On the following Sunday, August 26, the magistrates of the three towns,
in the market-place of the old town, appeared before Sigismund, who was
sitting on a throne in his imperial robes, but wearing the Bohemian
crown. They brought to him the keys of the town gates, which Sigismund
immediately returned to them in proof of his entire reliance on their
fidelity. He also confirmed all the ancient privileges of Prague, and
again granted the men of the Nové Mesto independence from the old town.
The short period during which Sigismund was destined to reign over
Bohemia was yet sufficiently prolonged to witness the destruction of the
short-lived friendship between the King and his Bohemian subjects.
Sigismund, who was during his whole life a fervent adherent of the
Church of Rome, had accepted the Compacts as reluctantly as they had
been granted
[Illustration: THE TOWN HALL AND MARKET-PLACE]
by the Church of Rome. He had also promised to use his influence with
the Papal See to obtain the recognition of Rokycan as Archbishop of
Prague. The Estates had elected him to that office at a meeting which
they held in September 1435, but Rome now, and indeed always, refused to
recognise him as Archbishop of Prague. The attitude of Sigismund in this
matter was undoubtedly propitious. As Dr Tomek writes: 'Publicly
Sigismund wrote to the Council recommending it to confirm Rokycan's
nomination as Archbishop; secretly he advised the contrary.' Bishop
Philibert of Contances, who had taken part in the previous negotiations
between the Council of Basel and the Bohemians, had accompanied
Sigismund to Prague. Though without any recognised position in the
country, Philibert endeavoured to exercise archiepiscopal functions at
Prague, thus encroaching on the rights of Rokycan. Discord between the
two ecclesiastics very soon began, and Philibert, who had assisted at a
religious service held by Rokycan in the Tyn Church, noted with great
displeasure that the sermon was preached in Bohemian, and that several
hymns were also sung in that language.
While Sigismund in these disputes favoured the Roman Church, to the
great displeasure of the Bohemians, other causes also contributed to his
increasing unpopularity. Sigismund had awarded all the State offices
either to Romanists or to such Utraquists as were nearest to Rome, thus
excluding the enormous majority of the Bohemians. The King's cruelty to
the Taborite lord, John Rohác of Duba, was also viewed with great
displeasure by the people. Rohác had remained in arms even after the
general pacification. His castle, to which he had given the biblical
name of Zion, long resisted the Royal arms. He was finally obliged to
capitulate, and was by Sigismund's orders executed on the Staromestské
Námesti at Prague. This caused renewed warfare, as John Kolda, lord of
Zampach, who with Rohác was one of the few nobles who was to the last
faithful to Tabor, rose in arms against Sigismund.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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