Gregory received the ambassadors of Rhodolph graciously, extorted from
them whatever concessions he desired on the part of the emperor, and
pledged his support.
Ottocar, King of Bohemia, still remained firm, and even malignant, in
his hostility, utterly refusing to recognize the emperor, or to perform
any of those acts of fealty which were his due. He declared the
electoral diet to have been illegally convened, and the election to have
been the result of fraud, and that a man who had been excommunicated for
burning a convent, was totally unfit to wear the imperial crown. The
diet met at Augsburg, and irritated by the contumacy of Ottocar, sent a
command to him to recognize the authority of the emperor, pronouncing
upon him the ban of the empire should he refuse. Ottocar dismissed the
ambassadors with defiance and contempt from his palace at Prague,
saying,
"Tell Rhodolph that he may rule over the territories of the empire, but
he shall have no dominion over mine. It is a disgrace to Germany, that a
petty count of Hapsburg should have been preferred to so many powerful
sovereigns."
War, and a fearful one, was now inevitable. Ottocar was a veteran
soldier, a man of great intrepidity and energy, and his pride was
thoroughly roused.
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