Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-03-01 / 3. szám
3HÜ£0tones (3n Hungarian-by-ROGER B. GOODMAN — Part Two of Part Fourteen — SIGISMUND’S FIFTY YEARS Woodcut by Joseph Dómján in “Hungarian Heroes and Legends” depicting the life of King Sigismund. The Council of Constance About the year 1413 Sigismund went to Germany and remained away from Hungary for a period of almost six years. During this time he participated in the famous Council of Constance (1414-1417), a momentous meeting of rulers and princes of the Church summoned to settle many religious and political problems. It was here that Sigismund performed an act that blackened his reputation and caused great hardship for his land. The great Czech religious reformer, John Hus, was given a safe-conduct by Sigismund himself to attend the meeting in order to present his views to the representatives of the Church. Violating his own word, Sigismund permitted Hus to be arrested. The Czech was tried and then burned at the stake for heresy. This treachery was deeply resented in Bohemia, and the followers of Hus rose in revolt. Under a brave and resourceful general, John Ziska, the rebels won victory after victory and soon gained control of almost all of Bohemia. It was not until 1433 that Sigismund, finally Holy Roman Emperor, was able to effect a compromise with the Hussites. And, incidentally, it was from the Hussites that the Hungarians learned one of their most effective military tactics, the use of battle-wagons. . .the community of the Holy Crown of Hungary ’ ’ One of the greatest accomplishments of Sigismund was something that is not often thought of nor mentioned in accounts of his reign. This was the establishment of the concept of the “community of the Holy Crown of Hungary.” Very early on in his reign, Sigismund had referred to himself as “presiding over” the Holy Crown. This notion, indicating as it did the primacy of the symbol — the Crown — over the King himself — represented an important step in Hungary’s constant movement towards the democratic sharing of government and rule among all its people. This theory was a remarkable assertion of the Hungarian national consciousness, and did much to strengthen the “one-ness” of Hungarian kings, nobility and people. Return to Hungary At the end of his reign Sigismund revealed that, despite all his travels and his ambitions to be Emperor and King of Germany as well as of Hungary, he regarded himself as a truly Hungarian monarch. In his final illness he made it clear that he wished to rest in Hungarian soil. In 1437 this wandering King was buried in Nagyvarad, near the grave of St. Ladislas. MARCH 1987 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 13
