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indeed wrote and spoke in favour of frequent communion but did not mention communion in the two kinds. It has already been stated that both these demands were closely connected in the minds of the Bohemian people, to whom it appeared unjust that the priests-among whom were many of the vilest men in the land --should claim to receive holy communion more frequently and in a more complete manner than pious laymen. It is on the whole most probable that the deep study of the evangelical words pronounced at the institution of the sacrament convinced Jacobellus of the lawfulness of utraquism.

The custom of administering communion in the two kinds began at Prague about the time when Hus was dangerously ill at the Dominican monastery, and he was not immediately informed of it. The news reached Palec more rapidly and he accused Hus of being responsible for the teaching of utraquism. The latter was probably then too ill to understand the drift of Palec's words, particularly as the question of utraquism had not been discussed before his departure from Prague. Early in January 1415 Hus's health began to improve and he was about this time moved to a less unsanitary cell in the Dominican monastery. To the papal commissioners who visited him he declared that the articles of accusation against him were largely drawn from passages quoted wrongly from his writings, and that the articles also attributed to him statements which he had never made. The commissioners merely answered that the articles were the work of his Bohemian enemies. Michael de causis was meanwhile more indefatigable than ever. He was more constantly in the prison than even the gaolers, acting as spy, and also abstracting the letters sent or received by Hus. To incite the commissioners against Hus he gave them totally untruthful information concerning him, calculated to render him odious. Thus when visiting Hus one of the commissioners said: "Thou possessest 70,000 florins"; another, "Thou hast founded a new law "; yet another, "Thou then hast taught all

1 This at that time signified an enormous sum; according to Dr. Flajshans, about 4,000,000 Austrian crowns (£200,000).

these articles." Hus could but answer: "Why do you wrong "1 me? The ignoble Michael de causis was allowed to accompany the commissioners on their visits to Hus and even grossly to insult him in their presence-a fact which alone proves what a wretched parody of justice the whole trial was. There is little doubt that this licence granted to Michael was largely the result of the vast sums of money collected and distributed by the Bishop of Litomysl. Palec, though also demanding that Hus should be immediately executed, behaved with more reserve than Michael. Stephen Palec was a narrowminded bigot, but not an unprincipled scoundrel like Michael de causis.

One of the Bohemian letters-they are always more impressive than the Latin ones--written by Hus at this time and dated January 19, 1415, gives a good insight into his feelings. The letter, addressed to the citizens of Prague, runs thus: "May God deign to be with you, that you may resist the evil, the devil, the world, and the flesh. Dearest, I beg you-sitting in prison, of which I am not ashamed, for I suffer in good hope for the Lord God, who graciously afflicted me with a severe illness, but has now restored me to health and who permitted that those should become my enemies to whom I did much good and whom I loved much-I beg you to pray to God for me that He may deign to be with me; for it is through Him alone and through your prayers that I hope to remain in His grace unto my death. If He deigns now to call me to Him, be it according to His holy will; if He deigns to restore me to you, then also be His will fulfilled. Indeed I require much help, but I know that He will not subject me to any suffering or temptation except for my own, and for your good, so that, having been tested, and having remained steadfast, we may obtain great reward. Be it known to you that that letter, which I sent to you after starting on my journey,3 has become public, and has been

1 Flajshans, Mistr Jan Hus, pp. 415-16.

2 Hus's style is here rather involved. It is, however, so characteristic of the writer that I have thought it best to translate the letter literally.

3 In this letter-written in Bohemian-Hus had stated that he had left Prague without a letter of safe-conduct. We do not know what form this

translated wrongly into Latin. They have also produced so many articles and accusations against me that I have much to write answering them all here from prison. There is no one who can help me except our merciful Lord Jesus who said: I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.1 Remember, dearest, that I have zealously worked with you, and that I always hope for your salvation, now also when I am in prison and much tormented."

On March 20, as already mentioned, Pope John XXIII. escaped from Constance in disguise. Hus appears at that time to have become somewhat more hopeful, perhaps because a few friends had been allowed to visit him—a great solace to a man whose health at this moment was again failing and who had lived for months surrounded only by enemies and spies. The aged Master Christian of Prachatice and John of Jesenice, two of Hus's comrades during the long-protracted struggle against the simonists at Prague, visited him, not heeding the great danger which they incurred. Hus no doubt informed them of the treachery on the part of the council of which he had been the victim, and they both succeeded in escaping from Constance during the troubles that followed the flight of Cossa. Jerome of Prague also appeared for a short time at Constance, though Hus had begged him not to do so. He departed again almost immediately. Here, as ever, the presence of Jerome was very harmful to Hus. Another visitor was Lord Venceslas of Duba, the trusted friend and protector of Hus. He burst into tears on seeing him, and informed him of the steps which the nobles of his country were taking for his defence. These attempts at intervention on the part of Hus's countrymen have already been mentioned, and I shall have again to refer to them later. Duba may also have informed Hus of the intended flight of Cossa, as statement took when translated into Latin by Michael and Palec. Hus was travelling, accompanied by representatives of Sigismund who approved of his not waiting at Prague for the arrival of the letter. Some modern apologists of Sigismund have, following the example of Hus's persecutors, maintained that the safe-conduct became invalid because Hus did not carry it on his journey.

1 St. Luke xxi. 15.

his intention of escaping from Constance was mooted in the city several days before the event actually took place. This would inspire hope in the minds of both Hus and Duba. Cossa departed, Sigismund was undisputed master of the city of Constance, and it was entirely in his power to liberate Hus. On March 24, Palm Sunday, Hus wrote to his friends at Constance informing them that his guards had left him. On the same evening an armed force of a hundred and seventy men, sent by the Bishop of Constance, seized Hus and conveyed him to the bishop's castle of Gottlieben.1 Immediately after the departure of Cossa, Sigismund, fearing that Hus might escape him, conferred with the most important members of the council, and it was decided that Hus should be placed in the custody of the Bishop of Constance. That Sigismund failed to use this opportunity of liberating Hus greatly disappointed the Bohemians, and has also caused the surprise of some modern writers. A closer study of the character of Sigismund would show that he had firmly resolved that Hus should never leave Constance, or at least never return to his native land.

The imprisonment at Gottlieben was for Hus in every way a change for the worse. The tower at Gottlieben, still known as the "Hussenthurm," in one of the highest cells of which he was confined, was indeed, from a sanitary point of view, preferable to the Dominican monastery at Constance. But Hus now for the first time endured all the horrors of a mediæval prison. He was chained to a post, at day time by the hands only, at night also by the feet, and suffered continually from hunger and thirst. His German guards were allowed to treat him with the utmost cruelty, while the Italian soldiers of Cossa had treated him with cordial, if contemptuous, kindness. It is certain that it was intended, according to the methods of the Inquisition, entirely to break his spirit by what was practically torture. It was hoped that he would thus be induced to confess anything and everything which it was desirable that he should confess. He had hitherto been allowed to write and to receive letters, but all thfs was stopped at Gottlieben. We know 1 On the Rhine below Constance, now in the Swiss canton of Thurgan,

therefore, little of what occurred there, and a veil has perhaps mercifully been thrown over Hus's stay at Gottlieben.

The powers of the commissioners appointed by Pope John XXIII. were considered as having ended with the flight of that pontiff. The council, in which the party of the cardinals now had the upper hand, appointed Cardinals D'Ailly, Filastre, and Zabarella to act as commissioners, and continue the examination of Hus. Of these men D'Ailly was the most prominent, and his marked hostility to Hus has often been noted. The active part taken by the Cardinal of Cambray in the condemnation of Hus is indeed the best known part of his career. As Dr. Tschackert, the biographer of D'Ailly, writes: "D'Ailly now showed that historically memorable activity which throws on the not otherwise very bright record of his life a shadow that is all the darker, the brighter appears the memory of him whose death at the stake he helped to bring about." The reasons for D'Ailly's hostility to Hus are numerous. The dispute between nominalists and realists no doubt played a part, but Hus's repeated eulogy of the poverty of the clergy must have been particularly obnoxious to D'Ailly. This very important motive seems to have been kept in the background by many historians. D'Ailly was noted for his greed for money. His eager endeavours to secure benefices and to amass riches exposed him to the sometimes very severe comments of his contemporaries.2

"1

The new commissioners visited Hus several times at Gottlieben. They found him weak through hunger and suffering, broken in spirit, meek, and patient. It cannot be considered generous on the part of D'Ailly that he should, when Hus at his trial gave a somewhat spirited reply, have taunted him with the remark, "You spoke more meekly when you were in the tower." The council, now freed from Baldassare Cossa and by no means desirous of entering on the disagreeable subject of church-reform, devoted all its energy to the extirpation of heresy. Before finally coming to

1 Dr. Tschackert, Peter v. Ailly, p. 225.

2 See the " tractatus Bonifacii (Ferrer) prioris Carthusiae majoris" in Martene et Durand, Thesaurus, II., p. 1436. The writer, a firm adherent of Pope Benedict XIII., may have been somewhat prejudiced against D'Ailly.

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