obstinate heretics had at last seen their errors. When the Diet that met at Prague (December 20, 1494) declared that the Compacts were to form the basis for the future negotiations, the proposed reconciliation immediately fell to the ground. The papal envoy never even started for Bohemia.[1] At a later period of his pontificate Pope Alexander VI greatly irritated the utraquists by appointing a Dominican friar "censor" over all books printed and sold in Bohemia and Moravia. The friar had orders to burn all those containing heretical views of which he could obtain possession. The Dominican established himself at Olomonc—always a stronghold of the Catholic party—and published several polemical works in which he violently attacked the utraquist creed.
The most important feature of the reign of King Vladislav is the development of the constitution of Bohemia in an aristocratic, or rather oligarchic, direction. All the enactments of the Diets of this reign rendered the peasantry more completely dependent on their territorial lords, and encroached on the privileges of the towns. The power of the crown—very strong under King George—also decreased during the reigns of Vladislav II and Louis.
The oldest institutions of Bohemia—as far as we can judge from the scanty records—were of a democratic character, as indeed were those of most Slavonic countries. Slaves and serfs were unknown. Through the constant contact with Germany feudal institutions were slowly introduced into Bohemia, and the peasants gradually became more dependent on the nobles. Still, this was not so entirely the case as in Germany, and the armed peasants, at whose head Žižka and Prokop defeated the armies of half Europe, were still freemen.
The reaction against democracy in Europe at this time found expression in Bohemia also. The Diet of 1487 at last practically established bondage. It issued an enactment, according to which all were forbidden to give shelter to servants or peasants who might have left the estates on which they lived; they were, on the contrary, to be returned immediately—under penalty of a fine—to the owner of the estate from which they had fled.
This measure was destined to have the most fatal results for the independence of Bohemia. The stout Bohemian
- ↑ Palacký.
