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History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 2
T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 2 Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Sigismund is Kaiser, then, in spite of Wenzel. King of Hungary,
after unheard-of troubles and adventures, ending some years ago in
a kind of peace and conquest, he has long been King of Bohemia,
too, he at last became; having survived Wenzel, who was childless.
Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire, and so much else: is not
Sigismund now a great man? Truly the loom he weaves upon,
in this world, is very large. But the weaver was of headlong,
high-pacing, flimsy nature; and both warp and woof were gone
dreadfully entangled!--
This is the Kaiser Sigismund who held the Council of Constance; and "blushed visibly," when Huss, about to die,
alluded to the Letter of Safe-conduct granted him, which
was issuing in such fashion. [15th June, 1415.] Sigismund blushed; but could
not conveniently mend the matter,--so many matters pressing on him just now. As they perpetually did, and had done.
An always-hoping, never-resting, unsuccessful, vain and empty
Kaiser. Specious, speculative; given to eloquence, diplomacy,
and the windy instead of the solid arts;--always short of
money for one thing. He roamed about, and talked eloquently;--
aiming high, and generally missing:--how he went to conquer
Hungary, and had to float down the Donau instead, with an
attendant or two, in a most private manner, and take refuge with
the Grand Turk: this we have seen, and this is a general emblem
of him. Hungary and even the Reich have at length become his;
but have brought small triumph in any kind; and instead of ready
money, debt on debt. His Majesty has no money, and his Majesty's
occasions need it more and more.
He is now (A.D. 1414) holding this Council of Constance, by way of
healing the Church, which is sick of Three simultaneous Popes and
of much else. He finds the problem difficult; finds he will have
to run into Spain, to persuade a refractory Pope there, if
eloquence can (as it cannot): all which requires money, money.
At opening of the Council, he "officiated as deacon;" actually did
some kind of litanying "with a surplice over him," [25th December,
1414 (Kohler, p. 340).] though Kaiser and King of the Romans.
But this passage of his opening speech is what I recollect best of
him there: "Right Reverend Fathers, date operam ut illa
nefanda schisma eradicetur," exclaims Sigismund,
intent on having the Bohemian Schism well dealt with,--which he
reckons to be of the feminine gender. To which a Cardinal mildly
remarking, "Domine, schisma est generis neutrius (Schisma
is neuter, your Majesty),"--Sigismund loftily
replies, "Ego sum Rex Romanus et super grammaticam italic> (I am King of the Romans, and above Grammar)!" [Wolfgang
Mentzel, Geschichte der Deutschen, i. 477.]
For which reason I call him in my Note-books Sigismund SUPER
GRAMMATICAM, to distinguish him in the imbroglio of Kaisers.
BRANDENBURG IS PAWNED FOR THE LAST TIME.
How Jobst's pawn-ticket was settled I never clearly heard; but can
guess it was by Burggraf Friedrich's advancing the money, in the
pinch above indicated, or paying it afterwards to Jobst's heirs
whoever they were. Thus much is certain: Burggraf Friedrich, these
three years and more (ever since 8th July, 1411) holds Sigismund's
Deed of acknowledgment "for 100,000 gulden lent at various times:"
and has likewise got the Electorate of Brandenburg in pledge for
that sum; and does himself administer the said Electorate till he
be paid. This is the important news; but this is not all.
The new journey into Spain requires new moneys; this Council
itself, with such a pomp as suited Sigismund, has cost him endless
moneys. Brandenburg, torn to ruins in the way we saw, is a
sorrowful matter; and, except the title of it, as a feather in
one's cap, is worth nothing to Sigismund. And he is still short of
money; and will forever be. Why could not he give up Brandenburg
altogether; since, instead of paying, he is still making new loans
from Burggraf Friedrich; and the hope of ever paying were mere
lunacy! Sigismund revolves these sad thoughts too, amid his world-
wide diplomacies, and efforts to heal the Church. "Pledged for
100,000 gulden," sadly ruminates Sigismund; "and 50,000 more
borrowed since, by little and little; and more ever needed,
especially for this grand Spanish journey!" these were Sigismund's
sad thoughts:--"Advance me, in a round sum, 250,000 gulden more,"
said he to Burggraf Friedrich, "250,000 more, for my manifold
occasions in this time;--that will be 400,000 in whole; [Rentsch,
pp. 75, 357.]--and take the Electorate of Brandenburg to yourself,
Land, Titles, Sovereign Electorship and all, and make me rid of
it!" That was the settlement adopted, in Sigismund's apartment at
Constance, on the 30th of April, 1415; signed, sealed and
ratified,--and the money paid. A very notable event in World-
History; virtually oompleted on the day we mention.
The ceremony of Investiture did not take place till two years
afterwards, when the Spanish journey had proved fruitless, when
much else of fruitless had come and gone, and Kaiser and Council
were probably--more at leisure for such a thing. Done at length it
was by Kaiser Sigismund in utmost gala, with the Grandees of the
Empire assisting, and august members of the Council and world in
general looking on; in the big Square or Market-place of
Constance, 17th April, 1417;--is to be found described in Rentsch,
from Nauclerus and the old Newsmongers of the time. Very grand
indeed: much processioning on horseback, under powerful trumpet-
peals and flourishes; much stately kneeling, stately rising,
stepping backwards (done well, ZIERLICH, on the Kurfurst's part);
liberal expenditure of cloth and pomp; in short, "above 100,000
people looking on from roofs and windows," [Pauli,
Allgemeine Preussische Staats-Geschichte, ii. 14.
Rentsch, pp. 76-78.] and Kaiser Sigismund in all his glory.
Sigismund was on a high Platform in the Market-place, with stairs
to it and from it; the illustrious Kaiser,--red as a flamingo,
"with scarlet mantle and crown of gold,"--a treat to the eyes of
simple mankind.
What sum of modern money, in real purchasing power, this "400,000
Hungarian Gold Gulden" is, I have inquired in the likely quarters
without result; and it is probable no man exactly knows.
The latest existing representative of the ancient Gold Gulden is
the Ducat, worth generally about a Half-sovereign in English.
Taking the sum at that latest rate, it amounts to 200,000 pounds;
and the reader can use that as a note of memory for the sale-price
of Brandenburg with all its lands and honors,--multiplying it
perhaps by four or six to bring out its effective amount in
current coin. Dog-cheap, it must be owned, for size and
capability; but in the most waste condition, full of mutiny,
injustice, anarchy and highway robbery; a purchase that might have
proved dear enough to another man than Burggraf Friedrich.
But so, at any rate, moribund Brandenburg has got its Hohenzollern
Kurfurst; and started on a new career it little dreamt of;--and we
can now, right willingly, quit Sigismund and the Reichs-History;
leave Kaiser Sigismund to sink or swim at his own will henceforth.
His grand feat, in life, the wonder of his generation, was this
same Council of Constance; which proved entirely a failure; one of
the largest WIND-EGGS ever dropped with noise and travail in this
world. Two hundred thousand human creatures, reckoned and
reckoning themselves the elixir of the Intellect and Dignity of
Europe; two hundred thousand, nay some, counting the lower menials
and numerous unfortunate females, say four hundred thousand,--were
got congregated into that little Swiss Town; and there as an
Ecumenic Council, or solemnly distilled elixir of what pious
Intellect and Valor could be scraped together in the world, they
labored with all their select might for four years' space. That
was the Council of Constance. And except this transfer of
Brandenburg to Friedrich of Hohenzollern, resulting from said
Council in the quite reverse and involuntary way, one sees not
what good result it had.
They did indeed burn Huss; but that could not be called a
beneficial incident; that seemed to Sigismund and the Council
a most small and insignificant one. And it kindled Bohemia, and
kindled rhinoceros Zisca, into never-imagined flame of vengeance;
brought mere disaster, disgrace, and defeat on defeat to
Sigismund, and kept his hands full for the rest of his life,
however small he had thought it. As for the sublime four years'
deliberations and debates of this Sanhedrim of the Universe,--
eloquent debates, conducted, we may say, under such extent of WIG
as was never seen before or since,--they have fallen wholly to the
domain of Dryasdust; and amount, for mankind at this time, to zero
PLUS the Burning of Huss. On the whole, Burggraf Friedrich's
Electorship, and the first Hohenzollern to Brandenburg, is the one
good result.
Adieu, then, to Sigismund. Let us leave him at this his
culminating point, in the Market-place of Constance; red as a
flamingo; doing one act of importance, though unconsciously and
against his will.--I subjoin here, for refreshment of the reader's
memory, a Synopsis, or bare arithmetical List, of those
Intercalary Non-Hapsburg Kaisers, which, now that its original
small duty is done, may as well be printed as burnt:-
THE SEVEN INTERCALARY OR NON-HAPSBURG KAISERS.
Rudolf of Hapsburg died A.D. 1291, after a reign of eighteen
vigorous years, very useful to the Empire after its Anarchic
INTERREGNUM. He was succeeded, not by any of his own sons or
kindred, but by
l. Adolf of Nassau, 1291-1298. A stalwart but necessitous Herr;
much concerned in the French projects of our Edward Longshanks:
miles stipendiarius Eduardi, as the
Opposition party scornfully termed him. Slain in battle by the
Anti-Kaiser, Albrecht or Albert eldest son of Rudolf, who
thereupon became Kaiser.
Albert I. (of Hapsburg, he), 1298-1308. Parricided, in that
latter year, at the Ford of the Reuss.
2(a). Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 1308-1313; poisoned (1313) in
sacramental wine. The first of the Luxemburgers; who are marked
here, in their order, by the addition of an alphabetic letter.
3. Ludwig der Baier, 1314-1347 (Duke of OBER-BAIERN, Upper
Bavaria; progenitor of the subsequent Kurfursts of Baiern, who are
COUSINS of the Pfalz Family).
4(b). Karl IV., 1347-1378, Son of Johann of Bohemia (Johann
ICH-DIEN), and Grandson of Henry VII. Nicknamed the PFAFFEN-KAISER
(Parsons'-Kaiser). Karlsbad; the Golden Bull; Castle of
Tangermunde.
5(c). Wenzel (or Wenceslaus), 1378-1400, Karl's eldest Son.
Elected 1378, still very young; deposed in 1400, Kaiser Rupert
succeeding. Continued King of Bohemia till his death (by Zisca
AT SECOND-HAND) nineteen years after. Had been Kaiser for twenty-
two years.
6. Rupert of the Pfalz, 1400-1410; called Rupert KLEMM (Pincers,
Smith's_vice); Brother-in-law to Burggraf Friedrich VI.
(afterwards Kurfurst Friedrich I.), who marched with him to
Italy and often else-whither, Burggraf Johann the elder Brother-
in-law being then oftenest in Hungary with Sigismund, Karl IV.'s
second Son.
7(d). Sigismund, 1410-1437, Wenzel's younger Brother; the fourth
and last of the Luxemburgers, seventh and last of the Intercalary
Kaisers. Sold Brandenburg, after thrice or oftener pawning it.
Sigismund SUPER-GRAMMATICAM.
Super~Grammaticam died 9th December, 1437; left only a Daughter,
wedded to the then Albert Duke of Austria; which Albert, on the
strength of this, came to the Kingship of Bohemia and of Hungary,
as his Wife's inheritance, and to the Empire by election.
Died thereupon in few months: "three crowns, Bohemia, Hungary, the
Reich, in that one year, 1438," say the old Historians; "and then
next year he quitted them all, for a fourth and more lasting
crown, as is hoped." Kaiser Albert II., 1438-1439: After whom all
are Hapsburgers,--excepting, if that is an exception, the unlucky
Karl VII. alone (1742-1745), who descends from Ludwig the Baier.
ENDS VOLUME II
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