GEORGE OF PODĚBRADY, King of Bohemia. - B. 23 April 1420 at Poděbrady, d. 23 March 1471 at Prague. With the help of Rokycana, G. politically organized the Ultraquists, the moderate party of the Hussites, who had been reconciled with the Roman Church on the basis of the "compactata" of Basel, and he was their authoritative leader.

Having become regent in 1452, G. proved himself a skilful statesman, so that in 1458 he was elected king of Bohemia, as successor to Ladislaus the Posthumous. He was also recognized by the emperor and by the pope, to whom he secretly promised to renounce the "compactata" later on. When Pius II abolished them in 1462, G. did not feel strong enough to face the opposition of the Ultraquists and refused to renounce the "compactata" publicly, since they then belonged to the fundamental laws of the Kingdom. Therefore in 1466 Pope Paul II excommunicated him and proclaimed a crusade against him, at the head of which in 1468 placed himself G.'s son-in-law Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary. G. lost Moravia but held out in Bohemia, and just when his position was taking a turn for the better, G. died. G. consolidated the Kingdom of Bohemia, which had been politically, socially and religiously upheaved by the long Hussite wars; he restored internal order there and the prestige of royal power. G. also sought to reconcile his kingdom fully with Rome, and to this end, as he lay dying, he recommended - to the detriment of his own sons - that Ladislaus Jagiellon be elected to succeed him.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: E. Denis, Fin de l'indépendance bohème, I, Paris 1890, passim; Pastor, II, pp. 156-74, 379-90; B. Bretholz, Geschichte Böhmen und Mährens, II, Liberec 1923, passim; R. Urbánek, Huitský král, Prague 1926, passim. Further bibliography in J. Calmette, L'élaboration du monde moderne, 3rd ed., Paris 1949, p. 263; cf. also G. Vedovato, La comunità internazionale, Florence 1930, p. 16 ff. (with recent bibliography).

Giuseppe Olbr

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George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia

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