Tanulmány (study): itt
Szerző (author)
Brigitta Szanka
Cím (title)
Additions to the itinerary of King Sigismund’s travels along the Rhine (1414–1418)
Hivatkozás (references)
Ephemeris Hungarologica, 2021. (1.) 2. 315–332.
Absztrakt (abstract)
It is a well-known fact in research that medieval German rulers also used river routes during their travels. In recent years, however, there has been an increasingly in-depth and comprehensive investigation of the actual rivers to which and the periods of time from which the imperial river cruises can be traced. The question of whether the waterway or land route was preferred when approaching the riverbankshas also been raised by a more recent researchers. Obviously, late medieval source materials provide more information on this issue, thus the reign of Sigismund of Luxembourg can also be covered by this field of research.
By examining King Sigismund's travels on the Rhine it can be stated that the monarch took a boat wherever he could on the middle and upper reaches of the Rhineland, regardless of the direction of the river, unless his governmental policy required him to leave the Rhine. On the Constance-Basel route, however, he did not necessarily take advantage of the opportunities for navigation, and it seems that he sometimes opted for land travel. However, the characteristics of sources from the Sigismund period does not allow us to perform quantitative studies that would allow us to show the percentage difference between the frequency of land and water transport.
The meeting of the royal couple in 1414 - following the realisation of Sigismund's political intentions - was also organised in the Rhine region, and instead of the monarch waiting for the arrival of his wife from the Kingdom of Hungary in Nuremberg, they started to travel together only from the Middle Rhine region. Furthermore, it appears that their 'joint' journeys were often combined with parallel journeys, and that the royal couple might have been further apart from one another for a certain period of time as they opted for different transport arrangements. It is assumed that in such cases the queen remained on the water for as long as possible. The meeting place could then either be the end of the river cruise or, as in the case of Frankfurt, a station of major importance from the poin of view of the representation of the monarch.
Kulcsszavak (keywords)
journey, river transport, Rhine, Sigismund of Luxemburg, Queen Barbara, itinerary, envoy reports, chronicle