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To Ferdinand I.
315

tions. Poděbrad was escorted to the Teyn church, where Rokycan delivered an address of welcome. Although the Bohemian people rejoiced at the election of Poděbrad, the news was not well received by the rulers of neighboring States. Poděbrad was but a nobleman, in no way related to any person of royal blood, and raising him to the royal throne seemed to establish a dangerous precedent. Besides this, many were opposed to him on account of his religious views. This was especially the case with Lusatia and Silesia. The first ally that King George secured was Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. He had been imprisoned by Ladislav; but as soon as the latter died, George Poděbrad released him and re-established him upon the throne of Hungary; and to strengthen still more the bonds of friendship, he gave him his daughter Katherine in marriage. In consideration of these services, Matthias sent two of his bishops to Prague to perform the ceremony of coronation. This was done with the consent of Cardinal Carvajal, then the Pope’s legate in Hungary. But before he would consent to this, King George was obliged to take a solemn oath that he would render the same obedience to Rome that other princes of Christendom did. This oath proved to be the source of endless trouble to him, he claiming that he kept it, when he kept the articles of the Compactata, and the Pope that he violated it by refusing to suppress all heresy; by heresy meaning Utraquism.

During this time the power of the German princes was much weakened by constant quarrels, and King George, by skillful diplomacy, managed to use this weakness to strengthen his own power. His reign