Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/334

 mans! O miserable Christendom, whose emperor can not be saved except by a heretic king!”

The Pope ostensibly complied with the request of the emperor; but he by no means gave up the design of humbling King George, and compelling him to submit to Rome. He was only biding his time, when he could do so without incurring the displeasure of the emperor,

King George knew that the storm was not over, but merely postponed. In the interval of peace he prepared for the coming strife. He conceived a plan to thwart the plots of Pius, which was as bold as it was original.

The enterprise in which all European princes were more or less interested, was the war with the Turks. The initiative for this always started at the court of Rome. King George conceived the idea that if the European princes could be induced to assume the whole responsibility in this, they might in time learn to act independently in other things, and thus free themselves from the despotism of Rome. To this end he sent messengers to some of the princes of Europe. Louis XI of France was favorably impressed with the plan; for he, too, had many grievances against the Pope. The Venetians were eager to engage in the undertaking; for they were great sufferers from the depredations of the Turks. King Casimir of Poland entered wholly into the plan. He had a personal interview with the Bohemian king, and so was able to grasp the full significance of the idea. But at the Hungarian court the messengers met with no success; for the Pope, for a number of years, had been paying a subsidy to the Hungarian king to carry on the Turkish war, and he