Volume 2 , I s s u e 1
Sigmund of Luxemburg and the Court of the Dragon Order (continued) and even as far as the Nordic and Slavic countries and to Asia. About 1400 he returned home because of his father's death. The three brothers Mickel, Oswald and Lienhardt shared the inheritance in 1407 and from then on Oswald tried to extend his own domains, mainly by force and at the expense of others. From 1415 he was in the service of Sigmund, who took him to the Council of Constance (where he played an important part) and on various diplomatic missions. Between 1421 and 1427 he was involved in a series of bitter quarrels with other landowners -- his wild and lawless behaviour led to his being twice arrested and imprisoned. From 1430 to 1432 he was again involved with politics and attended the Council of Basle, thereafter he retired to his estates and gave up writing music and poetry. He was buried in the monastery of Neustift (north of Brixen) to which he gave considerable support during his lifetime. Francesco Barbaro (1398–1454) was a humanist in Venice of noble family. He was the son of Candiano Barbaro and a student at the University of Padua. Early in his career, he translated Greek texts into Latin. He was elected to the Venetian Senate in 1419 and wrote De re uxoria, inspired from ancient Latin and Greek works. The family's country home, Villa Barbaro, was dedicated to him by Daniele Barbaro and Marcantonio Barbaro. While governor of the city of Brescia, he attained a great reputation in his defence of the city against the forces of the Duke of Milan. He later served as ambassador to Milan and Mantua, eventually becoming ambassador to Sigmund who inducted him into the Order of the Dragon in 1431, while also bestowing on him the right to use the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire. He is buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. Stibor of Stiboricz was an aristocrat of Polish origin, a close friend of King Sigmund of Hungary who appointed him to several offices during his reign. Stibor was the Voivode of Transylvania (1395-1401, 1409-1414). He descended from a noble family whose possessions were located around Bromberg in Greater Poland. He arrived in Hungary during the reign of King Louis I, who was also King of Poland (1370-1382). Following the king's death, the Dowager Queen Elisabeth, who governed the two kingdoms in the name of his daughters, made Stibor the governor of Cujavia in Poland in 1383. Around this time, Stibor became the close friend of Sigmund of Brandenburg (the future king and emperor), the fiancÊ of Queen Mary of Hungary. Sigmund appointed Stibor as his Master of the Court and, following his coronation in 1387, he entrusted Stibor with the government of Galicia and granted him the ius indigenatus (the right to hold offices) and the Counties of Pressburg, Trentsin and Nitra. He led the negotiations with the Teutonic Knights who bought the Neumark (in the Margraviate of Brandenburg) from King Sigmund in 1402. In the first months of 1403, some nobles, lead by the Archbishop John Kanizsai, offered the crown to King Ladislas of Naples against Sigmund. Stibor recruited mercenaries, invaded the north-western parts of the kingom and defeated the rebels' troops. The parties made an agreement under which the rebels accepted the king's rule and they were granted a royal pardon (29 October 1403). Shortly afterwards, the king appointed him to govern the possessions of the Archdiocese of Esztergom and the Diocese of Eger (1405). In 1407, he fought in Bosnia and was among the first members of the Order of the Dragon. In May 1410, King Sigmund entrusted him and the Palatine Nicholas I Garay to mediate
Page 67