Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/359



battle of Lipany was primarily a victory for the Emperor Sigismund. All men who now played a part in the political life of Bohemia agreed, some perhaps reluctantly, that their country must accept Sigismund as king. The King, on the other hand, seems with increasing age to have become more and more eager to enter into possession of his Bohemian kingdom. This is proved by the interview which he granted to Prokop the Great at Pressburg, and by his negotiations with the Orphans and Táborites during the weeks that preceded the battle of Lipany. The theological discussions at basel, turning mainly on the interpretation of the compacts, continued uninterruptedly, though their interest was for a time eclipsed by that of the civil war. In matters of theology Sigismund now displayed a conciliatory spirit, and appeared ready to use his influence to obtain large concessions for the Bohemians, if they consented to recognise him as their sovereign. It is, however, more than doubtful whether these offers were sincere.

The members of the Council of Basel considered, or affected to consider, the battle of Lipany as a great victory of the Roman Catholic Church, A Te Deum was sung in the cathedral of Basel as soon as the news of the battle arrived there. Their judgment was somewhat erroneous. The Utraquist nobles, no longer fearing that their country might become the prey of anarchists, began again to devote their attention to the religious controversy. They were determined to uphold the articles of Prague and to enforce the recognition of the compacts in a shape as near as possible to the articles from 2em