at the Council of Basel, on which occasion the Bohemian leaders, including Prokop the Great, did not hesitate to negotiate with the Roman Church. It is probable that Korybutovič, a man brought up in Lithuania, where the majority of the population belonged to the Eastern Church, cherished a very genuine reverence for the tenets of Utraquism. Even if we set aside these considerations and consider Korybutovič merely as an ambitious adventurer, as some German writers have done, there could have been no worse policy for him than unconditional surrender to Rome. Almost the only Bohemians who desired this submission were the lords “sub una,” and these men were as entirely devoted to Sigismund, whom they considered their legitimate sovereign, as they were to the Church of Rome.[1] Even the statement that Korybutovič favoured, among the clergy of Prague, priests such as Christian of Prachatice[2] and Peter Mladenovic,[3] who were known as men of moderate views, proves rather the contrary of what it intended to prove. These men had been the intimate friends of Hus and were better than others acquainted with his views, which, as I have written elsewhere, were far less antagonistic to the Church of Rome than is usually supposed. Christian of Prachatice and Mladenovič were accused of using vestments and of retaining part of the Catholic ritual. They were, however, known as fervent adherents of the articles of Prague. It is probable that the accusation of negotiating with Rome, which then had the same effect as the cry of “no popery” once had in England, was mainly raised by the city demagogues of Prague, with whose anarchical plans Korybutovič’s endeavour to establish orderly government in
- ↑ Palacký, with his usual acumen, noted that neither Korybutovič nor any party then contemplated unconditional surrender to Rome. He writes: “Solch eine Unterhandlung und Versöhnung, wo die Sieger als büssende Sünder und verirrte sich freiwillig dem bisherigen Feinde auf Gnade ergeben sollten; lag keineswegs in der Absicht der Mehrzahl, selbst der gemässigten Kelchner” (Geschichte von Böhmen, Vol. III. ii. p. 425, German edition).
- ↑ See my Master John Hus, pp. 235 and 275.
- ↑ See my History of Bohemian Literature, particularly p. 145, and Master John Hus, pp. 241–243, 283–285, etc.
