the church to be pulled down. Thus the people were openly robbed of what they had built at their own expense. The work of destruction lasted three days, and, as Gindely says: “The rumbling of the walls of the church of Hrob resounded throughout all Europe; for no act of this drama in Bohemian history became so well known as this, and no act made such an impression, unless it be the throwing out of the window of the regents. It was regarded, not only as an insult to the Bohemians, but to all Protestants. This seemed a convincing proof that the Letter of Majesty of Rudolph had failed to bring the expected results, and that the sword must decide about the existence of Protestantism in Bohemia.”
Roused by these acts of violence, the Defenders called upon the Protestant States to meet at Prague to devise some plan whereby redress could be obtained. They assembled in the Carolinum, and drew up an earnest appeal to the king, begging that the people of Hrob and Broumoy be permitted to enjoy the liberties guaranteed by the Letter of Majesty.
Matthias replied by sending a letter to his regents, saying that the closing of the churches in Broumov and Hrob had been done at his orders, and that the meeting of the States, without his royal permission, was contrary to the customs of the land, and that its originators would be visited with due punishment.
Receiving this letter, the regents sent word to the Assembly at Carolinum to come to the citadel at Hradschin to hear what was the pleasure of their king. The States, hearing the ungracious reply of the king, became filled with indignation, and declared that the contents of the letter had not originated in Vienna, but in
