f the young king. The Bohemian estates recognized this decision, but
they refused to allow the guardians any right of interference in the
affairs of Bohemia. The great Bohemian nobles, and in particular the
supreme burgrave, Zdenek Leo, lord of Rozmital, ruled the country almost
without control. The beginning of the nominal reign of King Louis is
marked by an event which had great importance for the constitutional
development of Bohemia. At a meeting of the estates in 1517 known as the
diet of St Wenceslas--as the members first assembled on the 28th of
September, the anniversary of that saint--they came to terms and settled
the questions which had been the causes of discord. The citizens
renounced certain privileges which they had hitherto claimed, while the
two other estates recognized their municipal autonomy and tacitly
sanctioned their presence at the meetings of the diet, to which they had
already been informally readmitted since 1508. At the first sitting of
this diet, on the 24th of October, it was declared that the three
estates had agreed henceforth "to live together in friendly intercourse,
as became men belonging to the same country and race." In 1522 Louis
arrived in Bohemia from Hungary, of which country he had also been
elected king. On his arrival at Prague he dismissed all the Bohemian
state officials, including the powerful Leo of Rozmital. He appointed
Charles of Munsterberg, a cousin of Prince Bartholomew and also a
grandson of King George, as regent of Bohemia during his absences, and
John of Wartenberg as burgrave. The new officials appear to have
supported the more advanced Hussite party, while Rozmital and the
members of the town council of Prague who had acted in concert with him
had been the allies of the Romanists and those Utraquists who were
nearest to the Church of Rome. The new officials thus incurred the
displeasure of King Louis, who was at that moment seeking the aid of the
pope in his warfare with Turkey. The king therefore reinstated Leo of
Rozmital in his offices in 1525. Shortly afterwards Rozmital became
involved in a feud with the lords of Rosenberg; the feud became a civil
war, in which most of the nobles and cities of Bohemia took sides.
Meanwhile Louis, who had returned to Hungary, opened his campaign
against the Turks. He requested aid from his Bohemian subjects, and this
was granted, by the Rosenberg faction, while Rozmital and his party
purposely delayed sending any forces to H