X.
FROM THE FIRST CORONATION OF SIGISMUND TO THE OPENING OF COUNCIL OF BASEL.
(1420-1431.)
In spite of the dramatic circumstances of Sigismund’s coronation at Prague, any hopes of peace or reconciliation, which the citizens may have entertained, at the moment, were speedily to be frustrated, partly by the bitter divisions in the Utraquist camp, partly by the incurably untrustworthy character of the king whom they had chosen. The former difficulty was the one which first forced itself on public attention. The Taborites had taken the leading part in the victory which had just been won; and they resolved that their will should be felt in the settlement which was to follow it. Furious at the recent burning of their friends before the very eyes of the citizens, they demanded that these murders should be revenged by the burning of the prisoners who had been taken in the battle; and the rulers of the city yielded to their wishes. Elated by this success, the Taborites insisted that twelve new Articles should be added to the four which had been already set forth by the Calixtines. Most of these new proposals were in the direction of more vigorous provisions for punishing self-indulgence and immorality. But the bitter national feeling manifests itself in the demand for the complete establishment of the law of God, in the place of those pagan and Teutonic laws, which do not agree with the laws of God. Further, all the revenues of the priests were to be seized for the public good; usury was to be suppressed; all enemies of the truth to be expelled; all heretical monasteries and all unnecessary churches, altars, and ornaments to be destroyed.
The discussion of these proposals was marked by the first public appearance in Bohemia of a man who was to play a remarkable part in the coming struggle. This was Peter Payne, an English Master of Arts, who had been forced to fly from Oxford on account of his sympathy with the doctrines of Wyclif. He had been welcomed by the scholars of Prague, and had been admitted to a Master’s Degree at their University also. Although his doctrinal Protestantism had led him to conclusions far beyond those adopted by any Bohemian party, yet his English sense of justice and love of compromise often marked him out as a go-between and moderator in the controversies of his adopted countrymen. He now came forward to suggest the senses in which the Articles of the Taborites might be accepted, without injury to either party. But, although the Calixtines were anxious to find a method of reconciliation with the Taborites, the latter were guided on this occasion by much fiercer spirits than Peter Payne.
The chief of these extreme advisers was John of Z̆elív, who had so excited the Utraquists, on the occasion of that first riot, when the Councillors of the New Town were thrown out of the windows. He now demanded the deposition of those Councillors of the Old Town who were opposed to the Taborite doctrines. This point, too, was conceded; yet, for some reason, not clearly ascertainable, the Taborites were still dissatisfied, and on August 22nd they left Prague.
But the second hindrance to the establishment of peace in Bohemia was to have an even more marked effect in hastening on the new war. It was not only the Taborites who distrusted their new ruler; Sigismund soon provoked against him many of those who had been most desirous for peace. One of the first points which roused their opposition, was his demand that the ornaments of the churches and the royal treasure should be used for the payment of the foreign soldiers, who had just been employed in the invasion of Bohemia. He also began to renew the old and evil policy of pledging the monasteries and the royal castles to the nobles. Lastly, although he had encouraged the citizens to hope that he would sanction the Four Articles, he still declined to give them any formal approval, or even to make arrangements for a discussion upon them; nor would he give the citizens any security against the attacks of those fierce Catholics who still held the fortresses of Prague and Vys̆ehrad. These divisions of opinions were obviously too vital to permit of any friendly understanding between the two parties. So Sigismund soon after left Prague; and the suspicions between king and people rapidly ripened to a violent solution of their differences.
Sigismund had now adopted, to the full, the principle that no faith was to be kept with heretics; and, while he assured the Praguer of his desire for peace, he was appealing to the Pope and the electors to join a second crusade for the suppression of the heretics. The citizens first fully realised the treacherous character of Sigismund’s policy when they began to renew their attacks on the Vys̆ehrad. The possession of this fortress by the Catholics was a continual danger to the city; yet, when the Utraquists sent their next deputation to Sigismund, to entreat its acceptance of the Four Articles, he demanded that, even before the Articles should be discussed, the citizens of Prague should abandon their siege of the Vys̆ehrad. This demand received a still more startling interpretation a short time after, when the Town Council intercepted a letter from the king to the defenders of the fortress, urging them to make a sudden attack on the city, which he would second from another point.