Plot Summary

In December 1437, Emperor Sigismund, King of Bohemia and Hungary, returns from Prague to Hungary. Due to a prolonged illness, he stops with his entourage at Znojmo Castle. The Emperor's wife Barbora, daughter Elizabeth and her husband, Duke Albrecht of Habsburg, Supreme Chancellor Kašpar Šlik, bishop, doctors, but also a former supporter of the Hussite movement, Master Křišťan of Prachatice, all expect the Emperor's death. Family members and even the Supreme Chancellor are considering how to obtain the Czech crown for themselves. The Emperor is already dictating a will, but has not yet sealed it with a seal. He waits and takes stock of his reign. Although he defends himself, he is constantly haunted by memories of the Hussite revolutionary movement, which he so cruelly suppressed, and of Hus, for whose death he was responsible.