An engraving by W. Killian, 1623

Sigismund of Austria, Duke, then Archduke of Further Austria (Innsbruck, October 26, 1427 РMarch 4, 1496) was a Habsburg archduke of Austria and ruler of Tirol from 1446 to 1490. Sigismund of Austria, from [1]. Engraving by W. Kilian, 1623. ... Sigismund of Austria, from [1]. Engraving by W. Kilian, 1623. ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... A duke is a nobleman, historically of highest rank and usually controlling a duchy or dukedom. ... Look up Archduke in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Further Austria (in German: Vorder̦sterreich or die Vorlande) was the collective name for the old possessions of the Habsburgs in south-western Germany (Swabia), the Alsace, and in Vorarlberg after the focus of the Habsburgs had moved to Austria. ... Innsbruck is a city in western Austria, and the capital of the federal state of Tyrol. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... Events Lincoln College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is founded. ... March 4 is the 63rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (64th in leap years). ... 1496 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... Tyrol (Tirol in German) is a federal state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. ...

Sigismund (or Siegmund, sometimes also spelled Sigmund) was born in Innsbruck; his parents were Frederick IV, Duke of Austria and Anna of Brunswick. He was a first cousin of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. Detail of Aeneas Piccolomini Introduces Eleonora of Portugal to Frederick III by Pinturicchio (1454-1513) Frederick III of Habsburg (Innsbruck, September 21, 1415 – August 19, 1493 in Linz) was elected as German King as the successor of Albert II in 1440. ...

In 1446, upon the death of his father, he acceded to rulership over Tirol and (other) Further Austria Vorderösterreich, which included the Sundgau in the Alsace, the Breisgau, and some possessions in Swabia. In 1449, he married Eleanor Stuart, the daughter of James I, king of Scotland. Tyrol (Tirol in German) is a federal state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. ... Sundgau is a territory situated in the south of the Alsace region (in the eastern part of France). ... (New région flag) (Region logo) Location Administration Capital Strasbourg Regional President Adrien Zeller (UMP) (since 1996) Departments Bas-Rhin Haut-Rhin Arrondissements 13 Cantons 75 Communes 903 Statistics Land area1 8,280 km² Population (Ranked 14th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ... Breisgau is the name of a landscape in southwest Germany, placed between the river Rhine and the foothills of the Black Forest near Freiburg im Breisgau in the state of Baden-Württemberg. ... Germany. ... James I (December 10, 1394 – February 21, 1437) reigned as King of Scots from April 4, 1406 until February 21, 1437. ... Motto: (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity(English) Wha daur meddle wi me? (Scots)[1] Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic, Scots[2] Government  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

In 1469, he sold his lands on the Rhine and in the Alsace to Charles, Duke of Burgundy. Sources are unclear whether he sold them due to his debts he had accumulated owing to his luxury lifestyle or just "rented" them because he wanted to have them protected better against the expansion of the Old Swiss Confederacy. In any case, he bought back these possessions in 1474, and together with the Swiss (with whom he had concluded a peace treaty in Konstanz) and the Alsatian cities, he sided against Charles in the Battle of Héricourt. The River Rhine (Dutch: ; French: ; German: ; Italian: ; Romansh: ) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe at 1,320 kilometres (820 miles), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second. ... Charles the Bold Charles, called the Bold (French: Charles le Téméraire) (November 10, 1433 – January 5, 1477) was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ... 1550 illustration for the Sempacherbrief of 1393, one of the major alliance contracts of the Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland. ... Konstanz in 1925 seen from the lake Schnetztor, a section of the former city wall Another gate from city wall Shops in Konstanz The Konzilgebäude in Konstanz Konstanz (in English formerly known as Constance) is a university town of around 80,000 inhabitants at the western end of Lake... The Battle of Héricourt, fought in November 1474, was part of the Burgundy Wars, and resulted in a defeat for Burgundy and its allies. ...

In 1477, Frederick III made him archduke. Three years later, Eleanor died, and 1484, Sigismund married the 16-year-old Katharina of Saxony, daughter of Albert, Duke of Saxony. He had no offspring from either marriage. Detail of Aeneas Piccolomini Introduces Eleonora of Portugal to Frederick III by Pinturicchio (1454-1513) Frederick III of Habsburg (Innsbruck, September 21, 1415 – August 19, 1493 in Linz) was elected as German King as the successor of Albert II in 1440. ... Look up Archduke in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Albert Wettin (January 27, 1443 – September 12, 1500), Duke of Saxony, surnamed the Bold or the Courageous, was the younger son of Frederick II the Gentle. ...

In the later years of the 1470s and early 1480s Sigismund issued a decree that instituted a radical coinage reformation that eventually led up to the creation of the world's first really large and heavy silver coin in nearly a millennium, the guldengroschen, which the Habsburgs in Bohemia developed later into the thaler. This coin was the ancestor of many the major European coin denominations to come later. Using new mining methods and technology, the largely quiescent silver mines in Tirol were brought back into production and soon numerous surrounding states were re-opening old mines and minting similar coins. This production of large coinage exploded as silver from the Spain's colonies in the Americas flooded the European economy. An official restrike of the 1486 Tiroler Guldengroschen The guldengroschen was a large silver coin originally minted in Tirol in 1486. ... Flag of Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: ; German: ) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western and middle thirds of the Czech Republic. ... Examples of German and Austrian Thalers compared to a US quarter piece The Thaler (or Taler) was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. ...

A war with Venice, which he began in 1487, ended in a standoff, but in 1490 the opposition of the population of Tirol forced him to hand over the rulership to Archduke Maximilian I, who later became Holy Roman Emperor. Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venezsia) is the capital of region Veneto, and has a population of 271,663 (census estimate January 1, 2004). ... Portrait by Albrecht Dürer, 1519 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). ... The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ...

This is a list of margraves, dukes, archdukes, and emperors of Austria. ... Portrait by Albrecht Dürer, 1519 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). ...

See also

• Burgundy Wars

The Burgundy Wars were a conflict between the House of Habsburg and the Valois Dynasty, in which the Old Swiss Confederacy got involved and would play a decisive role. ...

External links

• Encyclopedia of Austria