BY POGGIUS THE PAPIST THE FIRST EPISTLE OF POGGIUS TO NIKOLAI I, Poggius, send you, my Leonhard Nikolai, many greetings!\parAS you will remember from my former epistle dated on Saint Clara’s day 1414, I have been called upon to journey to Prague in Bohemia, to challenge the world-known arch-heretic John of Hussinecz, near Brachatitz, to appear before the Council of Constance, which will shortly convene there, so that he might answer to the fathers of the Church for his loose talk, teachings and preachings. I shall now let you know, my dear friend, what happened to me upon my pilgrimage and what mine eyes have beheld and examined here and there, because it is not given to everyone of our station that he may or must travel thus far; but do not expect fine words and style, only simple news and true arguments.

Travel I did, not on foot, but upon an ass, which I straddled on the fifteenth of June of the said year, after I had received the summons for Hus on the previous day from his Holiness Pope John XXIII, through Cardinal Goolvi. The morning was foggy, but soon the mist dispelled, and before I had ridden an hour from home, the sunlight continued to shine upon my road, to mine and the donkey’s pleasure, since he had carried me, exceptionally tractable, as far as Gerstbach. There I only partook of milk and fish, as it happened to be fast day. While I ate, I remembered that I had forgotten the summons and left it behind in my prayer-cell, so that I was forced to ride back to fetch it. To the astonishment of my conventuals, I returned about midnight, seat-sore and devoid of all sprightliness. Two days of rest and a thimbleful of tallow healed my callouses, so that I felt fit to travel on, but this time I mounted more carefully and went the same way, which I had traveled before, as far as Lossenau and from there to the Abbey of Herrenalb where the pious brothers of the order of the Cistercensians took care of me lovingly. Two days I stayed in that paradise in the wilderness, then I proceeded to the hot springs in the valley of Wildbach. I had been under way for about the length of an hour when a terribly weaponed knight held the forest path with his charger, asking me whose protection I enjoyed? “That of the blessed Virgin and her Son,” was my submissive answer. “Did not your donkey carry your body into the Abbey of Herrenalb yesterday, of which those of Eberstein have been the founders and protectors since immemorable times and still are, although these lazy busybodies in the cloister have renounced our protection and have asked for that of the Wuerttemberg prince?” “I rode into the settlement to seek shelter for the night; I am a messenger and carry peace for everyone, I also carry a goodly pan of ransom with me, to discharge any indebtedness, wherever I might incur it, for shelter and meals.” “Have you also ransomed your donkey’s feed, watering, shelter and care with those of Herrenalb?” asked he of Eberstein. “Not so!” I replied. “He found his feed in the fields until I rode on.” “Then your long-eared mount browsed in my territory, for that I ask of you five hundred hollow-pfennig feed money, for which I shall also give you free convoy to the springs of Wildbad.” “You cannot really mean that, my Lord! I do not carry such an amount with me.” “Then give me of your free will what you carry with you, you can much easier wander toward your goal unburdened and, by the way, I like your donkey better than you! Will you therefore come down from the animal’s back?” “Sir Knight!” I prayed, “leave me my carrier, for I am a punished wanderer upon the stony roads.” “That you should be; your teacher said so himself to your priors: “Go forth into the world, but not ride ye!” Thus jesting, he of Eberstein lifted or threw me to the ground, took from me my bag with the money it contained and went laughingly on his way with my donkey.

I had to drag myself, pitifully, on raw soles, to the walls of Hirsau. There I met the Bishop of Sulzbach who visited there. He took me in his carriage to Stuttgart and to Altenburg near Cannstadt. How different is that land from that in which we have our abode, dear Nikolai! Instead of the black forests, in which robbers and beasts lie in ambush, one sees vineyards and fruit gardens, and Stuttgart too, the court of the Wuerttembergs, is a pleasant township in which tile-roofed houses stand in orderly rows, beside the proudfully rising, well protected castle belonging to the feudal lords, said to contain a wine cellar that has no equal in all Germany.

Yet it is not alone the cellar, which is notable; wines too are said to be within it, such as no other court, no bishop’s see from the Swiss Lake to Cologne, may boast of. Too, many lovely maidens wander about in Stuttgart, with rosy cheeks and yellow hair, of stately figure and not such half-grown ones as at home. The men have a martial bearing and I don’t feel especially comfortable among them; to judge by their language, they are mostly adherents of the English heretic Wycliffe, they do not cross themselves and they mutter when they see the priestly garb. I would rather condemn the new teachings anywhere but in Stuttgart. The womenfolk walk about piously, chaste and without pouting, those of rank as well as the commoners. When night comes, the youths revel in the streets and make lovely music, using green leaves in their mouths, such as I have never heard anywhere and even in the morning they leave thusly for their hills and fields. They carry seed-grain and harvest upon their backs, the women upon their heads, which impresses me as incautious and stupid. The marketing is done upon an unpaved square, which is full of mire, away from the spring in its center, upon which a wooden lion sits, quite sternly to behold.

They keep quite a lot of domestic animals at Stuttgart; every day the herders drive their cows, geese, goats and swine out to pastures, blowing upon long steer horns. At night, watchers walk about, calling the hour with strong voices, and singing rhymes. What one does need for nourishment and daily needs, is, all in all, unbelievably cheap, and I was told, that for an honest handshake one is often invited by strangers to drink wine as much as one wants, since wine is said to be more plentiful in Stuttgart than pure water, although I have not seen little of it. Water flows about the town, in broad moats of the castle, and at some places mills rattle, cast iron pipes shed water here and there.

To tell you, my dear Nikolai, more about the town, I’m not able just now, but if I am fortunate enough to come here again, I propose to see more and will make notes of it. I wandered away from there to Esslingen, Gmuend, Ellwangen, Aalen, Bopfingen, Noerdlingen, Waldmuenchen, Radpuza, Pilsen, always without danger and inconvenience, because from one stop to the other, if there happened to be no road, serfs of the cloisters carded me for hours upon their shoulders without a grudge. How different it became, however, the nearer I came to Prague, that nest of heretics. Ridiculed by the children, despised by the elders and spat upon by many, I could only travel towards Prague under cover, because everywhere Hussites were waiting in ambush to ascertain my mission.

The more lovingly I was sheltered by Arch-bishop Sbynko, who had ordered to be burned in his court more than two hundred writings of Wycliffe which were to be distributed by Hus. It was he who had forbidden Hus to preach in Bohemian in Bethlehem-Chapel. This heretic did not obey him, until after my summons, to appear at Constance before the council, had been brought to him. To this he gladly consented, more so, because the Emperor Sigismund had given him safe conduct, and protection had been promised him in my summons by our holy father, John XXIII, also Count Chlum, Stolzoh and Bokh had been given him as a guard by King Wenceslaus.

On the 8th of the Haymoon we left Prague and arrived, on the first day of the Autumn-month at Urach, a town in the lands of princes of Wuerttemberg, where a Count Eberhard had just arrived. This one invited Hus and his companions to travel with him to Stuttgart, so that he might show them honors there and festivities, since it was autumn now, which they accepted gladly. Six days prior to St. Gaul’s day we arrived at said place early in the morning, and it looked as if the children of Israel had made their exodus to Canaan. Old and young were wandering into the fields to harvest the well grown grapes.

But when we came into the neighborhood of the city gate, down from a steep and dangerous mountain, many people stood about our coach, because they had not seen such wheelwright-craft before. And, instead of going into their hills, men, women and children turned about and followed us, to ascertain who was sitting in the coach. We stopped at the inn “Urban” for shelter and board. In the shortest time the house was surrounded with inquisitive questioners as to who had arrived, and when the curious mob had learned that the Bohemian Hus of Prague was passing through, there was unending whispering in all the streets of the town. It was everybody’s desire to see the Wycliffian Hus, he who preached a new gospel without fear and ban. Many men came to the inn, to shake hands with us and to invite us to visit them in their houses. Among other excellent and well learned gentlemen there was also Albrecht Widenmeyer, called the Herrenberger, prior of Stuttgart, long a friend of the bishop of Constance, who had brought it about that the monks in his abbey were permitted to eat cheese, milk and eggs on fast days. Deep into the night there were discussions before open doors, quite civil and without hatred, about fundamental and less important matters of the church, entered by the prior, the clergy and some of the educated laymen. When I heard Hus talk, I remembered what the scriptures say: “And all of them became full of the holy ghost.”

None were at a loss about what to say and yet every one’s speech could be called proper, clever and excellent in every respect. Oh, dear Nikolai, how different now is the chamber of my heart!

Instead of the darkness of a dead belief, the light of understanding of the gospel has entered; instead of hatred and malice for the Wycliffian and other heretic folk, peace and forgiveness have embraced me in that evening hour and never shall I be the recording accuser about the deeds and neglect of my neighbor, as sure as the virgin, blessed from eternity to eternity, may help me. Already the day was dawing anew, when the assemblage parted with the promise, to invite Hus, after the holy mass on the coming noon, to exercise the preacher’s office, for the running time of an hourglass and more.

Against the plan many of the young and older priests of the abbey, the monks and beggar monks protested, calling the plan a damned heretism, devils-pact and Babylonian whoring. The burghers though, did not bother much about the caterwauling on all comers and upon the pavement and none paid attention to the threats. Yes, one Peter Blanken and one Conrad Borrhusen, who the night before had heard the speeches of Hus at “Urban’s,” grabbed one of the cursing monks by his cloth, dragged him beneath the pump at a well and quickly pumped so much water upon him that his last hour seemed to have arrived. This would have really happened, had it not been for Fuenffer, one of the council, who happened by with two town-soldiers and safely saw the monk from the chaffing mob into the confines of the abbey. It is said that the same soup had been cooked for four or five of St. Leonard, because they had cursed everyone who came through the inner gate into the town today and condemned their body, soul, worldly possessions and eternal salvation. But those of St. Leonard were not satisfied with mud-slinging and cursing, they mounted the lifting gear at the gate and lowered the palisades, so that nobody could leave or enter.

This incited, as I have heard tell and have written down from hearsay, one Philipp Kessler, Dionys Zillenhard and Young Binkusser, so that they courageously stormed the gate, chased the hinderers away and lifted the palisades. Two of the men from St. Leonard were cast into the Giessuebel, near the bridge, by the angry burghers, the others were said to have escaped through the moat. No man, woman, child, hired man or servant girl remained inside of their four walls. Everybody, who had sound feet, hastened and scrambled toward the abbey church, not only to hear, but also to see, inquisitively, what wonders there might be, more so, because the majority did not know why they came there at all. For this reason the abbey people closed the portals to separate the curious mob, who filled the cramped streets and congested the narrow bridgelets. They lifted each other on arms and shoulders over the walls which encircled the church, so that the churchyard became filled more and more and a pressure was created from within and without. Suddenly, half a rod of wall toward the castle-market crumbled and broke down, killing several of the mob, others had their legs cut off by the stones and others again were slightly bruised.

When Count Eberhard heard of these events, he rose from his sick-bed and ordered the burghers to be quiet under penalty of corporeal punishment and disfavor, adjudged the abbey people, for their unthinking stubbornness, as being right, but not prudent and called Hus, with Count Chlum and his companions into his castle, where after a long discourse in argument and counter, the ostracized Bohemian priest was given a hearing, and was permitted to preach in the open courtyard before all the people according to his manner and belief. The fundamental text for his words he took from the Biblia Sacra, where, in the gospel according to St. Luke, it is said of the mild Samaritan: “Go and do thou likewise!” For a long time, dear brother Nikolai, I, thy Poggius, reasoned with myself, whether or not, I too, should walk over to the castle, to listen to the man summoned before the Council of Constance; finally I tired of worried reticence and walked across the few paces which separated the church from the county seat and came to stop across from the reformer, who stood, in all the black garb of the penitent, upon a stool, so that all eyes could see him and all ears could hear him. Loudly penetrated Hus’ fiery words: “Love thy neighbor as thyself, and — God above everything else!” into every hearer’s heart.

More masterly, more courageously no apostles’ holy lips could speak.

There you should have heard, dear Nikolai, the interpretation of the parable of the proud priest, the self-satisfied Levite, who had left the man, beaten and wounded, lying beside the road not cared for nor pitied by anybody, until a despised follower of another religion honored his own belief by the deed and not by hollow sham. And then you should have noted how he called the ways of our priests a godless idolatry, which is only a ringing bell and stupid salt, as long as hatred, pride, strife and persecution came from them and as long as they were not willing to heal everybody’s wounds, be they in soul or body, manfully and without rancor. Yes, such teaching is not heresy, or Christ himself is such an heretic in every way.

After Hus had ended, Eberhard of Wuerttemberg offered him his hand and led him with his followers in his chambers and banqueted with them, for which he was censured by the gentleman of the Church, but was highly praised by the listening burghers. Following that was a festive day for Stuttgart; with sweet wine, jellied meat and white loaves everybody celebrated. We should have had to sit here more than a year, fat and idle, if we should have lent an ear to every welcome bidding or had accepted half of the invitations. For fully eight days we remained here, in which time we also saw unhappiness. First of all, four of those were buried, who had happened to be under the falling wall; instead of granting them an honest burial, such as would have been not more than right, the priests of the parish remonstrated, they closed the gate of the church cemetery to the biers, (to which act they were not entitled, according to my humble opinion) and did not permit the bodies to rest in sacred earth, those unfortunates, because, as was claimed, they found a deserved end in forcible acts against the church and had departed without confession and absolution.

For a long time the bereaved people cried and begged to allow their dead to be laid next to their brethren resting in the memory of Christ. They hoped for a granting of their request until the sun had almost set, but in vain! Thereupon great bereavement permeated the whole town of Stuttgart and my own heart seemed to burst for the woe of it; women came with their children and begged for clemency for their dead; all these found no attention. They came the men from the vineyards and many gentleman from the hills, who heard the request. Just as the wind rises all at once, there rose within the ever growing crowd a grim unrest. Within a few moments the entrance gate crashed and the biers were carded in to rest with the other honest bones. Even though the chaplain tried not to submit to force courageously holding a crucifix against the crowd, he was neverthless compelled to read the services since even Count Eberhard requested it.

The following day a strict order was issued that no one, be it who may, high or low, aristocrat or lowborn, young or old, was to speak of the dire happenings, as had occurred in the recent days, whether in the public houses nor in the inns, nor to tell first-hand or from hearsay to the young folks, under penalty of severe punishment and sentence. Further, Count Chlum and his companions were advised to leave Stuttgart and travel on to their destination. These honorable men had not to be told twice and proceeded at once with their journey and on the second day of November we reached Petershausen, situated opposite Constance, where I hastened at once to embrace you, dear Nikolai. But to my sorrow I was told that you had, due to the painful gout which has made you so cruelly suffer for a long time, left for the healing Wildbad near Hirsau, where I am sending you this epistle with the appendix, in order to intimately acquaint you with everything which might occur at the heresy court. That much I might dare to predict already, that all delegates, cardinals, arch-bishops and bishops will not be able to harm Hus, unless it be by force and unclean heart, which would be sinful and godless withal, which the Holy Trinity, whose protection I beseech for you and all mankind, may prevent.

Written on the third of November in the year of Christ 1414.

Poggius, Prior of St. Nicholas THE SECOND EPISTLE OF POGGIUS TO NIKOLAI Greetings to you, my Leonhard Nikolai at Wildbad! What I ‘have promised you I shall attend to with this second epistle, to continue with my tale about Hus, where I have left off the last time. When the news came to Constance: “Hus, the arch-heretic has arrived!” there was a great tumult and no one’s heart could await the day when Hus would walk openly through the streets of Constance to the Council. This then happened for the first time on the twenty fifth of November of this year, when he was called for a short questioning before several cardinals. He could hardly squeeze his long body through the masses of the populace, so crowded stood the curious, while some of them, here and there, squeezed his hand in deep concern, others encouragingly. Some felt urged to address questions to him about his new teachings, to which he answered fittingly, with out conceit. But these happenings already lined up his preliminary judges against him, because they did not want him to be known and heard among the people, out of their own weakness. For this reason the Roman Legate and Mons. Zilliciri reprimanded him furiously, as if he were a demagogue and an evildoing renegade, full of malice and hypocrisy. Hus defended himself against that and said: “Where have I failed so badly and transgressed, that your Lordships admonish me so evilly?” Is it not duty so a blind brother asks in Christian mildness: where is the road? that I show him the road, as I see it? So that God will not punish me, too, with blindness, which I should have well deserved had I shown stubbornness.

Therefore: Shall I not offer the hand to my brother, who offers me his in kindness and without malice and in peace to good deed? Would I not testify to vanity, pride, contempt, envy and other evil things by my reluctance, against which all Saints may guard us at all times! For we teachers and guardians shall be public examples in everything that is beautiful, just and righteous, as much as our sinfulness permits, since no man is able to make a pure sacrifice to God and we all are covered with leprosy and bad boils, which to acknowledge I am not ashamed upon this my pilgrimage. Then your Lordships demand of me that I should have kept silent on my journey here, but where man is silent, the dead stones cry out.

For this reason I believe especially that it is well to open one’s mouth when the talk turns to the lessons, to wisdom and to betterment and becomes no foul, idle gibbering, to the shame and dishonor of the Holy Spirit.” “We, the Chief Guardians of the holy Roman Catholic Church command you from now on, by the power of our regency, to quiet and silence and grant you only permission to answer modestly to our questions, without long circumscription and useless chatter Have you heard it, John Hus, accursed arch-heretic from Bohemia?” loudly and angrily yelled Cardinal Goolvi, so that I, Poggius, standing in the ante-chamber, became suddenly frightened and wished inwardly for obedience and a good ending for him.

But he, instead of obeying, raised his voice without fear once more and countered: “I am sorry for the zeal and rage of your Lordships, as I am the reason for it and beg your pardon for my manner of speech, if it seems somewhat outside of dutiful servility; but this you gentlemen might grant me, that I only talk, when my conscience urges me and that I always base my words upon the apostle Paul who forcefully says: one must obey God more than man! I was not called here to keep silent, it seems to me, and I have not left my homeland to be insulted at Constance, without respect for those who have sent me, but if I am convicted of uncivil acts, I shall gladly submit to a punishment, which would be due such a loose guest, but insofar as such deeds are unknown of me, I lift my eyes manfully before your Lordships.”

Long the people waited for Hus to return from the cardinals; but the evening came and not he. Astonished and wondering the populace finally retired to their homes, strange worries seized his followers, joy and satisfaction his adversaries. On the following morning the rumor spread near and far that Hus, upon the demand of the Legate, had been cast into prison for unseeming behavior. Six weeks and several days passed without a word of Hus. Count Chlum and his companions remonstrated threateningly and full of anger about the incarceration and knocked on every door where they thought they might find help to free their charge, but in vain!

Two of Hus’ companions left for Bohemia to acquaint King Wenceslaus with the discomfort which had happened to their countryman at Constance.

During these days, weeks and moons the arch-heretic was transferred into smaller prison quarters, well guarded against liberation. Often he was dragged forth from his hole, to be questioned as to his convictions, whether he had not relented and had changed them. Yet, just like the stone bastions which God’s hand had built toweringly upon the shores of the sea, thus firm remained the Bohemian upon the structure of his opinions, which, according to his belief, bereft of all sandy foundation, towered above everything else.

And I, dear Nikolai, carry a like conviction within me, for Hus said: “What else is it, that you cardinals, bishops, and judges ask of me than to sin, by untruth and deceit, against the Holy Spirit? Do you know what happened, according to the testimony of the apostle to the man and woman, who denied their heritage? God punished them with sudden death, for they had thus blasphemed the Holy Spirit. And how much more would my soul deserve a terrible end, if I would bury the heritage that you and I have received, deny it and yet usure with it to the honor of God. You offer me gold and want thereby to hang a lock upon my lips; you want to give me rich revenues, clothe me in soft garments and give me well cooked food, so that I may be lost in everything that is called folly and worldly desire, leading to disaster and damnation. I tell you, that I will not finish in the flesh, like the wavering people of Galatha, what I have begun in spirit.

Your law is a spoiled structure of sentences, just to no one, resembling stinking, foul water, from which truly no thirsty man can drink, in the midst of which all sorts of terrible beasts, worse than snakes, newts and salamanders, creep and wade about clumsily, at home in the slime, fearing the light and devouring all flesh which strays into their filth. And all this uncleanliness is to a great extent your, my present preachers, fault. For that, because I have the courage to shed light into this desert, you confine me behind dark walls, gruesome bars and iron-bound doors with heavy bars and locks, grant for my body less foul straw than to a murderer and killer. For the last three months and more I have not breathed clean air, as if I were carrion and already decomposing. And these misdeeds against me are committed by you, who have not as yet lent me a kind ear, who have not heard my evangelical teachings undistorted, neither from myself nor from others, only for the reason because you believe that it might bring you damage and dishonor, especially to your hypocritical subterfuge.”

This sort of speeches I have listened to with my own ears. Oh, that I had to be the tool, to serve to persecute the man, who speaks thusly in truth without fear of any earthly power. Yes, dear Nikolai! if I lay my hand upon my heart’s chamber and ask myself; for I had not thought that they would torture Hus, nor had I believed that woe would come unto him. When I recently visited him, because I had heard that he was suffering from an illness, I was terribly taken aback to find him in such a dungeon. Imagine the comer tower above the Rhine bridge, the waters flowing about its foundation. Ten spans above the water you’ll see a small hole riveted thereto a grate of thick iron bars, through which, when the waves beat high, foam and drops splash into the dark chamber where Hus is sitting. It is necessary to descent thirty steps, the stairway being thrice protected by barred doors.

Finally one comes to a narrow chamber, which is as long and broad as a man is high, barely leaving in the light by the drafthole toward the lake, where the above mentioned splashes come from. I stood for a while in this chamber, before I discerned its outlines and then I saw the poor prisoner, who huddled at my feet in the foul straw. Upon a ledge stood a bowl with porridge, upon which lay a black, wooden spoon; next to it stood an earthen jar, near it lay a crust of bread. When the prisoner lies down, his head and his soles almost touch the walls. His clothing is falling to pieces and if he wants to relieve his bowels he must sit upon a round stonehole, from which a bestial stink rises, until the high water forces out the excrements from under the vault, which often happens only after three or four weeks. “Who approaches my prison, except you, guard? If it is a messenger of death, his visit be highly welcome, as I would like to enter the home of my Lord in peace!” said Hus in a hoarse voice when he saw two shadows before him. “Poor John,” I replied, “it is Poggius who is visiting you. To my great sorrow I have heard that you have fallen ill in prison, therefore it is proper for me to look after you, so that you will not harbor ill feelings for me because of my summoning you, whereby I have delivered you into bondage, which has brought you a great deal of suffering. At the same time I would like to ask you in your sorrow, if you have not become conscious of any false teachings or some other error, while thinking over your theories in this quiet solitude, since we all are human and are prone to make mistakes due to our vanity, pride, weakness or other unclean and ignorant qualities which we all are subject to from birth, and since no one need be ashamed of a change to genuine piety, nor may anyone be punished, be his belief what it may. Least of all your judges, just as the Lord, care to have you die, but they want that you desist from your hallucinations and that you will not persist in them and teach them, to the damnation of your soul and that of others, now and in eternity. Let us quietly talk about this, so that I may speak well about you to those under whose jurisdiction we stand according to divine and human laws.”

While I spoke, the one I addressed rose slowly and leaned wearily upon my shoulder. “Your visit is worth much to me, for the sake of the kindness which brings you to me, honorable prior, because I have grown miserable in this dungeon, but I have never held the summons against you, which you have innocently brought to me and which I have followed guilelessly, sound in soul and body, only to waste away in the devilish claws of my enemies. Concerning my teachings and my words, my tongue has neither spoken a vain nor prideful word, nor any which I regret and I would never be ashamed to reconsider, in case I should find that I have erred or that my teachings were not rooted in the holy scriptures entirely. But I would like to beseech you to speak to my judges so that they might grant me a better housing than that which I am forced to inhabit, one, where I might look once more upon the blue arc of the sky before I die. And if it should be within your power and friendship to attain for me a public defense before the assembled gentlemen, for the sake of God, let me humbly beg you to do so.”

Woefully I took leave of Hus and immediately hurried to Dominico, the Cardinal Legate. But this one’s mind was strongly set against the prisoner and he was glad to know him in that stinking hole, for which reason I left him and went to the Chief Marshal of the town of Constance to ask him, for the sake of the five wounds of Christ, to provide better quarters for the sick man. This man arose immediately, after hearing my supplication, from his easy chair, grasped the baton of his office and said. “No misdeed against a deserted stranger shall find support under my administration, as true as my name is Stuessi. A just victor honors even a defeated enemy.”

After a short while Hus was led out of his dungeon into a decent chamber, but his feet almost refused to carry him, he swayed as he walked; listless and unused to the day was the light of his eyes, deathly pale his cheeks and loose what was left of his teeth, since eleven had fallen out due to the damp prison. The nails on his fingers were terribly long, because he had been unable to bite them off for many weeks; upon his skin was a crust of dirt which exuded an awful stench and his otherwise brown hair fell in white ringlets upon his rotting and torn garb. His shoes had rotted upon his feet and his shirt and loincloth had vanished. The rounded flesh which had covered his bones had shrunken and shriveled and he had become a picture of woe without equal, unrecognizable to those who had known him before.

Horror filled those who looked upon him and pitying people prepared a bath for him, brought shirts and clothing and refreshed him with strengthening foods, for which he could only thank with tearful eyes. Thus passed three days in June of this year (1415), during which the fathers of the long heralded council were all assembled and the fifth day of June had been set as the first day of the general session, which decision had been announced at once to Hus, so that he might be prepared to answer to the charges which had been brought against him. Hus asked for a Bible to read from it the proof for his theories during the interrogations, but his request was not granted, nor was he allowed lead nor parchment to prepare his speech of reply; so he said: “What harm? I tell you, that, even if you would burn and exterminate the holy scriptures, I could replace them by heart, with the exception of the Chronicles. Therefore I am satisfied with my reason, for even if my body has been robbed of its vigor by incarceration, my spirit has retained its youthful wings, with the help of which I shall soar above the dust heaps and threatening animals with their sharp teeth and tongues yearning for blood.”

And the day came on which the first hearing before the fathers was to take place. Not a stone was visible on the road from the prison to the church where the hearing was held, since the inquisitive mob covered every space; the houses were provided with scaffolding and ladders, because more than forty thousand people had collected with and without hatred for the archheretic.

Thrice the bells tolled to announce the importance of the day and work ceased everywhere. The Cardinal Legate caused trumpets to be sounded from his abode and had the purpose of today’s synod of the fathers announced and that every Christian believer, upon bent knees, should piously beseech heaven to grant a triumph of the Church over the portals of hell. Michael de Causis rode about upon a snow-white horse and denounced Hus with unchristian words, so that the hearers grew goosefleshy and their hair stood on end. Such spite and hatred filled the hearts of the fathers.

When the clock struck eight, Hus rose in his prison and walked to the church as erect as his strength permitted, scantily garbed, accompanied by Wenceslaus of Duba and the Count Chlum, followed by the warden. At the church they found fifty-six clerical gentleman, two procurators and several scribes, seated at special tables, also eleven witnesses, who, soon after Hus’ arrival, were sworn to the truth of their testimony. It so happened, while the oaths were taken, that one of the witnesses relented, because his conscience tortured him. He declared publicly that he had permitted himself to be bribed to give false testimony for a sum of money which he had been in need of. Quickly the repentant witness was ordered away with the death sentence: “Hang a stone about the neck of the perjurer and cast him into the water outside of the town where it is deepest!” And soon the bidding of the fathers was obeyed, the unfortunate man was dragged upon the bridge and cast over the railing so that he drowned.

After that, peace reigned at the church assembly as if no human life had been taken, although the executors of the terrible sentence called loudly and proudly through the portals: “The beast of an heretic has already gone to hell, into the Rhine!” After that Hus was clothed with a priestly garb by which act it was indicated to him that only in this garb he was being adjudged worthy of being addressed. Then he had to stand upon a newly fashioned platform which had been erected in the middle of the nave. First, the persecuted priest wanted to make complaints against his enemies, who had incarcerated him for eight moons, in spite of an Imperial safe conduct, Royal promise of freedom and Bohemian-Moravian aristocratic convoy; but the fathers, as well as the Cardinal Legate, forbade him, by the power of their office, every complaint and demanded only an answer of yes or no to the questions which the council had found to be in order.

Hus listened attentively to them, answered twenty-nine in the negative and one he answered firmly and with well-worded oration in the positive.

Among the reported questions, however, were such of inconsequent accusations, which the accused refuted with calm collection and manly strength, but to the doubtful witnesses from many lands was given more credence than to the prisoner from Bohemia. A great tumult arose among the fathers through the report that Hus, after he had left Prague on account of the ban, was to have said to Cardinal de Columna, who had ordered him to come to Rome: “What sort of obedience is that to be, that I, as an unknown, wrongfully accused person, should travel three hundred miles, through so many adversaries, to my enemies who are to be judges, witnesses and everything else at the same time? Shall I permit myself to be dragged down in the consistory, forget my belief in God, unlearn my patience and, if I could not pay a bribe, be adjudged guilty in the most righteous matter, yes, and what’s more, to worship the Pope on my knees as a God and crawl to him on my knees? No, I’d rather give the Roman upon the chair of Petrus a box on the ears, so that he would remember it for a hundred years.” Item: “Pope John is a shameful beast and the actual anti-Christ, because he has started an unjust war, for the sake of his desires, against King Ladislaus of Naples; he permits indulgences to be sold to murderers, thieves, perjurers and all those who help him with their possessions, blood, money or hired soldiers.” Item: “No solace is John for erring children, but a shameful murderer, because upon his command, the rascally archbishop Sbynko at Prague had caused the bloody death of three men there, for which God immediately punished Sbynko, by having a wild pig slit him open in such a manner that his guts were hanging out and none remained within his fat belly, and this just at the moment when he, as prosecutors of heretics, was on the way to see the Emperor Sigismund in my case and that of the preacher Jacobus Misnensis.”

These and other accusations Hus did not deny at all, but he tried to prove what he really had said at all times. But now he was being loudly denounced, cursed and condemned in many tongues, so that he could not talk any longer and remained silent when Michael de Causis, in raving excitement, jumped before him and called threateningly with uplifted fists: “Now we have you in our power, from which you shall not escape until you have paid with your last farthing! And burnt you shall be, even if your thin bones have cost us so much money.” He, who was thus silenced, had to take off his priestly garb again, after which they made fun of him, calling him derisively “goose-head,” since “goose” is supposed to mean “hus” in the Bohemian tongue, and he was led away to his small chamber. The aged chamberlain Erlo followed him sadly. “Friend,” said Erlo to Hus, when they were alone, “you see, that I am old and my days are numbered, already I am eighty-one years of age. So listen to me and take to heart what I have to offer you in this lonely hour. As much as I have been told with assurance, your enemies have sworn death for you, be it by poison, should you be freed by the Emperor who is to arrive here to-morrow, or by fire if you will be found guilty; for this reason I shall show you the mountain from where help might come to you.

Tonight, when the clock strikes one, be awake and prepare yourself for an escape. Under your bed you will find Austrian soldier’s clothes, don them and hang over your shoulder the leather pouch which you will find, in which there is a letter, worded as if Vienna were its destination. Near the tree-lined road by the city wall, to which I shall securely guide you, there will be a swift mule, belonging to Bishop Wollra of Prague, who is for your cause, and upon which mule you may trot away with Emizka, the Moravian noble, whom you know, and who is a brave fighter and carries gold in considerable quantity. You can feel safe with him till you are with your King who has written to the fathers: “They shall not hurt his “goose,” by his dire revenge, for she is to lay golden eggs for him yet.” Be careful and without scruples!” “What would happen to you, old Erlo, if you would be accused of having helped me to escape?” asked Hus cautiously. “Let me take care of that. What would it amount to, if they should kill me in your stead, I would be of no use to anyone, I am almost a burden to myself and will have to pay the grave-digger soon at any rate. But you are not even or hardly forty years old and you can be of service to mankind in every respect. Now go to sleep, so that you may gain strength for your undertaking.”

Thus the chamberlain Erlo is said to have acted, as I have been told by Hus in secrecy under oath and promise of silence, which I expect from you also, dear Nikolai. Further this happened: In the said hour of the night, Erlo went to the prisoner and encouraged him to escape, because everything was in readiness.

But Hus said: “Far be it from me that I should endanger your gray head by my flight, honest Erlo! Behold, I shall walk the path which the finger of the Lord has shown me. I would count it as a dire sin, if I should go away like a thief in the night and grant my enemies a triumph at the expense of my dishonor. No, I can’t let this happen to me! What can human beings do to me if God’s arm protects me? And if he does not protect me, the vengeance of my enemies would seek me out, if I should flee to the remotest ocean! At my ordination I have been bound by a solemn oath, to speak the truth without regard of my person: No one shall hinder me to do this duty, nor shall I flee it cowardly and become a traitor upon myself and my doctrines, so help me God! What good is a soldier if he runs away when his opponent approaches and what reward deserves the watchman if he sleeps with the others?” “Oh, oh! that enlightening may come to you! escape! flee! as long as there is time, as long as the door is open and your friends await you. Your flight cannot be termed cowardly, but just, because your judges sin against you in disgraceful use of power and deny you justice and defense! Come, come!

Flee, escape, before the cock crows!” urged the old chamberlain. “Desist from your urging, your zeal and your request to me; just as the corner stone has not been set into the corner of the house to serve as ornament but to strengthen it, so unwilling am I to give way before malice out of sheer self-preservation. There is nothing which the Lord loves more in his people than that they help their brethren without thanks and offerings.” “You are a dead man ere the sun has gone down three times! Up, up! gird your loins and follow me! We have only a few moments, when those are past no one will unravel the net which is being woven about you. Come, come! why are you hesitating? Can’t you hear that the watchman is announcing half past two o’clock and can’t you see that this torch has almost burned out? Come, come! I beseech you, for the sake of Jesus Christ and with hot tears! Flee with me out of your dungeon into which malice has cast you!” cried and begged the old man of the hesitating one, clinging to him and trying, as much as he could, to drag him away.

Hus really went with his liberator as far as the outside of his prison, then he stopped and looked for a while to the sky, as if he wanted to ask: Allknowing One, is it not a sin before the Holy Spirit, that I leave the path which Thou hast laid down for me? And he turned, offered his hand to Erlo and said with a sigh: “Devoted father, I cannot flee! Let me thank you ardently for your work of love, and pray for me, should I go to my death.

Convey to my friends my sincere thanks for their offer and ask them not to condemn me for my stubbornness. I shall trust in God and await my time!”

Out of liberty Hus returned confidently into his narrow prison. The chamberlain sought out the waiting companion to announce his failure.

This one was so furious with the old man, whom he believed to be a liar and a traitor, that he stabbed him with his dagger so that he fell. In the meantime Hus sang the Ambrosian Hymn in Latin so beautifully and loudly, that some of his enemies heard it and intervened for him, as a really pious man, wherever they could.

On the following morning, the sixth of June, two other strangers came to Constance: one of them with great pomp, the other without any show of splendor. The first one was Emperor Sigismund; quite a stately gentleman, with red hair and beard. What a crowd there was, dear Nikolai, as if the earth had opened up to spew out people to glorify, in a hundred fashions and thousand colors, the Imperial train. Singers, dancers and cither players, jugglers, jewelers, fine cooks and harlots had collected from every foreign land; to make a righteous or shady living here.

Alas, I thought, this is to be a council where abuses are to be done away with! Poor Bohemian! Under the howling of the people and the sound of your enemies’ goblets ringing against one another, you will end as an exhibit for the blinded rabble. And as I imagined it, so it happened. Racing, fencing, games of all sorts filled the day and far into the night there was a noise in the streets as if the falls of the Rhine were outside the gates.

Many-colored lanterns burned as far as the eye could see and young and old walked about in their best clothes, to eye the smirking Jews, the dancing Hungarians or the drinking bouts of the people from the lands on the Main and to listen to their raucous songs. Many tongues were heard and the garbs of many people were seen here. From Spain, France, Old England, Holland, Denmark, Pommerania, Prussia, Poland, Saxonia, Bohemia, Austria, Bavaria and many free towns of the Empire deputies had arrived and hundreds streamed in every hour, on foot, on horseback or in vehicles, through the gates of Constance to rest, wearily, upon the earth or on hot stones, because the sun burned like glowing fire from a cloudless sky.

The Emperor rode a supple horse which had white eyes, a fox-colored tail and a red mane. The animal’s body was covered with scarlet cloth; silver pendants hung from it in silken tassels which were fastened by golden pins.

On his head the horse wore a large plume and on his chest a coat of arms woven in colors, representing a double-eagle. The bridle was braided from pretty ringlets, adorned with beautiful shells from the depths of the sea.

The Emperor was pompous in a black velvet jacket, blue silk underlined the slits in his trousers and at his knee started white, silken stockings which reached down to his red lace-boots. A narrow, long sword was his only weapon. About the neck he wore a golden chain, which was neatly arranged in diagonal loops, held upon his shoulders by hooks and which ended, under his heart, in a large, pearl-studded brooch. A white beret, lined with blue silk, covered his head; above rested a crownlet, the size of a fist, topped by a white, waving plume. Ahead of him rode a lean, sleek person, known as herald, who had to clear the road for his master. The Emperor’s following was garbed as for a carnival, among them kettledrummers and trumpeters, as well as several blacks from Asia.

The second stranger, of whom I spoke, was Jerome of Prague, whose clan call themselves those of Faulfisch, his rank that of a master of the free arts, professor and bachelor of theology. He is also a knight of the Bohemian King Wenceslaus and a devoted pupil and follower of Hus. He had studied at Prague, Paris, Cologne and Heidelberg. This man, like whom there is hardly another in learning and eloquence, came to Constance, to defend his distressed friend, which mission he splendidly executed, but by doing so he brought about his own death and destruction, which to report I shall by no means omit, but do later on.

As soon as he had arrived, he looked up Hus, who is said to have called out as he saw him again: “God be praised, that my courage has not deserted me and my feet have not become those of a fugitive, for a strong hero of Judaea has come to my side!” They have written together, so I have heard, a masterly letter, which I have, however, never read nor heard, because the fathers had not accepted it and had disregarded it with disdainful shouting. Jerome’s is a beautiful body, only his face is pale; his eyes are coal-black, as is his curly hair. His mouth, in conversation, is exceptionally friendly and his teeth, in white, even rows, are entirely visible. His words are easy to listen to, whether they are spoken in French, in Italian, in German or in Latin. A noble golden ring shines upon his forefinger and he wears the garb of a monk without belt or tonsure.

Archbishops, bishops, prelates and priests, even Prince Ludewig, elector of the Palatinate, visited him at once, when they had heard that he had arrived, although he is stopping in a small chamber in Sandstreet, in a house called “Ahlschleif,” above Murdererstreet.

A lot of accidents have happened during these days, particularly during the day on which the two personages, about whom I have written arrived here.

Bruised, asphyxiated, with broken ribs and covered with wounds many hundreds have been brought in; because the crowding was such, that the walls of the houses were bent in and the wainscoting in several ground floor chambers burst open and fell out. A leather merchant wanted to erect a maypole upon the roof of the guild house, misstepped and fell, the pole with the colored ribbons in his hand, upon the heads of the guffawing rabble, who stood below and could not move. But nobody was hurt and the man who had plunged down walked away, followed by the derisive remarks of those upon whom he had landed.

The dawn of the 7th of June 1415 came to Constance during such festivities and happenings, and, with it, the people were curiously about again. With the clock striking eight and the bells tolling, the procession of bishops, cardinals, fathers and deputies moved toward the church, where a chair had been placed for Hus, about which the seats of the gentlemen had been arranged. In front, toward the choir, there had been erected a seat upon a platform, covered with violet-colored cloth, appearing very costly.

Above it was a sound-cover, from which hung, in long folds, a roof for the throne, which was decorated with golden knobs, pins, tassels and fringes.

The gentlemen of the Church were clothed with all the insignia and the garb of their station. Many rode upon horses, donkeys and others were carried in chairs, such, for instance, as the arch-bishop of Sulzbeachen, a mighty gentleman, whom Ludewig, electoral prince of the Palatinate followed, carrying his train, not because of his duty to do so, but out of love for the arch-bishop who had been his teacher.

When all the front seats were filled, many more were admitted into the church, such who cared to listen, and there were not few. Thus Hus was brought in, clad again in priestly garb, in which he was led to a stool, which stood in the middle of the church and upon which the chair had been fastened, but without a back, as a sign that an accused rested upon it. After a while a regally dressed trumpeter sounded a call under the portal of the church and the emperor, with many nobles, clad in costly robes, entered proudly. Everybody took to their seats, also Sigismund. After that the chronicler rose, read the enumerated charges, of which there were fortyseven, to Hus, and of these he emphasized six serious articles which were: 1. The accused does not believe in the transsubstantiation; 2. despises the belief in the infallibility of the Pope and the worship of Saints; 3. disputes the power of absolution by a (vicious) priest and confession to him; 4. rejects the absolute obedience to worldly superiors; 5. rejects the prohibition of marriage for priests; 6. calls the indulgence a simony, sinning against the Holy Spirit.

For these and many other godless reasons and talks, John Hus is accused of arch-heresy and is called before the Emperor and the fathers of the Church to retract his teachings.

After that Hus raised his voice in such a manner that one could not have found the smallest corner in the wide expanse where he could not have been heard and well understood. “I have,” said Hus, “awaited this day with longing and eagerness, on which, after long incarceration it was to be my lot to fight against the false, who have borne witness against me, and to talk about my doctrines, just as I have done in my homeland, without fear and timidity.” After Hus had thus started, he was forbidden to continue and he was told that he was only permitted to make answer, concerning that which had been read to him, mainly, however, it was expected that he would renounce his error and turn from it in future and at all times. “First of all,” now spoke the Bohemian, “I am primarily accused that I do not believe in the transsubstantiation, and rightly so, because I cannot understand it at all. Because it is hardly to be taken for granted, that a little piece of dough, mixed from flour and water, dried in the sunlight, might change into a divine body, through which holy blood flows, or that it might be made, by the consecration of a priest, believing that the body and the blood of Christ are present in reality and are being taken, into a forgiveness of all of our shortcomings. This doctrine seems repulsive to me and nothing else can be meant by it but a symbol and as such is understood by many as “this is my body and this is my blood” especially since this meaning has been praised by many fathers of the Church and has been accepted by them as well sounding and proper, for the last six hundred years, before the Primate at Rome made believe that he can do thus and with him all those who have come out of his school.

Neither at the council at Jerusalem, nor at that of Nicea had there been talk about the actual transsubstantiation of the host, only about its use, instead of the unleavened bread. And just as nobody can really create blood out of water and wine, so nobody can create flesh out of a dough from flour; such a presumption on the part of the priests is sinful, ungodly and to be condemned; nowhere in the holy scriptures is there a foundation for it. As long as I cannot be shown, out of the Holy Bible, that I am in error, I shall insist upon my argument. Because it is written: “And he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to his disciples etc; after that he took the cup, gave thanks and passed it to his disciples with the admonition that all should drink etc.” It seems clear, that the last supper of Jesus was given twice and not in a single form, which is proven by the evangelical scribes Matthew 26, <411401> Mark14, Luke 22 and Paulus to the Corinthians in the 11th chapter, 23rd and 24th verses ( 1 Corinthians 11:23-24).

Whosoever knows differently shall give witness before this assemblage. Secondly : “I am accused that I harbor no belief in the Pope and in his infallibility in matters of creed, also that I find little or no solace in the worship of the saints. I admit this, my doctrine, in every respect. Because how can a man, even if he is the Pope, be infallible, since his shortcomings are the same as those of other men, from their birth on, and to err is his and everybody’s main sin. Is it not written in the holy scriptures: “Nobody is perfect, only God alone!” To be infallible means as much as to be perfect and never to err; but as we are all mortals, we are all prone to make errors and we must all admit it. It is, therefore, a visible and serious deception of all Christians, such prideful and conceited preaching, that anyone, born of woman, is equal to the Lord and infallible; no human being’s acts are so perfect, that nothing which he has done today might not rue him tomorrow. Further, no one has been given the power, to sanctify any man, however pure and godly he has lived, a thing which the Popes, for several centuries have believed to be their right. It is written in the holy scriptures: “Nobody is holy, I alone am thy God!” and again: “Nobody may call himself a Saint, but God!” And were this not written in the scriptures, then every man might ask himself just how far removed he is from salvation, if not every day and every hour bad thoughts and inclinations would come from his heart and if he were able to always subdue evil. If he wants to be humble and not arrogant, he must lay his hand upon his heart and say: “I am a great sinner!”

As long as this truth is present, it is to be taught and to be believed, that there are no Saints before the Lord and that to worship them is of no earthly use, but is only empty babbling. God is a spirit and whosoever prays to him must call to him in spirit and in truth. How can I call to him in truth, if I must ask a third for his intervention? He is the father of us all and his heart is opened to everyone with the same love; he is not nearer to this man or farther removed from this one than from any of us, and before him we are and will remain earthen vessels, which are formed today and are broken tomorrow, vessels which cannot ask preference on account of their shape. This would figure out something like this: I have not courage enough to talk to the Father myself, so you, Saint Benameter, do it for me for all times. And finally, who will be the highest and lowest in heaven?

Who knows that? Who has ever noticed such preference before others? As long, I repeat again, as we all are begotten from sinful seed, there may be righteous men, but no Saints.

Thus said Paulus to Timothy in the second epistle in the second chapter: “And if one strive in the games, he is not crowned if he hath not observed the rules.” What does it mean, observe the rules? Perhaps much fasting, praying and chastising. But nobody should boast of it, said Paulus to the Ephesians in the second chapter. It is also written: “Wherein in times past ye walked in sin, ye are children of disobedience and have sinned.”

Whosoever knows differently, bear witness before this assemblage. Thirdly : My enemies accuse me that I do not honor the confession as a godly institution and despise the absolution by a (vicious) priest; this accusation is true and I cannot renounce it here. The Roman teachers of the church say, of course, that Christ had said: “Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

But how can, you ask, a priest, who is the true disciple of Christ, forgive sins and keep them, if he does not know them? To this I answer and teach: in that he leaves to every conscience the penalty and resolve for betterment, with a stern admonition to be pious and to renounce all evil, to shed sins and faults and to seek grace with God and man. Aside from this there is written in the holy scriptures: “Nobody may forgive sins, but God!”

Who, out of his free will, wants to announce the sins of his soul, may be enriched by it, but who cannot do this, the fetters of hell shall not be ringed about him. Even Jesus has not declined to offer the cup of reconciliation to his traitor Judas during the last supper, but he left it to the others whether or not he had done right, although he was more than a high priest.

And what shall I say of the absolution by a (vicious) priest, such as are sitting by the hundreds in the confessional cells, with a heart steeped in iniquity and filled with rude and ignorant thoughts? Those who in the morning read the holy mass with lazy tongues and then gorge themselves, so that they have to throw up again the filth with disgusting convulsions in secret places. Those who leeringly sit at eventide behind their large goblets and stammer with heavy tongues their “Ave Maria” and after they have done so, immediately wet their fingertips on drooling lips so that they might better grip their cards, which had been laying idly before them for a moment. Those who sit in a heap of dung and have quarrels with all children of man, who curse and revel, just like soldiery in the enemy’s camp. Those who play the fiddle and reed at kirmess time, as if they needed the dance offering and had not enough to live on and too little to die. Those who linger about in lighted and darkened corners, where a sleek, nicely buxom wench might be scrubbing, milking or working, to make conversation, to embrace them in an unsavory manner, to enjoy lustful sights, and, where ever possible, forgetting all honor, reputation, modesty, pledge and station, commit adultery, disregarding marriage vows, and betrothal of those they rape. Those who do not know, out of sheer laziness, how to pass the time of the day, to come to a hunt-meet, egg hunt, cockdance, St. John’s fire or a young pig roast, or be dragged there, on the back of a horse, a donkey, upon a peasant or upon a buxom woman, if these are zealots of the monastery. Those who carry daggers within their