Part V, — Letters Written during the Imprison^ ment at the Blackfriars

(November 16, 1414— March 24, 1415)

IN January, on his partial recovery from his first illness, Hus once more began his interrupted letters. They were passed out, in spite of the vigilance of Michael’s spies, by means of his Polish visitors, and by the connivance of his gaoler Robert, whom he had made his devoted servant — ’ the faithful friend,’ ’ that good man,’ to whom Hus cautiously alludes in his Letters — for whose benefit he penned in prison several short tracts, still preserved for us in the Monumenta —The Lord’s Prayer, The Ten Command ments, On Marriage — ’ which estate, please God, Robert is shortly about to enter ’ — and On Mortal Sin. A larger tract, compiled also at his gaoler’s request, was his Lord’s Supper,1 written for edification rather than controversy. ’ I beg of you,’ he writes, ‘not to trip me up if my quotations from the doctors are not exact, for I have no books, writing in prison.’ All his books, in fact, including his Vulgate and Peter Lombard’s Sentences, had been taken away from him. Hence the request in Letter XLI. But the absence of second-hand unacknowledged quotations is not altogether to the disadvantage of Hus’s prison tracts. They are pleasant reading, with little distinctive save their tenderness. Others than Robert the gaoler had been won over by the charm of their prisoner. Even the officials of the Pope seem to have been betrayed into kindness (infra, p. 176).

To these works we shall find frequent reference in the letters that follow. Unfortunately, save for No. XLIV., no manuscript of these letters now exists ; we are entirely dependent on the early printed editions, especially the Epistoloe Piissimce. The preserva tion of the originals would have been almost impossible. The cir cumstances under which they were written would be against their

1 For these works, see Man. i. 29-44.

172 LETTEES WEITTEN BUSING THE life. ’ Alas, alas ! ’ cried Hawlik, the priest of the Bethlehem, as he read the following letter to the congregation, and pointed to the torn scrap on which it was written — ’ alas, alas ! Hus is running out of paper’ (Doc. 255). Chlum also (p. 196) speaks of one of Hus’s letters as written on a ‘tattered three-cornered bit of paper.’ We understand this when we remember that Hus sometimes spent whole nights in writing letters or scribbling hexameters ’ to pass the time,’ to say nothing of formal answers to his enemies (infra, p. 206).

These prison letters are generally undated, and contain few indications of time. The student will understand that the order in which they are arranged is therefore to a large extent con jecture, and indicates merely whether in our opinion the letters come early or late in this first imprisonment. With one or two exceptions, we have seen little reason to question in this matter the judgment of Palacky. That Letters XLII.-V. were written in February 1415 is clear from a statement of Fillastre in his Diary, that that month was filled up with Inquisition matters, only to be broken off towards the close by the issue of the abdication of John (see Fillastre in Finke, op. cit. 166). Of the value of the letters themselves we need say little. They will appeal to every reader by their tenderness and true piety.

XL. To THE PEOPLE OF PRAGUE1 (Blackfriars, January 19, 1415)

May it please God to be with you, that ye may persevere in resisting wickedness, the devil, the world, and the flesh.

Dear friends, I beseech you, as I sit here in my prison, of which I am not ashamed, seeing that I suffer in hope for God’s sake, “Who visited me in His mercy even with a sore sickness, and hath brought me back again to health, and suffered those to be my most persistent foes whom I had treated with much kindness, and had sincerely loved.

1 Written in Czech.

I beseech, you, I say, to pray God for me that it may please Him to be with me. For in Him alone I have hope, and in the prayers you offer to Him, that He will cause me to be faithful in His grace even unto death. If at this time it shall please Him to take me to Himself, His holy will be done ; or if He shall deign to restore me alive to you, His will likewise be done. I am now assuredly in need of your best help ; yet I know that God will send no calamity or trial upon me but what will turn out for your good and mine, so that, in being exercised thereby and abiding steadfast, we may win a great reward.

Let me inform you that my enemies have given an utterly false translation in Latin of those letters which I had left for you on starting on my journey.1 They are writing so many articles against me that my time in prison is fully occupied in replying to them. I have no counsellor by me but the merciful Lord Jesus, “Who said to His faithful friends : / will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adver saries shall not be able to resist.2 Oh, dear friends, remember that I laboured with you in all zeal, and ever long for your salvation, even now when I am in prison and in the midst of great trial. Sent off at Constance on Saturday, the vigil of St. Fabian.

XLI. To JOHN OF CHLUM

(Blackfriars, without date : January 1415)

Gracious lord, please get me a Bible, and send it by that trusty man of yours. If your secretary Peter 3 hath any ink, I should like to have it, with some pens and a small inkhorn.

1 Bee p. 147. 2 Luke xxi. 15. * Mladenowic,

I know nothing either of my Polish servant or of Cardinalis, except that I have news that your lordship is here and in the King’s company. I beg you therefore to entreat his Majesty, both on my own account and for the sake of God Almighty, Who hath so richly endowed him with His gifts ; and, further, for the sake of manifesting justice and truth to the glory of God and the welfare of His Church. Entreat him, I say, to release me from imprisonment, so that I may be able to prepare myself for a public hearing. You should know that I have been very ill, and have had clysters applied to me ; but I am now well again. Please give my greetings to the Bohemian lords who are at the court of the king. Written with my own hand, which your secretary, Peter, knows.1 Sent off from prison. May all of you who are my friends remember the Goose !

The Commission to which Hus alludes in the following letter was a Commission of three inquisitors — the Patriarch of Con stantinople, Hus’s courier the Bishop of Lebus, and Bishop Bernard of Citta di Castello, who had met Jerome at Cracow in the spring of 1413, and procured, as we have seen (p. 134), his expulsion from that city. These the Council had appointed, immediately on Hus’s arrest, to examine him. By these three, ’ together with their notaries and witnesses,’ Hus was repeatedly visited in prison and questioned. The prosecutors, especially, Palecz and Michael, were unsparing in their labours. c I should be glad,’ said Michael, spurring on a reluctant witness, ’ to bear evidence against my own father if he were a heretic.’ Michael’s spies, as Hus complains, were everywhere ’ finding out letters and other evidence.’ To what Hus alludes in his statement about the ’ dozen masters ’ it is difficult to say. Wylie * and others have taken Hus to mean that the inquisitors offered him a dozen

1 Hus evidently feared forgeries in his name stating that he had recanted, etc. ; for a recantation would have suited the Council better than his burning. Cf. p. 147. * Council of Constance, p. 148.

IMPRISONMENT AT THE BLACKFRIABS 175 masters to plead his case. But the defence of a prisoner was a thing absolutely forbidden, as Lea l has shown, and would never have been allowed. In fact, as Hus tells us (p. 179), a proctor was expressly refused. We incline to think that there is here some confusion in allusion to the Commission of twelve, that according to Cerretanus (reported in Hardt, iv. 23) was appointed to try Hus on December 1. At the head of this Commission were Cardinals D’Ailli, Zabarella, and Fillastre. With them were associated ‘six other learned men.’ This Commission seems to have delegated the actual work to the Commission of three, who, if my interpretation be correct, spent much time in pleading with Hus to waive his claim to a hearing before the whole Council, and recognise the jurisdiction of the twelve. If so the word ’ masters ’ is used contemptuously. In support of this the reader will note the last clauses of the second paragraph.

XLIL To JOHN OF CHLUM (Blackfriars, without date : February 1415)

Noble and gracious lord, I am greatly comforted. I beg you for God’s sake not to be weary of your long-continued and great efforts on my account : for the God of truth and the Lord of justice is standing by you to give you your reward.

These commissioners urged me persistently for several days to hand over my case to twelve or thirteen masters ! I refused to submit myself to them. But after I had written with my own hand replies in reference to the forty-five articles of Wyclif , and to the others which are charged against me, I at once wrote out in the presence of the notaries and commissioners a protest expressing my desire to appear before the whole Council and give an account of the beliefs I hold.

The articles which they have extracted from my

1 Lea, Hist. Inquis. in Middle Aget, i. c. xi.

176 LETTEES WEITTEN BUSINGTHE book De Ecclesia by false omissions and additions shall be brought to light by God’s grace, and also the reply which I wrote in prison, though I had not a single book to help me.1

A harder comforter in time of sickness I have never found in my life than Palecz !

All the clerks of the Pope’s household 2 and all my goalers treat me with much kindness. The Lord delivered Jonah from the whale’s belly, David from the lions’ den, the three children from the fiery furnace, Susannah from the accusation of false witnesses : 3 and He can deliver me, if expedient, for the glory of His name and for the preaching of His word. But if a death precious in the Lord’s sight shall fall to me, the Lord’s name be blessed. If I could only see the King once more along with our Bohemian friends, I should be comforted.

I have been much rejoiced at the news.4 Surely the Lord hath comforted me. I was glad to hear of Henry Skopek’s health.5 It is good of you to send me a Bible.6 Don’t be distressed about me. For what profit hath it? “Written in prison at mid night. Please reward that faithful friend of mine to whom I am specially indebted.7

The letters written to Jakoubek to which Hus refers in the following letter are lost. Jakoubek (Jacobellus or Little

1 This answer to Hus is preserved for us in Doc. 204-24. It is remarkable for its full quotations of Scripture. Its other quotations are familar to us already in the De Ecclesia itself, and prove that Hus had a good verbal memory of his own work. Probably Hus did not reckon his ’ Bible ’ (see below) as ’ a book.’

2 Camera. 8 Cf. p. 197.

4 Possibly the news of th growing dissensions between John and the Council. • P. 169, n. 2. • See n. 1 above. T Gaoler Eobert.

Imprisonment at the Blackfbiaes 177

James, so called from his stature), whose fuller name was Jakoubek ze Stribra of Mies, had taken his B.A. at Prague in 1393, his M.A. in 1397. He was therefore older than Hus, and from the first had been one of the leading spirits among the Reformers. He had succeeded Michael the Pleader as vicar of St. Adalbert’s. He had now become the leader of the Utraquists in the question of the cup. Two Waldensians from Dresden, Peter and Nicholas, ’ who were given to asking curious questions,’ had raised the matter, and on being expelled from the diocese had come to Prague. Here they had persuaded Jakoubek, in the summer of 1414, to return to the primitive custom of the Church. So at four churches in Prague, St. Michael’s, St. Nicholas’s, St. Adal bert’s, and St. Martin’s, the laymen once more partook of the communion under both species. But at the Bethlehem, under priest Hawlik, there seems to have been a protest against the innovation (p. 248, infra). As we have seen already (p. 169)» this led to a division among the Reformers, and Chlum invoked the authority of Hus. Hitherto, Hus had taken little interest in the matter — in fact, in his De Coena Domini, written at a later date, he still practically concedes the Roman position.1 But his views were already undergoing a rapid change, and he soon committed himself decisively to the opinions of Jakoubek (infra, 245, 248). The lengthy discussions of the matter between Jakoubek and Andrew Brod have been preserved for us in Hardt (iii. 335-933), and prove Jakoubek to have been an acute and well-read debater.

XLUL To PETEB MLADENOWIC (Without date: February 1415)

I have not as yet written a letter with news of my imprisonment, except the one in which I asked the Bohemians for their prayers 2 — if indeed you sent it on. Perhaps you know about the letter3 which I wrote to Master Jakoubek, in which these words occurred, uMy enemies have stated that no hearing4

1 See Hon. i. 40rf., last par.

2 Viz., Letter XL. dated January 19. • This Letter is lost.

4 i.e., public hearing before the Council.

178 LETTERS WRITTEN DURING THE shall be granted to me, unless I first pay 2,000 ducats by way of indemnity to the ministers of Antichrist.” l Michael hath got hold of a copy of this as well as the lengthy and methinks outspoken reply of Master Jakoubek. Michael came with the Patriarch,2 notaries and witnesses, when Master Nicholas of Stojcen 3 was present and stood opposite me. One of the commissioners, giving me a copy of my letter to read, asked me on oath whether it was mine. I answered, ” Yes.” I fancy I was not so much upset — except indeed for the greeting of Master Palecz — as on account of the above letters, being vexed with the wickedness of Michael and his spies, and with Master Jakoubek, who is given to preaching that people should beware of hypocrites, and is the only one to be especially taken in by hypocrites and to put his trust in hypocrites ! I imagine he wrote a bitter letter, which I did not read. For both letters were in one envelope, and I hastily concluded that the reply to my letter was not there, but a copy of a letter from the rector of Janowicz to me.*

The following letters of Hus are of great value and interest. They bring out very clearly the difficulties of Hus in prison, prostrate by sickness, and daily badgered by the inquisitors and his enemies. They also show us the optimism of Hus as

1 There was no papal inquisition in Bohemia. Hence Hus was not aware of its procedure. By a decretal of Innocent III. the property of all suspects became forfeited ipso facto, a decretal expressly based on the Roman law of Majestas. (See Lea, Hist. Inquis. i. 502, and cf. infra, p. 186.)

2 Of Constantinople, one of the inquisitors (see p. 174).

1 He incepted as M.A. in 1410, and lectured at Prague until 1445. From the first he had joined the Wyclifists, and according to the famous English Hussite, Peter Payne, was one of Hus’s proctors at Rome in 1411-12 (supra, pp. 45 and 60, n. 2, and Doc. 87 n.)

• i.e., John Cardinalis.

IMPEISONMENT AT THE BLACKFEIAES 179 to the justice of his cause, his blindness to his real position, and the somewhat crude plans by which he hoped to escape from the toils of the Inquisition.

XLIV. To JOHN OP CHLUM (Undated: February 1415)

If my letter hath not been sent to Bohemia, please keep it and don’t send it on, because it may get into wrong hands.

Item, should the King inquire who ought to be my judge, point out that the Council neither sent me an invitation nor cited me to appear, nor have I ever been charged before the Council ; and yet the Council hath put me in prison and appointed its own proctor against me.

Item, noble and gracious John, if an audience shall be granted to me, I ask that the King be present and that a place be assigned to me near him, so that he can hear and understand me properly. And you, too, must be present and Baron Henry [Lacemhok] and Baron “Wenzel [de Duba] and others, at any rate if possible, and hear what the Lord Jesus Christ, my proctor and defender and most gracious judge, will put into my mouth, so that whether I die or live you can be true and fitting witnesses, if liars should ever say that I departed from the truth which I preached.1

Item, you should know that in the presence of witnesses and notaries in the prison I asked the commissioners to appoint me a proctor and advocate. They agreed to do so, but afterwards refused my request.2 I have handed over my case to the Lord

1 Cf. p. 147, ? See remarks on p. 175.

Jesus Christ that He Himself may be proctor, advocate, and judge.

Item, you should know that they have no count, as I imagine, against me, except that I hindered the bull proclaiming the crusade.1 Yet they have my pamphlet which was read before me, and I duly certified it.2

Secondly, they charge me with having been so long under sentence of excommunication and with having administered the sacrament during the time, etc.3

Thirdly, that I appealed from the Pope.4 For they read my appeal in my presence ; and I admitted it was mine before them all with a joyous heart and a smile.

Fourthly, that I left behind me a letter, which was read in the Bethlehem, and which my enemies utterly mistranslated and misinterpreted,5 containing the statement that I was leaving without a safe-conduct.

In answer to this last, assert that when I left I had not a safe-conduct from the Pope ; 6 and secondly, that I was not aware that you were commissioned7 to go with me, when I wrote that letter.

Item, ask if I could enter a protest on the question which I wish to make the main issue.8 Moreover,

1 Supra, pp. 67-9.

2 Probably his Disputation against Indulgences delivered (June 7, 1412) before the University (see Mon. i. 173-89 and supra, p. 69).

1 Of. p. 163. 4 Doc. 464-6 ; end of 1412. See p. 79.

• See supra, p. 147. ’ See p. 160, n. 1. T By Sigismund.

8 Determinare, a University term which must not here be taken too literally, though compare infra, p. 184. Hus had already prepared before he left Prague three sermons, which he desired to deliver before the Council (Mon. i. 44-57). The first and most important, On the Sufficiency of the Law of Christ for the Government of the Church, a familiar theme with Wyclif, really cut at the very roots of the mediaeval system. To this Hus here alludes as the ‘determination’ he desired to present (cf . pp. 160 and 184). Hus made a great mistake in not recognising from the first that the Council was not a University Debating Society.

IMPRISONMENT AT THE BLACKFEIAES 181 your secretary Peter can arrange the petition for a hearing.

Item, if a hearing shall be granted to me, ask that after it is granted the King shall not allow me to be thrust back into prison ; so that I can be free to avail myself of your counsels and those of my friends, and, if it should please God, to say something to my lord the King for his own good and that of Christianity.

XLV. To THE SAME ( Without date : February, 1415)

I spent nearly all last night in writing answers to the charges which Palecz had drawn up against me.1 He is definitely working to bring about my condem nation. God have mercy on him and comfort my soul!

They are saying that the article ” on the right to disendow ” 2 is heretical. You may give my lord the King the hint that if that article be condemned as heresy, he too will come to be condemned as a heretic for having taken away from the bishops their tem poral goods, ay, as his father did before him,3 Emperor and King of Bohemia. Give no person letters to

1 See Doc. 204 ff.

2 Gerson, in his charges against Hus, forwarded from Paris on September 24, 1414, had put his finger on this (Doc. 187), while it had already in 1412 formed one of the charges of Michael the Pleader (Doc. 170). Hus, in fact, had embraced Wyclif’s ” plan of campaign ” to this extent, that the goods of priests of evil life should be taken away for the benefit of the poor. Hus’s treatise on this subject, De Ablatione (see Hon. i. 117-25), is mainly taken from the De Ecclesia of Wyclif. It was written in 1412.

3 Charles IV. In his De Ablatione Hus simply refers in general terms (from Wyclif) to the case of the Templars. Both Charles and Wenzel had few qualms in this matter.

182 LETTERS WEITTEN DUETTO THE carry except one whom you can trust like your very self, and who can hold his tongue on his errand.

Item, tell Doctor Jesenicz and Master Jerome, and indeed all our friends, that they must not come here on any account.1

I am surprised that my lord the King hath forgotten me, and that he never sends a word to me. Perhaps I shall be sentenced before I have speech with him. If this is his honour, it is his own look-out.

Noble and gracious Lord John, my kind benefactor and brave defender, don’t trouble yourself on my account and about the losses you sustain. God Almighty will give the more hereafter. Please give my greetings to the Bohemian lords. I have no news about any of them, except that I fancy Lord Wenzel de Duba is here and Lord Henry Lacembok, who remarked : ” My dear fellow, don’t pry into details ! ” 2

Let me know if you have any one you are willing to depend on. John Barbatus,3 pray for me, dear friend, and let the others pray as well. Try to get the King to ask for my replies, which are signed with my own hand, both as regards the [forty-jive] articles against Wyclif and the [forty4wo] against myself.*

These replies may be copied out, but are not to be shown to any outsider ; and let the copy be written in such a way as to distinguish the several charges easily. I do not know whether my petition will be considered, which I gave to the Patriarch 5 to present to the Council. I fancy he will not present it. Please God, the King will quash the indictment of the Prague

1 See infra, p. 183, last paragraph, and cf. pp. 196, n. 1, 209, and 219, n. 1.

2 This last sentence is in Czech. To what it alludes I know not. » See p. 45. « See Doc. 328, 201 • P. 175.

IMPRISONMENT AT THE BLACKFEIAES 183 doctors as regards one or two of my articles, that con cerning the ” Right to Disendow,” that concerning the ” Donation of Constantine,” and that entitled ” Tithes are Pure Alms” l — all of which I refused to disown — I mean if the King were prompted in some way. But this should be done by some one not belonging to our party.

If I were only free I should say to him privately, ” Your Majesty, see to it that there is no secret transference of the power you love, so that you may never see it again.”

Tell John Cardinalis to be careful ; for all the men who affected to be friendly were really spies. I found this out from the lips of my examiners, who remarked : ” John Cardinalis himself confounds the Pope with the cardinals, asserting that they are all guilty of simony together.” 2 Let Master Cardinalis stay in the King’s court as much as he can, or they will arrest him, as they have done me. No one doth me greater harm than Palecz. God Almighty have mercy on him ! He is the ringleader, ndslednik, (the arch-detective). He insisted that all my adherents should be summoned and should abjure their views. He said in the prison that all who attend my preach ing maintain that after consecration the material substance of the bread remains.3

1 De AUatione, De Constanlini dotatione, De Eleemosynis (see p. 70, supra). All the three are mentioned in Gerson’s articles against Hus (Doc. 186-7). The treatises are in Man. i. 111-34. Hus had learned their doctrines from Wyclif. Hus seems to have got his way to this extent, that at the formal examination of June 8 nothing was said on these matters, at any rate Mladenowic in his Relatio reports nothing.

2 A side-light on the already existing breach between the two (see Hardt, Constano. Condi, iv. 41, for date), that culminated in John’s flight.

• One of the doctrines that Hus did not believe, in this, for once, not following the lead of Wyclif. The tenses “attend,” “maintain,” are probably due to haste, and should be pasts.

I am surprised that no Bohemian visits me in prison. Perhaps they are acting for the best. Let this letter be torn up at once.

Send another shirt by the bearer. My Lord John, insist with the Bohemians that the citation against certain parties already issued be annulled ; and that the King have compassion on his inheritance and not let it be harassed gratuitously because of one dis affected person.

I should like to speak to the King at least once before I am condemned ; for I came here at his own request and under his promise that I should return in safety to Bohemia.1

XL VI. To HIS FEIENDS AT CONSTANCE ( Without date : end of February 1415)

So far as revising my defence is concerned, I do not see how I can do it in any way or arrange otherwise, as I have no idea on what issue a hearing will be given to me. I put in a strong protest2 in the presence of the notaries and I wrote an appeal to the whole Council which I gave to the Patriarch, entreating to be allowed to reply to each article, as I had already done in private. I wrote this with my own hand. I asked as an alternative that if a hearing should be granted me, I might reply as we do in the schools.3 On the other hand, perhaps God will give me the hearing that I may deliver my sermon.4

I trust by God’s grace I shall never swerve from

1 Hus’s view of the meaning of the safe-conduct is clear, however mistaken (see p. 144 and especially p. 230).

2 See p. 175. 8 Cf. determinare, p. 180, n. 7. * Ib.

IMPEISONMENT AT THE BLACKFEIAES 185 the truth, as I understand it. Pray God to preserve me.

As to the sacrament of the cup, you have the statement I wrote out in Constance l giving reasons. I do not think I can add anything, except that the gospel and Paul’s epistle give plain evidence in my favour. It was the custom also in the early Church. If possible, arrange that at least permission be given by bull for the cup to be granted to those who demand it from feelings of devotion, the circumstances being taken into account.2

My friends ought not to trouble themselves over the private inquisition into my beliefs. I do not see how it could have been avoided, because it had been settled by the Council before my arrest. Moreover, a bull was published by the commissioners and read in my presence in which I am called “a heresiarch and a deceiver of the people.” But I hope that what I have spoken in secret shall be proclaimed on the housetops.*

The day before yesterday — it was the day on which I saw my brother John Barbatus4 — I was again cross-examined with regard to the forty-five articles. By way of reply I repeated the declaration I gave before. They put the question to me about each article separately, whether I desired to defend it. I replied that I would accept the decision of the Council as I had before declared. To each of the articles I said, as I had previously done with regard to some of them, ” This is true, if you take it in

1 See p. 170, n.

2 This was the settlement grudgingly obtained at the Council of Basel by the Compactata, the Magna Charta of the CalLstine Church.

» Luke xii. 2. 4 Pp. 45 and 182.

186 LETTERS WRITTEN DURING THE this sense.” Whereupon they remarked, u Do you wish to defend it ? ” My reply was, ” No, I abide by the decision of the Council.”

God is my witness that I could not think at the time of a more suitable reply, seeing that I had before written with my own hand that I had no wish to make an obstinate defence of anything but was ready to receive instruction from any one. That question was put to me, because some one had told them that I had given a message to the King to the effect that I wanted to defend three or four of the articles. They inquired therefore if I had given any message to him. I said, ” No ” : for I never sent any message in these terms to the King, but as you know, etc.1

Item, Michael was standing by holding up the paper and urging the Patriarch to make me reply to their questions. Meanwhile some bishops came in. Once more Michael brewed some fresh mischief. God permitted him and Palecz to rise up together against me on account of my sins: for Michael pries into my letters and other things, while Palecz brings out those old conversations we had together ( years ago.

The Patriarch is always insisting before them all that I have plenty of money.2 So an archbishop said to me in the course of the inquiry, ” You have 70,000 florins.” Michael exclaimed before them all with a mocking laugh, ” What has become of that doublet3 full of florins? How much money do the

1 See p. 183, first paragraph. 2 Of. p. 178, first paragraph.

3 Joppa. Ducange says joppa=‘caligae species, Hungaris,’ and adds : •I do not know whether the same as jupa = Fr. jupe.’ Carpentier gives other illustrations.

IMPEISONMENT AT THE BLACKFEIARS 187 barons in Bohemia hold in trust for you ? ” Without doubt I was sorely harassed that day.

A bishop said, “You have set up a new law.” Another remarked, “You have preached all those articles.” I made a right stern reply, God helping me, saying, ” Why do you wrong me in this way ? ”

You write not a word about those who have been cited. How is it that no proctor hath been sent to represent them either by the King1 or the Prague citizens or by those that have been cited ? 2

The following letter is dated by Palacky as March 4, 1415, reckoning eight weeks from Hus’s removal to the refectory (see infra, p. 189), which he dates on January 8. As I have dated this on January 3, following Hardt, iv. 26-32 (see p. 168), the date will be rather February 28. Additional confirmation of this view will be found in the fact that we have other letters to Chlum, dated, it would appear, on March 4 (see p. 191).

XL VII. To JOHN OF CHLUM (Without date : February 28(?), 1415)

Gracious lord, I am very glad to hear of your good health and your continued loyal and kindly con stancy in all the efforts you are making for your poor friend. God hath endowed you with constancy above all other men and given you to me as a helper, for your good, I trust, both in this present life and in eternity. I beg you then, by God’s mercy, to await the issue of my case, like a soldier of Jesus Christ. If Master (dominus) John of Janowicz [Cardinalis] is quite well — he spent much time with me — I beg you to confer with him.

I feel my debt to the noble Baron Wenzel de Duba.

1 Wenzel, not Sigismund. 2 Infra, p. 196, n. 1.

Please greet him by my prayers, which are set loose by my prison, and give him my thanks for his faithful interest in my cause. Greet the rest of the faithful Bohemians.

I blame myself for not keeping back my tears on suddenly seeing Master Christian ; but the sight of my faithful master and particular benefactor made them stream from my eyes.

I had heard that, with your whole family, you had gone away for a long visit,1 but now my soul is comforted. God, most gracious, at one time consoles me and at another afflicts me ; but I trust He is ever with me in tribulation. For I have again been horribly racked with stone, from which I never suffered before, and with severe vomiting and fevers. My gaolers were afraid I should die, and removed me from the dungeon. Many articles from the Bag of Lies,2 and others from this same bag, as also those to which you have the replies, have been laid against me. I dare not write replies on your paper to the articles of the Paris doctors,3 because I could not conceal them on account of the watch kept over me. It is just as well to leave it over to avoid any harm coming to our faithful friend — you know whom I mean.4 I recommend him to you.

I should be glad to see you, together with Baron Wenzel [de Duba] and Master Christian. I fancy, if you speak to the Pope’s under-chamberlain, he will give you permission to visit me. You would have to

1 This visit, if paid later, would explain what Hus calls ’ the negligence in writing ’ on p. 198.

2 Michael. A favourite insult of the times. Cf. Stephen Dolein’s ’ Sacce Wyclif, ora pro nobis ’ (Antihussus, pp. 373, 426).

• See next page, ». 3. 4 Gaoler Robert, who carried the letters.

IMPRISONMENT AT THE BLACKFRIARS 189 speak in Latin before the gaolers, and in going out your man Peter1 should give them a gratuity in keeping with your rank. I have not dared to keep the articles by me. Make Peter copy my tract on the Commandments.2

I will answer the charges of the Paris Chancellor if I live ; 3 but if I die, God will answer them at the Day of Judgment. I do not know where Zelezny Jan [John Barbatus] is, faithful brother in Christ that he is.

I do not know whether Master Christian is with you. Pray greet him and Baron Wenzel and the rest of the faithful Bohemians.

Do not give way to worry because expenses run up here. Meet the situation as you can. If God shall free the Goose from his prison, He will give you good reason for not regretting these expenses. Please do what is sufficient by means of promises.

If Lord Henry of Plumlow 4 or Stibor of Boczi is with you, please greet them and all the Bohemians.

To-morrow it will be eight weeks since Hus was lodged in the refectory.

Noble and gracious lord, guardian of the truth

1 P. : vester Pater, following Ep. Piiss i. 2a. Read Petr. — i.e,, Petrus Mladenowic.

1 See pp. 154 and 171, and Mm. i. 296.

• Gerson, the great Chancellor of Paris, had despatched to Archbishop Conrad of Prague (September 24, 1414) a series of articles culled from Hus’s De Ecclesia (see Doc. 523-8). The arrival of Gerson at Constance on February 26 (for date see Finke, op. tit. 259) brought them into prominence, and made Chlum, as we have seen, anxious to smuggle out an answer to them from Hus. Hus’s intentions seem to have been frustrated by illness, and we find him in later letters still harping on his intended answer to Gerson. The answer, if ever completed, is now lost.

4 Cf . p. 232. Boczi is a very uncertain reading from the Ep. Piiss.

190 LETTERS WRITTEN DURING THE along with Lord Henry [Lacembok], stand by my side without flinching till the end comes, when the Lord Jesus Christ will use me for His glory and the blotting out of my sins. I commend this most faithful of friends to you. I am pleased with what you have done. I should be glad to find that my lord the King had given orders for the hearing of my replies to the articles of “Wyclif. Oh, that God might inspire his lips, so that he might take his stand with his leading men in support of the truth !

To-day I finished a little tract, On the Body of Christ, and yesterday one, On Matrimony.1 Get them copied hereafter. Some Polish knights have paid me a visit,2 but no Bohemians, except one that came with them.

The following letter forms a pleasant break in the records of Inquisition methods. To understand it we must remember that Hus, when a priest in Prague, had adopted a novel method of advertising his creed. He had found a use for the great bare walls of the Bethlehem Chapel. On these, in addition to the customary pictures, he had painted up sundry theses, once even a long treatise, On the Six Errors. This idea Hus seems to have taken from the practice in the monastery at Konigsaal, the burial-place of the Bohemian kings. His enemies did not fail to sneer at his twentieth-century methods of advertisement. ’ You paint,’ wrote Andrew Brod, ’ The Ten Commandments on your walls ; would that you kept them in your heart ! ’ (Doc. 519).

The letters, undated both in the originals and Palacky, would seem to have been written on March 4 and 5. We infer this from the last sentence of Chlum’s reply (see Hardt, Magnum Constantiense Concilium, iv. 52, and Finke, op. cit. p. 167).

1 See p. 171. The De Corpore Christi is called in the MONUMENT A De Ccena Domini.

2 Possibly Janussius Kalisky and Zaurissius Niger, the ambassadors of Jagiello to the Council, who could therefore obtain access by reason of their office, For other Poles at Constance, see Doc, 256.

Imprisonment at the Blackfriaes 191

From another letter of Hus we learn some further details of his dreams, of his own belief in their value, and, apparently John of Chlmn’s incredulity. (Compare infra, p. 222, with p. 192, second sentence.)

XL VIII. To JOHN OF CHLUM ( Without date : March 4, 1415)

Will you please expound my last night’s dream ? I dreamt that they wanted to destroy all the pictures of Christ in the Bethlehem, and they did so. On rising next morning methought I saw many painters, who had painted other pictures more beautiful, upon which I gazed with joy. And the painters and a great assembly of folk cried out, ” Let the priests and bishops come and destroy these pictures of ours ! ” Whereupon much people rejoiced in the Bethlehem, and I with them. And when I awoke, I found myself laughing.

Note that they had spread it abroad in several quarters that they wanted to destroy the writing on the walls of the Bethlehem Chapel. I will forward a copy of my treatises, which I have copied out in duplicate.1

To this letter of Hus we fortunately possess the answer of John of Chlum. It was written by Peter Mladenowic, his secretary, who has added at the close a paragraph of his own, explaining how it came to pass that Hus called Chlum ‘the doctor of Biberach ’ (see p. 155). The letter is a revelation of the sturdy common sense and genial humour of the honest knight. But the Latin is very obscure and crabbed.

JOHN OF CHLUM TO MASTER JOHN Hus

(Without date : March 5, 1415 *)

My beloved friend, do not be troubled about the hearing,3 as more than ordinary attention is now being given to this and the

1 The treatises written in prison. See p. 171.

1 Bee last clause and p. 190. ’ The public audience.

192 LETTEES WRITTEN DURING THE rest of your case. We are hoping that, by God’s kindness, all these matters are working out to a holy issue. Only get rid of the other fancies and entanglements of your brain ; lay them aside, and give your thoughts to the charges that are to be laid against you, and the reply you are to give. Nevertheless, the truth infallible forbids you to take thought, saying, When ye shall stand, etc., and as follows : for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak.1

This is the exposition of the dream : —

The picture of Christ painted on the walls of the ” House of Bread ” 3 is His life, which is to be imitated. Likewise in the same place the Holy Scripture that cannot be broken is repre sented. Both of these the enemies of Christ’s cross attempt to daub out in the evening darkness ; for the Sun of righteousness setteth upon them by reason of their misshapen3 life, and it seems as if the Christ and His Scriptures will be forgotten in the sight of men. But on the morrow, at the rising of the Sun of righteousness, both of these are restored and painted more splendidly by preachers, who proclaim on the housetops what had been spoken in the ear 4 and well-nigh passed into oblivion. Thereupon from all these things great joy arises in the com munity. And the Goose, although he be laid on the altar, as indeed he is now laid there, and although he shall be distressed by the weakness of the flesh, yet in the time to come, as we trust, he will be with Him Who dwells in the heavens ; and as he awakes from the sleep of this miserable life, he will howl in derision and hiss at those destroyers of the picture and of Scripture. Nay, in this present life, by God’s blessing, with mighty earnestness he will restore in clearer colours and paint anew those pictures and Scriptures alike for the flock and his beloved friends.

Here endeth the learned doctor of Biberach,5 who maketh his exposition of this passage in a Daniel’s 6 vision to conform with that wherein the goose, floating on the sea, took refuge, as it seemed, on a rock : for both of these indicate a foundation that,

1 Matt, x 19.

2 Chlum evidently knew the meaning of Bethlehem. His correspond ence shows that he was a well-educated man.

1 Di/ormis = deformia. 4 Luke xii. 3; paraphrase only.

6 P. 155. • Cf. ” A Daniel come to judgment.”

IMPRISONMENT AT THE BLACKFRIAKS 193 cannot be shaken. Your friends and supporters have no little joy in your letters, although it is true they are known to few.1 To-day an embassy from the King of the French arrived at Constance.2

XLIX. To JOHN OP CHLUM ( Without date : March 6th, 1415 3)

Every word you wrote in your last letter gave me excellent comfort. Our learned doctor of Biberach agreeth in his exposition with my own thoughts, though that adage of Gate’s holds good, ” For dreams have no care,“4 and also G-od’s command that we hearken not to dreams.5 Yet I hope that the life of Christ, which I painted from His word at the Bethlehem in the hearts of men and which they wished to blot out from the Bethlehem — issuing first of all an order that there should be no preaching in chapels and in the Bethlehem, then afterwards that the Bethlehem should be razed to the ground 6 — I hope, I say, that that life of Christ is being painted up in better fashion by other better preachers than myself amid the rejoicings of the people that love Christ’s life.7 Wherein I will rejoice — as saith our learned doctor8 — when I awake out of sleep, that is, when I rise from the dead. The writing too on the walls of the Bethlehem still abides,9 though Palecz is mightily

1 Licet constet valde paucis. Possibly it is the letters that are few.

2 March 5, 1415. See p. 190. s See p. 190.

4 See the pseudo Dicta Catonis (vel Disticha de Moribus~), ed. N6methy, Pesth, 1895, lib. ii. No. 31 ; a favourite mediaeval book of rhymed proverbs, as we see in the Piers Plowman.

5 Jer. xxix. 8. « P. 79.

7 Epitt. Piissirrue : ’ Quisne negare potest per Luthemm factum esse.’

8 i.e., of Biberach ; see p. 155. • P. 79.

194 LETTEES WEITTEN DUEING THE vexed against it, saying that it was through it that I led the people into errors ; nay, he stoutly insists that it be blotted out so as thereby to bring me into utter confusion : moreover as I lay here in weakness, he hailed me, before them all,1 with a most horrible greeting, of which I will tell you hereafter, if it shall please God.

My thoughts about the points to be raised against me I have committed to the Lord God, to Whom I have appealed and “Whom I chose before the com missioners as my judge, my proctor and my advocate,3 in the plain words : ” Let the Lord Jesus be my advocate and proctor, Who will shortly judge you all : to Him I have committed my cause, even as He Himself committed His cause to His Father.” It is He that hath said — and his lordship the doctor of Biberach repeats it: Think not, etc. For Christ said : Lay it up therefore in your hearts not to meditate before how you shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay? On which the blessed Jerome * saith : ” As if our Lord were to say openly : Fear not) be not terrified : you will come to a conflict, but I am the fighter : you utter words, but I am the speaker” Then follow the words : And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren and kinsmen and friends : and some of you they will put to death. ” Less pain do evils inflict which are inflicted by them that are without. But more fiercely do those tortures rage

1 P. : coram mulis ; an original uncorrected reading of the Ep. Piit. Bead coram multis. No wonder Bonnechose was puzzled by the words I

• He was allowed no other. See p. 175.

• Luke xxi. 14, 15 4 See next page, n. 1.

IMPKISONMENT AT THE BLACKFRIABS 195 within us which we suffer at the hands of them on whose loyalty we presumed : for along with the body’s loss we are crucified by the pains of a lost love!’ So Jerome.1 My pain obviously proceeds from Palecz. Truly our doctor of Biberach rises above Lord Henry [Lacembok] and above Master John [Cardinalis], rector of Janowicz. As for the rest, please God, it shall be known hereafter.

Let our doctor of Biberach carry out the lesson he has given me and let him keep the secret of my letters to himself,2 for Christ saith : A man’s enemies shall be they of his own household.3 Item, you shall be betrayed by your parents, etc.4 Farewell, and all of you who are together, have constancy in Constance ! Please give my greeting to all my friends but judiciously, lest they should say, ” How do you know that he greeted us ? ”

In the recently published Diary of Cardinal Fillastre we read : ’ In the meantime ’ — i,e., before February 16 — ’ we dealt with the errors of Wyclif. But the whole business was put off, through our handling the way of cession.’ (ed. Finke, op. cit. p. 166). This last was a proposal of the French Cardinals D’Ailli and Fillastre — first made on February 15 — that the three rival Popes should all resign. This led to the delays in the further treatment of the case of Hus to which Chlum alludes — ‘the foreign and irrelevant matter ’ — in the following letter to Hus. The matter of the cession was further discussed on February 21 and 28, and by the beginning of March had become the settled conviction of the Council. On March 5 — the day of the arrival of the embassy of the French King (Charles) — the Council proposed to the Pope that he should issue a bull consenting to this ’ method

1 Not from Jerome at all, but loosely quoted from Bede’s In Luca Evang. Expositlo, c. xxi. in loc. (ed. Giles or Migne).

2 De literis — i.e., how Kobert the gaoler brought them in and out as well as their existence. See also first sentence on p. 193, supra.

• Matt. x. 36. 4 Luke xxi. 16.

196 LETTEES WRITTEN DURING THE of cession,’ and naming proctors who should carry out his resignation. John of course refused (Hardt, iv. 523, Finke, op. cit. 167). John of Chlum’s optimism shows how little he and the other Bohemians understood the working of the Inquisition. For the time being, however, further proceedings were postponed.

JOHN OP CHLUM TO JOHN Hus ( Without date : first week in March 1415)

Dearest friend, you ought to know that your case and the cause of truth never moved on so brightly as at present, although some other foreign and irrelevant matters have cropped up, so that your case is delayed for the moment.

All your friends, especially Christian, are paying court to the good widow, who is a second widow of Sarepta ! 1

That tattered three-cornered bit of paper has come to hand and has been duly read.2 Its arrival without the least delay could not have been so quickly anticipated.

Our doctor of Biberach 3 only asks for a reasonable excuse for writing; from which you can guess his incurable itch for scribbling! I beg you to send some comforting words to your good-hearted friends.

In the following letter we are introduced to the ’ consolatory rhymes,’ which Hus wrote in prison, as Mladenowic puts it, ’ to pass the time and console himself.’ Their value as hexameters may be judged from the third line,

’ Jonam, Danielem, tres pu. Susannam, quia fuere* (I)

The complaint of ’ negligence in writing,’ would point to a date

1 1 Kings xvii. 9 ff. Christian Prachaticz, whose attentions to Hus’s landlady, widow Faithful of the bakehouse, with the sign of the White Pigeons, Chlum here jokingly mentions, soon after this was arrested on the suit of Michael the Pleader and brought before the Patriarch of Constantinople. Thirty articles were presented against him. But on the intervention of Sigismund, who had a special interest in him as a learned astronomer, he was released, and allowed to return to Prague (March 18-19) with a letter from Lacembok : ’ There it is feared he will sow other lies, as is the manner of all the Wyclifists’ (Doc. 542). This helps to fix the date of the letter.

2 Cf. p. 172. Paper evidently once more running out.

• See p. 155. Chlum had written only a day or two before. See p. 191. Hence the allusion and the date.

IMPEISONMENT AT THE BLACKFRIARS 197 later than the preceding letter to Chlum, while the references to John Barbatus, as well as to Easter, add strength to this argument. From the tone of the letter it is evident that Hus was depressedIt is evident also that the visit of the inquisitors had been interrupted by the new stir over the Pope’s proposed abdication. The answer to Gerson, it seems, still hangs fire.

L. To HIS FEIENDS (Without date : middle March 1415)

I send a rhyming answer plain, To match, your letter’s cheerful strain, The whale did Jonah safe restore : No marks of lions Daniel bore : Three Hebrews were by fire unharmed, Susannah charges false disarmed.1 And why ? Just, innocent and pure, Each kept in God a trust most sure, Their righteous Lord, “Who sets those free “Who hope in Him eternally. ‘Tis He, Who can th’ imprisoned Goose From durance vile in mercy loose. Yet bonds do purge his former stains And contrite tears turn joys to pains : That he, Christ’s prisoner, may learn To bear reproaches and discern Curses and shame in their true light, To bruise the tempter’s head, to fight And conquer death: or else to wrest From life itself its guerdon best. The God of mercy preserve you and give you comfort in His grace, and grant to you with myself constancy in Constance ; 2 for if we shall be constant,

1 These were favourite illustrations with Hus. See p. 176.

2 Cf. pp. 159, 160, 195.

198 LETTERS WRITTEN DURING THE we shall see the Lord coming to our aid. For the first time I am now learning to understand the book of Psalms,1 to pray as I ought, to ponder over the insults of Christ and the sufferings of the martyrs, as Isaiah saith : Vexation alone shall make you under stand what you hear.2 Again : What doth he know, that hath not been tried ? 3

I don’t understand what our learned doctor of Biberach wants. The Goose conjectures nothing from his negligence in writing,4 except that he is well in body. May his soul’s health especially be con firmed by the Lord ! for it is his soul’s health, no less than his bodily health, that I hope is being improved, and will after death be perfected in bliss with all the saints.

In prison hid from human sight, The stated offices of night, The gospel readings as they fall, Litanies, vigils do not pall. The ” hours ” pass lightly : 5 for this road The Master went, Who bore our load. This is my passion, naught indeed, Or slight, if I from sin be freed. May Christ the Lord stand by His own, Lest Antichrist do gulp me down ! Rejoice all of you, who are one in the Lord. Greet one another, and prepare yourselves worthily to eat the Lord’s Body before Easter. I shall be without it, so far as the outward elements are concerned,*5 as now

1 In 1404 Has had written a commentary of some length on Psalms cx.-cxix. See Man. ii. 229 ff.

2 Isa. xxviii. 19. » Ecclus. xxxiv. 9. 4 See p. 188 n.

6 Nocturnw, gradus, litanies, singulce Tierce, etc. Qradus seems a loose use for the more usual gradate. 9 Quoad saoramentalem perceptionem.

for a long time I have been without it! and still shall be, as long as God wills. And no wonder, since Christ’s apostles and many other saints in prisons and desert abodes were likewise without it.

I rejoice that you stand together and that Zelezny Brada1 is in good health with you all. So am I too, trusting as I do in Jesus ; but I shall be in better health after death, if I keep God’s commands to the end. “Would that God would give me time to write against the lies of the Chancellor of Paris, who so presumptuously and unjustly before the world hath dared to charge his neighbour with heresy.2 But perchance God will cut short his writing either by my death or his, and in His judg ment will settle the matter better than any writing of mine could do.

Meanwhile in Constance the struggle between the Council and John XXIII., which had begun in the proposal for his abdication, had rapidly reached a crisis. John realised that his last throw must be made. On March 20 3 he left Constance ’ in an indecent disguised lay dress’ ‘in the darkness of a foggy night.’ Two days later the Council received news that he had arrived at Schaffhausen. Hus soon learned the news, and adds an interesting comment.

If Hus’s first letter after the flight of John gives little indication of the excitement at Constance, his second letter, written three days later, throws a vivid side-light on the confusion. Hus him self ran some danger of starvation. Hitherto the Pope had paid ten florins a week for Hus’s support and the expenses of his imprisonment. Not only was this supply cut off, but, as

1 These words mean ” Ironbeard. ” Palacky suggests that the person intended is therefore John Barbatus (for whom, see p. 44), who on p. 189 is called Zelezny Jan, ” Bearded John,” and of whom Hus there says that he does not know where he is. Cf. p. 219, n. 1.

2 P. 189, n. 3.

8 For the date see App. M. p. 360 of my Age of Hus,

200 LETTEES WEITTEN DUBING THE we learn from an anonymous letter of April 2, provisions in Constance ran very short (Doc. 543). The country folk were too uncertain of the future to bring in, as hitherto, their stores. Hus also was in no small alarm.

LI. To HIS FRIENDS AFTER THE POPE’S FLIGHT (Without date: March 21, 1415)

I have been much comforted by the visit of the Bohemian nobles ; but I was grieved that I could not see you. Master Christian has left to carry a despatch of Lord Henry’s,1 and so has Master Jesenicz. The Council is in confusion, I fancy, because of the Pope’s flight. The reason as I have learnt is: in all our transactions whether contem plated or actually in hand God should be put first, human reason second. This they have ignored, with the result that you see, etc.

If God shall give me a happy issue, I will not forget the faithful friend — you know whom I mean : if the issue is otherwise, I commend him to you.2

I have got to know that Lord Wilhelm3 is my friend. Please give him my thanks.

I noticed Baron Wenzel de Duba in tears while he was speaking to me. Lord Mysska4 was very friendly.

1 Lacembok’s. For the arrest and release of Christian Prachaticz see p. 196, n. 1. It is possible that the real cause of his departure was concealed from Hus, though cf. p. 212.

2 Gaoler Robert again.

• Wilhelmut (a good instance of Hus’s Latin) is probably William Zajiic of Hasenburg (see p. 232, where he is associated with Mysska).

4 Wenzel Mysska de Hradek, whose name we find on the petition of the Polish and Czech nobles of May 13 (see infra, pp. 204 and 232).

III. To THE SAME (March 24, 1415)

All my gaolers are now taking to flight. I have nothing to eat and I don’t know what is going to happen to me in prison. Please go with the other nobles to the King and get him to take some final steps in my case, lest he fall into sin and confusion on my account.

Please also come to me with the Bohemian nobles, for I must have a word with you.

Noble Baron John and Baron “Wenzel and the rest of you, make haste and see my lord the King. There is danger in delay. It is so urgent that it should be done at once. Think carefully and quickly of the other things I want from you.

I am afraid that the master of the Pope’s house hold will .carry me off with him by night ; for to-day he has been hanging about the monastery. The Bishop of Constance hath sent letters to me hinting that he wishes to have no responsibility for me. The cardinals have done the same.

If you love your poor Goose, get the King to send me guards from his own court or to set me free from prison this very evening.

Written in prison (note the introit of the day, “0 Lord, make no long tarrying”) late on Sunday night.1

1 Datum in carcere, Domine ne longe, dominico die sero. The introit, Domine ne longe (Ps. xxi.), is the proper introit for Palm Sunday, which on this year fell on March 24. Bonnechose ineptly translates : ’ My good lord (Chlum), do not delay.’ Dies dominicut by itself means ‘Palm Sunday’ (see Ducange), but should not here be pressed, as with Hus ‘dies dominicus’ is frequently used for the more correct Dies Dominica (Sunday).

Part VI. — Letters Written from the Franciscan

Friary

(June 5, 1415— July 6, 1415)

ON the flight of John, as Mladenowic informs us, ’ the keys of the prison in which the Master was detained were handed over to the King, and he could now withhonour have released him.’ Sigismund, who had overcome all his scruples concerning the safe-conduct, preferred to deliver Hus to the Bishop of Constance, upon whom, on the flight of the Pope, the care of a prisoner of the Inquisition would naturally fall. According to the statement of Hus in the lastletter, the bishop— and the cardinals also, at first— had already refused the charge. Probably that accomplished timeserver was waiting to see how the land lay and what action Sigismund would take now that he was free to act. But on receiving Sigismund’s command he delayed no longer. The Bishop, we read, fearing an attempt at release, ‘for the prison of the Blackfriars was outside the walls and the guards were few and careless, that same night took Hus, fettered in a boat, to his own castle of Gottlieben’ — a few hours in fact after the last letter was written (March 24). The precaution of the Bishop — who provided for the boat a guard of a hundred and seventy armed men — shows that he expected some attempt at release, perhaps with the connivance of Sigismund. Possibly if the last letter of Hus had been despatched earlier something might have been done. As it was Hus was safely imprisoned in the west wing of Gottlieben, and the opportunity lost for ever. ’ There he lay in fetters in an airy tower.’ He could walk about all day, but ’ at night was handcuffed on his bed to the wall,’ to a block still preserved in the Museum at Constance. The ’ airy tower ’ was a welcome change after the latrines. But at Gottlieben Hus missed the gaoler Robert, who had formed the link with his friends outside. Not a single letter or document written from Gottlieben

FEOM THE FRANCISCAN FEIAEY 203 has been preserved for us. So far as news from Hus is concerned, the months of his second imprisonment are a sheer blank.

The months of silence were, however, big with momentous issues both for Hus and the Church. But at these great issues we may only lightly glance. The course of the fugitive Pope was soon run. Within a few weeks John was deposed ’ as unworthy, useless, and harmful, a chosen vessel of all sins.’ The papal arms were removed from his dwelling, and he himself, after solemnly agreeing to his own deposition, was sent ’ with only a cook ’ to Gottlieben, and confined in the east tower. So for two days Pope John, convicted, according to the Council, on fifty-four charges, was a fellow prisoner with John Hus. History contains few instances of greater contrast, certainly none more ironical in its final issue. The Council had condemned the Pope for the foulest of crimes. According to their own showing, whatever be its worth, John XXIII. was a monster scarcely fit to live. His punishment was a trifling term of imprisonment and a later reward. Hus, on the contrary, was acknowledged even by his enemies to be a man illustrious for his purity of life. But he had dared to follow one who thought for himself. His very virtues but made it the more needful that he should be burnt. Revolt against its system was the one crime for which the mediaeval Church had no pardons to sell.

With the outbreak of the struggle between John and the Council, the trial of Hus, as we have seen, had been suspended. But after the deposition of the Pope there was once more leisure for the heretic. In fact, as soon as it was plain that the Pope’s flight would prove his undoing, the Council returned to its task. On April 6 a new Commission was appointed, with D’Ailli at the head, to examine the heresies of Wyclif and Hus. But D’Ailli was too busy to give the needed attention, so on the 17th the matter was transferred to another committee of four, one from each of the four nations. On May 4 they brought in an interim report, Wyclif was condemned on no less than two hundred and sixty different counts, though the main stress was laid on the famous forty-five articles. Wyclif’s writings were ordered to be burnt, ’ his bones to be dug up and cast out of the consecrated ground, provided they could be identified from those of Christians buried near ’ (Hardt iv. 142-57).

The greater involves the less, and the condemnation of Wyclif practically sealed the fate of Hus, though for technical reasons

204 LETTEES WEITTEN FEOM connected with the absence of a pope, formal condemnation was allowed to stand over. In the ordinary course of events nothing further would have been heard of the prisoner at Gottlieben. Hus would have been left to rot in his dungeon, until his spirit was broken, or the time convenient for an auto dafe. But the friends of Hus were resolved to give publicity to the trial and secure the public hearing that Sigismund had promised. A week after the Commission had brought in its report, the Czechs and Poles showed how little they understood the procedure of the Inquisition by handing in a protest, drawn up by Peter Mladenowic, against the imprisonment of Hus without proper trial. They enlarged once more on the safe-conduct (May 13). The Council replied (May 16) that as far back as 1411 Hus had been tried and condemned. As for his pretended safe-conduct, it was only obtained by his friends fifteen days after his arrest. The Czechs, still unconscious of the real drift of events, twice again presented their petitions, urging for Hus a speedy public hearing, putting in the discredited certificates of the Bishop of Nazareth, though “Bishop Sup-with-the-devil,” as he was called from his famous meal with Hus, had already retracted, and slipped away home in disguise. Hus, they further pleaded, ’ should be released from his chains, and put into the care of some bishop, that he might recruit his strength’ and so prepare for his trial. In Bohemia the mutterings of the coming storm could already be heard. Two assemblies in May, at Briinn and Prague, of the nobles of Bohemia and Moravia despatched to Sigismund, as the heir to the throne, a warning ’ strengthened by two hundred and fifty seals,’ to release ’ the beloved master and Christian preacher’ from further imprisonment, and send him back to Bohemia after first granting him a public hearing. To please Sigismund this last was finally granted. Such a public hearing or trial was in reality an unheard-of act of grace on the part of the Inquisition, only wrung out by political necessities. That august court made a rule of keeping their trials absolutely secret. That there should be no mistake as to the real meaning of this concession, the Council had already sent (Whitsunday, May 19) a deputation of eight delegates, with D’Ailli at the head, to inform Hus of the thirty articles which had been proved against him. We shall find a reference to this deputation in one of the later letters (see p. 216). A fortnight later (June 5), for the convenience of this trial, Hus was brought back in chains from Gottlieben to Constance early in the morning, and lodged in a tower adjoining the Franciscan convent to await his final trial, Pope John doubtless looking on with interest at the heresiarch’s departure.

On arriving at the Franciscan convent Hus found opportunity for resuming his correspondence with his friends. If the date that von Hardt gives for his transference from Gottlieben be correct (June 5 ; see Hardt, iv. 306), one letter at least l would appear to have been despatched that very morning. Hus, we note, is still sanguine as to the effects of a public audience, though his letter shows that he contemplates other issues with resignation. One little detail of this third imprisonment is not without interest. Hus tells us (p. 218) that for the first time for some months his food was good and plentiful.

LIII. To JOHN OP CHLUM

( Without date : morning, June 5, 1415) My dear friend in Christ, still arrange for all the nobles to have access to the King and Council ; and get the King and Council to do as they have both already stated ” in the hearing that is to take place you will have a brief written statement and to this you shall reply.” They can drive both Sigismund and the Council to this by telling them that by God’s help I will make a plain statement of the truth. I would rather that my body be consumed by fire than that I should thus be kept basely out of sight by them, in order that all Christendom may know the last words I have spoken. I beg my friends the nobles for God’s sake to act by showing to the end their diligence and constancy. My hope in the Lord is always firm.

Lord John, my most trusty and gracious supporter, may God be your reward ! I beg you not to leave until you see the end reached. “Would that you 1 Palacky gives three ; but I have adopted a different order.

206 LETTEES WRITTEN FEOM might see me being led to the flames rather than so craftily smothered here ! I still cherish the hope that God Almighty is able to snatch me from their hands through the merits of the saints. Let me have the hint if to-morrow I am to be brought up for a hearing. Greet all my friends in Bohemia,1 beseech ing them to pray God on my behalf. If I am to remain a prisoner, let them pray that I may await death without failing of heart. Exhort the masters to stand firm in the truth ; also our special friends, the virgin Petra 2 and all her household and Master Jesenicz,3 urging him to marry. Beg my friend Girzik* and the rector6 to rest content, though I have not been able to do enough for them in return for their service ; please let them give my greetings to my friends of either sex. I know not who will repay those who have advanced money, except the Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake they have advanced it. Yet I should like some of the richer people to club together and pay the poorer ones. But I am afraid that the proverb will be fulfilled in some cases: ” Co s oci, to z mysli ” (” Out of sight, out of mind”).0

Later in the day, though probably still early in the morning, Hus was brought up for the long-expected public audience. A congregation of the Council had been summoned to meet in the refectory of the Franciscan convent. The intention was to satisfy Sigismund by a public condemnation, but in the absence of Hus himself. So the psalm customary for an inquiry into heresy (Psalm 1.) was read, and the thirty articles against him formally presented. An attempt was then made to deprive Hus of the

1 In regno. * Cf. p. 236. * Who had left in March (p. 200).

4 Cf. p. 151, where we learn that he was a scholar of Hus by name George. From p. 212 we learn that he had become a rector.

6 i.e., Cardinalis.

• Ep. Piiss. G. 4 : Tzo so-czy, to smytsli, which Luther (Ep. Piittimai) and the Monvmenta naturally left untranslated.

THE FRANCISCAN FEIAEY 207 grace of recantation, by the putting in of the letter which he had left at Prague (supra, p. 147). There only remained the formal reading of a sentence already determined. This crafty plan was frustrated. Before it could be carried through Mladenowic stirred up Chlum and Duba to hasten to Sigismund. The Emperor despatched Lewes, the Count Palatine, and the burgrave Frederick of Nuremberg, with orders that nothing should be done until Hus himself was present ; while the friends of Hus, to prevent inaccurate or mutilated excerpts, put in genuine copies of his works, on the condition that they should be restored to them — a precaution that, as we learn from the following letter of Hus, was not needless. So Hus had at length his desire, and stood before his enemies. Very different was the reality to his dreams. Instead of an oration before a listening senate, he was met, when he attempted to explain, with angry shouts : ’ Have done with your sophistries ! ’ ’ Say yes or no ! ’ If he remained silent, they clamoured that he consented. As the tumult grew the trial was adjourned until the 7th, and Hus removed in the custody of the Bishop of Kiga. ’ Do not fear for me,’ he said, as he grasped the hands of his friends. ’ We do not fear,’ they answered. ’ I know you do not,’ he added. As Mladenowic and Chlum watched him mount the steps of the tower adjoining the convent, they saw him ’ smile, as if in gladness after his mockery, and hold out a hand as if blessing the people.’ That same night, as if to reassure them of his constancy, Hus wrote to his friends in Constance. It is remarkable that Hus already clearly discerned the real issue on which he would be condemned (see infra, p. 208, n 1). Another letter was written the following day to his unfailing friend John of Chlum, as well as a third to Peter Mladenowic.

LIV. To HIS FRIENDS STAYING ON IN CONSTANCE

( Without date : June 5, 1415)

God Almighty gave me to-day a stout and courageous heart. Two articles are now struck out. I hope, by God’s grace, more will be struck out. They were all crying out against me like the Jews against Jesus. They have not yet reached the main point at issue — to wit, that I should confess that all

208 LETTEES WRITTEN FROM the articles can be found in my little books.1 You made a mistake in putting in the tract Against a Secret Adversary, along with the treatise On the Church. Put in nothing except the Treatises against Stanislaus and Palecz. The nobles did well to demand that my manuscript should be restored to them ; for some cried out, ” Let it be burnt,” especially Michael the Pleader, whose voice I detected. I feel I have not in the whole company of the clergy a single friend except ” the Father ” 2 and a Polish doctor with whom I am not acquainted. I am indebted to the Bishop of Leitomischl for a good turn, though he said no more than, ” A co sem tobe ucinil?” (“And what have I done for you?”). I am very pleased that you have collected the articles ; it is well to publish and re-issue them in that form, etc. The leading men of the Council said that I should have another public hearing. They did not wish to hear my disquisition3 on the Church. Give my greetings to the faithful nobles and friends of the truth. Pray God for me ; for there is much need. I fancy they will not admit in my favour the opinion of St. Augustine concerning the Church and its members, both predestined and foreknown, and concerning evil prelates.4 Oh, that a hearing might be granted to me in order to reply to the arguments with which they intend to attack the articles that appear in my little books ! I imagine that many who cry me down would be put to silence. His will be done, as it is in heaven!

1 The real issue on which he was condemned. See infra, p. 224.

1 See p. 237. 3 Distinctionem.

4 See Doc. 204, 226. In this latter passage Hus gives his references to Augustine, but very vaguely. They are really taken from Wyclif’s De Ecclesia, c. i.

The Feanciscan Friary

From the conclusion of the following letter to Chlum we see that Hus had heard before he left Gottlieben of the arrest and imprisonment of Jerome of Prague. On hearing at Prague of the rupture between John and the Council, Jerome had hastened to Constance, in spite of the wish of Hus to the contrary (p. 182). There, on April 4, he posted a notice on the gates affirming the orthodoxy of Hus. This done, he deemed it wiser to withdraw to Ueberlingen, whence he wrote to the Council asking for a safeconduct. On April 7 he once more returned to Constance, and affixed another address to Sigismund and the Council on the doors of the Cathedral. He had come, he said, of his own free will to answer all accusations of heresy. But two days later he changed his mind, and slipped away from the city, in his haste leaving his sword behind him in his lodgings in the St. Paulgasse. He fled towards Bohemia, but at Hirsau was betrayed into an argument, in which he called the Council a synagogue of Satan. This led to his arrest (April 24). On the discovery from his papers of his identity he was forwarded to Constance loaded with chains. He arrived on May 23, and was taken at once to the Franciscan convent, ‘patiently carrying in his hand his iron fetters and long chain.’ There he was examined in a somewhat tumultuous congregation of the Council, and afterwards carried by night to a dungeon in the cemetery of St. Paul, and chained hand and foot ’ to a bench too high to sit on.’ For two days he was left to starve on a scanty supply of bread and water, until Peter Mladenowic found his prison and bribed the gaoler to give him better food. The darkness and foul surroundings soon brought on a sickness, from which with difficulty he recovered, only to find that in the interval his friend and leader, John Hus, had been burnt at the stake. The two men were destined never to meet.

LV. To JOHN OP CHLUM

( Without date : June 6, 1415)

To-morrow morning at ten o’clock 1 1 have to make my reply : first, as to whether I am willing to state

1 Many MSS. read hora sexto, instead of hora xvi. Reckoning time ecclesiastically, hora sexto, would be midnight. It is possible that time was not reckoned by Hus in this way, and that he intended ’ six A.M.,’ not at all an unusual hour for meetings.

210 LETTEES WRITTEN FEOM that each, of the articles taken from my books is erroneous, and that I abjure them and preach the opposite ; secondly, whether I will confess that I preached those articles which have been proved against me by witnesses ; l thirdly, that I abjure them. If God in His grace would bring Sigismund to the hearing, I should be glad for him to hear the words which the gracious Saviour will put into my mouth. If they would give me pen and paper, I should make reply, I trust, by God’s grace as follows : ” I, John Hus, a servant of Christ in hope, refuse to state that any one of the articles taken from my book is erroneous, lest I condemn the opinion of the holy doctors, and especially of the blessed Augustine. Secondly, I refuse to confess that I asserted, preached, and held the articles with which I have been charged by false witnesses. Thirdly, I refuse to abjure, lest I commit perjury.”

For God’s sake look after the letters carefully, and see that they are carried with like caution to Bohemia, lest grave dangers result to individuals. If by any chance I am not able to write any more to your dear lordship, I entreat you and all my friends to remember me, and to pray that God may grant constancy to me, together with my beloved brother in Christ, Master Jerome, because I imagine he also will suffer death, as I have gathered from the com missioners of the Council.

On the following letter Luther (Ep. Puss. G. 1) comments : ’ A beautiful instance of that spiritual experience of which the apostle Paul speaks — ” Strength is made strong in weakness.” ’

1 See previous letter, p. 208, n. 1.

The Fkanciscan Fbiary 211

This letter, without date, is attributed by Palacky to June 5, presumably early in the morning. But the audience that day was too hurried to well fulfil the conditions of the last clause. We think it is better to take it as written with a view to the adjourned audience. In the effects of this audience, after his former experience, Hus has ceased to have much confidence.

LVI. To PETER MLADENOWTC ( Without date : June 6, 1415)

I dare not rashly say with St. Peter that / shall never be offended in Christ, although all should be offended,1 seeing that I have incomparably less zeal and courage than he. For Christ has never plainly called me blessed like Peter,2 nor has He promised me so many gifts : the attack too is fiercer, more bewildering, and carried on by more numerous foes. Therefore what I say is that, having hope in Christ Jesus, I intend, so long as I shall hear His message,3 to cleave to the truth with your help and that of the saints, even unto death. If Baron John [of Chlum] incurs loss by reason of his expectations about myself, make it up to him, dear Peter, pending your return, so far as concerns the master of the Mint and his wife, who boldly pledged their credit,4 and also as regards my other friends, known to the rector who

1 Matt. xxvi. 33. 2 Matt. xvi. 17.

8 Dum audivero formam, the exact sense of which seems doubtful.

4 The master of the Mint from 1406-19 was Peter Swojsin Zmrzlik, whose wife, Anna of Frimburg, had much influence with Queen Sophia. It was at the house of this master of the Mint that the Bishop of Nazareth gave his famous certificate of orthodoxy to Hus (p. 143.) He was one of the arbitrators to whom the case of Hus was referred on July 6, 1411 (see p. 41), and in a popular song of 1418 (Doc. 692) is spoken of as one of the chief heretics,

212 LETTEES WRITTEN FROM read with me.1 If I have a horse left with a car, it ought to go to Baron John. Master Martin, however, if he is alive — or, at any rate, Master Christian, in whom I have complete confidence 2 — will make you a payment from the four guineas — I wish I could say ten guineas ! But no sum of money, be assured, can adequately repay your fervent, steadfast, loyal love of the truth and the kind offices and considerations you have shown me in my troubles. May God be your exceeding reward, for I have naught to reward you with. If I ever should live in Prague again, I should like you to share everything with me as freely as my own brother ; but the possibility of my return to Prague depends entirely upon the grace of God. I desire it not, if it is not the will of our Father Who is in heaven. My travelling breviary,3 which I bequeathed to Master Martin, will pass into the possession 4 of some one of the friends still with me. Dispose of my books according to the instructions I gave to Master Martin,6 and accept any of Wyclif’s works you care to have. At present my chief distress is over our brethren, who, I imagine, will suffer per secution unless the Lord lay bare His arm ; and I fear that many may be offended. Please, now as ever, give my affectionate greetings to all the Bohemian and Polish nobles, together with my thanks — and especially Baron Wenzel, etc., whom I desire to see present at the hearing of my case. Farewell in Christ Jesus.

1 Plebanus mcus scholaris — i.e. , Girzik. See p. 206 n.

• In spite of his apparent relapse. See p. 196 n. and 200, n. 1.

’ Viaticus, a breviary adapted to the use of travellers.

4 P. : cedet ; perhaps read cedat. • Cf. p. 151.

On the 7th Hus was again brought before the Council. The friary was surrounded by the town guard, and at an early hour the Council assembled for Mass. While the ritual was proceeding the sun was eclipsed, to the consternation of all. An hour later, about 8 A.M., Hus was brought before the court. This time Sigismund was present, so better order was maintained and more freedom given to the accused. Hus was first charged with holding Wyclif ‘s doctrine of remanence. This he denied. D’Ailli then went off into an argument to prove that Hus as a Realist was driven into remanence. Hus listened in patience, but when an Englishman took up the same tale he burst out : ’ This is the logic of school-lads.’ But another Englishman had the courage to declare : ’ Hus is right. What have these quibbles to do with a matter of faith ? ’

Zabarella then pointed out the number and standing of the witnesses against him. Hus replied that his witnesses were God and his conscience. ‘We cannot,’ retorted D’Ailli, ‘give our verdict according to your conscience, but according to the evidence.’ Hus had maintained that he was accused by his enemies, one of the few pleas to which the Inquisition ever attached importance. To this D’Ailli now turned: ‘You say that you suspect Palecz. Palecz has behaved with the greatest kindness. He has extracted the articles in a milder way than they are contained in your book. You go so far as to call the Chancellor of Paris your enemy, than whom you cannot find in all Christendom a more renowned doctor.’

One by one the old controversies and disputes were brought into court : the forty-five articles, the burning of the books, the expulsion of the Germans, and the rest. The day ended with some plain advice from Sigismund. He owned that he had given Hus a safe-conduct. As regards those who claimed that this was ‘ultra vires, he was not careful to answer in the matter : ’ for I have told them that I will not defend any heretic who is obstinately determined to stick to his heresy. So I counsel you to fling yourself wholly on the grace of the Council ; the quicker the better, lest you fall into a worse plight.’ Hus was then removed to the prison (Mladenowic’s Eelatio in Doc. 276-85).

That same evening Hus wrote to his friends, giving a vivid account of the day’s proceedings.

LVn. To HIS FBIENDS STAYING ON IN CONSTANCE ( Without date : June 7, 1415 J)

I, Master John Hus, in hope a servant of Jesus Christ, earnestly desiring that Christ’s faithful ones may take no occasion of scandal after my decease through deeming me an obstinate heretic, as they call me, do hereby write these words as a memorial to the friends of the truth, calling Christ Jesus to witness, for Whose law I have been longing to die : First, in very many private hearings, and subse quently in public hearings before the Council, I declared that I was willing to submit myself to guidance and control, to recantation and to punish ment, if I were convinced that I had written, taught, or in my reply stated aught that had been contrary to the truth. Furthermore, fifty doctors, com missioned, according to their own statement, by the Council, after being frequently censured by me for false extracts from the articles, and that too in a public hearing before the Council, declined to give me any instruction in private, nay, declined to confer with me, saying, ” You have to abide by the Council’s decision ” ; 2 while the Council, on my quoting, in a public hearing, the words of Christ or of the holy doctors, either derided me or said they could not understand me, and the doctors stated that I was bringing in irrelevant arguments. However, one of the cardinals, prominent in the Council and a member of the Commission,3 said in the public hearing of my case, holding a paper in his hands:

1 Some historians have taken this letter to refer to the audience of June 5. But Sigismund was not present on that day (see p. 207).

2 See p. 224. » Peter D’Ailli of Cambray (Doc. 276).

The Feanciscan Friary 215

“Here is an argument propounded by a master of theology : 1 reply to it.” It was the argument about the common essence which, I maintained, is present in the elements. He afterwards broke down, though reputed to be a most learned doctor of theology, so I went on to give him an account of the common created essence which is the first created esse, im parted to each several creature, and from which he wished to prove the remanence of the material bread. However, he soon came to the end of his tether and was reduced to silence. Then at once an English doctor2 rose to carry on the discussion, but he broke down in the same way. He was followed by another English doctor, who in a private hearing had re marked to me that “Wyclif wanted to destroy all learning,3 and that in each of his books and in his logical reasoning he laid down erroneous positions. He rose to his feet and began to discuss the multi plication of the body of Christ in the host; and broke down in his argument. When told to be quiet, he shouted out, ” This fellow is cleverly deceiving the Council ; have a care lest the Council be deceived as it was by Berengarius.” 4 “When he had finished,

1 Magigter sacrce theologies. M.S.T., S.T.P., and D.D. are almost interchangeable in the Middle Ages.

2 From Hardt, v. 97, we read there were present in .the Council ’ sixteen (English) masters in theology.’ Some of their names will be found in Hardt, v. 21-8. But it is impossible to identify the reference.

3 This doctor was not without some justification for this remark. See my Age of Wyclif, p. 219.

4 At the Synod of Rome in 1059 Berengarius was condemned for his disbelief in Transubstantiation, and fell upon his face and retracted. But on returning to Tours he once more preached his original ideas with increased vigour. Hus’s position and that of Berengarius were practically the same, as Hus recognises in Mon. i. 164. But his know ledge of Berengarius was probably wholly derived from Gratian’s Decretum, ed. Migne, p. 1754.

a man began a noisy speech on the created common esse ; but the crowd shouted him down. I stood up, however, and asked that he might be heard, while I said to him, ” Stick to your argument ; I should like to answer you.” But he broke down like the others, and muttered in a temper, “It’s heresy.” What a clamour, what hootings, hissings, and blasphemy arose against me in that assembly, is well known to Barons “Wenzel de Duba and John of Chlum and Peter his secretary, brave soldiers and lovers of God’s truth that they are. Though I was often overwhelmed by the loud uproar, I said at last, “I thought that in this Council there would be greater reverence, piety, and discipline.” Whereupon Sigismund ordered silence, and they all began to listen. But the Car dinal who presided over the Council1 said, “You talked more humbly at the castle.” 2 ” Yes,” said I, ” because no one was shouting at me then, but here every one is crying me down.” He answered, ” This is what the Council wants to know: do you wish to stand by your request for instruction ? ” ” Yes,” said I “most certainly, according to my protests.” He replied, ” Take this for the instruction you want : the doctors declare that the articles extracted from your books are erroneous: you ought to withdraw them and abjure the views charged against you by witnesses.” Sigismund, however, said, “You shall have a written statement shortly, and you will reply to that.” The Cardinal said : ” This will take place at the next hearing.” The Council then adjourned. God knows what temptations I suffered after it was all over.

1 John de Bronhiaco (Eubel s.t?.), Cardinal of Ostia (June 2, 1405 — February 16, 1426).

2 In castro ; at Gottlieben (see pp. 204 and 263).

After a night of sleepless pain, ’ toothache, vomiting, headache, and stone,’ Hus was brought up for his final hearing. Sigismund once more was present. Thirty-nine articles extracted from his De Ecclesia and other works were presented against him, and read aloud by an English delegate. Then Hus was allowed to make his limitations and exceptions. But one work, as Hus tells us (infra, p. 218), was not in evidence. Other charges were also introduced : his sermons to the laity against scandalous priests, and especially his celebration of the sacraments while still under excommunication. When Hus owned to this last, Zabarella made a sign to the notary that special record should be made. On the whole the trial was kept well in hand, in spite of the temptation of side issues. One interlude, however, is historical. Hus was defending the famous tenet of Wyclif : ’ If a pope, bishop, or prelate is in mortal sin, then he is not a pope, bishop, or prelate.’ He added incautiously that it applied to temporal rulers ; ’ a king in mortal sin is not really a king in the sight of God.’ Sigismund was leaning at that moment out of one of the windows telling Frederick of Nuremberg ’ that in all Christendom there was not a greater heretic than Hus.’ The Council saw their opportunity. ’ Call the King,’ shouted the prelates ; ’ bring him here, for this matter concerns him.’ ’ John Hus,’ said Sigis mund with dignity, when Hus had repeated his statement, ‘no one lives without sin.’ ’ It is not enough for you,’ said D’Ailli, ’ that you try by your writings and teachings to decry and over throw the spiritual estate, you now wish to hurl down the throne and royal .power.’ Hus tried to turn the tide by asking, ‘If John XXIII. was truly Pope, why was he deposed?’ ‘Baldassarre,’ answered Sigismund, ‘was truly Pope, but was deposed from the Papacy on account of his notorious crimes.’ Hus then fell back on a fine distinction between ‘quoad meritum’ and ‘quoad officium,’ and the arguments drifted off to the stock illustrations of Judas and Pope Joan (cf. supra, p. 125, n. 2).

At length D’Ailli summed up the decision of the Council. Hus must publicly recant and abjure. ’ I am prepared,’ answered Hus, ’ to obey the Council, and to be taught ; but I beseech you in the name of God, do not lay snares of damnation for me by compelling me to tell a lie, and abjure articles I never held.’ As he spoke of his conscience, many mocked. ’ Did your conscience,” they cried, ’ ever teach you that you had erred ? ’ ’ A f at priest, sitting in the window in a splendid garment, called out that he

218 LETTERS WRITTEN FROM ought not to be allowed to abjure. If he retract he will not mean it.’ But Sigismund pleaded with Hus, and asked wherein lay his difficulty in retracting errors that on his own showing he was unwilling to hold. ’ That, my lord king,’ answered Hus, ’ is not what they mean by abjuring.’ After a further warning from Sigismund, ’ I stand,’ replied Hus, ’ at the judgment seat of God, who will judge us all according to our merits.’

As he was led back ’ in chains ’ to prison, Chlum managed to grasp his hand, ’ though now rejected by all,’ a matter which gave Hus much comfort (see p. 221). Sigismund on his part addressed the assembly : ’ One only of the charges proved against Hus would suffice for his condemnation. If, therefore, he be unwilling to adjure and preach against his errors, let him be burnt, or do with him according to your laws… . Wherever his disciples be found, let the bishops tear them up root and branch. Make an end therefore of his secret disciples. I have to go away soon, so begin with that fellow what’s his name?’ ‘Jerome,’ they shouted. ‘Yes, Jerome. I was a boy when this sect first started in Bohemia. See what it has grown into now’ (Doc. 308-15).

This speech, duly reported by the listening Chlum and Mladenowic, cost Sigismund years of warfare and the crown of Bohemia. This hounding on of the Council to the breach of his own safe-conduct was never forgiven.

The same night Hus wrote as follows to his friends in Con stance. He realised clearly now that there was but one issue. A second letter, also without date, was written while the memory of Chlum’s warm grasp of the hand was still fresh.

LVIII. To HIS FBIENDS IN CONSTANCE ( Without date : June 8, 1415)

I am very glad that the Occultus is hidden ! l I have had more good food during these days than all the time from Easter to last Sunday.2 I thought there would be more order and dignity in the Council.3 A

1 Occultus est occultus. The treatise Contra Occultum Adversarium, written February 10, 1412 (see Man. i. 135 ff.). The dangerous point in this lay in its tenet that the King ought to punish bad priests.

2 While at Gottlieben. » Cf. pp. 216, 263.

THE FBANCISCAN FRIAEY 219 blessing for ever on my Lord John ! Would that I knew how Barbatus l is faring ; he would not take the advice of his friends. They have my book,2 so I am in no need at the present of that paper. Keep a copy of the first articles with my proofs attached 3 for the sake of proving any of them, should there be need ; attest them with your signature where I have put a cross,* especially this article : ” Whatever a virtuous man doth, he doth virtuously.” 5

At this moment I am racked with toothache, and I suffered agonies in my cell with vomiting, hemor rhage, headache, and stone. These are the penalties I pay for my sins, and the tokens of God’s love to me.

Since they have only condemned the treatises,6 please qualify my last Czech letter which I sent off to-day,7 that God’s people may not suppose that all my books have been condemned, as I imagined when I wrote my letter of yesterday. I would like to be assured that no letter written in prison shall be made public to any one, because it is not yet finally settled what God will do with me ! I am afraid that a letter of mine hath been forwarded by the hands of Ulrich.8 For God’s sake I beg you to look well after the letters and also your words and doings.

1 So Palacky (Doc. 108) : cf. p. 199, n. I. But MS. Hladenowic has ’ barbatus Hieronymus ’ — i.e., ” bearded Jerome ” ; and to this the next clause leads me to incline (cf. also pp. 182, n. 1, and 233); Jerome’s beard was a constant source of trouble to him and made him a marked man.

2 MS. of the De Ecdesia.

3 Still extant, preserved by Mladenowic (see Doc. 204 ff.).

4 Ib. s See Doc. p. 214.

• De Ecclesia and the Treatises against Palecz and Stanislaus.

7 This letter seems to be lost.

8 Ulrich, of whom we know nothing, had done Hus a good turn on June 5 by informing Mladenowic of the design to hurry the trial (p. 207).

“What a comfort your letters and my own have been to me ! I trust by God’s grace they will be used for men’s good. So long as I know that you and the nobles are in Constance, I am comforted even supposing that I am now to be led forth to death. I verily think that God sent you as angels to cheer me in my weakness and misery in the midst of my sore trials ; how great they have been, are, and are yet to be, God omnipotent knoweth Who is my mercy and refuge, my helper and my deliverer : in Him have I trusted.1

I was asked to-day by two persons who were sent to the prison, whether I had any more books of my own composition. I said, ” Yes.” They replied, “Where?” I said, “In Bohemia.” They then inquired whether I had them here. My answer was, ” No, not one, although I brought a Bible and other things in addition to the Sentences” 2 And now I have heard that my clerk John has left.3 They said, ” Have you no other conclusions to offer ? ” I replied, ” No,” which is true. ” Do you wish to abjure and recant ? ” said they. ” Come to the Council,” was my reply ; ” you will hear me there, as I have to stand before it and make my reply to it. Why do you trouble me ? Have you come to cheer the prisoner or disturb him ? ” Whereupon after some further speech they withdrew.

Look after the books. I do not know if you have them. Tell Master Jesenicz that the notary has

1 Ps. xvii. 4 ; inexact.

2 Peter Lombard’s Sentences, the great mediaeval text-book of theology (see also p. 140, n, 2).

8 Nothing is known of this ’ clericus Joannes,’ who, I imagine, had slipped back to Prague.

THE FRANCISCAN FEIAEY 221 unfairly altered my deposition as to the gloss of the edict, as indeed you heard ; for I stated this publicly in the Council.1

LIX. To THE SAME ( Without date : June 9 or 10, 1415 *)

/ love the counsel of the Lord more than gold and topazes ; 3 therefore I hope by the mercy of Jesus Christ that He will grant me His Spirit, to the end that I may stand firm in the truth ; for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.* The Lord Almighty be the eternal reward of my nobles, who steadfastly, stoutly, and faithfully stand on the side of justice. G-od will grant them to understand aright the truth in the kingdom of Bohemia. But to pursue the truth they must return to Bohemia laying aside all vainglory to follow a King that cannot die, a Man of sorrows but yet a King of glory Who hath the gift of eternal life.

How delightful it was to shake hands with Lord John, who was not ashamed to hold out his hand to a poor abject heretic, a prisoner in irons and the butt of all men’s tongues. I shall not perchance have much further speech with you. So greet all the faithful Bohemians when you see them. Palecz came to see me in prison when I was very ill. The

1 At the trial of June 8 Hus was questioned as to a gloss upon the bull of February 2, 1413 — the Lateran Council decree for the burning of the books of Wyclif. Hus stated that he had never seen it until it was shown him when in the Dominican prison. On being further ques tioned he confessed that he had heard that Jesenicz had written the gloss (Doc. 311). Jesenicz was now in Prague (supra, p. 206, ». 3).

2 1 judge the date from Chlum’s hand-shake ; see infra and p. 218.

• Ps. cxviii. 127, Vulg. * Matt. xxvi. 41.

222 LETTERS WRITTEN FROM greeting he gave me before the Commissioners 1 was this : ” Since the birth of Christ, there hath not arisen a more dangerous heretic than yourself, excepting “Wyclif.” He went on to say, ” Every one that hath heard you preach is infected with this heresy of yours that the substance of the material bread remains in the sacrament of the altar.” u Oh ! master,” said I, ” what a dreadful greeting this is, and what a dreadful sin you are guilty of ! I shall die or be burnt, if perchance I rise from my sick bed. What reward then will be given you in Bohemia ? ” and so on. Perhaps I ought not to have written this; it may look as if I hated him sorely. These words are ever in my heart : Put not your trust in princes, etc. ; 2 and again : Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm.3 For God’s sake be careful while you are here and when you return. Carry no letters. Forward books by friends sparingly.

You ought to know for a fact that I have had a struggle not to disclose my dreams ; * for I dreamt of the Pope’s flight before it took place ; and after telling Lord John, he said that very night, ” You will see him again.” I dreamt too of Master Jerome’s imprisonment, though not in its actual form ; of my own imprisonments also, where I should be taken and how they were disclosed, although not in their actual form. I have often had apparitions of hosts of serpents with heads at their tails, but not one was able to bite me ; and many other visions. I am telling you of these, not because I suppose myself

1 P. 174. 2 Ps. cxlv. 2, Vulg. » Jer. xvii. 5

• Cf. pp. 191-3. Chlum evidently was sceptical as to these dreams. Cf. his answer, p. 192 (second sentence).

to be a prophet and am puffed up, but to show you that I suffered temptation both of body and mind and what I have been most afraid of, to wit, that I might transgress the command of Jesus Christ. The words of Master Jerome came to my mind : “If I come to the Council, methinks I shall never return.” Andrew the Pole, a worthy tailor, said to me also when bidding me farewell : l ” God be with you ; I think you will not come back.” Beloved in God, faithful and loyal knight, my Lord John [Chlum], the King of heaven — not of Hungary — grant you an everlasting reward for your loyalty and the toils you undertake on my behalf !

From June 8 until the final scene Hus remained in prison at the Franciscan convent. As his letters show, every day he expected that it would prove to be his last. He little anticipated the four weeks’ respite, if such a name may be attached to the prolonga tion of his trials, cooped up in a narrow cell amid the sweltering heat of a June that drove Sigismund and others to seek a cooler retreat in the fields. This month’s grace was not as a rule granted to the victims of the Inquisition, unless indeed they were condemned to linger out the remnant of their days in some lonely cell. But Sigismund and the Council were both anxious to obtain a professed ‘penitent, whom they could send back to Bohemia reduced by his recantation to powerlessness. To obtain this end they exhausted, as the Letters of Hus show us, the resources of casuistry. Learned doctors and others plied him with all manner of ingenious illustrations, while great ’ Fathers ’ of the Council went out of their way to offer him convenient ‘baskets’ (p. 240), in which, as Paul, he might be ‘let down’ over the wall. But to all their blandishments Hus stood firm.

The student should understand clearly, what Sigismund had shown that he for one did not see (p. 218), the real point at

1 In Czech from this point to the end. In Man. i. 68, Neander, and others, the passage is mistranslated by taking the “Lord John” to be Hus, thus ascribing the whole of this beautiful sentence to the tailor Andrew !

224 LETTEES WRITTEN FROM issue between Hus and the Council, the ground on which he was executed. Hus was a martyr not so much to his convictions of the untruth of current beliefs, as because of his fidelity to conscience. As regards his heresies, he was, as he repeatedly told the Council, willing to abjure. Without the individuality of Wyclif, he was also without Wyclif’s clear conception of the value of the individual judgment. He expressly yielded himself, not once nor twice only, to the teaching of the Church. But he could not acknowledge that he recanted heresies which he had always stoutly disclaimed, and which the Council had attributed to him along with doctrines to which he confessed. ’ Serene Prince,’ said Hus to Sigismund, ’ I do not want to cling to any error, and I am perfectly willing to submit to the determination of the Council. But I may not offend God and my conscience by saying that I hold heresies that I have never held.’ For Hus truth was supreme : ’ I have said that I would not for a chapel full of gold recede from the truth.’ ’ I know,’ he had written in 1412, ‘that the truth stands and is mighty for ever, and abides eternally, with whom there is no respect of persons.’ Throughout his letters his chief anxiety is ’ lest liars should say that I have slipped back from the truth I preached.’ Few scenes in history are more touching or ennobling than the fidelity with which Hus refused to swerve from absolute truth even to save his life. He realised that it was better that he should burn than confess that he had ever held doctrines which his soul abhorred, as, for instance, the monstrous article alleged against him by a nameless doctor ‘that he had stated that he was the fourth person in the Trinity ! ’ (Doc. 318). To Sigismund and worldlings of that ilk recantation of such a charge seemed a bagatelle ; the falser the charge the easier to recant. But Hus thought otherwise. To Sigismund the breach of a safe-conduct was a mere matter of expediency ; to Hus a falsehood, however great its purchasing power, was a strain upon the soul that no mere “authority” could either sanction or pardon (p. 89).

Hus ” followed the gleam ” to the end, not counting the cost It is this emphasis by Hus of the great modern idea that the foundations of truth lie, not so much in unreasoning authority, as in the appeal which it makes to man’s consciousness and conscience — the two are often one — that gives to the last letters of Hus their undying value, and marks at the same time the

THE FEANCISCAN FEIAEY 225 rise of a new age. As Bishop Creighton well points out : ” A new spirit had arisen in Christendom when a man felt that his life and character had been so definitely built up round opinions which the Church condemned, that it was easier for him to die than to resign the truths which made him what he was.” ’ But of the truth of our estimate of the value and importance of these last letters the reader can judge for himself.

The letters of this last month for the most part are without date, nor are we anxious to date them. They are letters that deal with the great eternal principles and struggles of the soul. With these the time element has little concern.

The following letter is dated by Palacky as written before the trial. The whole tone of the letter, especially clause two, leads us to attribute it to the three weeks between the trial and the final scene, when Hus was visited by deputation after deputation anxious to overcome what they deemed the scruples of an overnice conscience. Luther’s comment to this epistle prefixed in the Epistolce Piissimce is most just : ’ Hus fights another battle between the flesh and the spirit over the confession of truth, a fight worthy of the knowledge of pious men.’

LX. To HIS FRIENDS STAYING ON IN CONSTANCE (Without date : after June 8, 1415)

I still urge you for God’s sake not to let any one get a look at my letters, nor let them be made public, because I am afraid of the risk to individuals. Be careful both in word and in action. Veit, if he is to remain here, ought to be very careful.2 I have, further, rejoiced greatly at the news that my gracious lord hath arrived.3 Our Saviour restored Lazarus to life after he had lain four days in the grave. He preserved Jonah for three days in the fish, and sent him forth again to his preaching. He

1 Papacy (new ed.) ii. 46.

2 He fell later on under suspicion. See p. 270.

• Possibly Chlum, to whom there is no letter since June 6.

226 LETTEES WRITTEN FEOM rescued Daniel from the lions’ den to write his prophecies. He saved the three children from the flames in the fiery furnace. He delivered Susannah when already sentenced and going forth to death.1 Would He not therefore be able likewise to liberate me, poor John Hus, from prison and from death if it should be for His glory, the welfare of the faithful, and my greater good ? His power is not shortened, Who by the angel released Peter from prison, when the chains fell off from his hands on the eve of his being brought forth to death in Jerusalem. His will ever be done ! I pray that it may be fulfilled in me for His glory and for my sins.

One of the doctors said to me that, whatever I did, I should submit to the Council, though my whole case was good and in order, and added, ” If the Council told you, ’ You have only one eye,’ although you have two, you ought to agree with the Council that it is so.” To which I replied, ” If the whole world told me so, as long as I have the use of my reason, I could not say so without resisting my conscience.” But after some further talk he with drew his remark, and said, ” You are right ; I did not give you a very good illustration.”

The Lord is with me as a mighty warrior. ” The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?” At these times I often sing to Him the response, Lord, I suffer violence; answer Thou for me.2 I know not what I shall say to my enemies. The Lord be with you.

1 Cf. pp. 197, 226. 2 Isa. xxxviii. 14.