The Franciscan Fkiary 227

LXI. To HENRY SKOPEK DE DUBA (Without date : June 9, 1415 l )

To the generous Lord Henry of Duba, my faithful and beloved lord. I commend you, my dear lord, to God. Fear Him as the Lord Almighty, love Him as the Father most holy, ever aim at Him in mind, works, and desire. For His sake carefully abstain from sin, do all the good you can, and be not afraid of the adversities of this world. For He is a Master that surely rewardeth wrongdoing, Who will not cause His faithful servant to be in need, will not weary him nor spoil him ; but the more he serves, the more will He enrich him, strengthen him, and make him a better man. He cannot forsake His servant, nor will He leave Him outside ; for He said, ” Where 1 am, there will My servant be also” 2 He doth not dismiss a faithful servant even if He requires him not, nor can his goods and sustenance be cut off. He hath served His servant before His servant served Him, seeing that for His servant’s sake He suffered a shameful and cruel death after enduring insults, shame, buffeting, scourging, and spitting. Oh, how wretched is that servant who doth not dare for such a Master to risk his good name and possessions, or even to suffer shame ! He knoweth not that he will most surely lose what he so miserably desires to keep, and a greater good withal ; for in this life he will keep men’s goodwill, paltry, slight, and fickle,

1 See next letter, with which it seems to have been enclosed. But part was/written before (see p. 229). For Henry Skopek, see p. 169, n. 2. In the MS. a note, perhaps by Mladenowic, has been added that the enclosed song is composed in ” dimeter trochaics, of which every two lines in succession rhyme with one another in the two last syllables.” The whole letter and song is in Czech. * John xiv. 3.

228 LETTERS WRITTEN FROM but when lie departs this life he will incur the hatred of all, both men and devils and angels, and thus, by reason of his poor-spirited service, he will lose eternal joy and grace.

At life’s end we shall know

What account we must show :

Holding cheap the All-wise,

‘Tis the flesh we most prize;

Lip-worship’s enough,

“While our body we stuff!

We pursue joys above

Like a cat that’s in love

With fish, but to fish

By no means doth wish !

There’s one like a cat

Whom you may guess at,

Foul and greedy and slow,

False and crafty and low;

With pride too he’s puffed :

But of this quite enough !

With such do not stand,

Or in judgment you’ll land.

I leave you, friend Duba,

My horse-cloth and bag.1

Remember me, please,

Whene’er you eat cheese.

May God be your crown

For all you have done.

May Hus have a part

In the grace of your heart!

May you die in the Lord,

A true saint adored !

Amen.

1 Manticam cum ephippio.

LXII. To A FRIEND (June 9, 1415)

[Forward this letter on parchment to Lord Henry Skopek, because it was in memory of him that I kept it by me in prison, and composed those verses in my leisure moments.]

Lord Henry,1 faithful friend in God, remember the good you have learnt from me and observe it, that you may presently attain to the heavenly joy. Remember that I said, “I hope God will send further trials to me.” I am writing the letters on the Sunday before the Feast of St. Yitus, in expecta tion of death.

The following letter is of great interest historically, as throwing light upon the way in which Hus himself regarded the matter of the safe-conduct. But his reflections after the event are not altogether fair to Sigismund’s intentions, and the statement concerning Lord Mikess Diwoky is hard to understand.

LXIII. To HIS BOHEMIAN FRIENDS ( Without date : shortly after June 8, 1415)

I am very pleased about Peter.2 I do not keep his letters, but destroy them at once. Big sheets 3 should not be sent to me, for I am afraid of the risk to the messenger and other persons. I beg you for God’s sake to get all the nobles to petition Sigismund in a body for a final hearing, because he was the only one in the Council to say that at the next hearing I should be allowed to reply briefly in writing. His

1 The rest of the letter is in Czech.

4 Mladenowic.

• Sexterni -* codices sex foliorum.

230 LETTEES WRITTEN FROM confusion will be great if that promise is unfulfilled.1 But methinks his word is as little to be trusted as in the matter of the safe-conduct. They told me in Bohemia to beware of that safe-conduct. Others said, ” He will hand you over to your enemies.” Lord Mikess Diwoky 2 remarked to me in the presence of Master Jesenicz, ” Master, you may take it for certain that you will be condemned.” I imagine he knew the King’s intentions. I thought that God’s law and truth would be his wisdom, only I fancy he has not much wisdom. He passed judgment upon me before my enemies did. If he had only held to the method of the Gentile Pilate who, on hearing the charges, said, u I find no fault in this man” 3 or, at least, if he had said, ” I gave him a safe-conduct ; if he doth not wish to abide by the decision of the Council, I will send him back to the King of Bohemia with your verdict and findings, in order that his Majesty, along with his clergy, may pass judgment on him”! Indeed, he sent word to me by Lord Henry Lefl4 and others that he desired to arrange a satis factory hearing for me, and if I did not accept the judgment he would send me back again in safety.

LXIV. To ALL THE PEOPLE OF BOHEMIA 5 (June 10, 1415)

Master John Hus, a servant of God in hope, to all the faithful Bohemians who love and will love God, praying that God may grant them to live and die

1 For this promise of Sigismund, see Doc. 308.

2 See p. 145, with which this statement seems a little contradictory, especially for one who was Sigismund’s own agent.

• John xix. 4. 4 See p. 151. * The whole letter is in Czech.

THE FKANCISCAN FEIAEY 231 in His grace and dwell for ever in the heavenly joy. Amen.

Faithful and beloved of God, lords and ladies, rich and poor! I entreat you and exhort you to love God, to spread abroad His word, and to hear and observe it more willingly. I entreat you to hold fast the truth of God, which I have written and preached to you from the Holy Scriptures and the utterances of His saints. I entreat you also, if any have heard in my preaching or private conversation that which is opposed to God’s truth, or if I have ever written anything of that kind — I trust God that it is not so — not to hold to it. I entreat you, if any have noticed frivolity in my words or actions, not to imitate it, but to pray God that it may please Him to pardon me.1 I entreat you to love and commend and culti vate priests of good life — especially those that are earnest students of Holy Writ. I entreat you to beware of deceitful men, and particularly of wicked priests, of whom the Saviour saith that they are in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves? I entreat you to be kind to the poor and to rule them justly. I entreat all citizens to be righteous in their business dealings. I entreat all artisans faithfully to follow their craft and take delight in it. I entreat all servants to be faithful servants of their masters and mistresses. I entreat masters to live a good life and faithfully to instruct their scholars, especially that they may love God and learn to give themselves to knowledge, in order to promote His honour, the welfare of the state, and their own salvation, but not for the sake of avarice or the praise of man. I entreat students of letters and other scholars to obey their masters in

1 Of. supra, p. 150. * Matt. vii. 15.

232 LETTEES WRITTEN FEOM things good, to imitate them, and diligently apply themselves to letters for the sake of God’s honour and their own salvation and that of other men. I entreat all the people to give thanks to Baron Wenzel of Duba, otherwise of Lestna, Baron John of Chlum, Lord Henry of Plumlow,1 Lord William Zajiic,2 Lord Myssa,3 and the other nobles in Bohemia and Moravia, and the faithful nobles of the kingdom of Poland, and ever gratefully to remember their zeal in having often resisted, as God’s brave defenders and helpers of His truth, the whole of the Council, telling them what they ought to do, and making replies with a view to my liberty, more especially Baron “Wenzel of Duba and Baron John of Chlum. Give credence to them, whatever their account of the proceedings shall be ; for they were present at the Council when I pleaded my cause, for several days. They know which of the Bohemians trumped up disgraceful charges against me, and how many those charges were, how the whole Council shouted against me, and how I replied to the questions which were put to me. I entreat you also to make supplication on behalf of his Majesty the King of Rome and Bohemia, of your Queen4 and nobles, that the God of love may abide with them in grace, both now and hereafter in eternal joy.

I write this letter to you in prison, bound with chains and expecting on the morrow the sentence of death, yet fully trusting in God that I shall not swerve from His truth nor swear denial of the errors, whereof I have been charged by false witnesses.

1 P. 189. 2 P. 200, n. 3. a P. 200, n. 4.

4 Wenzel and Sophia. Wenzel had refused to own his deposition as “King of Rome ” (see p. 18).

What grace God hath shown me, and how He helps me in the midst of strange temptations, you will know when by His mercy we meet in joy in His presence. Of Master Jerome, my beloved friend, I hear nothing J except that he too, like myself, is in a noisome prison waiting for death, and that on account of his faith which he showed so earnestly to the Bohemians. The Bohemians are our fiercest enemies,2 and have put us under the power and custody of other adversaries : pray for them, I beseech you. Also I entreat you, especially people of Prague, to support the chapel at Bethlehem, so far as God shall permit His holy word to be preached there. It is on account of that chapel that the devil hath blazed forth with anger, and it is against it that he hath aroused parish priests and cathedral clergy ; in truth he felt that his kingdom was being overthrown in that place. I trust that God will preserve that chapel as long as it is His pleasure,3 and cause greater good to be done there by others than by me, His unprofitable servant. I entreat this too of you, that ye love one another, defend good men from violent oppression, and give every one an opportunity of hearing the truth. I am writing this with the help of a good angel* on Monday night before St. Vitus’s Day.5

1 Cf. note on ‘barbatus’ on p. 219, n. 1. 2 Cf. pp. 147, 165.

• Destroyed by the Jesuits in 1786. See also p. 79, supra.

4 i.e., whoever at the Franciscan acted the part of gaoler Robert.

8 The great Cathedral of Prague was dedicated to St. Vitus ; hence the point. St. Veit’s Day was June 15, which that year fell on a Saturday. Vitus, with his nurse Crescentia and her husband Modestus, was one of the Sicilian martyrs under Diocletian. The cult was wide spread. His arm was brought from Corbey to Prague at an early date, while Charles IV. in January 1356 secured the head from Pavia. At this town, next to Bohemia, lay the centre of his cult. (See AotaSS., June xv. 491-519; Pertz, Hon. Germ. ii. 576-85.)

LXV. To HENEY SKOPEK DE DUBAJ (June 13, 1413)

God be with you, my dear lord! Your notes reached me on Wednesday before St. Vitus’s Day.2 I looked at them with a happy heart, although in prison, bound with chains and expecting my deathsentence. I entreat you, dear lord, live as the law of God commands and observe what you have heard from my lips: if there hath been aught of wrong therein, spurn it. Nevertheless I trust, by the Saviour’s mercy, you have learnt nothing from me that hath been contrary to His holy will. I cannot write at length ; but in a few words I counsel you to keep in your heart God’s counsels, to be kind to the poor, to abstain from pride, to lead a chaste life, and to remember these words : ” What thou art, what thou wert, what thou wilt be, ever ponder: ponder too the matter, the place, the subject, the ‘why,’ the ‘how,’ the ‘when’ of thy words.”3 Dear lord, remember me, and give my greeting to your wife and family and all my friends; for you will never methinks look upon my face again, as I am every moment expecting the sentence of death. Sent off on Thursday before St. Vitus’s Day. God be with you, dear Bohemians, and with me a sinner; it is for His holy law that I suffer.

1 The letter is in Czech. Of. Letters LXI. and LXJI. to the same.

2 i.e., June 12.

3 See also next letter, p. 237. I do not know the source of this quotation.

LXVI. To MASTER MARTIN, HIS DISCIPLE l

(June 16, 1415)

Master Martin, my dear disciple and brother in

Christ ! Live according to Christ’s gospel and put on diligence that you may preach the word of God.

I beg you, for God’s sake, love not a fine garment

Alas ! I loved and wore one, thus giving no example of humility to the people I preached to. Delight to read the Bible, and especially the New Testament ;

and where you do not understand, refer at once to the commentators when you have them at hand.

Beware of talking with women, and especially be careful in hearing their confessions, lest you be caught in the snare of wantonness ; for I trust you have been preserved a chaste virgin2 unto God.

Do not be afraid to die for Christ, if you would live with Christ. For He Himself saith: Fear ye not them that kill the body and are not able to kill the soul? If they shall charge you with complicity in my heresy,* say, ” I hope my master was a good

Christian; but as to what he wrote and taught by way of protest in the schools, I did not understand it all, nor did I read it through.” I think you will find things are as I say ; but I hope by the mercy of God and by the help of good men that they will let you depart in peace, though Palecz and his party are striving to get a summons against all my adherents.5 Be assured that the Lord still lives,

“WTio will be able to keep you all steadfast in His grace and to put to death and destroy in hell the enemies of the truth.

1 With this letter compare No. XXXV. 2 Of. Eev. xiv. 4. » Matt. x. 28. * De adhcesione. * Cf . p. 222.

I commend my brethren to you ; treat them as you know how, dear friend. I trust you will give my greetings to the holy Petra with Duora and her family, and to all the friends belonging to the Bethlehem, Katherine called Hus, a holy virgin, I hope, Girzik l the rector, the lady of Zderaz, Michael of Prachaticz, Maurice Kacer, and all the friends of the truth, Jeskonissa, Gregory, and all the masters, Jesenicz, Kuba, the two Simons, Nicholas and Hawlik.2 “Whoever hath the books, or is to have them, must be careful with them. Greet the doctors my beloved brethren in Christ, the shoemakers, the tailors, and the book-writers also, asking them to be zealous for Christ’s gospel and to be ’ lowly wise ’ and not to use their own glosses, but those of the doctors of the Church. Ask without fail Lord Henry Lefl to give a guinea to James, the book-writer, as he promised to him. Greet Matthew, once a member at the Bethlehem, and Matthew Chudy, especially that he may pray for me a sinner, and the faithful John Vitlin. If you think proper, apprentice the sons of my brother to a craft, for I fear they would not guard an ecclesiastical calling as they ought, should they take to it. Make such repayment as you can to my creditors, who have my bond. Should they wish to let me off for God’s sake and out of love to me, God will give them the more. Hold fast whatever good you learnt from me. If you saw anything unseemly in me, cast it from you and pray

1 Cf. pp. 151, 206. One of the ” Simons ” would be Simon Tissnow.

• Cf . p. 274, where they are again associated together. Nicholas I take to be Nicholas Miliczin (see p. 80). Hawlik or Gallus was at this time the preacher at the Bethlehem. Cf. pp. 248, 275. Michael of Prachaticz was a public notary (cf. Doc. 331 and passim).

The Franciscan Fkiaey 237

God that it may please Him to spare me. ” Ponder always what you are, what you were, what you will be ” (supra, p. 234.) Mourn the past, mend the present, beware of the future — I am speaking of sins. May the God of all grace strengthen you in His grace with all the brethren named above and the others likewise, and may He bring you to glory, in which, I trust, we shall all rejoice together by His mercy, before thirty years have passed away. Farewell evermore, my dear brother in Christ Jesus, with all who love the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Written in prison on Sunday after the Feast of St. Vitus.

The two following letters of Hus introduce us to a most interesting episode in these last dark days, and show us some of the influences brought to bear upon the Reformer to induce him to be false to himself, and to recant. Every artifice of casuistry was employed to bring out this result; and leaders of the Council added their persuasions. Among these leaders was one whose name we do not know, but whom Hus here calls the ” Father.” Of his kindly feelings towards the Reformer Hus has already told us ; he was the only one in all the Council upon whose sympathies Hus could count (p. 208). In the following letter the ” Father ” tried to persuade Hus to yield to the Council’s demands. The letter is without date, and is anonymous, though several copies of it have been preserved for us. Unfortunately not even Mladenowic has added in the margin the name of the writer. Luther in the Epist. Piissimce identified ” Pater ” with John Cardinalis, whom he mistakenly took to be John de Bronhiaco (p. 216 n.), Cardinal of Ostia, the president of the Council. That this cannot be ” Pater ” seems to me clear from the first sentence of his letter on p. 240. If we are to look among the cardinals I should incline to Zabarella, who at the Council on June 8 had promised Hus that he would send ‘a form of abjuration sufficiently guarded’ (Doc. 309). The legal reference in the last clause of his second letter is suitable to one who was the pre-eminent canonist of

238 LETTEES WRITTEN FROM the Council ; while his rank would account for his desire to be anonymous. But any identification is at the best a mere guess, and Zabarella’s after conduct does not lend weight to the surmise.

The ” Father’s ” first letter took the shape of a form of recanta tion, which Hus was to fill up and sign. Hus in his reply points out his real difficulty. Though not very clearly put, there is no note of faltering.

THE “FATHER” TO MASTER JOHN Hus ( Without date : middle of June 1415)

A form suggested by the ” Father ” to John Hus for giving in his submission to the decision of the Council, abjuring and recanting.

I being so and so, etc. Over and above the declarations made by me, which I desire to be understood as repeated, I declare anew that although much is laid to my charge which never entered my mind ; none the less in the matter of all the charges brought forward, whether raised against myself or extracted from my books or even the depositions of witnesses, I hereby submit myself humbly to the merciful appointment, decision, and correction of the most holy General Council, to abjure, to revoke, to recant, to undergo merciful penance, and to do all things and several that the said most holy Council in its mercy and grace shall deem fit to ordain for my salvation, commending myself to the same with the utmost devotion.

LXVII. MASTER JOHN Hus TO THE ” FATHER ” (Without date : middle of June)

May the Father Almighty, most wise and most loving, be pleased to grant to my ” Father,” highly esteemed for Christ Jesus’s sake, the everlasting life of glory.

Reverend Father, I am truly grateful for your pious and fatherly kindness. I dare not submit myself to the Council in the terms you have suggested, because

THE FBANCISCAN FEIAEY 239 thereby I should have to condemn many truths which, as I have heard from their own lips, they call “scandalous,” and also because I should be guilty of perjury if I abjured and confessed that I have held erroneous views; and thereb}^ I should greatly scandalise God’s people who have heard the contrary in my preaching. If then the holy Eleazar, who lived under the old law, and of whom we read in Maccabees,1 refused to make a lying confession that he had eaten flesh forbidden by the law so as not to act against God’s will and to leave an evil example to his descendants, how could I, a priest of the new law, albeit unworthy, for fear of a penalty which will soon be over, be guilty of the more grievous sin of breaking God’s law ? In the first place, I should err from the truth, in the second I should commit perjury, and thirdly I should be a stumbling-block to my neighbours. Assuredly it is fitting for me rather to die than to flee a momentary penalty to fall into the Lord’s hand and afterwards, perchance, into everlasting fire and shame. And because I have appealed to Christ Jesus,2 the most potent and just of all judges, com mitting my cause to Him, therefore I stand by His judgment and sentence, knowing that He will judge every man not on false and erroneous evidence but on the true facts and merits of the case.

The ” Father ” was not satisfied with this reply, or with the appeal with which the letter had concluded. Probably he did not discern the real difficulty of Hus from his reply. At any rate, he would make one more effort. His next letter is a most inter esting piece of casuistry and special pleading. The last sentences would seem to indicate sympathy with the life and spirit of Hus. If so, they rule out Zabarella, or for that matter any cardinal. 1 2 Mace. vi. 18 ff. » P. 79.

Hus in his reply was uncompromising in his rejection of the ’ basket ’ which the ” Father ” offered for his escape. With this reply the incident closed, and the ” Father ” left Hus to his fate. But he was still pestered by others eager to prove their powers of argument, among them, we learn with interest, by an old Augustinian monk, the delegate from Luther’s university, Erfurt. ’ No theologian,’ cried the enthusiastic chronicler, ’ was able to over come Hus in argument save that old father alone.’

THE “FATHER” TO MASTER JOHN Hus (Without date : middle of June 1415)

In the first place, my most dearly beloved brother, do not be moved by the fact that thou condemnest certain truths ; for judgment is not passed by thee, but by those who are thy elders — yea, and our elders ’ at the present time. Take heed to this word : ” Lean not on thine own understanding.” There are many intellectual2 and conscientious men in the Council. Listen to the law of thy mother. So much for the first point.

Item, in the second place, as to perjury. If that were perjury, it would not recoil on thee, but on those who compel it.

Item, so far as thou art concerned, there are no heresies if thou cease from obstinacy. Augustine, Origen, the master of the Sentences, and others erred, but joyously came back. Several times I have believed that I understood aright some things wherein I was mistaken ; when admonished, I came back with gladness.

Item, I write briefly, for I address one that understandeth. Thou wilt not swerve from the truth, but thou wilt draw nigh to it, and so be not worse off, but better. Thou wilt not be a stumbling-block, but a builder up. Eleazar the Jew had glory ; the Jewess with her seven sons and the eight martyrs had more glory.3 None the less Paul was let down in a basket 4 to gain greater blessings. The Lord Jesus, the Judge to whom thou hast appealed, grants thee release from thy appeal & in these words : Still greater conflicts shall be given thee for the faith of Christ.

1 Proof that he was not John de Bronhiaco. 2 Scientifici.

• 2 Mace. vi. 17-vii. 4 2 Cor. xi. 33.

5 Dat vobig apostolos. See apostoli in Ducange, and note that the word was in use at the time of the Council for an appeal from the Pope to the Council.

LXVIII. MASTER JOHN Hus TO THE ” FATHEB” (Without date : middle of June 1415)

The Council hath often made all these demands of me ; but it is for the reason that they involve my recantation, abjuring, and the undergoing of penance, in which case I should have to give up many truths. Secondly, I should be forced to abjure, and so be a perjurer by admitting the errors which have been falsely laid to my charge. Thirdly, I should be a stumbling-block to many of God’s people to whom I have preached ; for which cause it were fitting that a millstone were hanged about my neck and I be cast into the depths of the sea.1 Fourthly, if I took this course in my wish to escape a brief con fusion and punishment, I should fall into the deepest confusion and punishment of all, unless I humbly repented before death. Therefore for my comfort I have bethought me of the seven Maccabean martyrs, who desired rather to be cut into pieces than to eat flesh contrary to the law of the Lord.8 I recall too the holy Eleazar, who, as it is written, refused only to say that he had eaten flesh forbidden by law, lest he should offer a bad example to pos terity, but rather endured martyrdom. How, then, with the holy men and women of the gospel before my eyes, who gave themselves up to martyrdom rather than consent to sin, could I, who have preached on patience and constancy for so many years, be guilty of many falsehoods and of perjury, and so scandalise the children of God? Far be it from me ; for Christ the Lord will abundantly reward me, by granting me strength to endure in

1 Matt, xviii. 6. * Of. p. 240, n. 3.

242 LETTEES WEITTEN FEOM this present life and glory in that which is to come.

The next letter of Hus is remarkable for the boldness with which Hus asserted his position, and the strong sarcasms it contains upon the actions of the Council in their treatment of Pope John. The reader will remember that Hus had attempted a diversion on this matter at his trial (see p. 217), and had been frustrated by Sigismund. Nor does Hus forget to expose the logical inconsistency of Palecz and Stanislaus. From first to last the letter contains no note of doubt or hesitation. Hus has faced the issues and decided. At one time he was willing to leave himself in the hands of the Council. Now he is convinced that the Council is not a trustworthy guide. In other respects the reader will note the growing decision and firmness of tone of his letters as the end draws nigh.

The letter is undated ; nevertheless it contains some evidence of time. The ‘last copy of the articles,’ to which Hus refers on p. 244, were ’ the articles read against the doctrine and person of Hus on June 18 in public congregation,’ a copy of which, with Hus’s corrections in writing, has been preserved for us by Mladenowic (Doc. 225-33). Another mark of time will be found in the reference in the last paragraph to the decree of the Council forbidding the cup. This fatal decree, which deluged Bohemia with blood, was formally passed on June 15, 1415.

LXIX. To HIS FRIENDS IN CONSTANCE ( Without date : after June 18, 1415)

Most gracious lords, faithful zealots for the truth, my comforters in the truth, sent of God to my aid like angels ! I cannot write fully of all the gratitude I feel for your constancy and the kindly offices you have shown to me a sinner, yet a servant in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ; but I pray that Jesus Christ Himself, our loving Creator, Eedeemer, and Saviour, may reward you in this present life and grant to you Himself as the best recompense in that which is to come. Therefore I exhort you by His mercy to give heed to His gospel and especially to His most holy commands. My noble Baron “Wenzel [Duba], take to yourself a wife,1 live holy in matrimony, and forsake the vanities of this world. And you, Baron John [Chlum], now that you have left the service of earthly kings,2 abide at home with your wife and children in the service of God; for you see how the wheel of the world’s vanity turns, now lifting a man up and anon setting him down, while it gives but a brief solace to the man it lifts up, for thereafter ensues the eternal punish ment in fire and darkness.

You know now the manner of life of these spiritual folk, who assert that they are the true and evident vicars of Christ and His apostles, proclaiming them selves the Holy Church and the most Holy Council which cannot err ; though indeed they did err when at the first they offered homage on bended knees to John XXIH., kissing his feet, and calling him most holy, when they knew he was ’ a shameful homicide, a Sodomite, a simoniac and a heretic,’ as indeed they afterwards phrased it in their condemnation of him.3 Now they have cut off the Church’s head, they have torn out the Church’s heart, they have drained the Church’s unfailing spring, they have made utterly to fail the all-sufficient unfailing refuge of the Church to

1 See p. 272, where we find that by Jnne 29 Wenzel Dnba had determined on marriage. This is another factor in settling the date as after June 15.

2 Chlum, it would appear, had left Sigismund’s court, though the Latin might be construed as an exhortation to leave (cf . infra, p. 269).

1 Hus is quoting the words of the condemnation ; see Hardt, iv. 196208, 228-55. For the value of these charges see my Age of Hut, App. C. John was deposed on May 29,

244 LETTERS WRITTEN FROM which every Christian should flee. “What becomes then of the opinion of Master Stanislaus of happy memory (God be merciful to him), of Palecz, and his fellow doctors, who laid down 1 through Stanislaus that the Pope is the head of the Church, its all-sufficient ruler, its life-giving heart, its unfailing spring over flowing with authority, the channel by which all power descends to subordinates, the unfailing refuge which meets the needs of every Christian and to which every Christian should flee? Even now, believing Christendom exists without a Pope, that paragon of virtue ! seeing that it has Christ Jesus as its Head to direct it best of all, Christ Jesus as its Heart to give life to it, the life of grace, Christ Jesus as its Fount, watering it with the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus as its Channel, wherein flows all the rivers of His graces, Christ Jesus as its all-satisfying and unfailing Refuge, to which in my misery I run back with the steadfast hope that He will not fail me in direction, in renewal, and succour, but will deliver me from my sins and this present evil world and reward me with unending joy.

Moreover, the Council has erred three times or more by making wrong extracts from my books, by rejecting some of the articles whose meaning they have wrested and confused, and finally by curtailing some of them in the last copy of the articles, as will be clear to all who see the books and articles in question.2 Therefore I plainly conclude along with yourselves, that not everything that the Council doth, saith, or pronounces is approved of Christ, the truthful Judge. Blessed then are those who keep the gospel, and recognise, flee, and reject the pomp,

1 March 1413 ; see Doc, 507 ff. 2 See Doc. 225-33.

THE FRANCISCAN FEIARY 245 the avarice, the hypocrisy and the craft of Antichrist and his ministers, while they look with patience for the coming of the righteous Judge.

I beseech you by the tender mercies of Jesus Christ to flee all evil-living priests, but to love those that are good according to their works ; and as much as lieth in you, together with all the faithful, suffer not the barons and lords to oppress them : it was for this that God did set you over others. I imagine there will arise a great persecution in Bohemia against those who faithfully serve God, unless God lay bare His arm through the secular lords whom He hath enlightened by His gospel more fully than the lords spiritual. What madness to condemn as error the gospel of Christ and that epistle of Paul which he saith he received not of man but of Christ,1 aye, and to condemn the very act of Christ with the acts of His holy apostles and the other saints ! I mean the communion of the sacrament of the cup 2 of our Lord, instituted for all adult3 believers. They actually call it an error that believing laymen should be permitted to drink of the Lord’s cup, and if any priest should give them the cup to drink, he is, forsooth, to be dubbed erroneous; and if he doth not cease the practice, he must be condemned as a heretic ! 4 St. Paul thus saith to all believers : As often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of our Lord until He

1 Gal. i. 1. 2 Cf. pp. 169, 177, 248.

• This word should be noted. The later Hussites in their enthusiasm for the Eucharist fell back upon the custom of infantile communion, and their demand in this matter formed one of the difficulties of the Council of Basel.

4 See the Council’s decree (June 15, 1415) in Hardt, iv. 334.

246 LETTEES WRITTEN FEOM come1— that is, until the Judgment Day, when He will come ; and lo ! it is now said that the custom of the Roman Church is the very opposite of this !

In the following letter Hus defines more clearly than he had done for the ” Father” his real difficulty in accepting the Council’s ’ basket ’ of escape. The end of the letter shows the peace of soul in which Hus was now living. On the same day he wrote a letter to Hawlik, the priest of the Bethlehem, in which he defined very clearly his views as to the decree of the Council withholding the cup. Hawlik, it would seem, was one of those to whom Chlum had referred, who had been disturbed by the matter (p. 169), and had not hesitated to attack Jakoubek (see p. 177).

LXX. To HIS FBIENDS IN CONSTANCE (June 21, 1415)

This is my final intention in the name of Jesus Christ : I refuse to confess that the articles which have been extracted in their proper sense are erroneous, and I refuse to abjure those which have been laid to my charge by false witnesses, because to abjure them is to confess that I held an error or errors; nor will I depart from them and hold the opposite. For God knows I never preached those errors, which they have concocted by withdrawing many truths and introducing falsehoods. If I were convinced that any of my articles were contrary to the truth, I would most gladly amend and revoke them, and teach and preach the opposite ; but I think there is none of them contrary to the gospel of Christ and the teachings of the doctors of the Church, although called ’ scandalous ’ and ’ erroneous ’ by those they displease. Therefore, whatever false

» 1 Cor. xi. 26.

meaning be contained of my set purpose in any article whatsoever, I abhor it, and submit myself to the correction of my almighty and supreme Master, trusting that of His infinite mercy He -will cleanse me from secret sins. I return thanks to all the barons of the kingdom of Bohemia, to knights and retainers, and especially to King Wenzel and to the Queen, for having shown me affection, and having piously entreated me, and for having earnestly striven for my release. I thank Sigismund too for all the kindness he hath shown me.1 I thank all the Bohemian and Polish lords for having loyally and steadfastly stood out for the truth and my liberty,2 and I yearn for the salvation of them all, both now in grace and hereafter in glory everlasting. May the God of all grace bring you alive in bodily and spiritual health to Bohemia, that there you may serve Christ as King and attain to the life of glory, Greet all my friends, whose names I cannot write down ; for if I should write some names and omit others, I might be deemed a respecter of persons, and those whose names I omitted might suppose I had forgotten them or loved them not as I ought. Written in prison, in chains, on Friday before the feast of St. John Baptist.

JOHN Hus, in hope a servant of Jesus Christ, from the hope of Whom the devil could never, and will never, separate me, guided as I am by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, blessed for ever and ever. Amen.

1 It is difficult to know whether to take this as sarcasm or the kindliness of forgiveness. * See p. 204. Doc. 550-55.

LXXI. To GALLUS (HAWLIK *), PREACHER IN THE BETHLEHEM

(June 21, 1415)

My beloved brother, Master2 Gallus, preacher of Christ’s word, do not oppose the sacrament of the Lord’s cup, which was instituted of Christ both of Himself and through His apostles. For there is no Scripture against it ; but only a custom which hath grown up, as I think, through negligence. Only we ought not to follow custom, but the example and truth of Christ. Now 3 the Council, on the plea of custom, hath condemned as an error the communion of the cup so far as the laity are concerned, and he who practises it must be punished as a heretic, unless he come to his senses. What a piece of wickedness, to condemn after all these years Christ’s institution as an error! I beg you for God’s sake cease your attack on Master Jakoubek,4 lest there be a schism among the faithful to the delight of the devil. Also, dear friend, prepare to suffer for the eating of the bread and the communion of the cup, and take a brave stand on Christ’s truth, laying aside all unlawful fears and comforting the other brethren in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will, I think, give you the arguments for the communion of the cup, which I wrote in Constance.6 Greet Christ’s

1 See p. 177, and for Hawlik pp. 172, 236, 275.

8 D. (dominus) which, like the old English ” Sir,” was applied to priests. Cf. p. 187.

s Jam. ‘But jam and mine are interchangeable in mediaeval Latin.

4 See pp. 169, 177.

• See p. 170 and Mon. i. 42-4.

faithful ones. “Written in chains on the eve of the ten thousand soldier-martyrs (militum.1)

In these last days the thoughts of Hus turned once more to his old friend and comrade in past struggles, Christian Prachaticz. Christian unfortunately, as the reader will remember, had some what fallen away. We feel the shadow of this fall cast over this last brief letter of Hus to one who had been at one period his closest correspondent. (See supra, p. 196, n. 1.)

LXXII. To MASTER CHRISTIAN ( Without date : about June 22, 1415)

Master Christian, my master and particular bene factor, take your stand on Christ’s truth and cling to the faithful. Do not be afraid; for the Lord will shortly grant you a defence and increase the number

1 For the legend of the ’ Ten Thousand Martyrs ’ see Acta Sanctorum, June 22, vol. v. 151-62. The authority for this legend originally cited seems to have been Bede’s Marty rologium (Migne, vol. xciv. p. 954), but this work in its present form owes much to twelfth-century additions. June 22 is the Day of St. Alban and the two thousand British martyrs. I imagine the ‘Ten Thousand’ was due to continental rivalry. The ’ Ten Thousand ’ were said to have been crucified on Mount Ararat under Marcus Aurelius. Their feast was celebrated at Cracow, Breslau, at Paris in the Church of the Celestines, and especially at Prague, in the treasury of which were many relics of these fabled heroes. Hence the allusion of Hus, for whom relics had a charm (see p. 85). Spanish writers crowned the absurdity by claiming that they were Spaniards.

This tale was one of the earliest to be discredited. Before the end of fourteenth century Ralph de Rivo in his book De Obsercatione Canonum (in Hittorpius, De div. Cath. Ecoles. Officiis, Paris, 1560, pp. 1103-63) mentions this among the fables to which Rome lent no sanction (’ de decem millibus martyrum, quae fabulosae — dicam donee aliud videro — finguntur,’ ib. p. 1121).

I may add that Hus’s reading ‘militum’ if genuine is probably a corruption from ‘millia,’ and certainly is not found in the usual versions of the tale (e.g. Usuard’s Martyrologium, ed. Louvain, 1568).

260 LETTEES WRITTEN FROM of Christ’s faithful ones. Be kind to the poor, as you have ever been. You have, I hope, kept your chastity and fled avarice ; continue to flee it, and for your own sake do not be a pluralist. Ever hold fast the Church, that the faithful may flock to you as to a kind father. Greet affectionately Master Jakoubek and all friends of the truth. Written in chains, in expectation of being burnt.

Luther’s comment on the following beautiful letter will be, we think, the verdict of all its readers. ’ Read this,’ he wrote, ‘and you will rejoice.’ In no letter does Hus rise to serener heights of resignation and conviction. The last paragraph is especially beautiful, and in the copy which I have used of the Epistolce Piissimce they have been underlined by one who, long ago, gained comfort from them.

The Council evidently had not yet given up all hopes of procuring a recantation. Palecz, we note, is somewhat softening towards his old friend, but Michael is as relentless as ever. But the issue had passed from their hands.

LXXIII. To HIS FRIENDS AT CONSTANCE (June 23, 1415)

Dear friends, I must tell you of what Palecz said when urging me not to trouble about the confusion of abjuring, but to consider the good that would come of it. I replied, ” It is a greater confusion to be condemned and burnt than to abjure ; how, then, can I be afraid of the confusion ? But give me your own ideas ; how would you act if you knew as a fact that you did not hold the errors ascribed to you ? “Would you be willing to abjure ? ” He replied, ” It is a difficulty,” and began to weep. We discussed many other plans which I objected to. Michael, poor

THE FRANCISCAN FEIAEY 251 fellow, was several times at my prison with the deputies. When I was engaged with the deputies he said to the gaolers : ” By God’s grace we shall soon burn this heretic who has cost me many a florin.” Understand that in writing this I do not yearn for vengeance on him ; this I have left with God. I am praying for him with all my heart.

Once more I urge you to be careful with the letters. Michael hath arranged that no one is to be allowed in the prison ; the gaolers’ wives are not allowed admission. 0 holy God, how widely hath Antichrist extended his cruel power ! but I think it will be cut short, and his iniquity further stripped bare among the faithful people. God Almighty will strengthen the hearts of His faithful ones whom He hath chosen before the foundation of the world that they may receive an incorruptible crown. Let Antichrist rage as he will, he shall not prevail against Christ, (Who shall slay him with the breath of His mouth,1 as saith the apostle. And then the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, saith the apostle, adding, We ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body.2

I am greatly comforted by that saying of our

1 Cf. Luther’s famous hymn (trans. Carlyle) : — And let the prince of ill Look grim as e’er he will, He harms us not a whit. For why ? his doom is writ. A word shall quickly slay him. and remember that Luther had read this letter. * Eom. viii. 21, 23.

Lord : Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man’s sake. Be glad in that day and rejoice ; for behold your reward is great in heaven.1 A good greeting, nay, the best of all, yet difficult — I do not mean to understand, but — to live up to fully; for it bids us rejoice in those tribulations. It was a rule observed along with the other apostles by James, who saith: Count it all joy when you shall fall into divers temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience, and patience hath a perfect work.2 Verily, it is a difficult thing to rejoice with tranquillity, and to count it all joy in the midst of divers temptations. It is easy to quote and expound the words, but difficult to carry them out when that most patient and brave Soldier, although He knew He would rise again on the third day and overcome His foes by His death and redeem the elect from damnation, was yet after the last supper troubled in spirit, and said : My soul is sorrowful even unto death.3 Of Whom the gospel saith that He began to fear and to be heavy and sad ; nay, being in an agony He was strengthened by an angel, and his sweat became as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground.* Yet He, though thus troubled, said to His faithful ones : Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid; let it not be troubled6 because of my short absence nor let it be afraid of the cruelty of them that rage ; for you will have Me for ever, and will overcome the cruelty of them that rage. Therefore, the soldiers of Christ looking to their leader, the

1 Luke vi. 22, 23. * Jas. i. 2-3 » Mark xiv. 34.

4 Luke xxii. 43, 44. 6 John xiv. 27.

The Feanciscan Friaby 253

King of glory, fought a great fight. They passed through fire and water, yet were saved alive, and received from the Lord God the crown of life, of which James in the canonical epistle saith : Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved he shall receive the crown of life which God hath promised to them that love him.1 That crown, I verily trust, the Lord will make me to share along with you also, warm-hearted zealots for the truth, and with all who steadfastly love the Lord Jesus, Who suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. It behoved Him to suffer, as He Himself saith; and it behoves us to suffer, that the members may suffer with the Head, Who saith : If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.2

0 loving Christ,3 draw me, a weakling, after Thy self; for if Thou drawest me not, I cannot follow Thee. Grant me a brave spirit that it may be ready. If the flesh is weak, let Thy grace prevent, come in the middle, and follow; for without Thee I can do nothing, and, especially, for Thy sake I cannot go to a cruel death. Grant me a ready spirit, a fearless heart, a right faith, a firm hope, and a perfect love, that for Thy sake I may lay down my life with patience and joy. Amen.

Written in prison in chains on the eve of St. John Baptist, who was beheaded in prison and in chains, because he reproved iniquity ; may it please him to pray for me unto the Lord Jesus Christ. A men.

1 Jas. i. 12. 2 Matt. xvi. 24. • See p. 250.

LXXIV. To THE FAITHFUL BOHEMIANS l (June 24, 1415)

Master John Hus, a servant of God in hope, to all the faithful who love and will love God and His law, praying that they may dwell in the truth, grow in the divine grace, and bravely persevere even unto death.

Beloved, I exhort you not to be terrified, neither shaken with fear, because they (my enemies) have ordered my books to be burnt. Remember that the prophecies of the holy Jeremiah, which he wrote at God’s command, were burnt, and yet the Jews did not escape the fate he had foretold ; for after that they had been burnt, God bade him write the same words, and add to them besides many like words. Which he did: for he dictated them as he lay in prison, and the holy Baruch, who was his scribe, wrote them in a book. You will find it written in Jeremiah the 35th or 45th chapter.2 In the books of the Maccabees also it is written that sacred writings were burnt, and those who had them in their possession suffered torture.3 Afterwards, in the times of the New Testament, holy men were burnt, together with the books of God’s law. Cardinals, moreover, condemned and burnt the books of St. Gregory entitled the Morals, and would have destroyed them all had not God preserved them by means of Gregory’s only loyal disciple, Peter.4

1 The letter is in Czech.

2 Mladenowic has added in the margin : ” Hus has no book ; the reference is Jer. xxxvi.”

• 2 Mace. viL

4 For this tale see John the Deacon’s Life of Gregory (iv. c. 69 ; in Migne, voL xxv.), from whom it was taken by Platina (see his Life of

The Feanciscan Feiaey 255

St. John Chrysostom was condemned on the charge of heresy by two Councils,1 but God in His mercy after St. John’s death revealed their falsehood.2 Keep these examples before you, that you may not under stress of fear give up reading what I have written and hand over your books to be burnt by them. Remember what the merciful Saviour said to us by way of warning in Matt, xxiv., that before the Judgment Day shall be great tribulation, suck as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be, insomuch as to deceive (if possible} even the elect: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened? Holding these things in your memory, beloved, press bravely on; for I trust God that the school of Antichrist shall tremble before you and suffer you to enjoy quietness, and that the Council of Constance shall not come to Bohemia, for methinks many members of the Council will die before they wrest the books from your hands, and they will be scattered abroad from that Council over the earth, like storks; and when winter comes they will discover what they achieved in the summer.4 Ponder the fact that they con demned their own head on the charge of heresy. Come now, make reply, ye preachers who proclaim

Sabinianus) and adopted by Milman (ii. 310). There is no mention of it in the earliest Life of Gregory (by a monk of Whitby), and it is rightly rejected, so I take it, by Gregorovius (ii. 94). But Hus has changed the tale for his own purposes; it was not the ‘cardinals’ but the * people ’ who tried to burn the books.

1 The Synods of ” the Oaks ” and Constantinople.

2 In 438, thirty-three years after his death in exile, the remains of the martyr were brought back to Constantinople.

3 Matt. xxiv. 21-4.

4 Hus’s views of the effects of his death on Bohemia were fully fulfilled.

256 LETTEES WRITTEN FEOM that the Pope is God on earth and cannot sin or be guilty of sinning (as the Canonists assert) ; l that the Pope is the head of the Holy Church Universal, ruling it with an all-sufficient power: is the heart of the Church, giving to it spiritual life : is the fountain from which all power and goodness per meates: is the sun of the Holy Church, and the unfailing refuge to which every Christian should flee. But lo ! your head is now cut off, God on earth is bound, his sins are openly declared, the fountain has run dry, the sun is darkened, the heart is torn out, the refuge is a fugitive from Constance and is rejected, so that none can flee to him ! 2 The Council condemned him for heresy because he sold indulgences, bishoprics, and benefices; and he was condemned by these very men, many of whom bought these things from him, while others did good trade by selling them over again. John, Bishop of Leitomischl,3 was there, who twice attempted to buy the see of Prague, but he was outbid by others. Oh! why have they not first cast the beam out of their own eye ? Indeed, their own law hath the pro vision: Whoso hath gained an office by money, let him be deprived of it.* Therefore, let seller and buyer and money-lender and broker be condemned

1 Most definitely asserted in Augustin Trionfo of Ancona, De Potestate Ecclesiastica, dedicated to John XXII., and in Alvaro Pelayo’s De Planctu Ecclesia (1332). But Has, who was no canonist, was probably thinking of Palecz and Stanislaus (see p. 123). Niem (De Schismate, ed. Erler, p. 178) tells us that at this time it was publicly debated whether the Pope could not without simony sell benefices. Compare also Albert Engelschalk of Prague, Aureum Speculum Papa (in Brown’s edition of Ortiun Gratius’s Fasciculus, ii. 63-101).

9 Cf. pp. 203, 244. » P. 83.

4 See Gratian, II. C. 1, g. 1, c. 3, where, however, it is wrongly ascribed.

before the world ! St. Peter condemned and uttered a curse on Simon, because he had desired to purchase the virtue of the Holy Ghost with money.1 These men have condemned and uttered a curse on the seller, while the buyers and money-lenders get off scot-free and carry on their sales privately. There is the Bishop of Constance,2 who buys, and the other person who has sold to him ; and the Pope received money for absolving them ! The same thing happens, as I know, in Bohemia and Moravia. “Would that the Lord Jesus had said in the Council, ’ He that is with out the sin of simony, let him condemn Pope John ’ ! Methinks they would have all gone out of doors one after another ! 3 Why did they adore him with bended knees, kiss his feet, and call him most holy Father, when they knew he was a ’ heretic, a homi cide, and a Sodomite,’ 4 all of which sins afterwards came to light ? Why did the Cardinals elect him as Pope, when they knew he was so shameful a homicide as to have slain the most holy Father?5 Why did they suffer him to practise simony while performing the duties of a pope, when they were appointed his advisers for the purpose of giving him good counsel ? Are not those to blame who themselves as well as he practised simony ? Before he escaped from Con stance, why had no one the courage to address him except as the most holy Father ? 6 To be sure, they were afraid of him then ; but when the secular power

1 Acts ix. 20. 2 P. 162, n.

• John viii. 7-9. 4 Cf. p.130, n. 1, and p. 243, n. 3.

5 John was commonly accused of having poisoned Alexander V. ; but the charge was not in the final official articles (Hardt, iv. 296 ff.).

’ Hus would not hear in prison of the famous retort of Hallum, Bishop of Salisbury : ’ I ask that Pope John act worthily of his office ’ (Hardt, iv. 1418).

LETTERS WRITTEN FROM seized him, by God’s permission or will, they at once conspired not to let him go free. Surely now the wickedness, iniquity, and baseness of Antichrist has been revealed in the Pope and his associates in the Council : now the faithful servants of God can under stand the meaning of the Saviour’s words, When ye shall see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, … he that readeth, let him understand.1 Verily ” a great abomination ” is pride, avarice, and simony : ” in a place apart ” 2 — that is, dignity which lacks modesty, love, and other virtues; and this is what we clearly mark in those who win office and dignity. Would that I were allowed to point out their wickedness, in order that the faithful servants of God might beware of them ! Gladly would I do so; but I am trusting that God will raise up others after me, braver men than there are to-day, who shall better reveal the wickedness of Antichrist 3 and lay down their lives for the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will grant eternal joy both to you and to me. Amen. I write this letter in prison, on the day of St. John Baptist, as I lie bound in chains, remembering that St. John also was beheaded in prison for the sake of God’s truth.

The following letter may be confidently dated on June 24 or 25, for at the close of the letter Hus refers to an intended expedition of Sigismund. The heat at Constance this June was so great that on June 22, according to Dacher (in Hardt), Sigismund left the city and encamped in a neighbouring field, transacting business in the open air. Two days later he rode with his court

1 Matt. xxiv. 15.

2 In loco deserto. Eus is quoting from memory.

8 For the supposed prophecies of Hus concerning Luther, see my Age of Hus, App. R to Ueberlingen (June 25), returning on the 28th I am inclined to think that it is to this incident that Hus refers.1

The Kef orrner meanwhile, in his sweltering cell, prepared for the end. He requested a confessor, and desired Palecz. Face to face with death the hearts of both men softened. For some reason or other ithe request was refused, and a monk shrived him. According to Hus, this priest abstained from exacting formal proofs of penitence — i.e., in this case a confession of his heresy. Hus was so little acquainted with the methods of the Inquisition that he gives no indication in his letter of understanding how great an act of clemency, or neglect, was involved in a course so contrary to all the rules of the Inquisition. The letter is also interesting from its illustrations of the casuistry employed to induce Hus to recant or appear to recant. But the purpose of Hus ,was constant, and his remaining letters are in reality conscious farewells to his different circles of friends.

LXXV. To HIS BOHEMIAN FRIENDS ( Without date : June 24 or 25, 1415)

I have been interviewed by many exhorters. They have pleaded at great length that I ought to abjure, and can do so lawfully by submitting my will to the Holy Church, which is represented by the Holy Council. But not one of them can satisfactorily meet the objection, when I put him in my own position, ‘How can a man consistently abjure when he hath never preached, held, or stated the heresy whereof he is charged, and how would he save his conscience if he is not by abjuring to admit that he held the heresy wrongly ? ’ Some said that to abjure did not carry with it this meaning, but only amounted to a renunciation of heresy, whether held or not ;

1 It is to be noted that Hardt (iv. 344) dates the confessor incident as taking place on June 30, and this letter as the last of all. Bat this is an inference only, and is hardly possible. If correct, the journey of Bigismund would be his expedition to Perpignan (infra, p. 275).

260 LETTEES WRITTEN FROM others that it merely meant a denial of the charges, whether they be true or false. My answer was, ” Very well, I will swear that I never preached, held, or stated the errors whereof I am charged, and I never will preach, hold, or state them.” And at once they hark back to the old advice. Some argue that a man who submits himself to the Church wins merit by his humility when he confesses to guilt, though it be granted that he is innocent. In support of this argument one man brought forward the case of a saint in The Lives of the Fathers l by whose bed some persons had placed a certain book. “When admonished for the offence, he denied it, being holy and blame less. They then said, ” You stole it, and hid it in your bed.” The book was discovered there, and he at once admitted his guilt. Another man proved his point by the case of a nun, who, wearing male attire, lived in a cloister, and who was charged with having begotten a son by a certain woman. She allowed ’ Yes ’ to go, and kept the boy ; but it afterwards came out that she was an innocent woman. Many other cases were brought forward. An Englishman said, ’ If I were in your place, I would abjure at the bidding of my conscience ; for in England all the doctors — very good men, too— who have been sus pected of holding Wyclif’s views abjure in a formula set them by order of the archbishop.’ 2

Finally, they came yesterday to the old position that I should hand myself over entirely to the grace of the Council. Palecz came at my request. I

1 VittB Patrum, ed. Rosweyd in Migne Ixxiii. 191.

• The Englishman was right. The leading Lollards at one time or another had all recanted, and forms of abjuration abound, which are a source of trouble to the historian. See my Age of Wyclif, p. 266, n. 1.

THE FKANCISCAN FKIARY 261 wanted to confess to him. I asked the commissioners, or rather my exhorters, to give me him or another confessor. I said, ” Palecz is my chief opponent ; I want to confess to him, or else you can give me another suitable man. For God’s sake oblige me.” They did so, and I confessed to a doctor — a monk — who listened to me in a gracious and right beautiful spirit. He absolved me, and gave me advice, but did not enjoin on me what the others advised.1

Palecz came and shed tears along with me, when I begged him to forgive me for any hard words I had used against him, and, in particular, for having called him in writing a fiction-monger.2 I also told him that he was the sl6dnik 3 of the whole business, and he did not deny it ; also how in a public hearing he had risen to his feet when I denied the articles of the witnesses, and said, ” This fellow hath no fear of God.” This he denied: but he certainly said it. Perhaps you heard him. I reminded him too of what he said in prison before the commissioners : 4 ” Since the birth of Christ no heretic hath written more dangerous teaching against the Church, with the exception of “Wyclif, than yourself — I mean you, John Hus.” He also said, u All who have been here to talk with him have been infected with that error concerning the sacrament of the altar.” He denied it, saying, ‘I did not say “All,” but ” Many.” ’ But he certainly used these words. And then I rebuked him, saying, ” Oh, sir, what a grievous wrong you do me in calling all my hearers heretics ! ” Afterwards he pleaded with me in the same way as the others.

1 See comment on p. 259.

• Fictor, as often in his Responsio ad Palecz, Mon. i. 255 S.

1 Arch-detective, chief spy. * P. 174.

He is always harping on the great harm that had been done by me and my friends. He told me also that they had a letter addressed to Bohemia con taining the news that I had composed while at Gottlieben,1 two verses about my chains to the tune ” Buoh Wsemohuci.” 2

For God’s sake look after the letters. Do not give them to any clerk3 to carry. Let me have a hint if the nobles are to ride with Sigismund.4 In His mercy Christ Jesus ever keeps me to my former resolve.

LXXVI. To THE FAITHFUL BOHEMIANS 6 (June 26, 1415)

Master John Hus, a servant of God in hope, to all the faithful Bohemians who love and will love God, sendeth his earnest desires and unprofitable prayers that they may both live and die in the grace of God and dwell with God for ever.

Faithful and beloved in God ! this likewise I have determined to write that you may know that the Council — proud, avaricious, and defiled with every crime — hath condemned my Czech books, which it hath never either seen nor heard read, and if it had listened with all its power, would never have understood (for there were present at the Council Frenchmen, Italians, Britons,6 Spaniards, Germans, and other people of different nationalities), unless perchance John Bishop of Leitomischl might have understood

1 In castro,

8 ’« God omnipotent.” The poem seems lost. Whether the tune still exists 1 cannot say. See also p. 15 for Hus and his songs.

• Nulli clerico. * See p. 259, n. * This letter is in Czech.

• Britanni. There were some Scots present, but whether Hus knew this and deliberately used the word is at least doubtful.

THE FEANCISCAN FRIAEY 263 them ; lie was there with other Bohemian malignants, as well as the Chapters of Prague and the Wyschehrad,1 from which have proceeded the insults heaped upon God’s truth and upon our fatherland, Bohemia. Yet, placing my trust in God, I judge it to be a land of the purest faith, as I bethink me of its zeal for the divine word and for morality. I would that ye might see this Council, which is called the Most Holy Council, and incapable of error ; in sooth you would gaze on a scene of foulness ; 2 for it is a common proverb among the Swiss,3 that a genera tion will not suffice to cleanse Constance from the sins which the Council have committed in that city ; they have said, moreover, that the Council was an offence to the world, albeit others rejected it with loathing at the mere sight of its foul deeds. I tell you that as soon as I took my stand in the Council and saw there was no proper discipline there, I shouted out with a loud voice, amid general silence, “I thought there would be more reverence, piety, and discipline in this Council.” 4 Then the presiding Cardinal6 said, ” What do you say ? You spoke more humbly in the castle.”6 “Yes,” I replied, ” because there was no one there to shout me down ; but here every one is crying out.” Therefore since the Council, owing to its irregular proceedings, hath done more harm than good,

1 The Wyschehrad, or original citadel of Prague, was practically a separate city with walls of its own (destroyed during the Hussite wars). In the time of Hus there was a great monastery there.

2 For curious details of the public women attracted to Constance by the Council — of whom Dacher counted up over seven hundred — see Hardt, v. 50-52.

8 Suabis. German Switzerland was a part of High Suabia. Another reading is Suevig. 4 See pp. .216, 218. * P. 216, n. 1. • Gottlieben ; see pp. 216, 204.

264 LETTERS WRITTEN FEOM therefore, beloved of God, be not terrified by their verdict, which (I trust God) will do themselves no good. They will be scattered abroad like butterflies, and their decree will last as long as spiders’ webs. As for myself, they have striven to frighten me, but they could not overcome God’s power within me. They would not contend against me with the Scriptures, as those noble lords heard, who took a brave stand on the side of God’s truth, and were ready to suffer every shame, Bohemians, Moravians, and Poles, especially Baron Wenzel de Duba and Baron John of Chlum, for the latter were standing near. Sigismund brought them into the Council, and they heard me say, ” If I have written anything wrong, I wish to be told of it.” “Whereupon the presiding Cardinal said, “As you want information, take this : you should retract and obey the decision of fifty doctors of the church.” A wonderful piece of information ! The virgin St. Catherine ought to have renounced the truth and faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, because fifty philosophers opposed her ; but the beloved virgin was faithful even unto death, and won the masters to God, which I as a sinner cannot do.1 I am writing this to you that you may know that they did not get the better of me by any scripture passage or any arguments ; but strove to do so by means of guile and threats so as to induce me to recant and abjure. But God in His mercy, Whose

1 Catherine of Alexandria at the age of eighteen, so the story ran, had obtained the highest place ‘in liberal arts.’ The Emperor Maximin promised great rewards to any philosopher who should win her back to heathenism. But she overcame them all. She was then broken on a ” Catherine’s wheel,” and her body transported by angels to Mount Sinai. See Breviary for November 25, whence Hus would obtain his allusion.

THE FEANCISCAN FRIAEY 265 gospel I have spread abroad, was with me and is still ; yea, and will be, I trust, to life’s end, and will keep me in His grace unto death. I write this on Wednesday after the Feast of St. John Baptist in prison, bound in chains and awaiting death. Yet by virtue of God’s hidden counsels I dare not say this in my last letter ; for even now Almighty God can set me free.

The reference in the following letter to Jerome, and Hus’s comparison of his own weakness with Jerome’s strength, is interesting for many reasons. As often happens, the apparently stronger man proved the weaker. For Jerome lacked the moral conviction which made Hus a martyr. The strain of his sickness and imprisonment told also fatally upon the restless knighterrant. He grew fitful — ‘now wishful to stand fast in his obstinacy, now desirous to be wholly convicted’ — as we learn from an anonymous writer present at Constance (Doc. 596). The result was that on September 11 he read a paper before the Council, recanting his errors, and adding his ‘approval of the condemnation of both Wyclif and Hus.’ Fortunately Hus was not spared to receive this stab from his old friend.

The after career of Jerome must be briefly told. He retracted his recantation, and after a defence of his creed before the Council which charmed by its eloquence the fastidious taste of Poggio Bracciolini, was condemned and burnt (May 30, 1416). So in spite of lapse, Jerome and Hus were again one ; in their death they were not divided (see Age of Hits, pp. 333-44).

LXXVII. To THE SAME (June 27, 1415)

God be with you ! I had many reasons for sus pecting that I was to die on the morrow after sending you my last letter. But I hear that my death is put off, so I am writing to you once more, kind and faithful friends in God, to assure you of my gratitude as long as I have opportunity. I always find it a

266 LETTERS WRITTEN FROM solace to be able to converse with you by letter, and I tell you God knows why He delays my death and that of my dear brother, Master Jerome, who, I trust, will die holy and blameless and be of a braver spirit in meeting pain than I, a weak-kneed sinner. God hath granted us a long time that we may the better recall our sins and be able to do fitting penance for them. He hath granted us time that a continuous and great trial may destroy great sins and bring us comfort. He hath granted us time that we may remember the foul shame of our King, the merciful Lord Jesus, and meditate on His cruel death, and so bear our sufferings with the greater patience ; and, besides this, that we may not suppose that we pass from a banquet in this world to one in the next, but may remember how the saints went through many pains before they entered in the heavenly kingdom. Some were cut in pieces, others impaled, others boiled, others roasted, others flayed alive, buried alive, stoned, crucified, crushed between millstones, drawn in opposite directions, drowned, burnt, suffocated by gags, torn asunder into pieces, and before death shamefully entreated and tortured with imprison ment, stripes, and chains. And who can recount all the sufferings which the saints in Old and New Testament times endured for the truth of God; but especially those who rebuked the wickedness of of priests and preached against them? It will be strange if any one now escapes punishment who shall bravely resist wickedness — in particular of the priests — which doth not suffer itself to be rebuked. But I rejoice that they were compelled to read my books, in which their wickedness was revealed. I know that they have perused these books more carefully than the Holy Scriptures in their desire to discover my errors.

Sent off on Thursday evening before St. Peter’s Eve. Amen.

The following farewell to his old University is remarkable for its close approximation to the position of Luther at Worms, and of Wyclif before him. At one time, as we have seen, Hus had been willing to trust the Council, provided the false charges were with drawn (see p. 224). He had thence advanced to a belief in the general rottenness and untrustworthiness of the Council, as shown by its treatment of John, and its moral chaos (pp. 216, 218, 257, 263). He now demands that his arguments shall be overthrown by Scripture. Hus’s optimism as to the victory of the truth is emphatic. He sings with unfaltering note :

Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, The eternal years of God are hers.

LXXVIII. To THE UNIVERSITY OF PBAGUE (June 27, 1415)

“Worshipful masters, bachelors, and students of the University of Prague, dearly beloved in Christ Jesus ! I exhort you in the name of the blessed Jesus to love one another, to root out schisms and to promote the honour of God before all things. Remember how I always sought to make the welfare of the University conduce to the honour of God, how I grieved over your disputes and secessions,1 and how I desired to unite together our glorious country ; and lo ! it hath turned with exceeding bitter ness against me, as you see in the case of some of i JExcesiibus. The German secession to Leipzig had been laid, not unjustly, at his door (see p. 18). But perhaps the word should be translated ” excesses ” by an extension of classical use.

268 LETTEES WEITTEN FROM my dearest friends for whom I would have laid down my life ; and it hath inflicted on me calumnies, curses, and finally an untimely death. Almighty God, forgive them, for they know not what they do ; l with all sincerity I pray that He may spare them. Moreover, dearly beloved in Christ Jesus, stand in the truth whereof you have knowledge ; for it wins its way before all else and waxes strong even for evermore. Let me tell you I have not recanted nor abjured a single article. The Council desired me to declare the falsity of all of my books and each article taken from them. I refused to do so, unless they should be proved false by Scripture. I mean that whatever false interpretation should be found in any article whatever, I abhor it, and commend it to the correc tion of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who knows my real intention and will not interpret in a wrong sense which I do not intend. I exhort you in the Lord to abhor any false meaning you may be able to discover in any of these articles, but always to preserve the truth that is intended.

I, Master John Hus, in chains and in prison, now standing on the shore of this present life and expecting on the morrow a dreadful death, which will, I hope, purge away my sins, find no heresy in myself, and accept with all my heart any truth whatsoever that is worthy of belief.

“Written on Thursday before St. Peter’s Eve.

I pray you to love the Bethlehem and put Gallus f in my place ; for I trust that the Lord is with him. Amen. I commend to you Peter Mladenowic, my fathful and loyal comforter and supporter.

1 Luke xxiii. 34.

4 For Gallus (Hawlik) and his difficulties, see p. 248.

The following letter, with its bitter sarcasms on Sigismund’s faith, is rightly sent to Duba and Chlum, the officials originally deputed by Sigismund to protect Hus, and see to the carrying out of the safe-conduct. We had already learned that Chlum had left the court (p. 243). We now see that in reality he had been dismissed. His plain speech was not welcome to the faithless monarch.

The letter is without date, and possibly should be put earlier in the month. The reference to Veit as well as to Sigismund’s advice at the Council would lead us to this. But if it be dated, with Palacky, at the close of the month, the reader will note that up to the very end, though firm in the day, Hus had severe struggles with himself when chained alone at night in the darkness of his cell.

LXXIX. To BARONS WENZEL DE DUBA AND JOHN OF CHLUM

( Undated : ? middle or end of June)

Most gracious benefactors and guardians of the truth, I exhort you by the tender mercies of Jesus Christ to lay aside at once the vanities of this world and fight for the eternal King, even Christ the Lord. Put not your trust in princes, in the sons of men, in whom is no safety* for to-day the sons of men are liars and deceivers, and to-morrow they will perish ; but God abideth for ever. He hath servants not because He is in need of them, but for their own welfare. What He promises to them, He holds to ; what He pledges himself to grant, He fulfils ; He deceives no man by a safe-conduct and dismisses no faithful servant ; for He saith : Where 1 am, there shall My servant be also.2 Each of His servants He, their Master, maketh to be master of all that He hath,

1 Ps. cxlv. 3. 2 John xii. 26.

270 LETTERS WRITTEN FROM giving to that servant Himself, and with Himself all things so that he may possess all things without weariness or fear, nay, without any lack, and may rejoice with all the saints in unending joy. Oh, blessed is that servant whom his master when he conieth, findeth watching ! 1 Serve then, dear lords, with fear this King Who will, I trust, bring you now to Bohemia by His grace in good health, and afterwards to the everlasting life of glory. Farewell !

Methinks this is my last letter to you, for to morrow I suppose I shall be cleansed from my sins in hope of Jesus Christ by a dreadful death. I cannot write of what I passed through last night. Sigismund hath acted deceitfully throughout. God spare him, and that only for your sakes ; you yourselves heard the advice which he gave.2 I beg you to have no suspicion of the faithful Veit.8

On June 29th Hus wrote his last letters of farewell — three in number — to his dearest friends. There is in them no trace of struggle, only the peace of God. Hus had entered already the

Porte after stormie seas.

LXXX. To JOHN OP CHLUM (June 29, 1415)

Most gracious benefactor, dearly beloved in Christ Jesus, I rejoice without measure that I can still, by the grace of God, write to your grace. I gathered from yesterday’s letter,4 firstly, how the iniquity of the great harlot — that is, of the blaspheming congre gation, of which we read in the Apocalypse — is and

1 Luke xiL 43. » P. 225.

1 At the Council ; see p. 213. 4 A letter from Chlum now lost.

shall be made bare, with which harlot the kings of the earth commit fornication.1 In the same place, likewise, it is written that they commit fornication spiritually, that they depart from Christ and His truth and consent to the falsehood of Antichrist, whether by being seduced or terrified, or by being led to hope in the confederacy for the winning of the world’s honour. Secondly, I gathered from the letter how that already the enemies of the truth are beginning to be troubled. Thirdly, I gathered the news of your grace’s fervent loyalty, whereby you boldly profess the truth, knowing the baseness of the great harlot. Fourthly, I rejoice to gather that you now desire to put an end to the vanities of this world and to its toilsome service and to fight for Jesus Christ at home. To serve Christ is to reign with Him, as Gregory saith : He that faithfully serves Him will have Christ in the fatherland of heaven as his minister. Christ Himself saith : Blessed is that servant, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Amen. I say unto you, that he will rise and gird himself, and will minister to him? The kings of this world do not act thus with their servants. They only care for them so long as they are useful and necessary to them. Not so Christ, the King of glory, Who hath to-day 3 crowned the apostles Peter and Paul — Peter by crucifixion, Paul by beheading — and welcomed them into the kingdom of the heavenly fatherland. Peter was four times imprisoned and was led forth by an angel. Paul was thrice beaten with rods, once stoned, tivice suffered shipwreck* for two years bound with chains and in divers ways afflicted ; who saith in his epistle :

1 Rev. xvii 2 ; xviii. 3. * It was their feast day.

a Luke xii. 37. * 2 Cor. xi. 25.

We ivere pressed out of measure above our strength, so that we were weary even of life.1 They have now passed their trials and torments, and there remaineth for them infinite bliss and the life of quietness that knows no suffering. Now Peter and Paul reign with the King above, now they are with the choirs of angels, now they see the King in His beauty, now are they released from weariness and are full of bliss unspeakable. May those glorious martyrs, thus united with the King of glory, deign to intercede for us, that, strengthened by their help, we may be partakers in their glory, by patiently suffering what ever God Almighty shall ordain in this world for our greater good. Amen.

I beg you for God’s sake still keep on writing, if you can. I ask especially that greetings be conveyed to her Majesty the Queen,2 and that she be counselled to be loyal to the truth and not offended in me, as though I were a heretic. Convey my greetings to your wife also, whom I beg you to love in Christ Jesus ; for I trust she is a daughter of God through her obedience to His commands. Greet all the friends of the truth for God’s sake.

LXXXI. To WENZEL DE DUBA (June 29, 1415)

I am delighted to hear that Baron “Wenzel intends to marry and flee the vanities of the world. And indeed it is a high time, for he hath for a long time ridden to and fro through the countries, broken lances, wearied his body, spent his money, and hurt

1 2 Cor. i. 8. * Sophia.

THE FEANCISCAN FEIARY 273 his soul. It now, therefore, remains for him to throw these things aside and serve God quietly at home with his wife, and have servants of his own. It will be better 1 to serve God at home and enjoy a happy life without sin and toil, waited on by others, than to be burdened ofttimes with heavy and grievous toils, to run risks of losing his life, and to watch the movements of others. Let this advice be repeated and brought home to one who hath done me so many kindnesses. God is still upholding the life of Hus by His might ; yea, and will uphold it so long as He wills, against the proud, greedy, and in divers ways unconscionable Council, wherein the Lord knoweth them that are His.

Sent off on the day of SS. Peter and Paul, at the time of the evening meal.2

LXXXII. To HIS FRIENDS IN BOHEMIA 3

(June 29, 1415)

God be with you ! May it please Him to bestow upon you the eternal reward for the many kindnesses you have shown me, and still do show, although perhaps in the body I am already dead. Do not suffer Baron John of Chlum, faithful, steadfast knight that he is and my kind benefactor, to run any risk. I pray this for God’s sake, dear Master Peter, Superintendent of the Mint, and Mistress Anna ! 4 I

1 The rest of the letter, save the date, is in Czech.

2 Ad ccenam : the day at Constance would end at about 7.30 at this time, and the ’ ccena ’ be at six at the latest.

8 The letter is in Czech, with the exception of the sentence to Peter and the superscription. 4 See p. 211, n. 4.

274 LETTEBS WEITTEN FROM entreat you also to live a good life and obey God, as I have often told you. Give thanks in my name to my gracious mistress the Queen for all the kindnesses she hath conferred on me. Greet your family and the other faithful friends, whose names I may not mention. I entreat you all to pray to God in my behalf ; by His help we shall soon meet together in His gracious and holy presence. Amen. I write this in prison in fetters, which I am wearing, I trust, forthe gospel of God, expecting every moment the sentence of death. For God’s sake, I pray you suffer not good priests to be oppressed.

MASTER Hus, in hope a servant of God.

Peter,1 dearest friend, keep my fur cloak in memory of me.

Lord Henry Lefl,2 live a good life with thy wife. My thanks to thee ! God be thy reward !

Faithful friend, Master Lidef i and Mistress Margaret, Masters Skuocek and Mikeska3 and others: may God grant you an eternal reward for your toils and the other kindness you have conferred on me.

Master Christian,4 faithful and beloved, God be with thee !

Master Martin,5 my disciple, remember those things which I taught thee.

Master Nicolas6 and Peter, the Queen’s chaplain, and the other masters and priests, be diligent students of God’s word.

1 Mladenowic. 2 P. 151, last paragraph.

• The son-in-law of Wenzel the pitch-maker, whose house from 1401 onwards had been a notable gathering-place of reformers (see Doc. 175).

4 Praohaticz. * P. 149. • Pp. 80, 236.

The Franciscan Friaey 276

Priest Gallus,1 preach the word of God.

Finally, I entreat you all to persevere in the truth of God.

On the feast day of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, about the time of the evening meal.2

The three letters written on June 29 are the last that Hus wrote. The month’s grace was evidently fruitless, and Sigismund was in a hurry to depart for Perpignan, there to meet, by agree ment, Benedict XIII. and Ferdinand of Aragon, the chief supporter of the Spanish anti-pope, and arrange for the ending of the schism. This journey had twice already been postponed, and admitted of no further delay. For on June 15 the proctor of Gregory XII. — Charles di Malatesta— had arrived in Rome and commenced negotiations for Gregory’s abdication. On July 4 all arrangements were completed, and the Council summoned to listen to a bull of Gregory, convoking and then approving the Council and all its doings, and concluding with a proclamation of his own resignation. But before Sigismund could be allowed to depart from Constance the Council were resolute that he should appear as a consenting party to the death of Hus. It was determined, therefore, to bring matters to an issue. On July 1— two days after Hus’s last letter, and after Sigismund’s return from his short holiday at LTeberlingen — Hus was visited by a deputation of eight prelates, with Hus’s gaoler, the Arch bishop of Riga, at their head, who endeavoured once more to persuade the Reformer that he could reasonably recant.

Hus replied by writing out with his own hand his final decision.

Hus’s FINAL DECLARATION

(July 1, 1415)

I, John Hus, in hope a priest of Jesus Christ, fearing to offend God, and fearing to fall into perjury, do hereby profess my unwillingness to abjure all or any of the articles produced against

1 P. 236 n. » P. 273, n, 2.

276 LETTEES WEITTEN FEOM me by false witnesses. For God is my witness that I neither preached, affirmed, nor defended them, though they say that I did. Moreover, concerning the articles that they have extracted from my books, I say that I detest any false interpretation which any of them bears. But inasmuch as I fear to offend against the truth, or to gainsay the opinion of the doctors of the Church, I cannot abjure any one of them. And if it were possible that my voice could now reach the whole world, as at the Day of Judg ment every lie and every sin that I have committed will be made manifest, then would I gladly abjure before all the world every falsehood and error which I either had thought of saying or actually said. I say I write this of my own free will and choice.

Written with my own hand, on the first day of July.1

Four days later the Council made another effort to bring about the desired recantation. A deputation of the leaders of the Council — DAilli, Zabarella, Simon Cramaud the Patriarch of Antioch, the Archbishops of Riga and Milan, together with two Englishmen, the illustrious Hallum of Salisbury, and Bubwith, the simoniacal Bishop of Bath, narrowed the issue to the recan tation merely of the heresies extracted from articles Hus had recognised as his own. At one time this would have satisfied Hus ; but now he refused, and referred them to his declaration of July 1. He dared not cause to stumble those whom he had taught. Later in the day Sigismund, influenced perhaps by some remnants of conscience, made one last effort to save him. He sent Chlum, Wenzel de Cuba, and Lacembok, together with four bishops, to ask Hus for his final decision, whether he would persevere or recant. Hus was brought out of his cell to meet this deputation — a sidelight as we take it on his cramped confinement — doubtless wondering whether a new trial of his constancy awaited him in the defection of his dearest friends :

1 Not in Palacky : from Hardt, iv. 345. I see no reason to doubt its genuineness.

1 Master John,’ said honest Chlum, ’ we are laymen, and cannot advise you. Consider, however, and if you realise that you are guilty concerning any of the charges, do not be ashamed to receive instruction and recant. But if you do not feel guilty, do not force your conscience, nor lie before God, but rather stand fast to the death in the truth which you know.’

Hus replied with tears : ’ Sir John, know that if I was conscious that I had written or preached aught against the law, gospel, or Mother Church, I would gladly and humbly recant my errors. God is my witness. But I am anxious now as ever that they will show me Scriptures of greater weight and value than those which I have quoted in writing and teaching. If these shall be shown me, I am prepared and willing to recant.’ ’ Do you desire to be wiser than the whole Council 1 ’ retorted a bishop. ’ Than the whole Council, no,’ replied Hus ; ’ but give me a portion, however small, of the Council to teach me by Scrip tures of greater weight and value, and I am ready to recant.’ ‘He is obstinate in his heresy,’ cried the bishops, and retired to make preparation for the final scene.

At six o’clock the next morning Hus was brought to the cathedral. While mass was sung he was kept waiting outside the door; this over, he was placed in the middle of the aisle on an elevated dais. Around him were placed the various robes needful for celebrating mass. But before taking his stand on this theatre of degradation Hus knelt down and prayed. The whole Council was there, with Sigismund, in his robes and diadem, on the throne. In the sight of all Hus stood alone while the Bishop of Lodi, the customary orator on big occasions, preached ’ a short, compendious, and laudable ’ sermon on the danger of heresy and the duty of destroying it. The events of that day, said the preacher, would win for Sigismund immortal glory. ’ O King, a glorious triumph is awaiting you ; to thee is due the everlasting crown and a victory to be sung through all time, for thou hast bound up the bleeding Church, removed a persistent schism, and uprooted the heretics. Do you not see how lasting will be your fame and glory? For what can be more acceptable to God than to uproot a schism and destroy the errors among the flock.’

But the day was not altogether without its stings for Sigis mund. Hus, when he spoke, was not slow to remind him of his safe-conduct. Sigismund, it is said, blushed, an incident

278 LETTERS WRITTEN FROM denied by some historians with as much warmth as if the blush were as discreditable to Sigismund as his falsehood.

Then the representatives of the nations read aloud the record of the trial and the sentence of the Council. When Hus attempted to reply and point out certain omitted limitations in his theses, D’Ailli ordered him to be silenced. ’ You shall answer all together later.’ ‘How can I possibly answer all together,’ retorted Hus, ’ since I cannot keep them all together in my mind.’ ’ Be silent,’ said Zabarella, ’ we have heard you quite enough.’ ’ I beseech you for God’s sake hear me,’ cried Hus, with clasped hands, ’ lest the bystanders believe that I ever held such errors ; afterwards do with me as you list.’ We need not wonder at his indignation when we remember that one of the articles read out against him was that he had said that he was the fourth member in the Trinity. When the reading of the tissue of falsehood was completed and the sentence pronounced, Hus knelt once more in prayer : ’ Lord Jesus, pardon all my enemies for Thy great mercy’s sake, I beseech Thee, for Thou knowest that they have falsely accused me. Pardon them for Thy great mercy’s sake.’ But the bishops who stood near frowned and laughed.

After this he was clad by seven bishops in the full vestments of a celebrant. Once more the bishops urged him to recant. But Hus turned to the people and cried out : ’ These bishops here urge me to recant. I fear to do this lest I be a liar in the sight of God, and offend against my conscience and God’s truth.’ So he stepped down from the table, and the bishops began the ceremony of degradation ; one by one his vestments were stripped off him. A dispute arose over his tonsure ; should it be cut with scissors or a razor 1 ’ See,’ said Hus, turning to Sigismund, ’ these bishops cannot even agree in their blasphemy.’ A paper crown a yard high, with three demons painted on it ‘clawing his soul with their nails,’ and the words ” Heresiarch,” was then fastened on his head. ’ The crown which my Redeemer wore,’ said Hus, ’ was heavier and more painful than this.’ ’ We commit thy soul to the devil,’ sang the priests, as they handed him over to the secular arm. ’ But he, with clasped hands and upturned eyes : I commit it to the most gracious Lord Jesus.’ By a strange oversight the Council forgot to add the crowning farce of these inquisition courts, the solemn adjuration to the secular arm to shed no blood. ’ Go, take him,’ said Sigismund, turning to Lewis, Count Palatine, the sword-bearer of the empire, who stood at Sigis- mund’s elbow, holding the golden orb and its cross in his hand. The count handed him over to the magistrates, who stripped him of his gown and hose, and led him out to die, escorted by a thousand armed men.

As he passed through the churchyard of the Cathedral, Hus saw a bonfire of his books. He laughed, and told the bystanders not to believe the lies circulated about him. The whole city was in the streets as Hus passed through their midst. But when the procession reached the gates the crowd found that they were forbidden to pass; there were fears lest the drawbridge should break down with their weight. On arriving about noon at the execution ground, familiarly known as ” the Devil’s Place,” Hus kneeled and prayed ‘with a joyful countenance.’ The paper crown fell off, and he smiled. ’ Put it on again wrong way up,’ cried the mob, ’ that he may be burnt with the devils he has served.’ His hands were tied behind his back, and Hus fastened to the stake which had been driven into the ground over the spot where a dead mule belonging to one of the cardinals had been recently buried. ’ Turn him round towards the West,’ cried the crowd, ’ he is a heretic ; he must not face the East.’ This done, a sooty pot-hook chain was wound round his neck, and two faggots placed under his feet. Burgher Reichental — the author of the famous illustrated Diary— offered to call a priest. ’ There is no need,’ replied Hus, ’ I have no mortal sin.’ But a priest ’ who was riding about in a vest of very red silk,’ was less merciful. ’ No confessor must be given him,’ he cried, ’ for he is a heretic.’ For the last time Lewis, Count Palatine, and the Marshal of the Empire, asked him if he would recant and save his life. Said Hus, ’ in a loud voice,’ ’ God is my witness that the evidence given against me is false. I have never thought nor preached save with the one intention of winning men, if possible, from their sins. In the truth of the gospel I have written, taught, and preached to-day I will gladly die.’ So they heaped the straw and wood around him, and poured pitch upon it. When the flames were lighted, ‘he sang twice, with a loud voice, ” Christ, Thou Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me.” When he began the third clause, “Who was conceived of the Virgin Mary,” the wind blew the flames in his face. So, as he was praying, moving his lips and head, he died in the Lord.’ ’

1 For the various accounts of this trial and last scene, see my Age of Hus, p. 332.

280 Feom the Franciscan Friary

The beadles piled up the fuel, ’ two or three cart-loads,’ ’ stirred the bones with sticks, split up the skull, and flung it back into the flames, together with his coat and shoes,’ which the Count Palatine bought from the executioner, for three times the usual fee lest the Bohemians should keep them as relics.’ When the heart was found they ran a sharp stake through it and set it ablaze. As soon as all was over the ashes were heaped into a barrow, and tilted into the Rhine.

For all thy saints, O Lord,

Who strove in thee to live, Who followed thee, obeyed, adored,

Our grateful hymn receive.

For all thy saints, 0 Lord,

Accept our thankful cry, Who counted thee their great reward,

And strove in thee to die.

MEMOBIAL HYMN OF THE MOBAVIAN CHURCH FOB THE DEATH-DAY OF JOHN Hus (JULY 6, 1415.)

Appendix a a Doubtful Letter of Hus

WE have deemed it best, following the example of Palacky, to print the following letter in an Appendix rather than to in corporate it in the main text. The letter itself is not found in any manuscript, nor is it printed in the Epistolae Piissimce. We are entirely dependent for it upon the Nuremberg edition of 1558 (Monumenta, i 59). It is true that there is also a Czech copy of it, first printed in 1564, but the Czech copy, according to Palacky (Doc. 149 n.\ is a mere translation from the Latin, and is in no sense an original of Hus. But the most suspicious circumstance is the internal evidence. The letter contains an exhortation to communion in both kinds. Now historians are agreed that this was a matter upon which Hus had formed no very definite ideas before his imprisonment at Constance (see supra, pp. 170, 177, 248). That clause therefore certainly must be an interpolation. But the rest of the letter is a mere patchwork, which could easily have been compiled from the other letters of Hus.1 Moreover, it is evident from the absence of all allusions that this letter was not written during Hus’s stay in Constance, or from his prison. This therefore rules out a later date. The letter seems to us either a pious fraud in the interest of the Calixtine party, or else to be too seriously interpolated for us now to discover the original kernel. Of the two, we incline to the former opinion. But the reader shall judge the matter for himself.

1 The reader may compare the letter with pp. 149, 276, and other places.

282 Appendix A

TO A CERTAIN PuiEST (Without date)

The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with thee !

Brother beloved, be diligent in preaching the gospel and do the work of a good evangelist ; neglect not thy calling, and labour as a happy warrior of Christ. First of all, live a godly and holy life ; next, let thy teaching be faithful and true ; be an example unto others in good works, lest thou be rebuked in a sermon ; correct sin and commend well doing. Unto those who live evil lives, threaten eternal penalties ; but to those who are faithful and live godly lives, hold out eternal bliss. Preach un remittingly and yet at no great length, and profitably, with a prudent understanding of the Holy Scriptures. Never make hesitating and doubtful statements, lest thou be rebuked by thine adversaries, who rejoice to disparage their neighbours and hurl insults at God’s ministers. Give exhortation to the confession of faith and the communion in either kind of the body and blood of Christ, that those who have truly repented of their sins may the oftener on that account present themselves for communion. Moreover, I urge thee not to meet strangers at taverns, lest thou hold con verse with men; for the more a preacher holds aloof from converse with the world, the more acceptable he is. Nevertheless, refuse not such help as thou canst render to others. Preach in season and out of season, so far as in thee lieth, against luxury : for that is the fiercest beast that devoureth man, for whom the man Christ Jesus suffered. “Wherefore, brother beloved, I counsel thee to flee fornication: for it will conceal itself, where thou

APPENDIX A 283 wouldest do good. By all means flee young women, lest thou put trust in their religious zeal ; for St. Augustine saith : ” The more religious people are, the more inclined are they to luxury ; and under the cloak of religion lurks the craft and poison of fornication.” Dearly beloved, know this, that the conversation of such subverteth many who could not be deceived or defiled by the conversation of the world. On no account permit women to enter thy house ; nor converse too frequently with them, as it seemeth to be a stumbling-block. Next, whatever thou doest, fear God and keep His commandments ; so shalt thou walk uprightly and not perish ; thou shalt subdue the flesh, despise the world, vanquish Satan, put on God, find life, confirm others, and crown thyself with a crown of glory, which the Righteous Judge will give thee. Amen.

Appendix B

TABLE OF HARMONY BETWEEN THE NUMBERING OP THE LETTERS IN THIS EDITION AND THOSE OF PALACKY AND THE NUREM BERG FOLIO ; ALSO A TABLE OF THE DATES IN THIS EDITION AND PALACHY

Number in Palacky.

Number in this Edition.

Date in Palacky.

Date in this Edition.

Pages in the Atonumenta (1558 and 1715).

Letter

Letter

July 1408

June 30, 1408 not included in

1408 fin.

early Dec. 1408 not included in s. d.

Sept. 1408 (?) not included cc. 1409 late autumn 1408 i. 936 ; 117 cc. 1410 about 1410 i. 1006 ; 125

Sept. 1410 not included

Jan. 18, 1411

Jan. 18, 1411 not included vin

May 25, 1411

May 25, 1411 i. 94 ; 119

Sept. 1, 1411

Sept. 1, 1411 not included

Sept. 1411 early Sept. 1411 i. 92; 117

Dec. 1411

Dec. 1411 not included

1412 s. d.

March 1412 not included

June 10, 1412

June 10, 1412 not included summer 1412 not included

Aug. (?) 1412 i. 93; 117

Nov. 1412 early Oct. 1412 not included early Oct. 1412 i. 95; 119

Oct. 1412 i. 99 ; 124

Oct. 1412

. 97; 121 s. d.

Dec. 1412

.98; 123

Dec. 1412

Dec. 1412

. 98; 123

Dec. 25, 1412

Dec. 25, 1412

. 99 ; 124

Jan. (?) 1413

. 98; 122

Jan. (?) 1413

L 97 ; 122

Appendix B

Number in Palacky.

Number in this Edition.

Date in Palacky.

Date in this Edition.

Pages in the Monunwnta (1558 and 1715).

Letter

Letter

Feb. 1413 after Feb. 6, 1413 not included early 1413 i. 94 ; 118 after April 1413 not included

XXVHI after April 1413 not included s.d.

not included end of April 1413 not included

July 1, 1413

July 1, 1413 not included early in 1414 not included see p. 140

Aug. 26, 1414

Aug. 26, 1414 i. 2 seep.!40,n. 1

Aug. 26, 1414

Aug. 26, 1414 not included see p. 141

Aug. 30, 1414

Aug. 30, 1414 i. 283

Sept. 1, 1414

Sept. 1, 1414 not included beginning Oct. 1414

Oct. 12, 1414 i. 57; 72 beginning Oct. 1414 early Oct. 1414 i. 57; 72

Oct. 20, 1414

Oct. 20, 1414 i. 57; 73

Nov. 4, 1414

Nov. 4, 1414 i. 58; 74

Nov. 6, 1414

Nov. 6, 1414 i. 68; 74 see p. 162

Nov. 10, 1414

Nov. 10, 1414 i. 58; 73

Xlih

Nov. 16, 1414

Nov. 16, 1414 i. 58; 75

Jan. 19, 1415

Jan. 19, 1415 i. 60 ; 76 s. d.

Jan. 1415 i. 72; 91 see p. 169 s. d.

Jan. 1, 1415 i. 72; 91

Feb. 1415 i.74; 94

Feb. 1415 i. 71 ; 90 s. d.

Feb. 1415 i. 72; 92 s. d.

Feb. 1415 i.74; 94 s. d.

end of Feb. 1415 i. 72; 91 s. d.

March 4, 1415 i. 71 ; 90 see p. 191 s. d.

March 5, 1415 i. 71; 90 s. d.

March 6, 1415

L71; 91 seep. 1%

March 1415 first week in March 1415 i. 73 ; 93 s. d.

middle March 1415 i. 73; 93

Lvn

March 4, 1415

Feb. 28, 1415 i. 73 ; 93 after March 20, 1415

March 21, 1415 i. 75; 95

March 24, 1415

March 24, 1415 i. 75; 95

Lin

June 1415 morning June 5 i. 69; 88

June 1415 after June 8 i. 68; 86

June 1415

June 6, 1415 i. 66 ; 84

June 5, 1415

June 5, 1415 i. 69; 88

June 6, 1415

June 6, 1415 i. 65 ; 84

June 7, 1415

June 7, 1415

L 62; 79

Appendix B

Number in Palacky.

Number in this Edition.

Date in Palacky.

Date in this Edition.

Pages in the Monumenta (1558andl715).

Letter

Letter

June 1415

June 8, 1415 i. 69; 88

Udk

June 1415

June 9 or 10, 1415 i. 68; 87 a. d.

June 9, 1415 not included

June 9, 1415

June 9, 1415 i. 70; 90 after June 8, 1415 after June 8 i. 68; 87

June 10, 1415

June 10, 1415 i. 60; 76

June 13, 1415

June 13, 1415 i. 65; 83

June 16, 1415

June 16, 1415 i. 66; 84 see p. 238

middle of June i. 70; 89 s. d.

middle of June i. 70; 89 seep. 240 a. d.

middle of June i. 70; 89 e.d.

middle of June i. 70; 90

after June 18 i. 63; 81

June 21, 1415

June 21, 1415 i. 64 ; 82

June 21, 1415

June 21, 1415 i. 62; 80 s. d.

about June 22 i. 63 ; 80

June 23, 1415

June 23, 1415 i. 67; 85

June 24, 1415

June 24, 1415 i. 61; 78

June 24 or 25 i. 67 ; 86

June 26, 1415

June 26, 1415 i. 60; 77

June 27, 1415

June 27, 1415 i. 62; 79

June 27, 1415

June 27, 1415 i. 63 ; 80

June 1415 (?) i. 64; 82

June 29, 1415

June 29, 1415 i. 64; 82

June 29, 1415

June 29, 1415 i. 65; 83

Xoi

June 29, 1415

June 29, 1415 i. 65; 83 not in

Final

July 1st, 1415

Palacky

Declaration, see p. 275

Printed by Eatell, Walton A Viney, Ld,t London and Ayletbury.

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