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LVI.: To Peter Mladenowic ( Without date: June 6, 1415) - Jan Huss, The Letters of John Hus [1904]

Edition used:

The Letters of John Hus. With Introductions and Explanatory Notes by Herbert B. Workman and R. Martin Pope (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1904).

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LVI.

To Peter Mladenowic

(Without date: June 6, 1415)

I dare not rashly say with St. Peter that I shall never be offended in Christ, although all should be offended,1 seeing that I have incomparably less zeal and courage than he. For Christ has never plainly called me blessed like Peter,2 nor has He promised me so many gifts: the attack too is fiercer, more bewildering, and carried on by more numerous foes. Therefore what I say is that, having hope in Christ Jesus, I intend, so long as I shall hear His message,3 to cleave to the truth with your help and that of the saints, even unto death. If Baron John [of Chlum] incurs loss by reason of his expectations about myself, make it up to him, dear Peter, pending your return, so far as concerns the master of the Mint and his wife, who boldly pledged their credit,4 and also as regards my other friends, known to the rector who read with me.1 If I have a horse left with a car, it ought to go to Baron John. Master Martin, however, if he is alive—or, at any rate, Master Christian, in whom I have complete confidence2 —will make you a payment from the four guineas—I wish I could say ten guineas! But no sum of money, be assured, can adequately repay your fervent, steadfast, loyal love of the truth and the kind offices and considerations you have shown me in my troubles. May God be your exceeding reward, for I have naught to reward you with. If I ever should live in Prague again, I should like you to share everything with me as freely as my own brother; but the possibility of my return to Prague depends entirely upon the grace of God. I desire it not, if it is not the will of our Father Who is in heaven. My travelling breviary,3 which I bequeathed to Master Martin, will pass into the possession4 of some one of the friends still with me. Dispose of my books according to the instructions I gave to Master Martin,5 and accept any of Wyclif’s works you care to have. At present my chief distress is over our brethren, who, I imagine, will suffer persecution unless the Lord lay bare His arm; and I fear that many may be offended. Please, now as ever, give my affectionate greetings to all the Bohemian and Polish nobles, together with my thanks—and especially Baron Wenzel, etc., whom I desire to see present at the hearing of my case. Farewell in Christ Jesus.

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

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

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

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

[1 ]Matt. xxvi. 33.

[2 ]Matt. xvi. 17.

[3 ]Dum audivero formam, the exact sense of which seems doubtful.

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

[1 ]Plebanus meus scholaris—i.e., Girzik. See p. 206 n.

[2 ]In spite of his apparent relapse. See p. 196 n. and 200, n. 1.

[3 ]Viatious, a breviary adapted to the use of travellers.

[4 ]P.: cedet; perhaps read cedat.

[5 ]Cf. p. 151.