John Huss and the Hussite Wars - James Aitken Wylie

Pope refused to look at it, and ultimately annulled
it. At length, during the minority of King
Vladislav, George Podiebrad, a Bohemian
nobleman, and head of the Calixtines, became
regent of the kingdom, and by his great talents and
upright administration gave a breathing-space to
his distracted nation. On the death of the young
monarch, Podiebrad was elected king. He now
strove to make the Compactata a reality, and revive
the extinct rights and bring back the vanished
prestige of Bohemia; but he found that the hour of
opportunity had passed, and that the difficulties of
the situation were greater than his strength could
overcome. He fondly hoped that AEneas Sylvius,
who had now assumed the tiara under the title of
Pius II., would be more compliant in the matter of
the Compactara than his predecessor had been. As
secretary to the Council of Basle, AEneas Sylvius
had drafted this document; and Podiebrad believed
that, as a matter of course, he would ratify as Pope
what he had composed as secretary. He was
doomed to disappointment. Plus II. repudiated his
own handiwork, and launched excommunication
against Podiebrad (1463) for attempting to govern
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