that he ordered stone-cutters and masons from Delhi to Samarcand to build one upon the same plan. After having stayed fifteen days at Delhi, Timur took a sudden resolution of returning, and he accordingly marched out to Firoseabad, whither Bahadre Nahir sent him two white parrots, as curiosities from Mewat, with professions of subjection. Timur continued his march to the skirts of the mountains of Sewalic, marking his way with fire and sword. Crossing then the Ganges, he the head of subdued the country as high as where the river issues from the mountains; returning from thence, he repassed the river and marched through the hills. The conqueror marches to the Ganges. We do not find that Timur appointed any king to govern Hindostan, which he had in a great measure subdued. He, however, confirmed the subas, who had submitted to him in their governments; and, from this circumstance, we may suppose that he intended to retain the Empire in his own name; though he left no troops behind him except a small detachment in Delhi, to secure it from further depredations. [The Council of Pisa (1409) deposes both Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII.; and, as neither will give way, elects Alexander V. Thus there are three rival Popes.] COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE AND THE HUSSITE WAR (A.D. 1414-1437) SUTHERLAND MENZIES HE death of Rupert seemed to favor the tisans of his house preferred the choice of his brother, Sigismund, King of Hungary. At Frankfort, Sigismund was illegally elected by two only of the seven; while five, who assembled later, gave their suffrages in favor of the Margrave of Moravia, cousin-german of Wenceslaus and Sigismund. Thus Germany had three kings of the Romans, two of whom were resolved to defend their rights with the sword. But the horrors of civil war were averted by the death of the Margrave, whose partisans, combining with those of Sigismund, proceeded to a new election; and Sigismund was unanimously recognized King of the Ro- King of mans, Wenceslaus himself renouncing his own rights in favor of his brother. Sigismund had given at his election an example of his arrogant character. "There is no prince in the Empire," said he, "with whose Sigismund, Hungary Sigismund's character. merits I am so fully acquainted as with my own. I am surpassed by none-either in power or in the prudence with which I have ruled, whether in prosperity or adversity. Therefore do I, as Elector of Brandenburg, give my vote to Sigismund, King of Hungary, and will that he be elected King of Germany." Sigismund's character was a combination of the characteristics of his immediate predecessors. Like Charles IV., he was crafty and politic, but resembled Wenceslaus in his love of sensual gratifications. Handsome, eloquent, and lively, he had no steadiness of person, seeming to act on the impulse of the moment, and with a view to present expediency rather than on any settled plan. The first object of his attention was the schism in the Church, there being a Pope in Italy, another in France, and a third in Spain, and each of them launched anathemas against his adversaries and the countries subjected to him. Sigismund, in furtherance of his favorite design, acted at first with sound policy and discretion; he summoned a General Council to meet at Cona council. stance, and in order to give its members the character of representatives of all Europe, he proclaimed that not merely the clergy, but distinguished laymen from different countries should assist at its deliberations, the Emperor himself waiving the right of supremacy which the Romano-Germanic Empire had hitherto assumed over other kingdoms, although its He summons pretensions were little more than a name. But all these fair plans were ruined by his own. want of self-control. During the sitting of the Council, Sigismund gave himself up entirely to low debauchery; and the only effect of his condescension was to make himself the laughing-stock of the Church, and give foreign nations encouragement to encroach still further on the privileges of the Empire. cil of Con The place fixed upon for this important assembly of the spiritual and temporal powers of Catholic Europe, in compliance with the wishes of the Emperor, but not in accordance with the interests of the Pope, John XXIII., was Constance in Switzerland; and the day appointed for the meeting was the 1st of No- The Counvember, 1414. The assemblage of ecclesiastics, stance, 1414and also of laymen, on this occasion was immense. The Council was divided into four national sections, of Italy, France, Germany, and England, and the votes were taken according to this division, instead of being registered according to the opinions of individual members of the body. Both the Emperor and John were present. The professed objects of this famous Council were the extinction of the schism, and the reformation of the Church, or the correction of those manifold abuses which existed in the management of ecclesiastical revenues. Here it was determined, after some debate, that a General Council could compel the Pope to abdicate, and the method John XXIII announces his abdication. Gregory XII. abdicates. of cession was, moreover, declared to be the only means of securing the peace of the Church. Accordingly, on the 2d of March, 1415, John publicly pronounced his abdication, on condition of a similar proceeding on the part of Benedict and Gregory. Suspicions, however, having been manifested by the Council with regard to the sincerity of the Pontiff in these transactions, the latter planned his escape from Constance, and fled first to Schaffhausen, afterward to Brissac, and at length to Fribourg, where he expected to receive the protection of the Duke of Austria, but was treacherously delivered into the power of the Emperor and the Council. A series of enormous crimes being now laid to his charge, John was solemnly deposed from the Pontificate (May 29, 1415), and condemned to rigorous imprisonment, which he suffered, first at Heidelberg and afterward at Mannheim, for the period of three years. In the course of the same year Gregory sent to the Council a voluntary and solemn resignation of his dignity. Benedict, however, remained inflexible, declaring that he was the true and now the only Pope. Sigismund went in person to Perpignan with a view to obtain his resignation; but Benedict obstinately resisted all solicitations, and ultimately withdrew, for the security of his person, to the small fortress of Paniscola. The Council, fully convinced of his contumacy, proceeded |