Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/628

 572 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE mian nobles also kept the estates which they had taken from Final out- the church lands in the course of the Hussite come of the wars> Th e German colonists and the monks had Hussite movement been pretty well driven out of the country, but the native peasantry, who for the most part had belonged to the defeated Taborite party, now sank into serfdom. On the whole, Bohemia had lost greatly in economic prosperity and in civilization as a result of the long period of bitter strife and cruel anarchy. But the Church and the Papacy had failed during the whole course of the fifteenth century to reduce Bohemia to obedience. Ecclesiastical authority had been long and successfully defied, and that on a sacra- mental question. Many who attended the Council of Constance had come there persuaded of the need of a thoroughgoing reform of Theconciliar the Church "in head and members." Various and^hurdi committees had been appointed and suggestions reform made, but in the end the council broke up with- out having accomplished much, leaving the task of reform to the new pope and a future council. A decree had been passed that another council should assemble at the end of five years, a second after seven years, and others every ten years thereafter. This revealed a strong tendency to intro- duce something like parliamentary and representative gov- ernment into the Church, and to limit the pope's absolute power. Indeed, at the time of John XXI IPs flight and at- tempt to break up the council, that body had passed the decree Sacrosancta, affirming the supremacy of the council over all Christians, even the pope, on the ground that it rep- resented the entire Church and derived its power and in- spiration directly from Christ. Martin V, therefore, had no desire for more councils, and the one which met at the end of five years at Siena accomplished nothing of moment. Neither did the pope execute the reform program which the Council of Constance had entrusted to him, because the most de- sired reforms were limitations of the excessive interference which the popes had come to exert in the local churches, especially in the three matters of appointments to ecclesias«