In November the faineant young King Wladislaw returned to Hungary, and visited the field of Belgrade. Since the death of Jan Hunniades the Count de Cilly had made himself of supreme authority over his royal ward. Belgrade still was mourning the mighty Vaivod; and the nobles under Wladislaw Corvinus, Hunniades’s son, resenting the insolent assumptions and cowardice of De Cilly, slew him there. The young king concealed his wrath, and persuaded the sons of Jan Hunniades to follow him to Buda. All unsuspicious of that treachery of which cowards are capable they obeyed, and, on arrival in the capital, the Majesty of Hungary had them seized, and Wladislaw Corvinus Hunniades publicly beheaded as a traitor. Hungary was now in woeful plight. Deprived by axe and pest of those strong leaders who had merited her trust, her king a venomous child, her throne with no legitimate heir, she waited, in fear and trembling, to hear again the Infidel thundering at her gate. All discipline was at an end; the Magyar huszars were disbanded, and returned to their homes. * * * * * In Germany, the question of the Magyar Succession was regarded as confusion worse confounded; and the Electors of the Empire considered the time a suitable one for reapplying the screw to feeble needy Caesar Friedrich IV, their suzerain. They invited him to preside at a Diet at Nürnberg, on St. Andrew’s Day, 1456; and, indeed, their conduct throughout was thoroughly Caledonian. Their ostensible object was the projection of a new crusade; and they announced an intention of acting independently if Caesar should refuse to come. In reality they meant to pit Pope against Emperor, and Emperor against Pope; so that, in the confusion, they might gratify their private ambitions by snatching concessions from one or other of those Powers. By pretending to desire a new crusade they would gain pontifical favour. By taking independent action they would arouse imperial ire. The Pope might be trusted to grant them what they called Ecclesiastical Reform in return for their alliance to His plans against the Infidel. Caesar might be trusted to concede extension of their political power, in return for their allegiance to him as suzerain. In either case they stood to win something.