Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/309

 Eastern Church, to which the larger part of the population of Lithuania belonged. Svidrigal energetically resisted the encroachments of the Polish ecclesiastics, and even contracted an alliance with the Teutonic order, long the bitter enemy of Lithuania as well as of Poland. In this difficult position King Ladislas attempted to renew the former amicable relations with Bohemia which he had abandoned under the influence of the Roman Catholic clergy. The deep-rooted antagonism between the Bohemians and the Poles, which, like the better known hostility between Poland and Russia, has so greatly impeded the advance of the Slavic race, rendered such an attempt difficult, and the Bohemians could not forget the fierce denunciations of their national Church which the King of Poland had formerly sent to Rome. It is, however, certain that negotiations between the two countries took place, and that Prince Korybutovič, an old and trusty friend of Bohemia, acted as mediator. The Bohemian parties did not entirely reject the proposals of King Ladislas. The large Táborite armies, now consisting to a great extent of foreign mercenaries, needed constant employment, and had no objection to joining even the Roman Catholic Poles in an attack on the knights of the Teutonic order, the sworn enemies of the Slavic race. The conservative Utraquists and the nobles of that creed, who had long been on friendly terms with Prince Korybutovič, were not averse to re-establishing friendly relations with Poland. Some of the most prominent Utraquist nobles, such as Bořek of Miletinek and Kostka of Postupic, who had been chamberlain of Prince Korybutovič during his short rule over Bohemia, took the principal part in these negotiations, and a meeting between King Ladislas and the Bohemian leaders was planned. It never took place, for reasons which the contemporary writers do not state. There is, however, little doubt that here, as on so many other occasions, the traditional subserviency of the Poles to the Roman see influenced the councillors of the King of Poland. It should, however, be mentioned that, though