Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/165

 wished at almost any price to silence a preacher of unwelcome truths. He was not, however, an entirely free agent. Though the luxurious and free-living clergy of Bohemia instigated him by word and gift to accelerate the procedure against the Bohemian reformer, the cunning diavolo cardinale knew that he couldn’t risk to offend King Venceslas. The election of Pope Alexander V. had not, as had been thought, ended the schism. Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII. still had many adherents, and among those of the last-named pontiff still remained Sigismund, King of the Romans and King of Hungary, brother of King Venceslas and, as the latter was childless, heir to the Bohemian throne. In 1410 Venceslas had by the death of the Count Palatine Rupert been freed from a rival claimant to the crown of Germany, but his own treacherous younger brother Sigismund had been chosen as king by some of the German electors. Others had chosen Jodocus of Moravia, a cousin of Venceslas, as their ruler. It appears probable that after the death of Rupert Venceslas would again have been universally recognised as King of the Romans had it not been that the protection which he afforded to Hus was generally known. The ecclesiastical electors thus became his natural enemies. It appeared possible for a moment that he would play the part which a century later the Elector of Saxony played with regard to Luther. The weaknesses and follies of Venceslas, which even those who know how greatly the king has been maligned must regretfully admit, prevented him from ever playing such a part.

The Christian world was thus in the strange position of having at the same time three popes and three Kings of the Romans. Of these Sigismund and the former diavolo cardinal, now Pope John XXIII., were by far the most important, and it must be admitted that never have two men of baser character claimed to rule over the Christian world. While