Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/365

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To Ferdinand I.
353

and compelled him to give them a written agreement freeing them from his jurisdiction. They then offered their services to Dalibor, of Kozojed, who took them under his protection. But the peasants did not enjoy the fruit of their victory. Dalibor was cited to Prague, tried, and condemned to death. At first he was imprisoned in a new tower just built at Prague, which after that was known by the name of Daliborka. Adam returned to his estates, and the poor peasants were treated more cruelly than before (1496).

This is but one of thousands of cases where the people, attempting to break their chains, found them only the more riveted. It is not surprising that at the time servitude was fully established in Bohemia, the country was full of vagabonds, thieves, and robbers.

That the people of the other European States did not fare any better may be judged from the great peasant uprising in 1525, when no less than 150,000 persons lost their lives, and large tracts of land were left desolate.

KING LOUIS.

The year before Vladislav died, he made an agreement with Maximilian, the Emperor of Germany, which proved very important and far-reaching in its consequences. This was concerning the marriage of his children. Mary, the granddaughter of the emperor, was to be married to Louis, the son of Vladislav; and Anna, the sister of Louis, to Ferdinand, the grandson of that ruler. The stipulation was that, in case of the death of Louis, his sister Anna was to inherit both the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary.

When Louis was twelve years of age, the Hungarians declared his majority, and the Bohemians followed

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