[55] Mr. James Baker has written an interesting monograph on Peter Payne, entitled, _A Forgotten Great Englishman_. [56] _Stari Letopisove Češti_ ("Ancient Bohemian Chronicles"); see later. [57] The fable of the "donation of Constantine" and its fatal consequences is met with constantly in mediæval literature. Dante alludes to it in the _Inferno_ (Canto xix. v. 115-118)-- "Ahi Constantin di quanto mal fu matre Non la tua conversion ma quella dote Che da te prese il primo ricco patre." [58] Gospel of St. Luke, chap. iv. ver. 4-6. [59] The Bohemian word _rota_ is not easy to interpret. It can be translated by "bands" or "classes," but it has an invidious signification which the English word "classes" does not render. The word is frequently used by Chelčicky with reference to the aristocracy and higher clergy. Chelčicky wrote a separate treatise, _O rotách Cěských_ but it has not been preserved. [60] Some of the objects enumerated above really formed part of the coats of arms of Bohemian noble families. [61] In this passage Chelčicky's style, as is frequently the case, is rather involved. His meaning is that, in distinction from all other ecclesiastics, the doctors of theology had been successful in obtaining the aid of the temporal power for the purpose of suppressing the views which they had declared heretical. CHAPTER V HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS The comparative tranquillity in Bohemia which was the consequence of the battle of Lipan (1434), and of the agreement between the Bohemians and the Church of Rome which is known as the "compact," naturally had a favourable influence on the intellectual development of the country. The period which, beginning with the last years of the fifteenth century, ends with the downfall of Bohemia in 1620, is the one in which the Bohemian language obtained its greatest extension. I shall again refer to this point at the beginning of Chapter VI.