Host desecration
Host desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christian denominations that follow the doctrine of real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It involves the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated host—the sacred bread used in the Eucharistic service of the Divine Liturgy or Mass, it is forbidden by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, as well as in certain Protestant traditions. In Catholicism, where the host is held to have been transubstantiated into the body of Jesus Christ, host desecration is among the gravest of sins. Intentional host desecration is not only a mortal sin but incurs the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae. Throughout history, a number of groups have been accused of desecrating the Eucharist with grave consequences due to the spiritual importance of the consecrated host. Accusations against Jews were a common reason given for massacres and expulsions throughout the Middle Ages in Europe. Similar accusations were made in witchcraft trials, it is part of many descriptions of the Black Mass, both in ostensibly historical works and in fiction.
In Christianity, within the Anglican Church, Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheran Church, Methodist Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, during the celebration of the Eucharist, the offerings of bread and wine are changed or added to make the body and blood of Jesus by the action of God. The change effects the Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, a doctrine, believed from the earliest days of the Church. During the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic theology offered the concept of transubstantiation to explain this change of substance, believed to be actual and not symbolic. Transubstantiation, defined as a dogma at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, holds that the substances of the offerings are transformed, while the appearance of bread and wine remain. Many Christians believe Jesus to be "true God and true man." In the Catholic Church, his "body, blood and divinity" in the form of the consecrated host are adored. Theft, sale, or use of the host for a profane purpose is considered a grave sin and sacrilege, which incurs the penalty of excommunication, imposed automatically in the Latin Rite Some denominations Lutherans, have similar beliefs regarding the Eucharist and the Real Presence, though they reject the Roman Catholic concept of transubstantiation, preferring instead, the doctrine of the sacramental union, in which "the body and blood of Christ are so united to the bread and wine of the Holy Communion that the two may be identified.
They are at the same time body and blood and wine...in this sacrament the Lutheran Christian receives the body and blood of Christ for the strengthening of the union of faith." Both the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, such as the Coptic Church, insist "on the reality of the change from bread and wine into the body and the blood of Christ at the consecration of the elements", although they have "never attempted to explain the manner of the change", thus rejecting philosophical terms to describe it. The Methodist Church holds that Christ is present in the Eucharist "through the elements of bread and wine", but maintains that how He is present is a Holy Mystery; until the 19th century Oxford Movement reintroduced the classic doctrine of the Real Presence Anglicanism favored Receptionism', a theological doctrine according to which, while the bread and wine in the Eucharist continue to exist unchanged after consecration, the faithful communicant receives together with them the body and blood of Christ.
The term itself seems not to have appeared before 1867. A more accurate description of the classic Anglican attitude is Real Receptionism. There is an outer reality, bread and wine and an inner, the Body and Blood of Christ in a sacramental manner. Whatever the doctrine selected, among Anglicans the consecrated bread and hosts are reserved and treated with great reverence. Host desecration has been associated with groups identified as inimical to Christianity, it is a common belief that desecration of the host is part of Satanic practice the Black Mass. LaVeyan Satanists do not perform Black Mass as a regular ritual, though "Le Messe Noir" from Anton LaVey's work The Satanic Rituals does include some elements. Since the publication of a document called Memoriale Domini in 1969, the Apolistic See of the Catholic Church has allowed certain countries to allow communicants to receive the Host in the hand, rather than directly onto the tongue, reviving an "ancient custom". Communion in the hand is now widespread in many parts of the world.
The practice means that access to consecrated Hosts is easier than in the past, since the person receiving it in the hand may pretend to place it in their mouth for consumption. However, recent statements and practices of Pope Benedict XVI have caused a recent shift in Catholic practice of receiving on the tongue while kneeling, an ancient practice. Accusations of host desecrat
Vienna
Vienna is the federal capital and largest city of Austria, one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primate city, with a population of about 1.9 million, its cultural and political centre. It is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union; until the beginning of the 20th century, it was the largest German-speaking city in the world, before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, the city had 2 million inhabitants. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC; the city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In July 2017 it was moved to the list of World Heritage in Danger.
Apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is said to be "The City of Dreams" because it was home to the world's first psychoanalyst – Sigmund Freud. The city's roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings and parks. Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the world's most liveable cities. Between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne. In 2018, it replaced Melbourne as the number one spot. For ten consecutive years, the human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Vienna first in its annual "Quality of Living" survey of hundreds of cities around the world.
Monocle's 2015 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within."The UN-Habitat classified Vienna as the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. The city was ranked 1st globally for its culture of innovation in 2007 and 2008, sixth globally in the 2014 Innovation Cities Index, which analyzed 162 indicators in covering three areas: culture and markets. Vienna hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the world's number-one destination for international congresses and conventions, it attracts over 6.8 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the city's name or the French Vienne; the etymology of the city's name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning "forest stream", which subsequently produced the Old High German Uuenia, the New High German Wien and its dialectal variant Wean.
Others believe that the name comes from the Roman settlement name of Celtic extraction Vindobona meaning "fair village, white settlement" from Celtic roots, vindo-, meaning "bright" or "fair" – as in the Irish fionn and the Welsh gwyn –, -bona "village, settlement". The Celtic word Vindos may reflect a widespread prehistorical cult of a Celtic God. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Polish names of the city and in that of the city's district Wieden; the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different Slavonic origin, referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, on which the city stands. Evidence has been found of continuous habitation in the Vienna area since 500 BC, when Celts settled the site on the Danube River. In 15 BC the Romans fortified the frontier city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north.
Close ties with other Celtic peoples continued through the ages. The Irish monk Saint Colman is buried in Melk Abbey and Saint Fergil served as Bishop of Salzburg for forty years. Irish Benedictines founded twelfth-century monastic settlements. Evidence of these ties persists in the form of Vienna's great Schottenstift monastery, once home to many Irish monks. In 976 Leopold I of Babenberg became count of the Eastern March, a 60-mile district centering on the Danube on the eastern frontier of Bavaria; this initial district grew into the duchy of Austria. Each succeeding Babenberg ruler expanded the march east along the Danube encompassing Vienna and the lands east. In 1145 Duke Henry II Jasomirgott moved the Babenberg family residence from Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria to Vienna. From that time, Vienna remained the center of the Babenberg dynasty. In 1440 Vienna became the resident city of the Habsburg dynasty, it grew to become the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire in 1437 and a cultural centre for arts and science and fine cuisine.
Hungary occupied the city between 1485 and 1490. In the 16th and 1
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The title was without interruption, held in conjunction with title of King of Germany throughout the 12th to 18th centuries. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title by the 13th century evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the prince-electors. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, became de-facto hereditary holders of the title, notably the Ottonians and the Salians. Following the late medieval crisis of government, the Habsburgs kept possession of the title without interruption from 1440–1740; the final emperors were from the House of Lorraine, from 1765–1806. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved after the defeat at Austerlitz by emperor Francis II, who continued to rule as Austrian emperor; the Holy Roman Emperor was perceived to rule by divine right, though he contradicted or rivaled the Pope, most notably during the Investiture controversy. In theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among other Catholic monarchs.
In practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him. There was never a Holy Roman Empress regnant, though women such as Theophanu and Maria Theresa of Austria served as de facto Empresses regnant. Throughout its history, the position was viewed as a defender of the Roman Catholic faith; until the Reformation, the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was the last to be crowned by the Pope in 1530. After the Reformation, the elected Emperor always was a Roman Catholic. There were short periods in history when the electoral college was dominated by Protestants, the electors voted in their own political interest. From the time of Constantine I, the Roman emperors had, with few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity; the reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor in the Church.
Emperors considered themselves responsible to the gods for the spiritual health of their subjects, after Constantine they had a duty to help the Church define orthodoxy and maintain orthodoxy. The emperor's role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, uphold ecclesiastical unity. Both the title and connection between Emperor and Church continued in the Eastern Roman Empire throughout the medieval period; the ecumenical councils of the 5th to 8th centuries were convoked by the Eastern Roman Emperors. In Western Europe, the title of Emperor became defunct after the death of Julius Nepos in 480, although the rulers of the barbarian kingdoms continued to recognize the Eastern Emperor at least nominally well into the 6th century. From the western perspective, the interregnum in the Roman Empire spanned the 8th centuries; the title of Emperor was revived in 800, when Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III. The title of Emperor in the West implied recognition by the pope; as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages and emperors came into conflict over church administration.
The best-known and most bitter conflict was that known as the investiture controversy, fought during the 11th century between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. After the coronation of Charlemagne, his successors maintained the title until the death of Berengar I of Italy in 924; the comparatively brief interregnum between 924 and the coronation of Otto the Great in 962 is taken as marking the transition from the Frankish Empire to the Holy Roman Empire. Under the Ottonians, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire. Since 911, the various German princes had elected the King of the Germans from among their peers; the King of the Germans would be crowned as emperor following the precedent set by Charlemagne, during the period of 962–1530. Charles V was the last emperor to be crowned by the pope, his successor, Ferdinand I adopted the title of "Emperor elect" in 1558; the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empire's final dissolution.
The term sacrum in connection with the German Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was "August Emperor of the Romans"; when Charlemagne was crowned in 800, he was styled as "most serene Augustus, crowned by God and pacific emperor, governing the Roman Empire," thus constituting the elements of "Holy" and "Roman" in the imperial title. The word Roman was a reflection of the principle of translatio imperii that regarded the Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, despite the continued existence of the Eastern Roman Empire. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, that of German Emperor on the other; the English term "Holy Roman Emperor" is a modern shorthand for "emperor of the Holy Roman Empire" not corresponding to the historical style or title, i.e. the adjective "holy" is not intended as modifying "emperor".
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were fought between the Christian Hussites and the combined Christian Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, the Papacy and various European monarchs loyal to the Catholic Church, as well as among various Hussite factions themselves. After initial clashes, the Utraquists changed sides in 1423 to fight alongside Roman Catholics and opposed the Taborites and other Hussite spinoffs; these wars lasted from 1419 to 1434. The Hussite community included most of the Czech population of the Kingdom of Bohemia and formed a major spontaneous military power, they defeated five consecutive crusades proclaimed against them by the Pope, intervened in the wars of neighboring countries. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held firearms such as hand cannons; the fighting ended after 1434, when the moderate Utraquist faction of the Hussites defeated the radical Taborite faction. The Hussites agreed to submit to the authority of the King of Bohemia and the Roman Catholic Church, were allowed to practice their somewhat variant rite.
Starting around 1402, priest and scholar Jan Hus denounced what he judged as the corruption of the Church and the Papacy, he promoted some of the reformist ideas of English theologian John Wycliffe. His preaching was heeded in Bohemia, provoked suppression by the Church, which had declared many of Wycliffe's ideas heretical. In 1411, in the course of the Western Schism, "Antipope" John XXIII proclaimed a "crusade" against King Ladislaus of Naples, the protector of rival Pope Gregory XII. To raise money for this, he proclaimed indulgences in Bohemia. Hus bitterly denounced this and explicitly quoted Wycliffe against it, provoking further complaints of heresy but winning much support in Bohemia. In 1414, Sigismund of Hungary convened the Council of Constance to end the Schism and resolve other religious controversies. Hus went to the Council, under a safe-conduct from Sigismund, but was imprisoned and executed on 6 July 1415; the knights and nobles of Bohemia and Moravia, who were in favour of church reform, sent the protestatio Bohemorum to the Council of Constance on 2 September 1415, which condemned the execution of Hus in the strongest language.
This angered Sigismund, "King of the Romans", brother of King Wenceslaus of Bohemia. He had been persuaded by the Council, he sent threatening letters to Bohemia declaring that he would shortly drown all Wycliffites and Hussites incensing the people. Disorder broke out in various parts of Bohemia, drove many Catholic priests from their parishes. From the beginning the Hussites divided into two main groups, though many minor divisions arose among them. Shortly before his death Hus had accepted the doctrine of Utraquism preached during his absence by his adherents at Prague: the obligation of the faithful to receive communion in both kinds and wine; this doctrine became the watchword of the moderate Hussites known as the Utraquists or Calixtines, from the Latin calix, in Czech kališníci. The more extreme Hussites became known as Taborites, after the city of Tábor that became their center. Under the influence of Sigismund, Wenceslaus endeavoured to stem the Hussite movement. A number of Hussites led by Mikuláš of Hus — no relation of Jan Hus — left Prague.
They held meetings in various parts of Bohemia at Sezimovo Ústí, near the spot where the town of Tábor was founded soon afterwards. At these meetings they violently denounced Sigismund, the people everywhere prepared for war. In spite of the departure of many prominent Hussites, the troubles at Prague continued. On 30 July 1419 Hussite procession headed by the priest Jan Želivský attacked New Town Hall in Prague and threw the king's representatives, the burgomaster, some town councillors from the windows into the street, where several were killed by the fall, after a rock was thrown from the town hall and hit Želivský, it has been suggested that Wenceslaus was so stunned by the defenestration that it caused his death on 16 August 1419. The death of Wenceslaus resulted in renewed troubles in Prague and in all parts of Bohemia. Many Catholics Germans — still faithful to the Pope — were expelled from the Bohemian cities. Wenceslaus' widow Sophia of Bavaria, acting as regent in Bohemia, hurriedly collected a force of mercenaries and tried to gain control of Prague, which led to severe fighting.
After a considerable part of the city had been damaged or destroyed, the parties declared a truce on 13 November. The nobles, sympathetic to the Hussite cause, but supporting the regent, promised to act as mediators with Sigismund, while the citizens of Prague consented to restore to the royal forces the castle of Vyšehrad, which had fallen into their hands. Žižka, who disapproved of this compromise, left Prague and retired to Plzeň. Unable to maintain himself there he marched to southern Bohemia, he defeated the Catholics at the Battle of the first pitched battle of the Hussite wars. After Sudoměř, he moved to one of the earliest meeting-places of the Hussites. Not considering its situation sufficiently strong, he moved to the neighboring new settlement of the Hussites, called by the biblical name of Tábor. Tábor soon became the center of the most militant Hussites, who differed from the Utraquists
Krems an der Donau
Krems an der Donau is a town of 23,992 inhabitants in Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria. It is the fifth-largest city of Lower Austria and is 70 kilometres west of Vienna. Krems is a city with its own statute, therefore it is both a municipality and a district. Krems is located at the confluence of the Krems and Danube Rivers at the eastern end of Wachau valley, in the southern Waldviertel. Krems borders the following municipalities: Stratzing, Rohrendorf bei Krems, Traismauer, Nußdorf ob der Traisen, Furth bei Göttweig, Mautern an der Donau, Dürnstein, Senftenberg. Krems was first mentioned in 995 in a certificate of Otto III, but settlement was apparent before then. For example, a child's grave, over 27,000 years old, was found here; this is the oldest grave found in Austria. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Chremis, as it was called, was as large as Vienna. Krems is the primary producer of an apricot brandy. Krems is the hometown of Martin Johann Schmidt, called "Kremserschmidt", the leading painter and etcher of the Austrian late Baroque.
Innenstadt Weinzierl Mitterau Stein Egelsee Rehberg Am Steindl Gneixendorf Lerchenfeld Krems-Süd The population in the agglomeration was about 50,000 at the end of 2010. Bürgerspitalkirche Dominikanerkirche Dreifaltigkeitssäule Göglhaus Gozzoburg Großes Sgraffitohaus Pfarrkirche St. Veit Piaristenkirche Pulverturm Rathaus Simandlbrunnen Steiner Tor: The gate, erected in 1480, is the second remaining medieval gate Frauenbergkirche Göttweigerhofkapelle Großer Passauerhof Karikaturmuseum Krems Kloster Und Kremser Tor Kunsthalle Krems Forum Frohner Landesgalerie Niederösterreich Linzer Tor Mauthaus Minoritenkirche Pfarrkirche Hl. Nikolaus Salzstadl University Krems The city's main railway station is a junction of the Franz-Josefs Railway to Vienna, the Kremser Railway to St. Pölten, the Donauufer Railway to Spitz and the regional railway to Horn, it is at the intersection of the Stockerauer Speedway S5 and the Kremser Speedway S33, is traversed by the Danube Road B3, the Retzer Road B35, the Kremser Road B37 and the Langenloiser Road B218.
Krems is a junction of the Wieselbus bus lines, which provides radial connections between Sankt Pölten and the different regions of Lower Austria. Main Roads Stockerauer Schnellstraße from Krems to Vienna Kremser Schnellstraße from Krems to St. Pölten Donau Straße from Krems to Linz Aggsteiner Straße from Krems to Melk Aggsteiner Straße from Krems to Mautern an der Donau Retzer Straße from Krems to Retz Kremser Straße from Krems to Rastenfeld Kremser Straße from Krems to Traismauer Langenloiser Straße from Krems to LangenloisRailroad Franz-Josefs-Bahn from Krems to Vienna Kremser Bahn from Krems to St. Pölten Donauuferbahn from Krems to Spitz Kamptalbahn from Krems to SigmundsherbergAir traffic Gneixendorf airfield is a small general aviation airport. A network of four bus lines operates at regular intervals within the city; every summer, a tourist train connects the ancient parts of the city with museums, the central railway station and the passenger ship terminal of Krems. The municipal council consists of 40 members and since the municipal elections in 2017 it consists of the following parties: 19 Social Democratic Party of Austria – the mayor and the first vice mayor 8 Austrian People's Party – the second vice mayor 5 Freedom Party of Austria 2 KLS 1 Austrian Green Party 1 PROKSMunicipal elections in Krems were held, as the same time as the Austrian legislative election, 2017 on 15th October 2017.
The city's senate consists of 10 members: SPÖ: 5 members ÖVP: 4 members FPÖ: 1 members BHAK/BHAS Krems Bundesgymnasium Piaristen Bundesgymnasium Rechte Kremszeile Bundesreal- and Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Krems Heinemannstraße Bundesrealgymnasium Krems Ringstraße Danube Private University Danube University Krems Folk high school HLA/HLW Krems HLF Krems HTBL Krems IMC Fachhochschule Krems Karl Landsteiner Privatuniversität für Gesundheitswissenschaften Oberstufenrealgymnasium Englische Fräulein School of education Justizanstalt Stein is a prison housing some of Austria's worst offenders. Swimming is outdoor. Football Club – Kremser SC Ice Hockey – KEV Eagles Miniature golf Rugby Club Krems Skatepark Team handball – Union Handballklub Krems Union Badminton Krems Matthias Abele, town clerk and writer of the 17th century. Josef Bayer, director of Natural History Museum in Vienna, one of the discoverers of the Venus of Willendorf Josef Maria Eder and pioneer of Picture Julius Ernest Wilhelm Fučík composer and conductor.
Neubauer (
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxembourg was Prince-elector of Brandenburg from 1378 until 1388 and from 1411 until 1415, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1387, King of Germany from 1411, King of Bohemia from 1419, King of Italy from 1431, Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until 1437, the last male member of the House of Luxembourg. In 1396 he led the Crusade of Nicopolis, which attempted to liberate Bulgaria and save the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople from Ottoman rule. Afterwards, he founded the Order of the Dragon to fight the Turks, he was regarded as educated, spoke several languages and was an outgoing person who took pleasure in the tournament. Sigismund was one of the driving forces behind the Council of Constance that ended the Papal Schism, but which led to the Hussite Wars that dominated the period of Sigismund's life. Born in Nuremberg, Sigismund was the son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV, of his fourth wife, Elizabeth of Pomerania, the granddaughter of King Casimir III of Poland and the great-granddaughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas.
He was named after Saint Sigismund of the favourite saint of Sigismund's father. From Sigismund's childhood he was nicknamed the "ginger fox" in the Crown of Bohemia, on account of his hair colour. King Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland always had a good and close relationship with Emperor Charles IV, Sigismund was betrothed to Louis' eldest daughter, Mary, in 1374, when he was six years old. Upon his father's death in 1378, young Sigismund became Margrave of Brandenburg and was sent to the Hungarian court, where he soon learnt the Hungarian language and way of life, became devoted to his adopted country. King Louis appointed him his successor as King of Hungary. In 1381, the 13-year-old Sigismund was sent to Kraków by his eldest half-brother and guardian Wenceslaus, King of Germany and Bohemia, to learn Polish and to become acquainted with the land and its people. King Wenceslaus gave him Neumark to facilitate communication between Brandenburg and Poland; the disagreement between Polish landlords of Lesser Poland on one side and landlords of Greater Poland on the other, regarding the choice of the future King of Poland ended in choosing the Lithuanian side.
The support of the lords of Greater Poland was however not enough to give Prince Sigismund the Polish crown. Instead, the landlords of Lesser Poland gave it to Mary's younger sister Jadwiga I of Poland, who married Jogaila of Lithuania. On the death of her father in 1382, his betrothed, became queen of Hungary and Sigismund married her in 1385 in Zólyom; the next year, he was accepted as Mary's future co-ruler by the Treaty of Győr. However, Mary was captured, together with her mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia, who had acted as regent, in 1387 by the rebellious House of Horvat, Bishop Paul Horvat of Mačva, his brother John Horvat and younger brother Ladislav. Sigismund's mother-in-law was strangled. Having secured the support of the nobility, Sigismund was crowned King of Hungary at Székesfehérvár on 31 March 1387. Having raised money by pledging Brandenburg to his cousin Jobst, margrave of Moravia, he was engaged for the next nine years in a ceaseless struggle for the possession of this unstable throne.
The central power was weakened to such an extent that only Sigismund's alliance with the powerful Czillei-Garai League could ensure his position on the throne. It was not for selfless reasons that one of the leagues of barons helped him to power: Sigismund had to pay for the support of the lords by transferring a sizeable part of the royal properties.. The restoration of the authority of the central administration took decades of work; the bulk of the nation headed by the House of Garai was with him. Not until 1395 did Nicholas II Garay succeed in suppressing them. Mary died pregnant in 1395. To ease the pressure from Hungarian nobles, Sigismund tried to employ foreign advisors, not popular, he had to promise not to give land and nominations to other than Hungarian nobles. However, this was not applied to Stibor of Stiboricz, Sigismund's closest friend and advisor. On a number of occasions, Sigismund was imprisoned by nobles, but with help of the armies of Garai and Stibor of Stiboricz, he would regain power.
In 1396, Sigismund led the combined armies of Christendom against the Turks, who had taken advantage of the temporary helplessness of Hungary to extend their dominion to the banks of the Danube. This crusade, preached by Pope Boniface IX, was popular in Hungary; the nobles flocked in their thousands to the royal standard, were reinforced by volunteers from nearly every part of Europe. The most important contingent being that of the French led by John the Fearless, son of Philip II, Duke of Burgundy. Sigismund set out with a flotilla of 70 galleys. After capturing Vidin, he camped with his Hungarian armies before the fortress of Nicopolis. Sultan Bayezid I raised the siege of Constantinople and, at the head of 140,000 men defeated the Christian forces in the Battle of Nicopolis fought between the 25 and 28 September 1396. Sigismund returned by sea and through the realm of Zeta, where he ordained a local Montenegrin lord Đurađ II with the islands of Hvar and Korčula for resis
Leopold IV, Duke of Austria
Leopold IV of Austria, Duke of Further Austria, was an Austrian Habsburg Duke of the Leopoldinian Line, known as "the Fat". He was the second son of Leopold III, his eldest brother Duke William of Inner Austria took him as his effective co-ruler, putting him in particular charge of Further Austria, which meant ancestral Habsburg lands in Swiss Aargau etc. Leopold was to face Swiss opposition to Austrian administration. From 1391 onwards, he was the effective ruler of Further Austria, from 1396 to 1406 he was ruler in Tyrol too, he married Catherine de Valois of Burgundy, daughter of Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, in 1393. She died in 1425, they had no surviving children, his younger brothers Ernest the Frederick were, for the time being, left to grow up. They were initiated with ducal positions in 1402. In 1406 their eldest brother Duke William died without leaving heirs, Leopold became the next head of their family. Leopold had no sons either; the younger brothers made an agreement how to divide the patrimony in the future: Ernest was to receive Inner Austria and Frederick Further Austria, including Tyrol.
Ernest took the reins in etc.. Frederick was only in his twenties, but was put in charge in Tyrol. Leopold was left with responsibility of the Further Austrian territories, together with the position of head of the family. In 1406, Leopold took over the guardianship of their young cousin Albert V, which resulted in conflicts with his brother Ernest. Leopold died in Vienna and was buried in the Ducal Crypt in the city's cathedral
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Albert II.". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 496. Endnote: see W. Altmann, Die Wahl Albrecht II. zum römische Könige (Berlin, 1886).
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 
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