Page 57 - 06 Huss and Jerome

A large class in Bohemia, seeing that it

betrayed their liberties, could not consent to

the compact. Dissensions and divisions arose,

leading to strife and bloodshed among

themselves. In this strife the noble Procopius

fell, and the liberties of Bohemia perished.

Sigismund, the betrayer of Huss and Jerome,

now became king of Bohemia, and regardless

of his oath to support the rights of the

Bohemians, he proceeded to establish

popery. But he had gained little by his

subservience to Rome. For twenty years his

life had been filled with labors and perils. His

armies had been wasted and his treasuries

drained by a long and fruitless struggle; and

now, after reigning one year, he died, leaving

his kingdom on the brink of civil war, and

bequeathing to posterity a name branded

with infamy.