Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/312

 Elector of Brandenburg informing them that the Bohemian embassy would shortly start for Basel, and begging them to send an escort to Cham in Bavaria, on the Bohemian frontier, which was to conduct the members of the embassy to Basel. I have already stated that the embassy was very numerous, and I have mentioned the names of the most prominent men among those whom the diet had chosen. Some delay in the departure of the embassy took place, and its members only left Prague on December 6. They were accompanied by an escort provided by the commander of the Karlštýn fortress, which was in the power of Sigismund’s adherents. The embassy proceeded by way of Domážlice to the German frontier, where they were met by a larger German escort. The journey through Germany was undisturbed. When the embassy was nearing Nürnberg Matthew Louda displayed a Táborite battleflag showing on one side the portrait of Christ and on the other a representation of the chalice, bearing the inscription, “Veritas omnia vincit.” This caused great displeasure among the Germans, but Louda, when informed of this by the escort, acted in a very conciliatory fashion and removed the banner; other members of the embassy, fearing to give offence, followed his example. From Nürnberg the Bohemians proceeded to Schaffhausen by way of Nordlingen and Ulm.

The members of the Council of Basel anxiously awaited the arrival of the Bohemian plenipotentiaries. Cardinal Cesarini, to whose ability and foresight the favourable result of the negotiations was almost entirely due, had persuaded the magistrates of Basel, in consideration of the puritanic character of the Hussite movement, to issue regulations prohibiting all doings that might shock the Bohemian guests. It was decreed that all ill-famed women should be forbidden to appear in the streets during their stay, that all gamesters should be expelled from the city, and that all music and dancing in the inns should for a time be prohibited. The citizens were also instructed to treat the strangers with great courtesy, but to avoid all intimate