“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.