On 9 December 1413, Pope John XXIII promulgated his bull for the convocation of a General Council of the Holy Church to begin on All Saints Day, 1 November 1414, proclaiming that he would be present. On the evening of 9 December, Sigismund paid over to the Marchesa di Artegiana the fee for her services. Then a contract was signed between them by which he agreed to provide Maria Louise with a town house in Prague and one at Buda, grant her the right to travel with him as his consort when Queen Barbara was not required to appear for occasions of state, made provision for her raiment, jewels, furs, shoes and clothes, with a guarantee of 300 golden florins to be paid to her each month following a. capital payment of 5000 florins should they separate before the end of the-five-year contract. The king's hand trembled with thrift-shock and passion as he signed the document.`I believe she is coming -around to liking me,' he said to the marchesa.

She patted his arm. `I hope you will make her very happy,' she answered.

44

Sigismund was unhurried at Lodi. He was a roving post-barbarian who commanded Hungarian and German killer-rustics, and he enjoyed having the Pope of all Christendom at his disposal for as long as he wished to protract it. He would come back to Hus, which had had no connection with the agenda of the meeting, because it was an area in which he could, seem more knowledgeable about the Church than its pontiff `Did you know;' he would ask, `that the University of Paris has been in correspondence with the Archbishop of Prague about John Hus?'

Cossa was agonizingly bored with Sigismund. Frequently he wondered, in his desperate idleness, if Sigismund could be mentally arrested. `Hus' he answered without interest. `The Bohemian you excommunicated.' `Oh, yes?'

`For not attending. the Council of Rome?' `I don't remember him.'

`As I will inherit the Bohemian throne, I somewhat resented the slur on a future subject. The fact is, the French are certain to make a major thing of Hus at the council.'

`Why the French?"

‘They are drawn to heresy.'

'The business of any council of the Church is the extermination of heresy,' Cossa replied. He would not, he knew, be able to stand much more of this idiot's country-fair German accent: The fellow spoke Latin by whining it through his nose. How did Maria Louise put up with him? He must be paying her a fortune. The king, on his side, thought that if he closed his eyes he would have to believe that he was listening to a Neapolitan street hoodlum. Such a majestic language as Latin, as educated Germans and Luxembourgers spoke it, was not intended to be coarsened by the accents of an alley pimp, which was how he heard all Italian speech. How could they have elected a pope who spoke as commonly as this one – though, of course, the college of cardinals was made up mainly of coarse Italians. `I think I should tell you about John Hus, Holiness,' Sigismund said. `He is a fellow who cannot accept authority. When he argues for the reform of the Church, he is really only objecting to the qualities of his superiors.'

'That describes every reformer. You, for instance.'

`Hus is also overly patriotic for a priest. Bohemia, which has been ruled by my family for a long time, is divided against itself. It is all a swarm of Czech nobility and. peasants against Teuton nobility and peasants… The Teuton peasants, already half-German, are up all night clearing forests and making farms. They work the silver mines. They establish towns. They bring prosperity.'

Cossa moaned lightly to himself: Why must this man always sound like, a comedian? he thought. `It is getting late; Sigismund,' he said. He caught Maria Louise's eye, clenching his jaws and popping his eyes:, She moved closer to Sigismund, forcing the king to move his relentless gaze away from the pope, which gave Cossa the chance to close his mind to the king's verbal clatter.

`The entire thing is a hatchwork of, ironies,' Sigismund said. `My father founded the University of Prague on the models of Paris and Bologna and the mockery is that that was where Hus learned to concoct his poisons against the Church and state.' He was forcing Cossa to face what reform would mean. `Yet Hus has much right on his side. The Church is too wealthy. It has too many prelates. It is corrupt. It is licentious. Simony abounds and the clergy are sucked into depravities. Hus demanded reform. You sent Cardinal Colonna to Prague and had him excommunicate Hus for contumacy -which was begging the whole question. What I seek, as you may well imagine, is to clear up such despicable rumours about the country I may soon rule. What we must do, therefore, is to have our council examine Hus for heresy. But to be examined he must get to Konstanz. To him get to Konstanz, I would need to give him a safe conduct. I can't do that, however, unless you relieve him of the ban of excommunication.'

It was impossible to tell whether Sigismund revered Hus or despised him, whether he sought Church reform or would stop it. The man was the shiftiest kind of a, fool, Cossa saw.

`Why not?' he, said.

`Enough of Hus. We should speak of Benedict and, Gregory.'

`The – ah -. anti-popes.'

`Then call them by name – Da Luna and Corrario.'

`Precisely. I propose to call on Corrario at Rimini. He must attend Kostanz.'

`All that is necessary is that he resign,'' Cossa said.

`Oh. Well! All three popes must resign,' Sigismund said piously. `So that we may begin again,' he added brightly.

As Sigismund's force of arms moved out of Lodi then northwards to cross the Alps, the Holy Father returned to Bologna on the Ides of March, which was the marchesa's birthday. On his arrival he was given the news that Ladislas had announced in Perugia that he would sack Bologna and take Cossa prisoner. The anxiety in Bologna was so great that the cardinals and the curia sent their gold and jewels to Venice for safe-keeping: Cossa raged at the marchesa even as he sank into the torpor of Neapolitan fatalism. `You are wasting my life with your schemes,' he snarled at her. `All these elaborate plans to draw in the protection of the mighty Sigismund! Then, when you have almost destroyed me by such a prolonged exposure to the insufferable boob, two days after he disappears with his army over the Alps, Ladislas gets ready to attack me. What was the use of Sigismund but to bring about a council which will not only lead to general reform. of a perfectly sound institution, but will undoubtedly clamour for my resignation as well? Whose side are you on? Ladislas will probably have crucified me in St Peter's Piazza before word can even reach Sigismund that our common enemy is advancing on Bologna.'

'There is nothing wrong with your alliance with Sigismund,' the marchesa told him. `The fault here is with Ladislas. He is insane. He cannot be allowed to continue his constant wars, The pox has affected his brain.'

`Then stop him.'

'Cosimo wants him stopped. You want him stopped. There will probably be no Council of Konstanz unless he is stopped.'

'We have talked enough about it,' Cossa said roughly. `Go to Perugia and see that it is done. Take Palo. Take anyone or anything you need. We should have thought of this long ago: Stop him.'

"You are asking me to undergo considerable risk.'

'I am only telling you to stop him.'

'If I am capable of stopping; him at the moment when he brings great danger to your papacy, then it becomes a business matter.

Your business is threatened, so you choose me as your specialist to remove the threat. That is worth something.'

`I'll pay you three thousand florins.'

`Who else can do this for you? Palo? Can Palo as much as approach the King of Naples?'

`How much do you want?'

`It is your papacy, Cossa. You must know how much it is worth to you.'