The Bohemian Context 73deaths from the windows of the New Town city hall. Fearing revolution,
Wenzel changed tack again, appointing pro-Hussite councillors before
his own death a few weeks later.
As he had no children the heir apparent was his half-brother
Sigismund, king of Hungary, who had been emperor since 1411, and
was thus indirectly responsible for Hus’s death. Negotiations with the
Hussite leaders followed, during which Sigismund made concessions
sufficient only to win over the more conservative, including the city
of Prague and its university. With his support thus limited to the mod-
erates and the remaining Catholic nobility, and lacking acceptance by
the Estates, he decided instead to resort to force, gathering his troops at
Breslau in 1420 for a papally authorised anti-Hussite crusade. Again the
external threat prompted a unified response, as even the moderates were
not prepared to see Czech Bohemia invaded and conquered by a largely
German power. The Hussites proved surprisingly adept militarily, and
Sigismund was twice defeated in the following campaign, although he
did manage to have himself crowned while he held Prague briefly. Nev-
ertheless the nobility refused to accept him as king on the grounds that
they had not elected him, an argument which reappeared two hundred
years later.^6
The remaining history of the Hussite period is one of a growing split
over the following decade between the moderates centred in Prague
and the radicals based around their independent communities, particu-
larly Tábor. The latter provided the principal military strength, defeating
further attempts at outside intervention and even themselves making
significant incursions into Germany. However over time their social
radicalism and their liturgical departures from Catholic practice lost
them support among the nobility, a fact which became critical when
the Council of Basel proposed negotiations for the return of Hussites to
the church on the basis of the four tenets noted above. The resulting
discussions in 1433 failed to produce an agreement, leading a number
of Hussite barons to join with Prague and with the Bohemian Catholics
to raise an army to oppose the radicals, who were decisively defeated in
battle in 1434. Resumed negotiations then led to the Compact of Basel
whereby Utraquism was accepted by the church, while Sigismund was
finally able to occupy the throne of Bohemia in 1436, although he died
a year later.
Fuller summaries of the Hussite period are readily available, and fur-
ther comment here must be confined to aspects which had echoes in the
circumstances surrounding the revolt of 1618.^7 A starting point is the
considerable diminution of the standing and possessions of the Catholic