Page:The Peace League of George Poděbrad, King of Bohemia.pdf/12

 George—so runs this letter—would be willing to conclude an agreement with the kings of Poland and Hungary, Marini would submit to him a project, the idea of which he himself conceived, and which, till now, he only mentioned to the Pope who surely would be to Christianity of the same great utility as formerly was Godfrey of Bouillon. It may be seen by this that, originally, there was no question of completely eliminating the Pope, but that, on the contrary, the first project counted with him and that the greatest weight was laid upon the Turkish expedition which should take place with the participation of all the principal rulers of Christianity. It was only after abolition of the compacts and at a time when it became evident that war between king George and the Pope was inevitably certain that this original project was altered and a new plan conceived which left no room for the Pope.

We can easily understand that the question of the Turkish wars was prominent then, for the fall of Constantinople took place only just a few years previously viz. in 1453. Therefore it is not surprising that George and his negotiators (agents) in the beginning for tactical reasons always put the Turkish expedition in the foreground.

At first (1462) the king of Poland was won for this plan at the meeting at Hlohov. He bound himself to friendship with the Czech State, to mutual help against all enemies, especially against the Turk, to the exclusion of war between the Czech and Polish people, and it was decided that all quarrels should be settled by arbitration and agreements.

At the time of these negotiations with Poland the anti-Pope tendency of the league became not yet perceptible. On the contrary, in the second place where negotiations took place in the same year, in the Venetian republic, the project of a similar league with Bohemia, France end Poland, Hungary, Burgund and Bavaria was gladly welcomed; but in the opinion of the Venetians it was not thought proper to exclude the Pope from the participation in the League and from the expedition against the Turks.

In the first place, Marini did not take part at all in the meeting arranged by the duke of Burgund, for the latter entertained friendly relations with the Pope. On the other hand, the French king, Louis, had many reasons for quarreling with the Pope, and, besides, he was to be put at the head of the new league, and therefore he gladly welcomed and adopted the whole idea and would have been inclined to conclude at once an agreement with Marini if the latter would have been at that time in possession of the necessary powers. Louis therefore himself wrote