Page:Zawis and Kunigunde (1895).djvu/178

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174
DRDA IMPRISONED. PROKOP’S PROPHECY

the castle, and renewed attention to the inmates. Imperalists and Bohemians awaited the slow course of time that should renew in weakness the regular forms of Bohemian monarchy under conditions humiliating to one political party, a cause of subdued acceptance to another,and an occasion of unbounded gratification to the greatly increased numbers of religious fraternities that now cccupied the fairest and richest portions of the land. During this dreary period no communication whatever is known to have passed between young King Wenzel in his exile, loneliness, and neglect, and his young and girlish queen.

The imperial household accepted in full the religlous forms, spirit, tendencies, policies and tone of thought, inculcated without hinderance by the teachers commissioned from Rome. Such as they were, the Roman clergy could point to them as the result of their system; such sentimnents as they held they derived from Roman sources exclusively. No movement in Bohemia attracted imperial attention; and no pretense could be invented for depriving Wenzel of his inheritance. The electors jealously watched the imperial policy in that respect. The emperor well knew that any attempted suppression of an electoral vote, or the autocratic transfer of it to a scion of the imperial family would inevitably provoke dangerous alarm. He also knew that the present course of events tended very strongly to incorporate the kingdom of Bohemia more closely than ever with the empire; and he found a less expensive and perilous policy in allowing events to shape themselves