Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/135

52 It is possible that the Bishop accused Chelc̄icky̍ of false intentions in order to play safe when, after General Z̄iz̄ka's death in 1424, Master John of Pr̄i̍bram, the Inquisitor of the Utraquists, began speeding up his purging of Taborite influences. This hypothesis becomes all the more plausible if we remember that later, after the bloody liquidation of the last Taborite remnants in politics, Bishop Nicholas was imprisoned on orders of King George in his own castle of Podiebrady in 1452, where he died seven years later.

In parting his ways with Nicholas, Peter put an end to his relations with the Taborite faction. But, even though abandoned by all his old friends, Chelc̄icky̍ does not remain alone: about this time (1425) he begins to speak of "us" and "some of us." This is a faint echo of the birth of the nucleus out of which is later born the Unity of Brethren, the "Moravian" Church.

For a while, Chelc̄icky̍ is in good relations with the

From the, quoted by Bartos̄, , p. 152f.

, p. 153,. Palacky̍,, p.234.

His official title was "Omnium heresum et precipue Viclefistice et Picardice heresis sollicitus persecutor," Bartos̄,, p.150.

Palacky̍,, p.227; Cardinal Aeneas Silvius, later Pope Pius II, called Nicholas "a man full of evil days."