tended to weaken the order and decorum of the proceedings, and yet
further increased the disturbance; and the orthodox critics of the
debates began to demand how it was that the Council had failed as yet
to convert the heretics, and to suggest that it would be better to
resort to the former method of the sword. The delegates themselves
gradually grew tired of the discussion, and desired to return to
Bohemia. Even those Councillors who were most anxious for the success
of the Council felt that the bitterness, which had arisen, prevented
the hope of any useful conclusion in Basel; so, by way of compromise,
it was at last decided that Rokycana and his colleagues should return
to Prague; but that delegates from the Council should be sent to
continue the conference in that city. Thus ended the first stage of the
discussion; and, while Rokycana returned to influence affairs in the
capital, Procop hastened back to renew the often-attempted siege of
Pilsen.
It now became clear that the divisions, which had been so carefully
fostered between the Calixtines and the Taborites, were ready to break
out into a dangerous flame. On the one hand, Meinhard of Neuhaus, one
of the few nobles who had remained partially faithful to the Utraquist
cause, called together a meeting of his supporters, and urged them to
shake off the yoke of Procop, and to choose a captain from the ranks
of the poorer nobility, who should carry on the government with the
help of a Council. On the other hand, Lupus, a priest of the Taborites,
stirred up the inhabitants of the New Town against Rokycana and his
friends, and exhorted them to refuse submission to the newly-elected
Captain. Nor did the arrival of the ambassadors from Basel tend to
lessen this bitterness; for though they held out hopes of concessions
to the Calixtines, they fanned the flame of division between them and
the Taborites; and, about the time of their return to Basel, friendly
messengers came to Pilsen to urge the Catholics to stand firm, as their
victory was approaching.
Indeed, so successfully had the work of division been done, that the
ambassadors had found the means of discrediting Rokycana himself with
many of the Calixtines, and of bringing to the front the old party of
Pr̆zibram, which had been out of favour ever since the time of Prince
Korybut. The wedge which they used to make this split was sufficiently
ingenious. They proposed that the Communion in both kinds should be
allowed to those who wished it; but that the Communion in one kind
should be left, in those churches where it was preferred. To modern
thinkers, no doubt, such a compromise would seem the ideal settlement;
but to those who had been struggling, for so many years, against the
invaders who were trying to crush out these practices, it seemed as
if such a concession would only sow the seeds of fresh bitterness.
Such a compromise, said Rokycana, Wenceslaus IV. had attempted; and
the attempt had ended in a bitter fight, in which one party had
expelled the other. There was much force in Rokycana’s arguments; but
it was easy to represent him as an opponent of reasonable liberty,
and (a charge which was more telling at that moment) as a hinderer of
peaceable union.
But, in the meantime, the siege of Pilsen was making such progress that
the Catholics and moderate Utraquists began to fear that the victory,
which seemed almost within their grasp, might be taken from them after
all; and Sigismund wrote to Ulric of Rosenberg that the Taborites were
actually preparing to send a special embassy of their own to Basel;
and that, unless the Calixtines would go to Pilsen, to hinder the
progress of Procop, the Council of Basel would after all be compelled
to make concessions to the extreme party. While things were in this
state, Procop suddenly received news in his camp that the bitterness
between the two parties in Prague had at last led to a final outbreak.
The Taborites of the New Town had resolved to resist the authority
of the newly elected Captain, and had fortified their division of
Prague against him; whereupon Meinhard of Neuhaus had suddenly stormed
the New Town and put the Taborites to the sword. Thereupon Procop at
once resolved to abandon the siege of Pilsen, and to call on all the
Taborites to follow him to Prague. Meinhard rallied his forces for the
defence; and the two armies met on the 30th of May, 1434, near the town
of Lipaný.
The Taborites followed the plan, so often adopted by Z̆iz̆ka, of
fortifying their camp by an arrangement of their baggage waggons. From
behind these they threw shells into the camp of the enemy, which so
irritated the soldiers that they called on the nobles to lead them to
the attack. The nobles, however, were resolved to accomplish their
purposes by stratagem. The inferior troops were placed in the front,
with orders to give way at the first attack. The Taborites fell into
that trap; and, seeing the enemy, as they supposed, flying before them,
they left their entrenchments and pursued them. The picked troops of
the nobles then rushed forward, seized on the deserted waggons, and
attacked the Taborites in the rear. The supposed fugitives, at the same
time, turned upon their pursuers; the Taborite army, surrounded on
all sides, was cut to pieces; and Procop and the other leaders died,
fighting to the last.
The immediate results of the battle of Lipaný were of two kinds. One of
the chief objects of Meinhard of Neuhaus and his friends had been to
pave the way for negotiations with Sigismund, and this object they at
once obtained; but the conduct of the negotiations was not altogether
left to those who had been the chief promoters of division. The death
of Procop and of his immediate followers had given an opportunity to
the more moderate party of the Orphans to come to the front; and, as
C̆apek, the leading general of the Orphans, was now the most prominent
military leader among the advanced section of the Utraquists, the
change naturally led to a removal of many of the differences which had
so weakened the common cause. C̆apek carried on the policy of Z̆iz̆ka
in the matter of maintaining an alliance with those of the Calixtines
who were sincerely zealous for their country and their faith.
The man who most embodied that cause, in the eyes of the general body
of Bohemian patriots, was undoubtedly Rokycana; and thus he found
that his position had been greatly strengthened, for the time, by
the apparent victory of his opponents. While, therefore, the leaders
of the Assembly were able to organise a deputation to Sigismund,
of which Meinhard of Neuhaus was the chief leader, the terms which
the deputation offered were considerably coloured by the feeling of
Rokycana and his friends; for, on the one hand, they decided to insist
on many doctrines and rites which were condemned by the Taborites;
and on the other hand, they demanded a strict enforcement of the Four
Articles. They even proposed that no one should be received into the
city who did not communicate in both kinds; that the king should admit
no one into his Councils who did not observe the same rule; and that,
if any community was oppressed by the Emperor or his officials on
account of Utraquism, they should have the right of meeting force by
force. It was impossible to suppose that Sigismund would accept terms
of this kind, in so crude a form; but his growing eagerness to recover
his crown made him extremely willing to enter into the discussion.
He would, indeed, have been glad to base his claim on grounds
independent of the religious controversy; and he even ventured to
appeal to the Bohemians to accept him out of respect to his father’s
memory, and to remember that his grandmother was a Bohemian princess,
descended from the old ploughman king, Pr̆emysl. At the same time he
remonstrated so sharply with the delegates of Basel on the slowness
of their proceedings, and the quibbling of their arguments, that they
began to fear that he would drift away into complete opposition to
the Council. They, therefore, urged on both parties the acceptance of
an understanding which had been already put into shape in Basel. This
compromise involved the acceptance of the Four Articles, under certain
conditions; the most important of which were that the Communion in
both kinds should only be allowed to those who admitted the complete
presence of Christ in the Sacrament; and that, with regard to the
punishment of public sins, the clergy should only be permitted to deal
with the offences of their own Order.
But Rokycana complained that these and other modifications required
further explanation; and, on the other hand, the Basel delegates were
alarmed at a proposal put forward by their opponents that no Bohemian
should be summoned before any foreign tribunal, whether secular or
spiritual.
All difficulties, however, gave way before Sigismund’s inexhaustible
power of lying; for, when the delegates found that his promises and
concessions had no real meaning, they began to calculate that, if he
were restored, he must rely mainly on the Catholics and the Pr̆zibram
party, and therefore would find his interest in breaking his word to
the Utraquists, and maintaining it towards the Catholics. But, perhaps,
neither Sigismund nor the delegates of Basel were quite prepared for
the result of one concession which the King was induced to make. The
Archbishop and two suffragan bishops were, according to the proposals
of the Assembly, to be elected by representatives of all classes. A
Council of Sixteen was chosen for this purpose; and they secretly
fixed upon Rokycana as Archbishop of Prague. As soon as this election
became known, the Emperor and the representatives of Basel were deeply
offended at their choice; but Sigismund, as usual, succeeded in
evading a direct reply; and, in their zeal for union, the Bohemians
consented, for a moment, to overlook this evasion. So on the 14th of
August, 1436, Sigismund was once again formally accepted as king by the
representatives of all classes, the three towns of Königgrätz (Sadova),
Mies (Kladrau), and Kolin alone refusing to admit his claim.
It soon became evident that the King’s acceptance of the Compacts of
Basel, and of all the limitations of his power, had been nominal.
He speedily dismissed from office the most zealous Calixtines, and
encouraged the growth of Catholic ritual. With regard to Rokycana,
the King again found a means of evading any direct action. Philibert,
Bishop of Coutances, had come to Prague as one of the representatives
of the Council of Basel; and, in consideration of his rank and
position, he was allowed to perform the duties which should have been
entrusted to the Archbishop of Prague. At the same time the King made
a formal appeal to the Council of Basel to confirm Rokycana’s election;
but he advised them secretly to find excuses for delay in answering
this appeal.
Rokycana was not the man to conciliate a prince like Sigismund. He
observed with alarm the disreputable courtiers who had gathered round
the King; and he soon began to denounce the gambling, profligacy, and
drunkenness which were beginning to reappear in the city. It will be
remembered that Rokycana had, from the first, prophesied an evil result
from the compromise with the Council of Basel; and he now experienced
the truth of his own prediction. Mutual recriminations were exchanged
between Philibert and himself; each charging the other with violating
the Compacts, and enforcing their special form of ritual in a manner
contrary to the agreement.
The Praguer soon showed their indignation at the treatment which their
elected Archbishop had received; and they indignantly demanded that
their nomination should be accepted. Sigismund, however, was now being
drawn by his supporters into a complete Catholic reaction. Monasteries
and friaries were restored; and ecclesiastical property, which had
passed into other hands, was re-demanded. This was a violation, in
spirit at least, of the understanding on which Sigismund had been
allowed to return. Rokycana’s denunciations grew fiercer than before;
and Sigismund answered them by threats which induced the preacher to
believe that his life was in danger; so he at last sought safety in
flight.
If Sigismund had behaved treacherously and violently towards the
leaders of the Calixtines, he was equally faithless in his dealings
with the Taborites. The determined opposition which they had offered
to him on his first return to the kingdom, had compelled him to make
concessions in order to secure their allegiance; and he had promised
that they should be allowed the use of their own ritual, for six years,
without any disturbance; and that they should also be permitted to
choose six Councillors for the government of their town. Doubtless
the King had at once looked forward to an opportunity for breaking
these promises; but, when they first returned to Prague, it seemed
possible to weaken the Taborites by the milder process of stirring up
division between them. Soon after the battle of Lipaný, Rokycana had
submitted to Peter Payne the question whether Wyclif and Hus had ever
held the Taborite doctrines on the seven sacraments and the invocation
of saints, and other subjects of dispute. Payne delayed his answers to
these questions; and Sigismund found the matter still unsettled on his
arrival. He, therefore, peremptorily demanded that the required opinion
should at once be given. Payne, thereupon, candidly replied that he
could not discover any evidence of the acceptance of these Taborite
doctrines by Wyclif or Hus; but that, nevertheless, he (Peter Payne)
was prepared to support those doctrines. The answer was a dangerous
one; for, while it emphasised the difference between Payne and the
Calixtines, it provoked a fierce denunciation from the Taborite Bishop
of Pilgram (Pelhr̆imov), who was indignant that his party should be
deprived of the protection of two such honoured names. But, though
Sigismund might have found it more natural to accomplish the fall of
his enemies by sowing division among them, Bishop Philibert, and his
colleagues from Basel, required more peremptory measures. So Sigismund
once more broke his promises, and threatened to trample out the
Taborites with fire and sword.
These repeated acts of duplicity naturally alienated from him many
of those who had at first been disposed to support him; and when a
man named John Rohac set up a fortress on Mount Sion and denounced
the King and his policy, the Assembly of Bohemia actually refused to
vote funds for suppressing the insurgents; and they told the King
that he might march against Rohac at his own cost. Rohac, indeed, was
suppressed after a short struggle; but his example was imitated by
many nobles and citizens; and Sigismund at last left Prague in disgust
and disappointment and retired into Moravia. He seems to have had some
intention of again betaking himself to Basel, partly to hinder the
growing quarrel between the Pope and the Council, partly, no doubt,
to secure the help of both against his rebellious subjects. But, on
his way through Moravia, he was taken ill, and on the 9th of December,
1437, he died at Znojem.
The power which he had gained by his re-conquest of Bohemia, and the
fierce hatred which he had excited by his whole career, were alike
manifested by the events which immediately followed his death. The
champions of Sigismund at once proposed that his son-in-law, Albert of
Austria, should be chosen king. This, they said, had been Sigismund’s
dying wish; and they backed Albert’s claim, not only by reference to
his marriage with Sigismund’s daughter, but by the old promise of
Charles IV., that the House of Austria should succeed the House of
Luxemburg on the throne of Bohemia. But, on the other hand, the House
of Hapsburg had always been looked upon as enemies by all the most
patriotic Bohemians, and there were at least three reasons why Albert
himself should be specially unpopular in the country. He had tried
to use the power which Sigismund had entrusted to him, to drag away
Moravia from its connection with Bohemia. He had desired to Germanise
all the cities that fell into his hands; and he had taken an active
part in the war against the Utraquists. Although, therefore, the
champions of Albert succeeded in obtaining a majority in his favour in
the Bohemian Assembly, Rokycana and his followers were able to rally
round them some of the most active spirits of the nobles and many of
the knights and citizens, and to secure the election, at Tabor, of
Ladislaus, King of Poland.
Ladislaus was chosen on the ground that, if they could not get a
Bohemian prince, the Bohemians should at least secure a king from a
nation allied to them in language and race. This King accepted the
crown on behalf of his younger brother, Casimir; and a war followed
which might have been somewhat uncertain in its results, but that
Albert, who had also been chosen King of Hungary, was compelled to
hasten to that country to resist the invasion of the Turks. There, too,
he found opposition, on the ground of his strong German feeling; many
of the Hungarian nobles were disposed to revolt from him; and, worn out
with anxiety and illness, he retired to Vienna, and died there, less
than two years after his election.
[Illustration: ZNAYM (ZNOJEM), SCENE OF SIGISMUND’S DEATH.]
His death at once produced a change in the feeling of Bohemian parties.
His widow, Elizabeth, might have been unfortunate in her marriage
with a German, and not much more fortunate in being the daughter of
Sigismund; but she was, none the less, the granddaughter of Charles
IV., and, through the mother of Charles, the most direct descendant of
the old Bohemian line. The sentiment which naturally gathers round a
widowed queen seems always to have exercised an important influence in
Bohemian history, and all parties agreed to suspend their strife until
the expected heir should be born. But no sooner was it known that the
queen had been delivered of a son than the question at once arose of
who was to be his guardian. The new Emperor, Frederick III., at last
consented to accept this office; and, both as Emperor and head of the
House of Austria, he was considered the rightful protector of the young
Ladislaus.
But it was evident that neither party desired that Bohemia should be
at the mercy of the Emperor of Germany, and it was therefore necessary
to choose two Councillors to govern the kingdom during Ladislaus’
minority. Ulric of Rosenberg, who had now become the leader of the
Catholic party, decided to hold aloof, for a time, from politics;
and, consequently, Meinhard of Neuhaus, who had represented the
ultra-moderate party of the Utraquists, was chosen as the best
protector of the Catholic interests in the Council, while a nobleman
named Ptac̆ek represented the party of Rokycana.
The disorder which naturally arose in a country divided by factions,
and without a recognised king, was further increased by the revival
of those theological disputes, which had fallen, for a time, into the
background. The Taborites, whom their enemies had, no doubt, supposed
to have been crushed at the battle of Lipaný, had proved themselves
a still vigorous force in the struggle against Albert; and Ptac̆ek
became extremely jealous of their power, and desired to suppress
them. A quarrel between one of the leading Taborites and some of the
Silesians led to a Silesian invasion of Bohemia, and gave Ptac̆ek
an excuse for demanding the suppression of the Taborite League.
Rokycana for the moment intervened to make peace among the parties,
and attempted to secure a free discussion of points of difference.
At first the Taborites were unwilling to come to these discussions,
declaring that they were afraid of Ptac̆ek’s tyranny, and appealing to
Sigismund’s former promise that they should not be compelled to change
their ritual; but at last, after actual violence had been resorted
to, and the Taborite town of Vodnian had been taken by storm, both
parties consented to a meeting at Kutna Hora for a final discussion of
the points at issue. Two presidents were chosen for the conference,
Wenceslaus of Drachov, as representing the Calixtines, and Peter Payne,
as the champion of the Taborites.
Payne had recently called out an unexpected burst of enthusiasm among
his Bohemian friends. Returning, apparently, from a visit to Basel, he
had been seized at Nürnberg by a nobleman named Burian von Gutenstein,
and held as a prisoner. Burian offered to surrender him to Henry VI. of
England; but Henry feared that he might be intercepted and rescued at
Basel. That Council was now openly at war with Eugenius IV.; and, while
the Pope was summoning an opposition Council at Ferrara, the Baseler,
on their side, had declared Eugenius deposed, and had set up an
anti-pope of their own. Many of those who had most earnestly wished for
the meeting of the Council were now withdrawing their support from it;
and Henry VI., who had been one of the first to urge its convocation,
now denounced and feared it. He, therefore, advised Burian to send his
prisoner direct to the Pope at Ferrara or Florence. This Burian was
willing enough to do; but Eugenius was occupied with his contest with
the Council of Basel, and with his attempt to help the Greeks against
the Turks; and he found it difficult to deal properly with his proposed
prisoner. Under these circumstances the Taborite towns cut the knot
by offering to raise a large ransom for Payne. This was accepted by
Eugenius, and Payne was restored to the Taborites amid great enthusiasm.
Thus, in spite of his foreign origin and of the offence which he
had given by his recent decision, Payne was readily accepted by the
Taborites as their spokesman at this, their final appearance as
controversialists. Nay, so ready were they to abandon, in his favour,
some of their strongest feelings, that they actually rebuked Pr̆zibram
for disputing with Payne in the Bohemian language, since the Englishman
was unable to understand it. The questions in dispute seem mainly to
have turned upon the nature of the presence of Christ in the Sacrament;
and the controversy grew so hot that Koranda, the Taborite priest, made
the same challenge to Pr̆zibram which Hus had formerly made to the
Masters who wished to condemn Wyclif; namely, that, if convicted, he
would be willing to be burnt as a heretic, provided that his opponents
would consent to the same punishment in case of conviction. Finally,
the discussion was referred to the next Assembly of the Estates of
Bohemia, an Assembly which, under Ptac̆ek’s influence, readily decided
in favour of the Calixtines, as against the Taborites.
Ulric of Rosenberg, who had previously held aloof from the discussions
of the Assembly, now saw his opportunity in the division of his
enemies; and he hoped to use the Calixtines as allies in crushing out
their more formidable opponents. But, while this scheme was still
in a state of preparation, Ptac̆ek died, and the discussion of the
Utraquists was temporarily brought to an end by the rise of a new
leader.
This leader was a young man of twenty-four named George of Podĕbrad.
His father had been a friend and protector of Z̆iz̆ka; and his family
had been more steadily identified with the Utraquist cause than most of
the nobles of Bohemia. He was the godson of Z̆iz̆ka, had distinguished
himself in the war between Ladislaus and Albert, and had since
been made the captain of the Bunzlau (Boleslav) Circle, a specially
Protestant district. He seems to have had a singular gift of inspiring
confidence, and a diplomatic power of seizing opportunities. Although
he defended the claims of Rokycana to the archbishopric, the Taborites
were at first as zealous as the Calixtines in welcoming him as a
leader; and he adroitly contrived to bring to the front once more that
proposal for the recognition of the Compacts of Basel, which appeared
to be a bond between the different sections of the Utraquists. Nor
was it to the Utraquists alone that he at first appealed for support;
for his demand that the Emperor should surrender Ladislaus to the
Bohemians attracted the sympathies of the more patriotic Catholics. By
his help negotiations were opened with Emperor and Pope; and the death
of Eugenius IV. seemed to open a new chance for the concession by the
Papacy of some of the Utraquist demands. But, though Pope Nicholaus
might be willing, for a time, to use friendly words, the Emperor
Frederick was more uncompromising, and he absolutely refused to restore
the young king to the Bohemians.