Reg. Edit. of Emperor Sigismund´s Charters (1410-1437) Vol. 3

J. F. Böhmer, Regesta Imperii. XI. Regesten Kaiser Sigismunds (14101437). Neubearbeitung nach Archiven und Bibliotheken geordnet. Herausgegeben von Karel Hruza. Band 3. Die Urkunden und Briefe aus den Archiven und Bibliotheken Südböhmens nach Wilhelm Altmann neubearbeitet von Petr Elbel Premysl Bar Stanislav Brta Lukš Reitinger. The reign of the Roman, Hungarian, Bohemian and Croatian king Sigismund of Luxemburg has attracted increasing attention from historians all over Europe during the last years. This emphasis is not only owed to respective anniversaries such as those of the Council of Constance or the burning of Jan Hus but also due to the fact that Sigismund, ruling over vast stretches of Europe on the basis of universalistic ambitions and pursuing an active Pan-European policy, is regarded as an attractive topic in todays concern with matters of integration and globalisation. Despite the growing scholarly interest in Sigismunds rule the difficult retrieval of scarcely published source material scattered all over European archives remains an obstacle to any investigation in the field. As early as in the late 19th century Wilhelm Altmann edited a compendious collection of 12.300 short abstracts (regesta or calendars) of acts and charters issued by Sigismund, which reveals however significant gaps of documentation and tends to cut vital information provided by the originals in order to keep the calendars text as succinct as possible. To cope with this problem, the international edition enterprise Regesta Imperii has decided to replace this outdated 19th century volume step by step by a modern calendar publication series which is designed to fill the gaps and offer all information from the sources. The first and second volume, containing regesta to archival holdings and libraries in Moravia and Czech Silesia as well as in the West, North and East Bohemia perfectly met these expectations, which should hold true also for the third volume now ready to print. The manuscript, dedicated to material from South Bohemia, contains 250 calendar numbers and grants access to a highly interesting corpus of source material. As Emperor Sigismund had to fight for his Bohemian heritage against the Hussites after the death of his brother for a period of 17 years, he gained support from a number of influential noblemen and cities. The struggle ended up in a de facto division of the whole country in (predominantly) hussite and catholic territories. Accordingly, the new volume adds primarily to the historical documentation of the richest Bohemian nobleman Ulrich of Rosenberg as well as of the South Bohemian city of Budweis, which remained loyal to the king and received a considerable number of royal charters and letters (apart from the famous set of Ulrichs diplomatic forgeries). Furthermore, the book sheds light on the career and estate property of the Franconian knight and Sigismunds influential counsellor Erkinger of Seinsheim. Last but not least, the rich collections of the former Rosenberg archives contain many important royal charters and letters of countrywide or even European importance.