Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/325

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THE HUSSITE WARS
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quoted here, Giles Carlier and John of Palomar, who have already been mentioned, and the monk John of Maulbronn, who had been the first to negotiate with the Bohemians. Immediately before the departure of the envoys King Sigismund, who, in the course of the year 1433, was crowned as Roman Emperor, announced to the Council that he would shortly proceed to Basel. Cardinal Cesarini informed the Bohemians of this, and expressed the hope that they would await Sigismund’s arrival. The Bohemians declined this proposition. They said that the King was in the habit of constantly changing his plans, on which it was, therefore, impossible to rely; they added that they had already announced their return to their countrymen, and that their presence would be necessary in Prague, where the diet was to meet on the day after Trinity Sunday. The Bohemian envoys there left Basel on April 14, as had been settled. The leave-taking was very cordial on both sides. Cardinal Julian blessed the delegates, raising his cross and saying: “I commend you to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” On leaving the city gates Rokycan said: “May the Lord preserve this spot in peace and tranquillity.” Before leaving Basel several of the delegates—among whom Rokycan and Lord Kostka of Postupic are mentioned—visited some members of the Council and assured them that they would, on their return to their country, do everything that was in their power to further a peaceful agreement.

The Bohemian delegates and the members of the Council who accompanied them arrived at Schaffhausen on April 16. Here a somewhat unpleasant incident occurred, which for a moment endangered the concord that had lately prevailed. Giles Carlier or Carlerus, as he was often called, tells us that the members of the Council noticed that some of the wagons which the Táborites had left at Schaffhausen bore emblems and devices professing the Hussite creed. They begged the Bohemians to remove them, but met with a refusal. The