Protiva tried to reform the Church, but he soon came to the conclusion that nothing but complete reconstruction could save it from moral ruin. Most of the writings of Protiva are lost, but their tendency is learned from the reference made to them by other authors. They were the source from which Peter Čelcičky, the founder of the sect of the Moravian Brethren, drew most of his arguments.
One of the curious things in the life of this man was that, at the Council of Constance, he appeared as one of the witnesses against Hus.
From the above sketches it may be seen that when Hus appeared upon the scene as a popular preacher and reformer, he had the ground well prepared for his reception. Sigmund with truth could say to the prelates at Constance that the sect of which Hus was the leader and exponent was no new thing, but had originated when he (the emperor) was a mere youth.
KING VÁCLAV IV.
The Emperor Charles left three sons, the eldest of whom succeeded his father in the government as Václav IV. Sigmund, the second, received as his inheritance, Brandenburg; and John, parts of Tower and Upper Lusatia. Moravia was in the hands of Jost, a cousin of Václav. At the death of Charles’s second brother, the County of Luxemburg fell again to the Bohemian crown.
Sigmund married Maria, the daughter of the King of Hungary, thus securing the crown of that country. This made him a powerful ruler, and, to a considerable extent, affected the interests of Bohemia.
King Václav in no respect equaled his illustrious
