King of Bohemia, who was then residing at Presburg, not far from the Moravian frontier. Prokop did not refuse this proposal. As soon as a safe-conduct had been obtained, the Bohemian leader, accompanied by Menhard of Jindřichův Hradec, by Magister Payne, and a few other followers, and by an escort of only two hundred horsemen, started for Presburg, where they arrived on April 14, 1429. The deliberations that took place did not at first appear hopeless; both parties were indeed anxious to terminate the war. King Sigismund, who had assumed a conciliatory attitude in consequence of his many defeats, received the Hussite envoys graciously. He entreated them to return to the papal doctrine, or, were that impossible, at least to suspend all hostilities till after the opening of the great Council at Basel, which was to meet within two years; to this Council he wished them to refer all disputed points concerning doctrine or ritual.
The proposed truce was distinctly unfavourable to the Bohemians, who by accepting it would have lost the advantage of their recent military successes, while affording their enemies time to prepare new armaments. The Bohemian envoys consequently declined to give an answer to this proposal, stating that it was impossible for them to do so before the Estates of Bohemia had been consulted. On the other hand, they entreated King Sigismund to accept their articles of belief, assuring him that, should he do so, they would rather have him as their king than any one else. This proposal irritated Sigismund, who swore to God that he would rather die than err in his faith.
These negotiations thus ended in failure, which became still more evident when the Diet assembled at Prague (May 23, 1429). The ambassadors whom Sigismund had sent there questioned the Diet as to its willingness to be represented at the future Council and to conclude a truce; the Diet, however, made its consent dependent on conditions which Sigismund was certain not to accept. The Estates declared that they were prepared to recognize the future Council if the Greeks, the Armenians, and the Patriarch of Constantinople (all of whom partook of the communion in both kinds) were duly represented. A further condition was that the Council should he held according to the law of God and not according to that of the Pope; so that not only the Pope but the whole Christian world could freely express its
