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1528] of whose crown it was a fief. But the royal power had always been weak, and Hübmaier's coming coincided with an interregnum. On August 29, 1526, Louis II. of Bohemia was defeated by the Turks at Mohacs, Hungary, and fell in the battle. As he left no heirs, in the following October the diet chose as king the Archduke Ferdinand, of Austria, who had married a sister of Louis and was in every way the most eligible prince. The choice was by no means a popular one, however, and it was some time before Ferdinand's royal authority was established. In the meantime, the Moravian nobles, always enjoying a large measure of independence, were absolute masters of the situation, and did as seemed to them good.

The people of Moravia were at this time mainly Germans, though there was among them a large proportion of that Czech (Slav) race which in early times had settled both this region and Bohemia. At the present day less than twenty per cent. of the Moravian people are Czechs, but it is probable that in the Reformation era the proportion was much larger. Evangelical views seem to have made progress equally among both peoples, but, if