to Pope Benedict XII, to negotiate with him concerning the Peter’s Pence that were to be paid in the diocese of Vratislav[1] , but the negotiations were not then successful and the strife might have continued. Afterwards, however, the dispute between the Roman Church and the bishopric was settled.’
Somewhat later, Charles writes: ‘Now at the time when we were with the Pope, one Peter, Abbot of Fécamp, born in the diocese of Limoges, who had been first Bishop of Arras, then Archbishop, first of Sens and then of Rouen, was cardinal-bishop. He was also a member of the Council of King Philip, before whom he celebrated Mass on the day of ashes. He received me, who during my stay at the Court of Pope Benedict bore the title of Marquis of Moravia, in his house, and one day when we were in his house he said to me, “Thou wilt yet be King of the Romans.” To this I answered, “Thou wilt before that be Pope.” Both these facts afterwards occurred.’
Dr. Friedjung, the biographer of Charles, justly regrets that he should have given so short an account of this memorable interview, while he gives a detailed account of the questions concerning his visions which he addressed to the future Pope Clement VI.
Charles died in 1378, and his death forms a very important landmark in the history of Bohemia. Almost simultaneously with his death the great schism in the Western Church broke. In the movement in favour of Church reform, which was an indirect consequence of the schism, Bohemia played a very prominent part. I shall in my next lecture deal with the historians of the Hussite period.
- ↑ In German, Breslau.
