bishops, 93 titular bishops, 217 doctors of theology, 361 doctors of both laws, and 171 doctors of medicine. Thirty-seven universities were represented. There were 83 envoys representing kings and princes, 38 dukes, 173 counts, 71 barons, more than 1,500 knights, and also 142 writers of bulls, 1,700 buglers, fiddlers, and other players on musical instruments. In addition, the chronicler informs us, there were 700 women of the street who openly practised their trade in rented rooms, while the number who practised it secretly was not recorded.[1]
The arrival of different delegations caused great excitement. The English and Scotch, numbering a dozen and accompanied by seven or eight hundred mounted men, were headed by fifers and other musicians as they entered the city January 21, 1415. The representatives of the university of Paris, who arrived in February, awakened equal interest. The entry of John of Nassau, archbishop of Mainz, attended by 700 mounted followers, created a sensation. The archbishop was clad in full armor-helmet, coat of mail, and greaves. January 17, 1415, King Sigismund went out to meet Duke Lewis of Bavaria, who was accompanied by the bishops of Spires and Treves and a retinue of 400 horsemen. The streets presented the spectacle of a merry fair. There were tournaments, dances, acrobatic shows, processions, and musical displays. The police regulations were precise. Riding and shouting at night were forbidden. After dark, chains were stretched across some of the streets, and persons going out after curfew were to carry their own lights. Regulated prices for food and laundering were intended to check extortion. The most eminent personages in attendance, after Sigismund and the pope, were Cardinals d'Ailly, Zabarella and Fillastre, Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, who died during the
- ↑ Van der Hardt, 5: 50–53, gives the number of visitors as 18,000 prelates and priests, 80,000 laymen, including 1,500 loose women.
