such an organization as agreed with the advanced views of the Lutherans. But Ferdinand insisted that they regulate their Church according to the Compactata, or withdraw from the union with the Utraquists. They, on the other hand, claimed that the time had come when they should be governed, not by the Compactata, but by the Word of God. As no conclusion could be reached, the matter was referred to a General Diet. This Diet, meeting in Prague in 1537, had all the sects represented except the Bohemian Brethren, who, on account of the austerity of their lives, were equally despised by both Catholics and Calixtines.
The Diet accomplished nothing. The Evangelicals insisted on the right of the States to elect their archbishop; and, as there was a strong probability that he would be of their sect, the king opposed this, and the Diet was dissolved, all the sects remaining under the authority of the Catholic archbishop.
In the year 1541 a terrible misfortune befell the city of Prague. A fire broke out, The Small Side Burned.and spread with rapidity that almost the whole of the Small Side was reduced to ashes. The royal palace, the St. Vitus Cathedral, then building, and almost all the private residences in the lower part of the town were in ruins. The greatest misfortune connected with this conflagration was the destruction of the public records. The news of this loss filled the minds of the people with consternation; for, in many cases, their rights and liberties were dependent upon these records, and they knew that they would soon be deprived of them, if no proof could be brought forward that they had once been granted.
When the new records were made out, it was agreed
