“What about Poland?” Wyszek asked coldly.
“Poland doesn’t care about the Baltic.” Prokop the Shaven joined in serenely. “That was apparent after Grunwald. It was apparent after the Treaty of Melno. It can be clearly seen from Jogaila’s current politics, or rather Witold’s, for Jogaila… Ha, I’m sorry to say, but that’s life, we’ll all grow old one day. And regarding Witold’s interests, they are in the east, not the north. So we shall take the Baltic, since… What is it you say, Scharley?”
“Res nullius cedit occupanti.”
“Of course.” Wyszek nodded. “So that’s one sea. And the other?”
“We’ll defeat the Turks and that’s the Black Sea,” said Little Prokop, shrugging. “Bohemia will be a maritime power and that’s that.”
“As you see, Brother Wyszek,” said Prokop the Shaven with a sneer, “we’re very useful allies. We share common ground with everybody and anyone who joins us profits and benefits. We’ll guarantee Jogaila peace from the Order, we’ll give Witold a free hand in the east—he can conquer and appropriate anything he wants there, even Moscow, Veliky Novgorod and the Principality of Ryazan. I think the Pope will also benefit when we eradicate the Teutonic Knights, who are now overly unbridled and haughty. We shall fulfil the prophecy of Saint Bridget, this time utterly and completely. And when we crack down on the Turks, the Holy Father will also be more pleased than alarmed, won’t he? What do you think?”
Wyszek Raczyński kept his thoughts to himself. “Am I to repeat that to Szafraniec?” he asked.
“Brother Wyszek.” Prokop became serious. “You know very well what to say, for you are our man, a righteous Christian, you take Communion from the Chalice like us. But you’re also a Pole and a patriot, so proceed such that Poland also benefits. The Teutonic Knights are still a threat to Poland—Grunwald didn’t help much and the Teutonic Order still hangs over us like the Sword of Damocles. Should King Władysław choose to hear the Pope’s complaints and pleas, he’ll join the crusade and send a Polish army against us, and the Teutonic Knights will immediately strike from the north. The House of Brandenburg and the Silesian dukes will attack and Poland will fall. Poland will fall, Brother Wyszek.”
“King Władysław knows this,” replied Raczyński. “I can’t imagine he’ll join the crusade. But the Polish king cannot blatantly oppose the Pope. In any case, satires proliferate and Malbork claims Jogaila is a secret pagan and idolater, claims he is in league with pagans, in cahoots with the Devil. Thus, the Polish king will strive for peace. For a settlement between Bohemia and Rome. And Rome is eager for such a settlement—”
“‘Eager,’” Little Prokop sneered. “The harder we tan the hide of the Roman crusaders, the more eager it’ll be.”
“That’s the sacred truth,” agreed the Pole. “If the Pope could take you—I mean us—with fire and sword, he would. He’d torture, execute, impale, burn alive and drown, singing Gloria in excelsis all the while. They’d do to us what they did to the Albigensians, then announce it was ‘to the glory of God.’ But it turns out they cannot. They’re too weak, so they want to parley.”
“I know they do.” Little Prokop snorted contemptuously. “But why do we have to want that? We’re kicking their arses, not they ours.”
“Brother.” Raczyński raised his hands in a desperate gesture. “Brother, you’re repeating to me what I know. If you’ll allow, I’ll tell you what the Polish King Władysław knows. What every Christian king in Christian Europe knows. For the time being, the Church rules the world and wields two swords: the spiritual and the secular. Put more simply: the Pope wields secular power and the king is merely his plenipotentiary. Put even simpler: the Kingdom of Bohemia won’t be a kingdom until the Pope approves the King of Bohemia. Only then will peace and order arise and Bohemia return to Europe as a Christian kingdom.”
“To Europe? You mean Rome?” exclaimed Little Prokop. “Very well, we shall return, but not at the cost of losing our sovereignty! Or our religion! Or our Christian values! First of all, Rome—I mean Europe—must adopt Christian values. To put it bluntly: must accept the true faith. Meaning: ours. So then, primo: Europe must accept and receive Holy Communion from the Chalice. Secundo : Europe must swear the Four Articles of Prague. Tertio—”
“I rather doubt that Europe will comply,” said Raczyński, not waiting for tertio. “Still less the Pope.”
“We shall see!” said Little Prokop indignantly. “How far away is Rome from here? Two hundred miles? We could be there in a month at most! And then we’ll talk! When the Roman Antichrist sees our wagons in Trastevere, he’ll soon draw in his horns!”
“Keep calm, Brother, keep calm.” Prokop the Shaven pressed his fists on the table. “We are for peace, have you forgotten? Our learned friend Petr Chelčický teaches that nothing can justify breaking the Fifth Commandment. ‘Thou shalt not kill’ is sacred and inviolable. We don’t want war, we’re ready to negotiate.”
“That readiness will gladden the Polish king,” said Raczyński.
“I should think so,” said Prokop the Shaven, “but Rome ought not to strut so haughtily, nor put itself on a pedestal, nor witter on about two swords. For it is difficult for us, faithful Czechs, Brother Wyszek, to accept that the Popes—whether of the Roman or any other obedience—who have been multiplying like rabbits lately, are competent vicars of God on Earth and that good and virtuous hands wield those two swords. For in recent times, every next Pope turns out to be a worse oaf than the last. If not a moron, then a thief; if not a thief, then a rascal; if not a rascal, then a soak and a lecher. And sometimes all at once. For all my good will, although I’m as docile as a lamb, I shall not be obedient to such shepherds. I won’t recognise men like them as the head of the Church, I won’t accept such omnipotence, even if I were shown a hundred Donations of Constantine. Master Jan Huss taught that a Pope who lives according to habits which are opposed to Peter the Apostle may not be Peter’s true successor. A Pope like that is not the vicar of Christ but of Judas Iscariot. So instead of being obedient to one like that, he should be seized by the scruff of the neck and cast from the pulpit, and his privileges and wealth confiscated! And likewise, from the Vatican to each village parish.
“You say, Brother Wyszek, that the curia Romana would welcome back and forgive the Czechs like a prodigal son, receive them again into the European Christian fold? And we are eager to do so. But first of all, they must change their habits and their faith. To the true one. To the faith that Christ taught and Peter professed. That Master Wycliffe and Master Huss taught. For true faith, apostolic faith, in accordance with the letter of the Bible, is the one we faithful Czechs profess. Will the European christianitas receive us into its bosom? Then let it first cleanse it.
“There are men like Petr Chelčický, like Mikuláš of Pelhřimov. Like your countryman Paweł Włodkowic, defending freedom of conscience. God willing, the Roman Church, understanding its errors, will turn towards just those men. God willing, it’ll heed their teachings.”