Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/253

 said before, that they had drawn their swords and would not sheath them till they had converted all men to their faith. On receiving this message Sigismund was seized by one of those attacks of semi-insane fury which sometimes overtook him. He beseeched all the princes who were at his court to assist him in exterminating heresy and in obtaining possession of the lands which he had inherited. He added that he would immediately organise a new military expedition against Bohemia. The German princes, whose previous experiences had not been satisfactory, received this statement silently and without enthusiasm. On April 8 Prokop and his companions again approached the King and inquired where the proposed Council was to meet. They also wished to know whether it was to be entirely under the direction of the Pope and the cardinals, or whether Sigismund and the other princes were also to exercise a certain control over it. In his reply Sigismund stated that he would have the same authority over the Council which the Roman emperors and kings had possessed on similar previous occasions. On the following day the Bohemian envoys left Pressburg and rejoined the Hussite army, which was encamped six (German) miles from the city. The Hussite envoys, whose instructions did not allow them to express an opinion on such vital questions as the conclusion of an armistice and the promise of attending the future council, declared, before leaving Pressburg, that a general meeting of the estates of Bohemia would give a definite reply. This assembly began its sittings on May 23, and continued them for a week. The representatives of King Sigismund, who had on this occasion appeared in Prague, demanded that the Bohemians should submit to the verdict of the Council of Constance, and agree to a truce for two years, or up to the beginning of the council, not only with the King and his Bohemian adherents, but also with the foreign princes who were allied with him. The diet in Prague, on the advice of some theologians and priests who were consulted, agreed to