the Bohemians to attend the Council, where they would have complete liberty of freely expounding their religious views. They were also assured that they would be allowed to proceed to Basel freely and safely. The Council finally begged them to choose pious and conciliatory men as their representatives.
The embitterment of the Roman Church against the Utraquists was at that moment so great that even the question how this message was to be transmitted to Bohemia caused some difficulty. Papal decrees had, under penalty of excommunication, forbidden all intercourse with Bohemia. It was, therefore, decided to send off three copies of this invitation, one to King Sigismund, who was then at Feldkirch on his way to Milan, another to the municipality of Nürnberg, and a third to the city of Cheb, requesting that this communication be forwarded to the authorities in Bohemia.
This undoubtedly wise step immediately met with strong disapproval on the part of Pope Eugenius. He considered the mere fact that the Council had proposed to enter into negotiations with heretics whose teaching had already been condemned by the Roman Church a sufficient reason for decreeing the dissolution of the Council. This seemed particularly unjustifiable to the members of that assembly at a moment when the negotiations for the purpose of reuniting the Eastern Church to that of Rome had been resumed. On November 12 Pope Eugenius forwarded to the Cardinal Cesarini a bull declaring the Council of Basel to be dissolved, and requesting the cardinal to leave that city immediately. A later bull dated December 18 repeated the same orders in stronger language. One of the grievances now alleged against the Council was that it had invited to its sittings representatives of the Bohemian heretics, whose teaching had been condemned by two Councils—those of Constance and Siena—and that it had thus seriously impaired the dignity of the Church. Cardinal Cesarini in this difficult position maintained his conciliatory attitude, and firmly, though courteously, declined to abandon
