question, and so great was the influence of the Duke of
Burgundy, that the council could not be induced to go further than a
general condemnation of the doctrine of lawful tyrannicide; and Gerson's
activity in the matter provoked such ill-will that after the close of
the council he could not venture to return to France, which was then
completely under Burgundian and English domination.

It is impossible to narrate here the story of Sigismund's journey,
though it abounds with illustrations of his impulsive character and of
the attitude of the western states toward the imperial pretensions. It
furnished conclusive proofs, if any were needed, that however the
council, for its own ends, might welcome the authority of a secular
head, national sentiment was far too strongly developed to give any
chance of success to a projected revival of the mediaeval empire. As
regards his immediate object, Sigismund was able to achieve some
results. He failed to induce Benedict XIII to abdicate, but the quibbles
of the veteran intriguer exhausted the patience of his supporters, and
at a conference at Narbonne the Spanish kings agreed to desert him and
to adhere to the Council of Constance, December, 1415. But Sigismund's
more ambitious schemes came to nothing. So far from preventing a war
between England and France, he only forwarded an alliance between Henry
V and the Duke of Burgundy; and though he may have done this in the hope
of forcing peace upon France, the result was to make the war more
disastrous and prolonged.

When Sigismund reappeared in Constance, January 27, 1417, he found that
the state of affairs both in Germany and in the council had altered for
the worse. Frederick of Tyrol had returned to his dominions and had been
welcomed by his subjects.

The Archbishop of Mainz had renewed his intrigues, and an attempt had
even been made to release John XXIII. With the Elector Palatine,
formerly his loyal supporter, Sigismund had quarrelled on money matters,
and it seemed possible that the four Rhenish electors would form a
league against Sigismund as they had done against Wenceslaus in 1400.
Still more galling was his loss of influence in the council. The
adhesion of the Spanish kingdoms had been followed by the arrival of
Spanish prelates, who formed a fifth nation and strengthened the party
opposed to reform. The war between England and France had created a
quarrel between the two nations at Constance, and the French deserted