tion, or he may side with his nation, and thus run the risk of incurring the wrath of the Pope and involving his country in a war with all Christendom. His sympathies were with the nation, and in this he was sustained by his whole court, and especially by Queen Sophia. Václav hesitated, gave vague replies only to gain time; but when his brother Sigmund showed him the disasters that must follow disobedience, he finally agreed to suppress the innovations, and gave orders that the priests be reinstated in their dioceses (1419).
The king’s order was obeyed in the Churches that were immediately under his jurisdiction; but upon the estates of the noblemen, the Utraquist priests continued to hold the churches. In the city of Prague, the people expressed so much dissatisfaction that the king was obliged to assign them three churches where communion was administered in both kinds.
THE BEGINNING OF THE TABORITES.
Many of the old priests being restored to their churches, the people that had adopted the new views found themselves shut out from such church service as they desired. They, therefore, met for worship in the open fields and forests. Some places, on account of their favorable location, became fixed into permanent camping-grounds, to which the people gave Biblical names, such as Mount Horeb and Mount Tabor; it was from the latter that they received the name of Taborites. Their example was followed by the people of Prague, when the three churches assigned for their use proved too small to accommodate the large congregations. In going to their place of worship, the people generally marched in processions, bearing banners and
