Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/352

 Pope. King Vladislav was satisfied with this answer, and Bishop Lucian continued his benign activity for many years.

Although Vladislav permitted the bishop to continue his labors among the Calixtines, at heart he was a Catholic, and early determined upon the destruction of the hated sect. He filled all important offices with zealous Catholics, or with Calixtines that were such only in name, and the more zealous ones soon discovered that they were pushed aside and persecuted under various idle pretexts.

An historian of this time says: “In those days a neighbor could not speak freely with neighbor, and when one wished to speak to another in the rink, he cast furtive glances about, like a wolf, lest there should be a third person near to betray him. Besides this, the aldermen had their detectives and traitors, who went about the public houses striving to inveigle people into conversation to betray them, so that they might be cast into prison, and often tortured.”

In the summer of 1483 the country was visited with a fearful plague, as many as 30,000 persons perishing in the city of Prague. To escape the danger, the royal family fled first to Pilsen and then to Trebitz, Moravia. During the absence of the king, an event happened that changed the whole course of the reactionary movement spoken of above.

After the king had been in Moravia for some time, a report was spread in Prague that he was ill and not likely to recover. The prospect of an interval without any ruler made the aldermen redouble their vigilance in order to be prepared for the storm that they had reason to fear might arise. They barricaded the streets