Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/329

 THE END APPROACHING. 010 not reassuring, for it was fuU of secret or open Cathari, who longed for help or revenge, no matter whence it might come * The new king recognized that his only hope lay in obtaining aid from Christendom, to earn which he labored energetically to strengthen the CathoHc Church in his dominions, but, in the fatal perverseness of the time, this only precipitated his downfall. From Pius II. he obtained only barren instructions to the legate, Lorenzo, Abbot of Spalatro, to collect money and crusaders. From Matthias Corvinus he purchased an alhance by a heavy payment, by surrendering some castles, and by breaking off relations with the Turks and ceasing to pay them tribute. In all this he es- tranged still further his heretic subjects and drew upon his head the vengeance of Mahomet II. Many Cathari, driven from Bos- ma, had found refuge in Moslem territory; others, especially no- bles, forced to pretend conversion, maintained constant relations with the Turks, kept them advised of all that occurred, and were eager to aid them, in hopes of revenge. The news of the treaty with Matthias Corvinus was speedily conveyed to Mahomet, who, to test its truth, sent an envoy to demand the tribute. King Ste- phen took him to the treasury, showed him the money, and re- fused to dehver it, saying that he needed it for self-defence or that It would support him in exile if driven from the kinMom and he paid no heed to the envoy's warning that treasure^ith- held m defiance of pledges would bring him no luck.f Defiance such as this left nothing to hope for from the Turk but preoccupations in Wallachia kept Mahomet busy durino- U62 and he postponed his revenge tih the following year. It^hows the blindness of Eome to the situation and the unflagging persist- ency of the determination to secure uniformity of faith that dur- ing this respite Pius 11. sent learned friars to Bosnia with instruc- tions that the best mode of overcoming heresy Avas to promote study. The instructions were exceUent, but sadlv misplaced. Through the winter and spring of 1463 Mahomet .^^s preparino^ the final blow by massing one hundred and fifty thousand men at Adrianople. To throw Stephen Thomasevic off of his guard his request for a fifteen years' truce was granted, and his envoys, re- - Klaic, pp. 398, 408-9, 412, 414-15.-Theiner, I. 432. t Klai ', pp. 424-6.