Editing Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

=== Council of Constance ===
[[File:Meister der Chronik des Konzils von Konstanz 001.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|Sigismund and Barbara of Celje at the Council of Constance.]]

From 1412 to 1423, Sigismund campaigned against the [[Republic of Venice]] in Italy. The king took advantage of the difficulties of [[Antipope John XXIII]] to obtain a promise that a [[Council of Constance|council should be called in Constance]] in 1414 to settle the [[Western Schism]]. He took a leading part in the deliberations of this assembly, and during the sittings travelled to [[Kingdom of France|France]], [[Kingdom of England|England]], and [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundy]] in a vain attempt to secure the abdication of the three rival popes. The council ended in 1418, having resolved the Schism and—of great consequence to Sigismund's future career—having the [[Czech people|Czech]] religious reformer, [[Jan Hus]], [[execution by burning|burned at the stake]] for [[heresy]] in July 1415. The complicity of Sigismund in the death of Hus is a matter of controversy. He had granted Hus a [[safe conduct]] and protested against his imprisonment,<ref name=EB1911/> and Hus was burned during Sigismund's absence.

When at one point during the council a cardinal corrected Sigismund's [[Latin]], Sigismund replied ''Ego sum rex Romanus et super grammaticam'' ("I am king of the Romans and above grammar").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carlyle |first=Thomas |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2102 |title=History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great (Volume II) |publisher=Gutenberg.org |year=1858}}</ref> [[Thomas Carlyle]] nicknamed Sigismund "Super Grammaticam".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grundy  |first=T. R. |date=28 December 1872 |title=Sigismund "Super Grammatican" |journal=Notes and Queries |language=en |volume=s4-X |issue=261|page=524 |doi=10.1093/nq/s4-X.261.524-c |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |issn=0029-3970|url=https://academic.oup.com/nq/article-abstract/s4-X/261/524/4418677}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wackernagel |first1=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSISDAAAQBAJ |title=Jacob Wackernagel, Lectures on Syntax: With Special Reference to Greek, Latin, and Germanic |last2=Langslow |first2=David |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198153023 |page=456 |language=en}}</ref>

His main acts during these years were an alliance with England against France, and a failed attempt, owing to the hostility of the princes, to secure peace in Germany by a league of the towns.<ref name=EB1911/> Also, Sigismund awarded Brandenburg (which he had recovered after Jobst's death) to [[Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick of Hohenzollern]], burgrave of [[Nuremberg]], in 1415. This step made the [[House of Hohenzollern]] one of the most important in Germany.

Sigismund began to shift his alliance from France to England after the French defeat at the [[Battle of Agincourt]], which he was also controversially absent from due to hosting a pseudo-council in [[Perpignan]] with [[Antipope Benedict XIII]] and King [[Ferdinand I of Aragon]]. The signing of the [[Treaty of Canterbury (1416)|Treaty of Canterbury]] on 15 August 1416 culminated diplomatic efforts between [[Henry V of England]] and Sigismund and resulted in a defensive and offensive alliance against France. This, in turn, led the way to the resolution of the [[Western Schism|papal schism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guenee |first=Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9Qwkh0DKxwC&pg=PA246 |title=Between Church and State: The Lives of Four French Prelates in the Late Middle Ages |year=1991 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226310329 |author-link=Bernard Guenée}}</ref> The close relationship that developed between Henry V and Sigismund resulted in him being inducted into the [[Order of the Garter]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Collins|first=Hugh E. L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sKapp53K4_MC&pg=PA176|title=The Order of the Garter, 1348–1461: Chivalry and Politics in Late Medieval England|date=2000|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0198208174|language=en}}</ref>