tended both to political and to ecclesiastical affairs; and the reconciliation with the papal Church, together with the general acceptation of Emperor Sigismund as king, became certain from the moment of the battle of Lipany. A meeting of the Estates of Bohemia and Moravia took place only three weeks after the battle. A truce was concluded between the utraquists and the papal party, and it was decided to negotiate with Sigismund, with a view to his assumption of the government of the country. It was further decided to send a deputation to Regensburg, where the Emperor then resided, and where he had been joined by representatives of the Council.
Sigismund received the Bohemian ambassadors (August 1434) very graciously. He assured them that he was no stranger, and that he considered himself a Bohemian and a citizen of Prague. He recalled to them his descent in the female line from the man whom their ancestors had once called away from the plough to their throne,[1] and referred to the fact that his father's (the Emperor Charles's) name was still revered by high and low in their country. A complete agreement was not obtained at Regensburg, though the only disputed point now was the question to what extent communion in both kinds should in future be permissible in Bohemia and Moravia. The Bohemian representatives declared that they wished to be in full accord with their king before negotiating with the Council. For this purpose the Estates again met (October 1434) at Prague. The utraquists here made further concessions. It had become evident to them that communion in the two kinds could not be forced on the adherents of the papal party in Bohemia. The Estates therefore decided to ascertain in what form communion was at that moment administered in all the parochial and other churches of Bohemia, and to propose that this should be the rule for the future.
The Estates further demanded that the Archbishop of Prague and his suffragans should, according to the old institutions of the land, be elected by the Estates and the clergy, subject to the sanction of the king; they claimed, finally, that no Church livings in Bohemia or Moravia should be conferred on foreigners. These demands were transmitted to the Council, and it was settled that a new deputation of the Estates should meet the king and the
- ↑ Přemysl: see Chap. II.
