valachie et Moldavie dun rgime de domination effective, la place dune relation, naturelle lpoque, de suzeraint-vassalit. Ceci explique la multitude de traits dal liance conclues au fils du temps par Mircea avec Ladislas (Wadysaw) II Jagellon, roi de Pologne, beau-frre de Sigismond, non pas pour contrecar rer le pril ottomane, comme on laffirme souvent, mais explicitement pour parer aux attaques de Sigismond de Luxembourg contre la Valachie, mme si, sans doute, de certains moments, le prince Mircea le Vieux et le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg ont collabor contre lEmirat Ottoman. La premire alliance entre Mircea et Sigismond fut consigne dans le trait, en effet, le seul que lon connaisse, conclue, avant le 7 mars 1395, Braov (Kronstadt, Brass). Le trait en question est la premire alliance militaire anti-ottomane conclue entre un Pays Roumains et le Royaume dHongrie, conclue dans des conditions dgalit entre les deux parties. Une recherche approfondie de ce trait remarquable conclue entre les deux, des points de vue diplomatiques et politiques, met jour un nombre de particularits intressantes, restes inaperues jusqu prsent. Dabord, il ne sagit pas dun document unique, comme on le croyait, sans exception jusqu prsent, mais dune partie du trait, qui recouvre les conditions de la participation de Mircea le Vieux lalliance, rdige par la chancellerie hongroise Braov et garde dans cette chancellerie mme, tandis que les obligations militaires de Sigismond de Luxembourg envers
100

II. European and Regional Politics

The Ottoman fascination, or, perhaps, better said, the fascination with the crusade, usually distracts the attention from Christian to Christian mat ters. Such a distraction is rather natural, for, during Sigismunds time, the Ottoman question became more and more part of the European politically correct speech. Another major component of the late medieval European politically correct speech that made its debut at that time were the Hussites. One of his more than politically correct answers was the Order of the Dragon.

1. Supporters and Infidels

Even before the rise of the Ottoman Empire, but in the time of another great threat, that posed by the Tartars, the most unstable areas and borders of the Hungarian Kingdom were to the East and to the South. The problem was far from being only political. The royal crown had difficulty in gaining profitable access, even if not under its direct control, to the great trade routes and centers that connected East-Central Europe to the Orient. Sigismund of Luxemburg tried to succeed where his predecessors, namely Louis I, had failed, in assuring a stable and profitable Oriental frontier to the realm.
99

Mircea le Vieux, un document spar, ngoci et rdig la mme poque, sest perdu avec toute larchive prive de Mircea. Par consquent, nous avons seulement une moiti du trait notre disposition, la moiti qui ta blissait avec grande prcision les conditions de participation du prince de Valachie la lutte anti-ottomane aux cots de Sigismond de Luxembourg, ce qui arriva lanne suivante, en 1396, loccasion de la croisade des chevaliers europens et du roi Sigismond de Luxembourg a Nicopolis. Nous ne pouvons que regretter la perte du document qui consignait les obligations militaires de Sigismond envers Mircea au cadre de leur alliance, surtout que les deux, au dbut du mois de mars 1395, se confrontaient des conditions politiques singulires, qui dterminrent au fait leur rencontre de Braov, non moins singulire elle-mme, tenant compte des coutumes diplomatiques de lpoque. En Valachie, la campagne ottomane mene per sonnellement par lEmir Bayezid Ier tait en plein droulement, tandis que le roi Sigismond de Luxembourg revenait de son expdition infructueuse en Moldavie, de janvier-fvrier 1395, sans avoir russi mener bon bout son plan de prsenter ce pays comme soumis la Couronne Hongroise au congrs de famille avec les Jagellons, qui devait avoir lieu a Nowy Swiat. Cependant, le roi Sigismond faisait aussi de prparations fbriles pour la croisade qui allait aboutir lanne suivante la dfaite de Nicopolis. Dans le feu de ces vnements, le trait de Braov du mois de mars 1395, conclue entre Mircea le Vieux et Sigismond de Luxembourg fut un pi sode majeur, que les historiens europens ignorent presque en totalit et que les historiens roumains ne connaissent que partiellement.

Economia di guerra, economia di pace, economia di frontiera. La Transilvania di Sigismondo di Lussemburgo (1387-1437)
Andrea Fara Libera Universit Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Roma Seguendo lesempio dei suoi poredecessori angioini, Sigismondo di Lussemburgo rafforz e ampli i diritti delle comunit urbane del regno, sia per controbilanciare le tendenze centrifughe della grande nobilitas, sia per motivi di ordine economico e finanziario; ma anche a causa delle crescenti necessit belliche per le continue lotte per legemonia in Europa centrale e
101

occidentale e, soprattutto, contro la minacciosa avanzata degli Ottomani nella Penisola balcanica e nelle regioni extracarpatiche. Le citt della Transilvania (e in particolare quelle sassoni di Sibiu (Hermann stadt, Szeben), Braov (Kronstadt, Brass) e Bistria (Bistriz, Besztrece), alle quali si possono aggiungere Cluj (Kronstadt, Kolozsvr) e Oradea (Nagyvarad, Grosswardein) conobbero una notevole crescita, ponendosi in breve tempo al centro di una vasta rete di relazioni commerciali che dallEuropa centrale arrivava a valicare la catena dei Carpazi, verso il cosiddetto Common wealth bizantino, palesato dalle nuove realt dei voivodati di Valacchia e di Moldavia, fino alle foci del Danubio e ai porti del Mar Nero. Il re consolid il rapporto della Corona con gli hospites di Transilvania intessendo una fitta rete di collaborazione con tutte le componenti sociali presenti allinterno delle civitates sassoni (sia le famiglie degli antichi grevi pi o meno assimilate alla piccola o media nobilitas, sia gli esponenti delle nuove forze imprenditoriali, tra cui gli artigiani e i mercanti). In effetti, Sigismondo conobbe profondamente la realt intracarpatica. Durante il suo lungo regno (dal 1387 al 1437), si calcola che egli abbia soggiornato in Transilvania per un periodo complessivo di quasi due anni. Fu una quantit di tempo notevole, soprattutto se si pensa che, nella sua terra dorigine, il re trascorse appena quattordici giorni, nel gennaio del 1417, mentre assisteva ai lavori del Concilio di Costanza (1414-1418). Egli visit Braov negli anni 1395, 1397, 1398, 1403, 1427, fermandosi ogni volta per diversi mesi (durante i quali si ricord sempre di confermare o ampliare le libert cittadine). Il re non manc di recarsi a Sibiu, Cluj e Media (Mediasch, Mdyes), ma anche in centri minori quali Rnov (Rosenau), Feldioara (Marienburg), Fgra (Fogarasch), Cra (Kerz), Apoldul de Jos (Kleinpold) e altri ancora. I frequenti soggiorni di Sigismondo in Transilvania si spiegano facilmente se si tiene conto del costante pericolo ottomano, che rest una delle principali preoccupazioni del re. Questa particolare attenzione viene evidenziata dallimpressionante numero di documenti che Sigismondo emise per le varie realt transilvane e in modo specifico per le comunit sassoni: un numero che viene quantificato in quasi 400 atti (pi esattamente 394) che testimoniano la cura particolare che il re dUngheria, durante quasi tutti gli anni del suo dominio, rivolse ai suoi hospites sassoni di Transilvania. Sono dunque evidenti da una parte la necessit di difendere al meglio la frontiera orientale del regno, dallaltra lintuizione delle potenzialit economiche delle citt della Transilvania. In questo contesto, la realt transilvana appare molto simile a quella iberica della Reconquista. Innanzitutto interessante notare che in Transilvania (e in generale in Ungheria), come in Spagna, tutti i liberi homines erano almeno in teoria (e a meno di specifici privilegi) tenuti al servizio militare in caso di necessit, sia per la difesa, sia per le offensive portate al di l dei confini del regno (si
102

pensi alle norme gi stabilite dalla Bolla dOro del 1222 per la nobilitas ungherese, e dal Privilegium Andreanum del 1224 per gli hospites transilvani). Cosa pi importante, sia in Spagna che in Transilvania si svilupp parallela alla frontiera una rete di centri urbani per i quali le attivit economiche finirono per essere intrinsecamente legate alle attivit militari, e questo tanto in tempo di pace quanto in tempo di guerra. Se le razzie e gli scontri erano allordine del giorno, non di meno gli scambi furono (dal punto di vista merceologico) costanti e vari e compresero anche articoli che, almeno in teoria, dovevano essere esclusi dai traffici per non arrecare alcun vantaggio al nemico (si pensi, ad esempio, ai continui richiami del papato alle citt transilvane affinch non commerciassero in materiali che si potevano rivelare utili per le attivit belliche, larmamento e il mantenimento delle truppe avversarie, dal ferro ai tessuti, finanche alle derrate alimentari). Simili relazioni economiche influenzarono non solo la produzione transil vana, ma anche lo scambio tra le parti occidentali e le parti orientali del regno dUngheria, cos come tra i due versanti dei Carpazi (il notevole transito di coltelli dalle citt transilvane verso le regioni extracarpatiche appare assai singolare e, se non complessivamente, almeno parzialmente pu essere letto come un artificio per aggirare i divieti di esportare metalli al di l dei monti). Del resto nota la funzione logistica, di informazione e di approvvigiona mento che le citt transilvane assunsero in questo secolo, al punto che lecito affermare che per esse la guerra contro gli Ottomani si trasform sempre di pi in un vero e proprio affare (cosa del resto ben evidente nella seconda met del secolo, durante il governatorato di Giovanni (Ioan/ Iancu, Jnos) Hunyadi e il regno Mattia (Mtys, Matia) Corvino). Sono dunque riferibili alla Transilvania medievale le note parole del re di Castiglia e Len Alfonso il Saggio (1221-1284), secondo cui: La frontera de Espaa es de natura caliente.

gegrndet. Zu den Mitgliedern zhlten 22 ausgewhlte Barone, die unter der Devise O quam misericors est Deus justus et pius den Glauben und den Frieden in Knig Sigismund von Luxemburgs Herrschaftsgebiet zu vertei digen hatten. Als Emblem des Ordens diente der vom Heiligen Georg besiegte Drache. Zu den Mitgliedern zhlten zum Beispiel die Grafen Hermann II. und sein Sohn Friedrich von Cilli, Palatin Mikls Garai, Heinrich V. von England, Erich von Dnemark und auch der serbische Despot Stefan Lazarevi. Ziel des Vortrages ist es, eine kurze Geschichte des Drachenordens zu prsentieren und die Rolle des Stefan Lazarevi innerhalb des Ordens zu skizzieren.

2. Allies and Enemies

There was no major realm where Sigismund of Luxemburgs right to rule was not contested by at least on political figure, from the throne of Croatia to the title of king of the Romans. Such conflicts, like the misfortunate war with Venice, came at the most untimely moments for Sigismund. He became the traveling king under these circumstances, searching to settle conflicts and assure support. The monarch was in almost constant need for allies, first namely inside his domains, then mainly outside his realms. His politics had mixed results as he made use of very different means and men. From the Italian Peninsula to the Bosporus, Sigismund looked for aid, whether financial, preferably, or even symbolic, useful also in case of the Byzantine Empire. This constant search, but also change of sides, led to the image of an undecided monarch, which proved false over time.

Sigismondo del Lussemburgo e la Toscana

Der Drachenorden Sigismunds und der serbische Despot Stefan Lazarevi

Mihailo Popvoi sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Institut fr Byzanzforschung, Wien Der Drachenorden (societas draconis) wurde von Kaiser Sigismund von Luxemburg, damals nur Knig von Ungarn, im Dezember des Jahres 1408
103

Gianluca Masi Universit degli Studi di Firenze Liceo Scientifico G. Castelnuovo di Firenze Il presente intervento verter sui rapporti intrattenuti da imperatore e re Sigismondo del Lussemburgo (1368-1437), rei dei romani dal 1410 e, dal 1433, imperatore, con la Toscana. Verr presentata per loccasione una nuova fonte, un manoscritto Magliabechiano, manoscritto conservato nella Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze.
104

Eine Untersuchung ausgewhlter byzantinischer rhetorischer Texten auf westliche Herrscher vorwiegend anhand einer Begrungsansprache an den deutschen Kaiser Sigismund (1434)
Ekaterini Mitsiou sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Institut fr Byzanzforschung, Wien In der langen Geschichte des Ostrmischen Reiches und im Rahmen seiner rhetorischen Produktion sind die Lobreden, Monodien und Grabreden auf byzantinische Kaiser zahlreich. Gering ist hingegen die Zahl der westlichen Herrscher, die das Interesse der Byzantiner erweckten, so dass ein enkomiasti scher Text auf sie verfasst wurde. Einer von ihnen ist Sigismund von Luxemburg. Im Palat. gr. 226, ff. 142v-149r und 176r-180v ist eine Begrssungsansprache ( ) in zwei Fassungen auf einen nicht byzantinischen Kaiser berliefert, den der erste Editor (Speros Lampros), obwohl er die berschrift in der Fassung A nicht gelesen hatte, mit dem deutschen Kaiser Sigismund identi fizierte. Bei einer weiteren Untersuchung der Schriften des Metropoliten Isidoros von Kiew (ca. 1380-1390-27.04.1463) vermutete Giovanni Mercati, dass der bekannte Unionsfreund der anonyme Autor des Textes sei. In einer grundlegenden Arbeit besttigten Herbert Hunger und Herbert Wurm Mercatis Vermutungen, wobei sie den Text neu editierten, kommentierten und ins Deutsche bersetzten. Anla dieses rhetorischen Textes war das Konzil von Basel (1431-1449), auf dem sich Isidoros als byzantinischer Gesandter befand. Er scheint gut informiert ber wichtige Ereignisse im Sigismunds Leben zu sein und lobt vor allem seine Gerechtigkeit und seinen Einsatz fr die Union der Kirchen, wobei er ihn auch zu einem Krieg gegen die Trken auffordert. Bei einem Rckblick auf frhere Jahrhunderte kommt man zum Schluss, dass Sigismund nicht der einzige deutsche Kaiser war, den ein Byzantiner mit einer Lobrede wrdigte. Die positiven Worte des Niketas Choniates ber Friedrich I. Barbarossa (ca. 1122-1190) anlsslich seines Todes (10. Juni 1190) sind wohl bekannt und von Bedeutung, obwohl es sich hier nicht um ein eigen stndiges rhetorisches Werk handelt. Im Gegensatz zu seinen kritischen Stel lungnahmen zum deutschen Herrscher in einer Lobrede an Isaakios II. Angelos (a. 1190) vertritt Choniates in seiner Geschichte seine persnliche Meinung, wobei er gleichzeitig Kaiserkritik an den Vertreter der Angeloi Dynastie bt. 1250 widmete der Thronnachfolger Theodoros II. Laskaris (1254-1258) eine Grabrede auf Friedrich II. von Hohenstaufen (1215-1250), Schwieg
105

ervater seines Vaters, Ioannes III. Dukas Vatatzes (1221-1254). In diesem Text werden keine Fakten aus dem Leben des deutschen Kaisers mitein bezogen, sondern Theodoros II. befat sich mehr mit seinem persnlichen Interesse an den Beziehungen zwischen Herrscher und Beherrschten. Schlielich widmete der Geschichtsschreiber Nikephoros Gregoras Ende 1351-Anfang 1352 eine Lobrede dem Hugo IV. von Lusignan (13241359), die er in einem seiner Briefe erwhnte, wobei er in seiner Geschichte ebenfalls ein positives Bild des Lebens auf Zypern darstellte. Beweggrund seiner Rede war seine Absicht, heroische Taten zu erwhnen, wobei er hauptschlich die Administration unter Hugo IV., seine Gerechtigkeit und seine Bemhungen um die Befreiung von Gefangenen hervorhebt. Ziel dieses Beitrages ist, auf der Basis der Begrungsansprache an Sigismund diese Kategorie von Texten genauer zu analysieren und die Grnde und Motive des byzantinischen Interesses an die westlichen Herrscher zu identifizieren. Es wird weiters untersucht, inwieweit mgliche Abweichungen von den typischen Elementen, die diese literarische Gattung charakterisieren, feststellbar sind.

Une histoire aux trois empereurs: Sigismond de Luxembourg, Manuel II et Jean VIII Palologue

Dan Ioan Murean cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris Notre tude se propose de tracer les lignes gnrales des rapports entre Sigismond de Luxembourg, roi (1411) et empereur (1433) des Romains et deux empereurs des Rhmes, Manuel II et Jean VIII Palologue. Sur le fond du Grand Schisme de lOccident, la vision rformatrice de Sigismond, reposant la base de la restauration de 1417, contenait un aspect extrmement ouvert, sans prcdent, envers la Chrtient orthodoxe. Cet aspect senracinait dans lexprience croise de 1392-1397 qui avait impliqu le roi de Hongrie toujours plus profondment dans lOrient europen: les campagnes de Serbie et de Valachie, la croisade de Nicopolis, enfin la visite par dfaut Constantinople. Ainsi, il avait pu connatre lorthodoxie dans la Ville Sainte qutait alors Constantinople o il avait rencontr lempereur byzantin et le patriarche Matthieu Ier. Il approfondit cette connaissance directe travers ses sujets de
106

rite grec du royaume de Hongrie et des principauts vassales, telle la Valachie, grce aux rapports personnels avec Nicodme de Tismana, reprsentant du Patriarcat cumnique au carrefour entre la Valachie, la Serbie et la Hongrie. travers cette exprience immdiate, le roi Sigismond de Luxemburg sut trancher avec une longue priode dincomprhension envers les Grecs, traant de la sorte les lignes de lattitude du Concile de Constance et du pape Martin Ier envers Byzance, une politique et ecclsiastique, que nous dgageons travers une nouvelle lecture des actes conciliaires. Souvrait alors une collaboration toujours plus troite, marque par la visite Buda de lempereur Jean VIII Palologue en 1424, visite qui eut une influence dcisive dans le dclenchement de la nouvelle croisade, choue, de Goluba (1428). Enfin, la personnalit de Sigismond resta dterminante dans lattitude du Concile de Ble envers Byzance, ainsi que dans la dcision finale de Jean VIII de partir au Concile de Ferrare en 1438. Nous analysons dans ce contexte le projet utopique de ce grand souverain dunir lOccident et lOrient par llection de lempereur byzantin comme son successeur la tte du Saint Empire Romain. Nous concluons enfin que la disparition de Sigismond a t une des causes principales de lchec final du Concile de Florence, lapoge de cette priode de dialogue intense entre lOccident et lOrient.

Sigismund of Luxemburg and the Patriarchate of Aquileia

Ioan-Aurel Pop Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca Sigismund of Luxemburg, by means of at least two of his numerous titles, that of king of Hungary (1387-1437) and that of king of the Romans (14101433), later emperor (1433-1437), had particular interests in the north-eastern areas of the Italian Peninsula, namely in region of Venice (Friuli and Gorizia included). A peculiar and important ecclesiastical institution, the Patriarchate of Aquileia functioned in that area (568-1751). Between 1077 and 1420, it was also a secular principality (an imperial fief). The patriarchs of Aquileia, like the popes, had therefore both a secular and a spiritual authority. At the beginning of 15th century, the Friulan Patria, was turned into a battlefield by rivaling domestic powers, namely the cities of Udine, supported by Venice, and Cividale (Civitas Austriae), which received massive support from Sigismund of Luxemburg. At the peak of this conflict (1411-1420), king Sigismund sent troops from Hungary, led, amongst others, by Filippo Scolari, the Florentine in his service. Count Louis (Ludwig, Lodovico) of Tech was installed as patriarch of Aquileia, but he was chased away in 1420 due to the successes of Venice and his allies. The Friuli was under the control of the Venetian Republic and the patriarchate started loosing its power. These events are depicted in detail by the local chronicles. One of them is a manuscript from the Library of the Correr Museum in Venice. Entitled: The Successes in the Friulan Fatherland under Fourteen Patriarchs of Aquileia, by Giacomo Valvasone di Maniaco, the chronicle can found in our study.

III. Men and Means

The solutions found by Sigismund of Luxemburg to several challenges still leave room for debate. Equally questionable was his choice of men. In both cases however, his choices proved, in average, successful for him. Probably during his travels and due to the very diverse nature of his lands, Sigismund developed a sense of people and opportunities that enabled him to keep, as time went by, a relative peace inside his possessions. His major difficulties came however from the fact that mostly personal solutions had to be applied, which meant that they had a rather limited validity.

1. Aims, Claims and Opportunities

Few of the institutions and structures Sigismund had to deal with were as complex, in terms of attitude and political options namely, as the ones in the Italian Peninsula and in the Walachian border area. It is therefore rather interesting to learn how such areas were interconnected on a human and political level by the decisions of Sigismund himself. In a way, this recalls the monarchs approach of the questions of the two medieval schisms.
107

Sibiu and the Duchy of Amla at the End of the 14th Century and in the First Half of the 15th Century
Constantin Ittu Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu The paper discusses the history of Southern Transylvania in the late 1300 and early 1400, taking into account three different historical issues:
108

1. The history of Sibiu (Hermannstadt, Szeben), a city founded by the Transylvanian Saxons, a city which became powerful, in that period, due to its guilds of workers as well as of merchants. 2. The rural area around Sibiu, which was known as being the duchy of Amla (Amlasch, Omlas), and the connections between the city of Sibiu and the Duchy of Amla, both the political and the economical ties. 3. The political terms and conditions of the Romanian villages that be longed to the Duchy of Amla, terms placed in a much broader perspective, namely that of the relations between Transylvania and Walachia. In the first part of the lecture, the importance of the history of Sibiu will be emphasized, taking into account the significance of German colonization in the southern part of Transylvania, as well as its consequences for the local history. Generally speaking, the Saxon colonists were interested in having good relation with the local population due to their occupational spectrum. The matter regarded not only an agricultural settlement, but also a town, a city, which gradually developed, first, because to the local trade, and later due to the trade routes connecting Central Europe to medieval Walachia, In the second part, the attention focuses on the Duchy of Amla and on the general importance of the local area. In particular, the struggles between different local landlords for estates and power will be placed under scrutiny. The third and last part of the lecture will be devoted to the balance of power between North and South, between the Transylvanian elites and the Walachian rulers who claimed Amla for themselves. This balance of power often took the form of complementary political conflicts, actions and reactions.

Pier Paolo Vergerio il Vecchio, referendario dellimperatore Sigismondo

Adriano Papo Universit degli Studi, Udine Pier Paolo Vergerio era nato a Capodistria probabilmente il 23 luglio 1370. Dopo un breve soggiorno in Friuli, a 15 anni inizi a Padova lo studio della gram matica e della dialettica, quindi si trasfer a Firenze a insegnare logica. A Firenze venne a contatto con gli umanisti del cenacolo del cancelliere Coluccio Salutati e conobbe il prelato padovano Francesco Zabarella, che lo raccomand al signore di Padova, Francesco Novello da Carrara, in esilio nella citt toscana. In segn quindi logica a Bologna, ma si dedic pure allo studio della fisica e della
109

medicina. Tornato a Padova insegn logica, intraprese lo studio del diritto. Di ven tato allievo di Giovanni da Ravenna, entr in contatto con la locale comunit stu dentesca ungherese. Non ricopr alcun incarico importante alla corte del Car rarese; probabile invece che nel frattempo sia entrato nello stato ecclesiastico. Da Padova si trasfer a Bologna, poi a Roma, dove entr in amicizia col futuro papa Innocenzo VII, allora ancora cardinale. Quindi torn prima a Bologna, poi a Firenze, dove si accinse a studiare presso il Crisolora la lingua greca. Nella citt toscana conobbe un altro grande umanista, Leonardo Bruni. Nel marzo del 1405 si laure alfine in diritto canonico e civile e nelle scienze delle arti e della medicina. Ritornato a Roma, prese servizio presso il papa Innocenzo VII, che aveva aperto le porte agli umanisti. Negli ambienti della curia romana, infatti, il Vergerio lavor a stretto contatto con altri grandi umanisti suoi contemporanei: Jacopo Angeli, Poggio Bracciolini, Leonardo Bruni, Francesco da Fiano, Antonio Loschi e il bresciano Baigerra. A Roma il Vergerio fu anche coinvolto nelle questioni della riforma e dello scisma che aveva colpito la cristianit dopo la conclusione della cattivit avignonese. Entrato al servizio di Giovanni XXIII, intraprese quindi lavventura del concilio di Costanza (1414-18), tappa cruciale per la sua carriera e per la sua vita, perch qui avrebbe conosciuto Sigismondo di Lussemburgo, che avrebbe seguito in Ungheria stabilendosi definitivamente a Buda (Ofen). Una volta in Ungheria, Pier Paolo Vergerio si dedic soprattutto allattivit diplomatica, come Referendarius del re dei Romani. Il Vergerio non fu quindi impiegato permanentemente n nella cancelleria magiara n in quella imper iale, ma piuttosto rivest un incarico di fiducia vicino a Sigismondo in quanto re dei Romani. Il Vergerio accompagnava Sigismondo nei suoi viaggi come dot tore utriusque iuris partecipando alle assise che si tenevano nelle varie citt toc cate dalla corte regia. Forse lo accompagn anche nelle sue campagne contro i turchi, se vero come alcuni studiosi suppongono che scrisse unopera sulle imprese del re, De gestis Sigismundi Regis Pannoniae, oggi andata smarrita. Lo accompagn senzaltro nelle campagne antiussite della Cechia. Il Vergerio non segu per Sigismondo nel suo viaggio in Italia per lincoro nazione imperiale nel 1431-33: gi da tempo era uscito di scena, dopo la morte di Filippo Scolari avvenuta alla fine del 1426 e la partenza dallUngheria del cardi nale Branda Castiglione, di Bartolomeo della Capra e di Ognibene della Scola. Il Vergerio rimase per a Buda, anche se abbandonato dagli amici e dai sovrani che succedettero a Sigismondo. Tramite lintercessione di Ambrogio Traversari, cerc allora la protezione del vescovo di Segna Giovanni de Dominis, il quale, divenuto vescovo di Vrad (Grosswardein, Oradea), lo invit nella sua diocesi. E il suo soggiorno a Vrad fu decisivo per lo sviluppo dei rapporti culturali italo ungheresi, perch a Vrad il Vergerio incontr Gregorio (Gregor) di Sanok e Giovanni (Jnos) Vitz, futuro grande cancelliere alla corte di Mattia (Mtys, Matia) Corvino. A Vrad senzaltro furono tenuti vari simposi tra il Vergerio, il Vitz, Gregorio di Sanok e il cipriota Filippo Podocataro, ospite del Vitz.
110

A ogni modo, gli incontri tra il Pier Paolo Vergerio e Giovanni Vitz furono decisivi per lo sviluppo dellumanesimo in Ungheria. Senza il Vergerio non si potrebbe spiegare lesistenza come umanisti di Vitz e di Giano (Janus) Pannonio. Senza Vitz e Pannonio non esisterebbe neanche la corte di Mattia Corvino, n sarebbe esistito il glorioso Quattrocento ungherese.

Filippo Scolari, un condottiero fiorentino al servizio di Sigismondo di Lussemburgo

Gizella Nemeth Istituto Italoungherese Pier Paolo Vergerio, Venezia Filippo Scolari nacque nel 1369 a Tizzano, nei dintorni di Firenze; apparte neva a una nobile famiglia ghibellina decaduta che discendeva dal casato dei Buondelmonti. Abile comera nel far di conto, Filippo fu affidato allet di 13 anni al mercante fiorentino Luca del Pecchia, il quale esercitava la professione in Ungheria. Il giovane, notato per la sua bravura, fu prima accolto al servizio dell arcivescovo di Esztergom (Gran), poi a quello dello stesso re dUngheria e fu turo imperatore, Sigismondo, il quale lo nomin amministratore delle miniere doro di Kremnica (Kremnitz) Krmcbnya (1399) e governatore delle miniere di sale dellUngheria (1401). Dimostratosi un ottimo amministratore, fu nominato sommo tesoriere del regno (1407), incarico che per ricopr per un solo anno. Scolari divenne in breve tempo uno dei pi fidati e intimi consiglieri del re e sal molto rapidamente nella scala sociale. Filippo fu ispn (da cui deriva il suo soprannome di Spano), cio governatore delle contee di Timi (Temes), Cenad (Csand), Cuvin (Keve), Cara (Krass), Arad, Csongrd, Zarand e Fejr; nel 1408-1409 fu anche bano di Severin (Szrny). Esercitava inoltre una notevole influenza sullepiscopato di Vrad (Grosswardein, Oradea) e sullarci vescovado di Kalocsa, in genere diretti o amministrati da parenti o amici e delle cui rendite poteva usufruire personalmente nei periodi di vacanza della sede. Filippo aveva stabilito la propria residenza nel villaggio di Ozora, che gli era stato portato in dote dalla moglie Barbara (Borbla), la figlia dun ricco possi dente locale. A Ozora, attorno al 1416, fece costruire uno splendido castello. Fu anche un ricco proprietario terriero: ebbe possessi in diversi comitati. Filippo Scolari fu per soprattutto un eccellente condottiero. Divenne lo spauracchio si disse dei turchi, contro i quali consegu numerose vittorie,
111

anche se in effetti non si mai trattato di battaglie invero memorabili. Le sue vittorie lo resero famoso anche in Italia, tant che Filippo Scolari diven ne uno dei principali modelli di capitano fiorentino, e come tale stato ritrat to da Andrea del Castagno in un famoso affresco che si ricollega al mito medievale dei nove prodi. Molte fonti magnificano il valore e laudacia del Nostro collocandolo sullo stesso piano di Giovanni (Ioan/ Iancu, Jnos) Hunyadi. Leonardo Bruni lo considera secondo soltanto a Giulio Cesare. Filippo insegnava personalmente ai suoi soldati non solo la tecnica e la strategia militari (usava la fuga simulata per poi sorprendere il nemico nelle gole delle montagne, la stessa tattica di cui serano serviti a loro tempo i nomadi delle steppe e quindi gli stessi magiari antichi), ma anche le norme comportamentali da rispettare dentro e fuori il campo di battaglia. Tuttavia, non sempre Scolari si dimostr condottiero dai sani principi morali, esempio per i suoi soldati. Fu invece un capo militare in linea coi tempi: opportunista, astuto, presuntuoso, cinico e molto spesso anche crudele, che lasciava unimpronta indelebile di s facendo amputare le mani, il naso e gli orecchi ed estrarre gli occhi ai malcapi tati che diventavano suoi prigionieri. Tuttavia, il Nostro si distinse anche nella costruzione di opere militari, come si era gi distinto nella costruzione di quelle civili. Un suo grosso merito fu indiscutibilmente la costruzione della fortezza di Orova (Orschowa) e il rafforzamento della linea di difesa che correva tra Severin e Belgrado (Beograd, Nndorfehrvr). Prima di combattere direttamente contro i turchi nei Balcani, Filippo Scolari partecip alle campagne promosse da Sigismondo per domare i ribelli bosniaci, da sempre insofferenti della dominazione magiara e pronti a mettersi o dalla parte del re di Napoli, Ladislao dAngi-Durazzo, o da quella degli ottomani. La sua prima campagna contro gli ottomani (1409) ebbe il merito di frenare le loro incursioni verso i territori ungheresi per ben dieci anni. Filippo Scolari non fu invece fortunato nelle due campagne condotte contro gli ussiti nel 1420 e 1422 nella Cechia, dove venne sconfitto da Jan ika a Kuttenberg e a Deutschbrod. Anche la campagna veneta del 14111413 non fu oltremodo positiva per lui. Anzi, dopo aver occupato tutto il Friuli in una quaran tina di giorni senza incontrare resistenza alcuna, il Nostro non seppe sfruttare il successo iniziale e quindi il vantaggio che aveva nei confronti dei veneziani, tra laltro notevolmente inferiori di numero. In definitive, Filippo Scolari fall nella conquista della terraferma veneta, su cui doveva restaurare lautorit imperiale, che era stata rimossa dalla Repubblica: si parl di ozi di Capua, di corruzione e tradimento e di un inusuale supplizio cui Scolari, lo spauracchio dei Turchi, sarebbe incorso dopo il suo rientro in Ungheria: gli fu colato in bocca delloro fuso. Molto verosimilmente Filippo Scolari aveva lasciato il campo di battaglia perch gi ammalato di gotta, la malattia che nel 1426 lo avrebbe infatti portato alla morte.
112

Filippo Scolari mor infatti a Lipova (Lippa), nel Banato, il 27 dicembre 1426, dopo aver appena concluso la sua ultima battaglia contro i turchi, che aveva per seguito da una portantina, e, come aveva deciso quandera ancora in vita, fu sepolto a Szkesfehrvr (Stuhlweissenburg) nella cappella che si era fatto costruire ac canto a quella dove erano raccolte le spoglie dei re dUngheria. La cappella in cui venne sepolto Filippo Scolari fu distrutta dai turchi (1543) insieme con la lapide commemorative.

2. Concepts and Cities

Cities, their development and the rulers support given to them, are re garded in general as a symbol of modernity. This is a result of the modern perspectives as well as a medieval fact. The same seems to apply for ideo logical questions. They go both ways, from nationalist ideology and late me dieval phrases to communist censorship and territorial structures of the Mid dle Ages. In this respect, the reign of emperor and king Sigismund stands naturally at the crossroad between medieval and modern concepts and needs.

Imperium et natio: Realities of the Age of Sigismund of Luxemburg

Florin Dumitru Soporan Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca The reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg, rich in political and military events, was viewed as a time of restoration of the imperial idea, a reassessment of the great ideological values of the medieval sprit, namely the Empire and the Church. King of Hungary, since 1387, as queen Marys husband, king of the Romans, since 1410, after an interregnum, king of Bohemia, since 1419, heir to his brothers Wenceslas (Wenzel, Vclav) IV royal rights, he was better prepared for the imperial task and mission than other members of his dynasty. In general, for his educated contemporaries, Sigismund of Luxemburg personified the medieval idea of stability and order. Sigismund had restored civil peace in the German lands, consolidated royal power in Hungary and solved the great crisis of the Roman Church. After a series of natural and military disasters, long wars, social unrests and theological speculations, Western Christendom seemed to have found in Sigismund of Luxemburg a monarch worthy to call himself emperor, the first among Christian sovereigns.
113

However, in part, this image resembled a cover for a different reality. Europe at the end of the Middle Ages was not the Christian Republic, united by the papal and imperial universal authorities. The greatest challenge was perhaps the emergency of early nationalist concepts, a phenomenon well stu died for France and England or the Spanish reconquista. This spirit, present also in East-Central Europe, contested the traditional universalist views Viewed also as a prequel to the early modern Habsburg era in Central Europe, Sigismund of Luxemburgs rule in the Mid and Lower Danubian area had great political projects to offer and little results to show on the general grand political level, also due to the fact that his Bohemian and Hungarian subjects viewed their monarch as a foreigner. This was a feeling well exploited by rebellious magnates. Nevertheless, regardless of the discontent caused by his German followers for that matter, Sigismund of Luxemburg managed to overcome the crisis, namely in Hungary, and subdue the rebels. The Hussite Revolution, a controversial formula in itself, was probably Sigismund of Luxemburgs greatest challenge. in medieval nationalist terms, in particular. Initially, a question of confessional discontent, the ideological problem rapidly developed self-standing national aspects and turned into an open conflict between the Czechs and the Germans, noblemen as well as commoners. For the Bohemian nation (the Czech nobles), the king who had executed Jan Hus could not be the legitimate ruler of Bohemia. Sigismund won, but his victory did not put an end to such ideology. When, Sigismund died, his kingdoms were in crisis similar to those at the beginning of his rule.

Rex et Respublica: King Sigismund of Luxemburg in Dubrovnik

Zrinka Peorda Vardi Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Historical and Social Research, Zagreb When the Venetian authority in Dalmatia colapsed, Dubrovnik (Ragusa) had become a part of the Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia (1358). But unlike other Dalmatian towns, Dubrovnik negotiated a separate treaty with Louis (Lajos) I of Anjou that ensured the preservation of citys local autonomy as well as future prosperity.The protection granted by the crown meant a lot to a little community on the crossroads of different foreign interests. At the same time, without any representatives of the highest civil or military powers (e.g. the king)
114

within the city-walls, Dubrovnik was becoming an independent republic, having complete self-government and freedom of action in the international field. Nevertheless, despite these developing elements of independence, people of Dubrovnik have been very loyal to the crown during the entire reign of king Sigismund of Luxemburg. The Italian humanist Philip de Diversis, who was also the high-school principal in Dubrovnik from 1434 to 1441, states that such praiseworthy custom of loyalty to the Holy Hungarian Royal Highness increases the honour, the strength and wealth of the city. Because of such loyalty to the crown, the people of Dubrovnik had already gained a very special favour from one monarch Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387-1437). Nothing lesser was their admiration for him. Many examples of the special relation between him and Ragusa can be found. Sigismund was the ruler during whose reign Dubrovnik started to create its own statehood and independence. The Ragusans showed greatest respect to Sigismund of Luxemburg. They kept him in lasting memory and engraved him as a symbol in city's collective memory. The image of a good king Sigismund who protected his loyal subjects in the free city of Ragusa became a part of the symbolical package that the ruling urban aristocracy created as a part of its political ideology. This was even visualizied in rituals. When the news about Sigismunds death spread in the city, deep mourning was prounonced and a memorial service was held in the cathedral, what was the usual custom at the kings death. Distinguished humanists made speeches, praising king Sigismunds enormous merit for the city and friendship that he had with the inhabitants. In the turbulent times of king Sigismunds fight to establish himself on the throne, the Ragusans stood behind him. After entire Dalmatia came under Venetian supremacy, Dubrovnik remained his last outpost on that territory. Although the reign of king Sigismund was marked with diminishing royal power at the Eastern Adriatic coast, as well as with the formation of a de facto independent Ragusan city-state, the question of loyalty to the sovereign had never been arisen. On the contrary, the fidelity to the king was always emphasized and Ragusan chroniclers were happy to stress that as well. Sigismund was also the first ruler to visit Dubrovnik. However, his visit was primariliy the result of the unfortunate events after Nicopolis (1396). Some authors relate the erection of the famous Orlando statue to this royal visit. It is stated that probably king Sigismund of Luxemburg introduced the people of Dubrovnik with the symbolism of Rolands statues which could be found in the cities of northern Germany. The interpretation of Rolands statue (Rolandssule) as a legal symbol (Rechtsroland), a symbol of independent city jurisdiction and autonomy is well known. The symbolism of these German statues perfectly fits in the deliberated structure of Dubrovniks public signs that were used to represent citys identity and social system. With regard to the same visit and its unfortunate circumstances, it is worth mentioning that the city of Dubrovnik regarded itself (almost) as a fortress
115

of the Catholic faith. The statue of Orlando was directed towards East, creating an image of a guard who had an eye to the danger that threatened the city and the kingdom from the Levante. The Ottomans were on the front-door. At the beginning of the 15th century, the danger grew and reached Dubrovnik fast. Under those circumstances, Sigismund of Luxemburg introduced himself, though not very successfully, as a defensor Christianorum. Nevertheless, this has surely echoed in Dubrovnik, a city also very keen to display the image of Respublica Christiana at the southern corner of the Adriatic Sea.

Dalmatian Cities and King Sigismund with particular Attention to the Case of Zadar
Zoran Ladi Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Historical and Social Research, Zagreb The fifty year long reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387-1437) as the king of Croatia-Dalmatia was determined by two main features: 1. On the one hand, in the first period of his reign (1387-1408) he was constantly preoccupied by the conflicts with influential Croatian and Bosnian magnates. Sigismunds first success in those conflicts was that he compelled the Bosnian king Stephen (Stepan) Dabia to renounce his claims to the title of king of Croatia-Dalmatia (1394). Yet, during the autumn of the year 1402, the Dalmatian cities of Zadar (with the town of Vrana), Split, Trogir, and ibenik, later Skradin, Kotor, the islands of Bra, Hvar, Korula, Rab and Cres came under the rule of king Ladislas of Naples. In those times, duke Hrvoje Vuki Hrvatini rose as the most influential magnate in that period in Dalmatia and in the hinterland. The duke was granted estates and cities in Dalmatia by king Ladislas. King Sigismund succeeded in breaking his power only in 1415. 2. On the other hand, in the second period, Sigismund was in conflict with Venice. The combats between 1411 and 1413 ended unsuccessfully for him. Venice maintained all her Dalmatian possessions. Still, the situation worsened for king Sigismund. During the war of 1418-1420, Venice gained possession over Kotor, Bra, Hvar, Korula, Trogir, and Split. The paper deals also extensively with the data recorded by Paul de Paulo, a patrician of Zadar. He wrote his personal diary presenting information about various political events in Zadar, Dalmatia and Croatia (1371-1408), connected also to the rule of king Sigismund of Luxemburg.
116

History and Ideology: An Episode from the Medieval Hungarian-Romanian Relations and its Modern Political Implications

A Rulers Coordinates

Sorin ipos University of Oradea Historian and politician Silviu Dragomir (1888-1962) enjoyed a special attention from the specialists after his death, as several studies on his life and works were printed. I myself am one of those who wrote on his destiny. I was successful in gathering several data on Silviu Dragomir from archives and libraries. I encountered no special problems, in terms of information acces, during my research, with one exception: the manuscripts preserved in the Library of the Romanian Academy, under the signature(s) A 2181 a-g. The main problem was the content of one of Dragomirs manuscripts, a study on the diploma granted by king Bla IV to the Knights of St. John in 1247. I tried again in spring 2007. Director of the library was no more Gabriel trempel. The attitude of the the new director, Dan Horia Mazilu, was open and sincere. His Excellency did no hesitate a single moment in approving my request to consult the secret fund. On this altogether minor level, even though the content of the study in question had grown into a urban legend, the post-communist censorship seemed to have lost the fight with a Romanian civil society more and more decided to know and assume its past. The size of the file was unexpectedly great. Several manuscript and typed were devoted by Dragomir to the topic. The final draft of the study, typed in three copies each of 110 pages, was entitled Diploma cavalerilor ioanii de la 1247. Studiu critic [The Charter of the Knights of St. John (1247). Critic Study] (the autograph manuscript of the final draft bears the signature A 1281d). Two earlier typed drafts, entitled Cavalerii Ioanii i Oltenia. Studiu de critic istoric [The Knights of St. John and Oltenia. Critic Historic Study] (A 1281 e-f) and the initial autograph manuscript, dated Cluj (Klausenburg, Kolzosvr), 1948, with the title Cavalerii Ioanii i rile Romne. Diploma din 1247 a regelui Bela al IV-lea [The Knights of St. John and the Romanian Countries. King Bla IVs Charter of 1247], only the second part of the title was preserved in the typed version (A 1281 a-b-c), complete the collection, valuable because it reveals the different stages and phases in the genesis and completion of the study. Dragomirs study was first completed in 1948, when the Communists took control over Romania.The final draft of the study was written after his release from prison in 1955, for the author made use of the Romanian translation of the charter published in 1951. Communism was already in place at that time.
117

Sigismund of Luxemburg remains a controversial figure. The studies of the later decades have preserved this feature. Some debates go merely over local details. Other regard matters of substance. The real character of the ruler still eludes us, while the search for his grand dessin goes on. Finding an answer to such questions will require the work of generations. To offer a system of informations and perspectives is therefore an important endeavor and yet a fragile one. Sigismund ruled in a time when details were as impor tant as today and matters of substance were a frequent in the 21st century. The answers and solutions he or his contemporaries found those matters are still debated. Any modern solution must expect an, at least, difficult fate.

Sigismund von Luxemburg: Herrscher an der Schwelle der Neuzeit oder am Ausgang des Mittelalters?

Virgil Ciocltan Rumnische Akademie Nicolae Iorga Institut fr Geschichte, Bukarest Der Titel der vom deutschen Historiker Jrg Hoensch verfassten Mono graphie, Kaiser Sigismund von Luxemburg, ein Herrscher an der Schwelle der Neuzeit, enthlt m.E. im Kern die entscheidende Frage nach dem politischen We sen des Monarchen, des Kaisers und Knigs, der zweifellos zwischen zwei Epochen, Mittelalter und Neuzeit, gelebt und geschaffen hat: zu welchem dieser zwei geschicht lichen Abschnitte sein Werk als Staatsmann eher gehrte? Auf dem Sterbebett im Winter 1437 wiederholte Sigismund verbissen die Aufgabe, die er noch zu erfllen gedachte: der Kreuzzug, um vorerst die Trken aus Europa zu vertreiben, dann die Heiligen Sttte zu befreien. Unter den agonischen Trumereien verbarg sich der feste Glaube an eine Mission, die er stets whrend seiner fnfzigjhrigen Herrschaft als Hauptpflicht betrach tet hat. Bei nherer Betrachtung entpuppt sie sich diese Zielsetzung als Eck pfeiler seines ganzen Gedankengebudes. Die so sprunghafte Handlungs
118

weise des letzten Luxemburgers, die ihm schon seine Zeitgenossen vorge worfen haben und die den Historikern oft verworren erscheint, bezeugt, wenn man von diesem Gesichtspunkt ausgeht, eine erstaunliche innere Kohernz: gleichgltig wie scheinbar vom Zweck abschweifend seine langen Umwege gewesen sind, sie waren immer Sigismunds grossen Anliegen unterstellt. Nicht minder mittelaterlich war seine Anschauung ber die Vorbereitung des geplanten Kreuzzuges: die unabdingbare Voraussetzung fr die erfolg reiche Bekmpfung der Unglubingen war die Einheit der gesamten Christen heit. Er selbst hat sich viele Jahre vor seiner 1433 erfolgten Kaiserkrnung als weltliches Oberhaupt aller Christen empfunden und fhlte sich somit berufen, die alten und die neuen Risse im Krper der kumene zu flicken. Sigismund von Luxemburgs Begabung als usserst weitsichtiger Diplomat, die ihm mit gutem Grund den Ruf einer Weltspinne erbrachte, sowie seine unermdliche Arbeitskraft hat er mit Hingabe eingesetzt, entweder um das abendlndische Schisma zu beseitigen oder um die Ausshnung mit der Ostkirche zu be wirken und das Zweikaiserproblem zu lsen. Diese Denk- und Handlungsweise, die das Lebenswerk Sigismunds von Luxemburg untermauern und folglich seine Eigenart als Monarch kenn zeichnen, stufen ihn als mittelalterlicher Herrscher ein, ein Kaiser, der den Anbruch der Neuzeit nicht wahrgenommen hat. Sigismunds actions tend to give him the appearance of a modern ruler. His thinking bears the seal of the Middle Ages. It could thus well be that several questions arise not from deeds, but from the medieval and modern choice of words. It is also a matter of how we look at the ruler, for Sigismund had a face and a policy for each of the areas of his concern and interest. The Ottoman Sigismund is not identical with the Polish Sigismund. Likewise, the French Sigismund differs from the Walachian Sigismund. The monarch becomes a gathering of political faces that surround one single personality.

fight. He fled the battlefield at Nicopolis but he did not given up the fight. This is perhaps one of Sigismund of Luxemburgs most striking character features.

Sigismund von Luxemburg in Annales seu Cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae von Johann Dugosz

Kryzstof Baczkowski Jagellonische Universitt, Krakau Im herausragenden Werk des grssten polnischen Geschichstsschreibers des Mittelalters, Johann (Jan) Dugosz (1415-1480), Annales seu cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae, taucht die Gestalt Sigismunds von Luxemburg (13681437) mehr mals auf. In den vier Bnden des krzlich neu verffentlichten, elfbndigen Gesamtwerks, welche die Jahre 13701444 umfassen, wird Kaiser und Konig Sigismund auf insgesamt 291 Seiten, in fast jedem Jahr seiner Regierung erwahnt. Die Erwhnungen sind teils kurze Bemerkungen, teils lngere Ausfhrungen, in denen, der polnische Chronist die polnische und europische Politik des Luxemburgers charakterisiert. Das ist verstndlich, wenn man bedenkt, dass Polen 55 Jahre lang, nmlich von 1382 bis 1437, einen wichtigen Faktor in der Politik Sigismunds dargestellt hatte. Ausserdem behandelte Dugosz in seinem Werk nicht nur der Geschichte Polens, sondern auch der Geschichte Mitteleuropas. Der polnische Chronist widmete ins besonders Ungarn und Bhmen viel Raum. Erstmals erwhnt Dugosz Sigismund im Jahr 1372, im Zusammenhang mit der Planung seiner Heirat mit Maria dAnjou. Die letzte Erwhnung stammt aus dem Jahr 1437, im Zusammenhang mit dem Tod des Kaisers. Jan Dugosz, der engagierte polnische Patriot beurteilte Sigismund in Hinblick auf dessen Beziehungen zu Polen, aber diese Kontakte waren im Laufe der Jahrzehnten wechselhaft. Teils hatten sie den Charakter einer Freundschaft und eines Bundnisses, teils den Charakter einer Feindschaft und sogar eines Krieges. Die Urteile uber Sigismund von Luxemburg sind dementsprechend auch wechselhaft und spiegeln verschiedene Phasen der polnisch-luxemburgischen Beziehungen wieder. Dugosz der als Geistlicher und Anhnger der hierarchischen Ordnung, Ge gner der revolutionren Bewegungen, vor allen der hussitischen Strmungen war, sah in der Persnlichkeit Sigismunds ein Symbol fur die europische Stabilitt. Deshalb schtzte er ihn gewissermassen, was nicht immer mit der
120

1. North and South

When Sigismund became king of Hungary, two other princes had a right to the throne, Ladislas of Naples and Wladislaw Jagiello of Poland. The ruler who had come from the West was under threat from both flanks even before the Ottoman menace set in. Later, it was Venices turn in the South to give major reasons of concern to the king of Hungary. Sigismund responded to these challenges by finding allies, at least for a while, behind the front and the enemy, in Genoa or in Lithuania. He attempted the same in Asia Minor, in case of the Ottoman Empire. Sigismund of Luxemburg did not abandon the
119

kritischen Beurteilung seiner Politik gegenber Polen zu vereinbaren war. Diese Zweideutigkeit ist in verschiedenen Teilen seiner Chronik bemerkbar. Besonders scharf kritisiert Jan Dugosz die Politik Sigismunds, wenn er seine Intervention in Polen nach dem Tod Ludwigs I. von Ungarn im Jahre 1382 beschreibt, auf sein Bndnis mit dem Deutschen Orden und auf seinen Beteiligung auf den Krieg gegen Polen (1410) eingeht, seinen ungerechten, fr Polen-Litauen Urteilspruch in Breslau (1420) kritisiert und schliesslich seinen Versuch der Zerschlagung der polnisch-litauischen Union durch Zu erkennung der kniglichen Krone an Vitold (Witawt) verurteilt (1429). Kritisch beurteilte er auch die osmanische Politik Sigismunds, indem er ihm Hochmut, Stolz und Geringschtzung der Gegner in den Schlachten von Nikopolis (1396), Belgrad (Beograd) (1420) und Goluba (1428) vorwierft. Kritisch stand er Sigismunds Verfahren den Tschechen gegenber die er (nach Dugosz Meinung) aufgrund seiner Strenge in den Brgerkrieg hineingetrieben hatte. Aber als Kmpfer gegen die Hresie wirkte Sigismund in den Augen Jan Dugoszs gerecht. Die Phasen der Annaherung wie z.B. Zusammenkunfte und persnliche Treffen Sigismunds mit Wladislaw (Wadysaw) Jagieo, nahm Jan Dugosz mit grosser Befriedigung zur Kenntnis. Sigismund von Luxemburgs Streben nach einer Annherung zum Geschlecht der Jagiellonen und einer Strkung der Freundschaft durch matrimonielle Bndisse beider Dynastien lobte Dugosz sogar in bertriebene optimistische Tne.

Sigismund's Followers and Opponents (Supporters of Ladislas of Naples) among Croatian Noblemen and Dalmatian Urban Nobility during the Civil war
Damir Karbi Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Historical and Social Research, Zagreb Due to their geographical position between Hungary and Southern Italy, Croatia and Dalmatia played an important role during the civil war between the supporters of queen Mary and Sigismund of Luxemburg and the Neapolitan Angevins (1385-1409). This was particularly true in the case of the Neapolitans, for who the control over them was a necessary precondition for any further move northwards and the conquest of the crown itself. On the other hand, from the same reason the opposite side also could not risk loosing the control and thus the area was relatively frequently in the centre of war efforts of both parties.
121

The paper explores the manpower the fighting parties could count on in Croatia and Dalmatian cities. In spite of the fact that major participants in the aforementioned struggles (baronial factions supporting one or the other side) are well known both on the level of the Kingdom of Hungary in general or in the case of the Kingdom of Croatia-Dalmatia in particular, the composition of their military retinues and political factions on lesser levels still is an interesting research subject. The situation was even more complex, because it constantly changed over time, due to the fact that leading persons might (and did) changed sides during the events taking their supporters with them. This was true in cases of both Croatian magnates (the Kurjakovii of Krbava/ Corbaviai, the Nelipii, the counts of Krk/Vegla, etc.) or Dalmatian cities, whose urban nobility also participated in these events. In the case of cities, particularly important was the group of the noblemen who were at certain point (mostly by king Louis the Great (Nagy Lajos) of Hungary) given rank of royal knights establishing in that way direct connection with royal court which enabled them to cross boundaries imposed by their urban character and play a role on the general level as did other noblemen of the realm (or even greater, taking into the account the personal character of their bond with the king). In the case of Croatian noblemen, the particularly interesting are those be longing to the ubi kindred, the noble kindred whose members had played the most important role two generations earlier, in the time when the Angevins became the kings of Hungary-Croatia, but lost their prevalence during the first half of the fourteenth century after coming into the conflict with the Angevin kings. However, in the case of this war, the ubii were firm supporters of the queen and later king Sigismund and were thus on the one side persecuted by the supporters of the Angevins and on the other some of them succeeded in establishing their position towards the court (the best example being viceban James of the Banii branch). In this respect, the present paper also explores how other Croatian noblemen made their choices, which side they took in the events and what were the consequences for them. The manner in which Sigismund of Luxemburg handled the Croatian and Polish questions is eloquent for his general politics. Sigismund tried to make the best out of the opportunities presented to him. He thought of both short- and long-term solutions to foreign political questions that, in such cases, were also domestic problems for him. Sigismund was no glorious monarch in the terms of the spreading medieval model of Alexander. He made no great conquests, nor win great battles. In return, he achieved something perhaps even more important for him. He retained his crowns and went on the become emperor. In the late 14th century, very few would have thought that the king of Hungary would ever hold his ground and become one day emperor.
122

2. East and West

Until the Bohemian crisis and the settlement of the Ottoman civil war in the same 1410, the political situation on the East-West axis seemed more favorable to Sigismund of Luxemburg than to the South or to the North. On the East-West axis there were mainly just the problems of two schisms and the question of the royal Hungarian accesses to the Black Sea area and to the Mounds of the Danube. When compared to the Ottoman threat or to the Jagellonian challenge, these were not matters of state that directly questioned king Sigismund of Luxemburgs, otherwise much contested and menaced, Hungarian rule. Such geopolitical aspects are worth an analysis on the level of state politics, as well on the local political and social level.

Nicopolis (1396), Lublau (1412) and Luck (1429): Three Perspectives on Sigismund of Luxemburgs Career

the politically correct grounds of a possible Moldavian treason of a future crusade, Sigismund proposed a Hungarian-Polish partition of Moldavia that was accepted by Wladislaw. Walachia, involved in the Ottoman civil war, did not officially dislike this solution that was to resurface time after time. In 1429, at another international meeting in Luck (Lutsk), Sigismund cal led for the partition of Moldavia. A royal crown was to be granted to Witold in return for his support of the project. The grand-duke of Lithuania politely avoided getting involved in the matter, which did not actually condition his crown. The conflict was pushed back to the Walachian level. It was under these circumstances, when the position of Greek rite politicians had rebecome fundamental for Latin successes, that Sigismund launched his speech over the Greek moral superiority in relation to the Latin world. Each of the three moments coincides with a particular phase in king Sigismunds political evolution. Nicopolis preceded the Hungarian rebellion of 1403-1404. At Lublau, there was no actual Hussite problem yet. At Luck however, the major themes in Sigismunds long political career met.

Alexandru Simon Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca From an eastern, namely Walachian, perspective, three would be the number of the defining moments in Sigismund of Luxemburgs relation to Greek rite political structures outside of the shrinking Byzantine Empire. The question in itself is rather questionable. One neutral reason would be the fact that a lot of data is still to be found in various European archives. Nicopolis (1396) is mainly a question of placing the blame, of finding traitors, outside the ranks of the French knights. As in 1444, after Varna, the main traitors were Genoa and the Walachians. The charges were, in part, probably true. Sigismund avoided however focusing on such matters. This came to his advantage. Apparently he succeeded also in regaining control over Moldavia, after his failed campaign of 1395, while strengthening the ties to Wladislaw (Wadisaw) Jagiellos rebellious cousin, Witold (Vytautas) of Lithuania. In this area, already in 1391, Sigismund had challenged, with Byzantiums support, the Polish king on Greek rite ecclesiastical ground too. At the royal Polish-Hungrian meeting of Lublau (Stara Lubovna) of 1412, the Moldavian-Lithuanian question, as well the never actually settled conflict between Moldavia and Walachia for the control of the trade channel that connected Hungary to the Mounds of the Danube was instrumental. On
123

Das Patriziat von Hermannstadt zur Zeit Knigs Sigismunds

Konrad G. Gndisch Carl von Ossietsky Universitt, Oldenburg In der ungarischen Regierungszeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg (13871437) wurde die stdtefreundliche Politik der Angevinen (Karl-Robert (Carlo, Kroly-Rbert) und Ludwig (Lajos) I. der Grosse) fortgesetzt, die auch die Ent wicklung von Hermannstadt (Sibiu, (Nagy) Szeben) nachhaltig vorangebracht hat. Allerdings verlagerten sich die handels- und finanzpolitischen Akzente vom italienischen zum oberdeutschen Raum. Auch die Fhrungsschicht der sieben brgischen Stdte wurde von diesen Vernderungen betroffen. In Hermann stadt findet dabei die Ablsung des an vorwiegend am Grundbesitz orientierten Grfenpatriziats durch das in Handels-, Finanz- und Montangeschfte involvierte Unternehmerpatriziat statt, das sich aus einheimischen Krften, aber auch aus Zu wanderern aus Oberitalien und aus dem oberdeutschen Raum rekrutierte. Der Vortrag wird insbesondere den Familienverbindungen der Bardi aus Florenz, der Lemmel aus Bamberg, der Stromer und Haller aus Nrnberg nachgehen, aber auch Danziger (zu Gdask) und Thorner (zu Toru) Beziehungen in der Zeit Knigs und Kaisers Sigismund von Luxemburg aufzeigen.
124

Sigismund election as king of the Romans, initially as one of the three kings, as well the irruption of the Bohemian conflict changed the political face of his reign. Even if his crowning ceremony as emperor took place only two decades later, this change, both positive and negative, in status and in scale, marked the kings subsequent actions, together with the evolution of his Eastern and South-Eastern realms, such as Hungary and Croatia. At the end of 1437, like in 1382, over a vast territory, the idea of and the actual social and political stability was dependent on one single person. The ensuing political mutations revealed the true impact of Sigismund of Luxemburgs reign.

From the Crown in the Custody of the King to the Holy Crown in the Custody of the Hungarian Orders

Ivn Bertnyi Etvs Lornd University, Budapest In one of his letters of 1434, king Sigismund of Luxemburg wrote on the safe-guarding of the royal Hungarian crown, at the time in the royal castle of Buda (Ofen). The memoirs of Helen Kottaner describe the way the Holy Crown was stolen in 1440, after the death of king Albert of Habsburg. That year the Holy Crown was carried in a box to the castle of Visegrd and its new place of deposit was sealed by several Hungarian Lords with their personal seals. This allows us to conclude that the Hungarian king himself was no longer the guardian of the Holy Crown. The representatives of the Hungarian orders were the new guardians of the Holy Crown of the Hungarian realm. From a chronological perspective too, Sigismund of Luxemburgs rule, itself the object of several political crisis, was surrounded by anarchies. In particular in the Kingdom of Hungary, his death triggered what could be cal led a return to the trouble of the interregnum of the 1380. Though reputed to be a lover of beauty, Sigismund of Luxemburg, like Louis of Anjou, failed to provide any legitimate male heirs. At times, this turned out be a matter of more importance than major political and military challenges, overshadowing other achievements. On the other hand, the end of Sigismunds rule could be regarded as a victory of the state over the person. But, in the 1430 and 1440 the practical meanings of this thought were rather different than those that are generally ascribed to such a sentence in the modern European world.
125 126

Oradea at night and from the air