Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/381

 afterwards be possible to elect a king belonging to their own Church. As a token of reconciliation both the Bohemian delegates and those of the Council presented letters to the Emperor in which they declared that they accepted the compacts. It was then decided that the Emperor should again meet the delegates of the Council and those of the Bohemian estates at Jihlava in Moravia, near the Bohemian frontier. After all moot points had been settled there Sigismund was to proceed to Prague, accompanied by the representatives of the diet, and to take possession of his Bohemian kingdom. The Bohemian envoys then returned to Prague, and on February 29 the estates again met there. The elections of Rokycan as archbishop and of his two suffragan bishops were now made public, for it had previously been attempted, though somewhat unsuccessfully, to keep this decision secret. The estates then decided to send delegates to meet King Sigismund at Jihlava. They were, however, only to recognise him as their king and accept the compacts after they had received an assurance that the election of Rokycan and of his suffragans would be sanctioned.

I have already quoted Sigismund’s own words concerning the importance which he attached to the choice of an Archbishop of Prague. He was, however, sufficiently astute to perceive the importance which the Bohemians attached to this matter. Unscrupulous as he always was he determined, in view of the opposition of the Council, to enter into communications with Pope Eugenius IV, who for a considerable time had been engaged in a bitter conflict with the Council of Basel. The Pope seems to have responded to Sigismund’s overtures. Early in the year 1436 he sent a very courteous letter addressed to the “Lords, knights, Praguers, and citizens of the other Bohemian towns,” in which he stated that the Emperor had requested him to grant certain concessions which were favourable to the tranquillity and glory of the Bohemians and their kingdom. He added that he was ready to grant these de-