for having been his faithful servant, told him he felt certain that his own life was doomed, and begged Poděbrad to preserve peace and order among the people of Bohemia and the dependent countries, and finally urged him to be just to rich and poor alike.[1] The king died on the third day of his illness (Nov. 23, 1457), not yet eighteen years of age. The suddenness of the death of Ladislas gave rise to the totally unfounded rumour that he had been poisoned by emissaries of Poděbrad. The national hatred to the Slav race caused this accusation to be widely circulated in Germany, especially at Vienna and at Breslau.[2]
According to the treaty of succession concluded between Bohemia and Austria during the reign of the Emperor Charles IV, the Emperor Frederick, as head of the house of Habsburg, became the legitimate successor to the Bohemian throne on the death of Ladislas. Two other members of the same house, Albert, brother of Frederick—with whom he lived in a state of constant enmity—and Sigismund, Duke of Tyrol, also raised claims to the Bohemian crown; as likewise did William, Duke of Saxony, and Casimir, King of Poland, who had both married sisters of Ladislas. Another candidate who had no hereditary claims to rely on was Prince Charles, younger son of King Charles VII of France, who wished to secure the Bohemian crown for his son. The decision of the Estates—formulated at the time of the election of Ladislas—by which they had declared the Bohemian crown to be elective de facto, justified all candidates in advancing their claims. The Diet which was to elect the new king assembled at Prague on February 27, 1458, but unfortunately no detailed account of its proceedings has reached us. We only learn that the ambassadors sent by King Charles of France and Duke William of Saxony were received, but that their attempts to influence the election were fruitless. On March 2, George of Poděbrad was unanimously chosen as king by the Estates, even the adherents of the Austrian party recording their votes in his favour. The election was immediately announced to the
- ↑ From a contemporary letter printed from the Munich archives by Bachmann, Urkunden, etc.
- ↑ Palacký, in a paper published by the Bohemian Learned Society in 1856, and fortified by the statements of medical authorities, clearly proves the true nature of the illness of Ladislas, and consequently the falsehood of the accusations against Poděbrad.
