Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/328

 would have proved very successful had it not been for the question of religion.

In 1458, Pope Calixtus III died, and was succeeded by Æneas Silvius, known in history as Pope Pius II. Pope Pius was thoroughly acquainted with affairs in Bohemia, and it was his conviction that, willing or unwilling, the people ought to be brought back into unconditional subjection to the Papal See. Before George Poděbrad was raised to the royal throne, or Æneas Silvius to the papacy, they had had several long conversations, at which Poděbrad showed so much moderation that that prelate imagined he could be used as a tool to accomplish the desired object.

In the year 1459, troubles arose between Matthias Corvinus and the Hungarian nobles, who had chosen him their king. Turning for assistance to King George, they offered him the crown for his son Henry; but seeing no gain in the offered prize, King George refused it. It was then offered to Emperor Frederick, who gladly accepted it. In the war and negotiations that arose from this, the Bohemian king acted as a mediator, inclining to the side of Frederick, which so won the favor of the latter that he granted him Bohemia as a fief, thus acknowledging him the lawful ruler of the country. Thus by diplomacy, by genuine acts of kindness, by the marriage of his sons and daughters with those of the neighboring princes, King George sought to establish his power; and this he would have done, had it not been for the interference of the Church.

As has been said, Pope Pius II determined from the first to bring back the Bohemians into unquestioning