Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/26

 Estates met and required their future king to promise complete religious freedom, free use of the cup in the communion in all churches, prohibition of the publication of papal bulls before their approval by the royal council, and of all insults to the memory of Huss and Jerome, and the use of the Bohemian language in courts of justice. To these things the town of Prague added a request, that, at the celebration of the mass, at least the gospel and epistle might be read in the vulgar tongue. Sigismund simply replied that he intended to carry on the government as his father, Charles IV, had done before him; and at Kuttenberg, on May 12, 1420, drove the deputies of the people of Prague from him with reproaches, demanding that all their weapons should be delivered up to him, and they should then see what favour he would show them. “War to the death!” became then the universal cry in Prague, and messengers were sent for help to Tabor, which had just been founded by the advice of Ziska, as a fortress of refuge for the Hussites, and to the other allied towns.

The first crusade against the Hussites now began in earnest. The Taborites entered Prague, and the host of Sigismund was entirely routed by the united forces of the Hussites before the walls of Prague, on July 14, 1420. The celebrated Four Articles of Prague were then drawn up as the public confession of the nation, to the following effect:—

1. “That the Word of God be published and preached in the kingdom of Bohemia by Christian priests without let or hindrance.

2. “That the holy sacrament of the body and blood of Christ be freely offered under both forms of bread and wine to all faithful Christians, not incapacitated by deadly sin.

3. “That worldly possessions be taken from priests and