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 leaning to it himself. On January 17, 1424, the electors met in Bingen, and agreed that they could dispense with an emperor, that the imperial scepter could be held by each alternately.

The news of this agreement filled Sigmund with wrath, and he decided to ask for no further aid of the treacherous princes, but to seek to cement yet more closely the friendship between himself, the Duke of Austria, and Vladislav of Poland. For this reason he repaired with his whole court to Cracow, where preparations were made for extirpating all heresy both in Bohemia and Poland.

At the urgent but secret requests of the Bohemian lords, Sigmund Corvinus finally broke his promises to the Polish king, and returned to Prague June 29, 1424. He had an army of 1,500 cavalry, all volunteers, among them many who had deserted from the ranks of Vladislav’s regiment that he intended to send to the aid of the emperor.

The news of this filled the Polish king with rage and grief, and he ordered the estates of his nephew to be immediately confiscated to the crown. But what caused him the bitterest sorrow was that, notwithstanding all his lamentations and protestations, the European nations refused to believe that he had not been privy to the act. When, therefore, he sent a force of 5,000 men to Moravia to aid the Imperial army, they were sent back by the Duke of Austria, who feared that the cause might be hindered rather than aided by them.

Prince Sigmund Corvinus, coming to Prague not