Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/224

 the end of the reign of Vladislav, for a time throwing even the religious dissensions into the shade.

Vladislav had shortly after the death of King Matthew (1490) been elected King of Hungary, and it was in that country that he spent the greater part of the later years of his reign. Constant absence from Bohemia greatly reduced the king's influence, and, as previously mentioned, he was quite unable to resist the encroachments of the nobles.

King Vladislav died at Ofen in Hungary on March 13, 1516. He was succeeded by Louis, his son by his marriage to Anna de Candale, a connection of the French royal family. Louis, who had already been crowned as King of Bohemia at the age of three, was only ten years old at the death of his father. Shortly before his death, Vladislav had made an agreement with his brother. King Sigismund of Poland, and with the German Emperor Maximilian (who had succeeded his father, Frederick III), by which they were declared guardians of his son Louis, should he come to the throne before he was of age. At the same time marriages were arranged between King Louis and the Archduchess Mary, grand-daughter of the Emperor, and also between the Archduke Ferdinand, grandson of the Emperor, and Anna, daughter of King Vladislav. It was at the same time agreed that the Bohemian crown should pass to the descendants of Princess Anna, should King Louis die childless. This agreement was, however, not brought before the Estates of Bohemia, and their assent was not demanded. On the death of Vladislav the Diet recognized the German Emperor and the King of Poland as guardians of the young king, but it would not allow them any right of interference in the government of the land. The Bohemian nobles, who held the great offices of State, especially the supreme burgrave, Zdeněk Lev, Lord of Rožmittal, governed the country almost without control. At the beginning of the reign of the new king the disputes between the orders were for a time made up by an agreement, which is known as the Treaty of Venceslas (1517). By this agreement the towns renounced their claim to an exclusive right of brewing, and