son-in-law, Duke Louis of Brieg, and most modern writers agree with this supposition. It has been pointed out[1] that the wording of the manifesto recalls the statements contained in the documents drawn up by the Elector during the negotiations at Böheimstein. The Elector Frederick of Brandenburg has already been frequently mentioned in these pages. Of Duke Louis of Brieg, a Silesian prince, little is known. During the great invasion of Silesia he was said to have been somewhat half-hearted when opposing the Hussite attacks.[2] It is, however, impossible to state with certainty who were the authors of the document.
This manifesto greatly impressed Pope Martin V. He at last consented to the meeting of a ecumenical council, whose members were to assemble at Basel in March 1431. Still, however, preferring to subdue the Hussites by the strength of the sword, he endeavoured by all means to accelerate the new crusade against Bohemia. To accentuate his point of view the Pope, on January 1, 1431, appointed Cardinal Julian Cesarini[3] papal legate for Germany and entrusted him with the negotiations to expedite the crusade. Only on February 12, when he had already left Rome, the cardinal was also appointed president of the future Council. Though the Pope had reluctantly consented to the meeting of the Council, it is not likely that his life-long aversion to these assemblies—founded on the proceedings of the Council of Constance, which in his
- ↑ By Dr. v. Bezold, König Sigmund und die Reichskriege, etc., Vol. III. p. 86.
- ↑ He was accused of having surrendered the town of Brieg to the Hussites without resistance, and even of having a secret agreement with them (Grünhagen, Hussitenkämpfe, etc., pp. 137–139).
- ↑ At a period when accusations against unworthy priests play so large a part in history, it is well to note the truly saintly nature of Cesarini. Dr. Pastor (Geschichte der Päbste, Vol. I. pp. 203–204) writes: “Von seiner [Cesarini’s] Sittenreinheit und Frömmigkeit kann Vespasiano da Bisticci kaum genug Lobenswerthes erzählen. Der Cardinal . . . schlief stets in einem härenen Busshemde, fastete jeden Freitag bei Wasser und Brod. . . . Nie kam mehr als ein Gericht auf seinen Tisch, der Wein den er trank war gefärbtes Wasser. . . . ‘Ich habe sehr viele heiligmässige Männer kennen gelernt,’ ruft der ehrliche Vespasiano da Bisticci aus, ‘aber unter ihnen keinen der dem Cardinal Cesarini gleiche; seit fünfhundert Jahren hat die Kirche keinen solchen Mann gesehen.’”
