Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/97

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE HUSSITE WARS
75

the banquet the Táborite leaders and the Utraquist nobles arrived at the Carolinum, they found there Master Prokop of Plzeň, rector of the university, and many theologians who belonged to it. The priests of the Táborite community failed to appear. Lord Ulrich of Hradec and Žižka, however, did not even then despair of obtaining an agreement, and they proposed that the disputants should meet at the house of Peter of Svojšin in the old town. All present proceeded to that house, and the Táborite divines also consented to appear there. Among those present were besides Zrmzlik of Svojšin many Utraquist nobles, including Lord John of Lacembok, son of Lord Henry, who had accompanied Hus to Constance,[1] the Hussite captains Žižka, Chval of Machovic, Lord Roháč of Duba, one of the few nobles who remained faithful to the cause of Tábor up to the end of the civil war, and many others. Among the theologians present were Prokop of Plzeň, rector of the university, and the most learned divines of Prague, as well as the most prominent priests of the community of Tábor. Their leader and spokesman was Nicholas of Pelhřimov, whom the Táborite clergy had elected bishop, thus openly seceding from the Roman Church, while the moderate Utraquists always endeavoured to obtain Catholic ordination for their priests. Among the Táborite divines present was also Martin Loquis, celebrated as an eloquent preacher. It had previously been agreed that the discussion should turn mainly on the question of vestments, which then, as at some other periods of the development of the Catholic Church, caused much controversy. Prokop of Plzeň, rector of the university, however, thought it advisable to extend the discussion, and instructed Master Peter Mladenovic[2] to read out a lengthy paper, which formulated in seventy-two articles the theses of the Táborites to which the Utraquist

  1. See my Master John Hus, p. 208.
  2. The companion of Hus at Constance and his biographer, one of the principal moderate Utraquist theologians. See my Master John Hus, pp. 240—243, 357, etc.