Unfortunately, however, the effect of this consolidation of national feeling was speedily weakened by the divisions which had begun to show themselves in the Utraquist party. Teachers were coming to the front who demanded far more sweeping reforms than those which Jakaubek of Kladrau and the other friends of Hus were at all disposed to approve; and they wished to enforce these reforms by the extremest violence. As these reforms were aimed, not only at abuses in the Church, but also at the influence of the wealthy men in the State, the Reformers soon roused against them the fears and anger of the well-to-do citizens of Prague. Nor were these alarms likely to be modified when it became evident that two men, at least, of important position and remarkable ability, were disposed to place themselves at the head of the reforming movement.
The leader who first attracted the attention of the crowd and the fears of the King was Nicholaus of Hus, the Guardian of the Fortress of Hus, and the proprietor of the village of Husinec. He had been a favourite with the King, and was reputed, even by his enemies, to be a man of great ability and insight. He now gathered together such great crowds of people for prayer and preaching that Wenceslaus began to suspect him of aiming at the throne. But the more pacific abilities of Nicholaus were soon to be thrown into the shade by his fiercer and more brilliant ally, John Z̆iz̆ka of Troc̆nov.
Though Z̆iz̆ka, like Nicholaus, had been a favourite at Court, he had already once offended the king by a daring act of independence. Influenced, no doubt, by Sigismund and his friends, Wenceslaus had at one time supported the Order of Teutonic Knights in their struggle against the King of Poland. The anti-German feeling in Bohemia was already running high, even at that time; and sympathy with their Slavonic kinsmen induced many Bohemian officers to hasten to the support of the Poles, in opposition to the wish of the King. In this semi-rebellious movement Z̆iz̆ka had taken a prominent part; but he had, since then, been pardoned and received back into favour. His independent spirit, however, was ill-suited to a Court life, and he was not long in giving new offence to Wenceslaus.