Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/566

 g5Q THE HUSSITES. Bohemians addressed them, complaining that although they were hving in peace and obedience to the Holy See, the provisions of the Compactata, which declared that no one should be stigmatized as a heretic for partaking in both elements, were violated by a friar named Capistrano, who, under the guise of an apostohc com- missioner and inquisitor, was traversing their territories proclaim- ing that all Utraquists were heretics. The agreement which had cost so much blood was thus plainly infringed, and, notwith- standing their desire for peace, a persistence in this would r^evive all the old troubles. This was significant of strife, and Capis- trano, on his side, was eagerly engaged in stimulating it. He wrote to the pope that certain propositions of accommodation entertained by the cardinal-legate were disgraceful, and spoke hopefully of negotiations which he was carrying on with the Ger- man princes for a ncAV crusade against the Hussites. Nicholas of Cusa was effectually snubbed for daring to talk of conferences and terms of accommodation. He promptly threw himself on the other side and contributed his share towards provoking a fresh conflict, by issuing, in June, 1452, an encychcal to the Bohemians, in which he plainly told them, that those who were not with the Church must be against it ; that the Compactata must be thrown aside, as they had not effected the union for which they were^ designed, and that nothing save pure and simple obedience to thei Holy See could be entertained. To render the irritation complete! needed only the exquisite insolence with which he assured them that the Church was too pious a mother to concede to her childrer what she knew to be injurious.^ Capistrano's busy mischief-making was bearing its fruits. Th( breach between Eome and Bohemia was constantly widening, and if the zeal of the German princes could be brought to correspond to the ardor of the missionary of strife, the horrors of the old Hussite wars might be hopefully l6oked for again. During the remainder of the year 1452 we find him traveUing through Ger- many, probablv with this charitable object, though at Leipsic he paused long enough for his eloquence to win for his rigid Order sixty professors and students.f His efforts to raise a crusade j^52 t Chron. Glassberger ann, 1452.
 * Wadding, ann. 1452, No. 2-4, 13-14.-CochliEi Hist. Hussit. Lib. xi. ann.