HUSS. 



the court. At this time, be became acquainted with 

 the writings of Wickliffe. His knowledge of the 

 Scriptures soon made him feel the justice of that bold 

 reformer's attacks on the abuses of the church, and 

 he now became himself the boldest advocate of a 

 reform which should restore to the corrupt church 

 the simplicity and purity of scriptural Christianity. 

 His boldness did not long remain unobserved ; and 

 as, in the frequent disputes of the Germans with the 

 Bohemian academicians, he took part with the latter, 

 he had soon to contend with powerful enemies This 

 made a national division of that which hitherto had 

 been only a contest between the philosophical schools 

 of the Realists, to which Huss belonged, and of the 

 Nominalists, to which most of the Germans had 

 attached themselves. About 5000 foreign pro- 

 fessors and students left Prague, and either created 

 or gave a new impulse to the universities of Leipsic, 

 Erfurth, Ingolstadt, Rostock, and Cracow, a loss 

 which Prague and Huss himself, who was now a 

 rector, sensibly felt. Yet he could not be attacked 

 in Bohemia ; the great schism had exposed the 

 \veakness of the priesthood ; Bohemia did not recog- 

 nise Benedict XIII., nor Gregory XII., after 1409 ; 

 the nobility and people were excited against the 

 arbitrary decrees of the pope, by some bold spirits, 

 who served as the precursors of Huss's doctrines, 

 and thus became accustomed to judge freely; the 

 government of Wenceslaus favoured the anti-papal 

 spirit of many among the people, from political 

 grounds, and from an inclination favourable to Huss, 

 who svas generally esteemed. He ventured, there- 

 fore, to censure publicly the corrupt morals of the 

 priests and the laity, and to preach against the sale 

 of papal indulgences in Bohemia; he said nothing 

 new, when he declared masses for the dead, image- 

 worship, monastic life, auricular confession, fasts, 

 &c., to be inventions of spiritual despotism and super- 

 stition, and the withholding of the cup at the Lord's 

 supper unscriptural. The new pope, Alexander V., 

 finally summoned him to Rome, and, as he did not 

 appear, the archbishop of Prague, Sbynko, com- 

 menced the immediate persecution of this preacher 

 of the truth. About 200 volumes of copies of Wick- 

 liffe's writings were burnt in 1410, in the arch- 

 bishop's palace, and the Bohemian preaching at the 

 Bethlehem chapel prohibited. But Huss did not 

 obey either this prohibition or the new summons of 

 John XXIII., but appealed, as his envoys at Rome 

 were imprisoned, to a general council. 



When the pope caused a crusade against Ladis- 

 laus of Naples to be preached in Bohemia, Huss 

 opposed it in the warmest manner, and his friend 

 Jerome expressed himself on the subject in violent 

 language, which the pope ascribed to Huss, who 

 was, in consequence, excommunicated, and Prague 

 laid under an interdict as long as Huss should remain 

 iu it. Huss, therefore, distrustful of the protection of 

 the weak king of Bohemia, went to the feudal lord 

 of his birthplace, Hussinez, whose name was Nicholas. 

 Here, and in many places in the circle of Bechin,he 

 preached with much success ; here he also wrote his 

 memorable books On the Six Errors, and On the 

 Church, in which he attacks transubstantiation, the be- 

 lief in the pope and the saints, the efficacy of the abso- 

 lution of a vicious priest, unconditional obedience to 

 earthly rulers, and simony, which was then extremely 

 prevalent, and makes the holy Scriptures the only 

 rule of matters of religion. The approbation with 

 which these doctrines were received, both among the 

 nobility and common people, increased the party of 

 Huss in a great degree ; and, as nothing was nearer 

 to his heart than the diffusion of truth, he readily 

 complied with the summons of the council of Con- 

 stance to defend his opinions before the clergy of all 



nations. Wenceslaus gave him the count Chlnm 

 and two other Bohemians of rank for his escort. 

 The emperor Sigismund, by letters of safe conduct, 

 became responsible for his personal safety, and John 

 XXIII., after his arrival at Constance, November 4, 

 made promises to the same effect. Notwithstanding 

 this, he was thrown into prison, November 28, after 

 a private examination before some of the cardinals, 

 and, in spite of the reiterated remonstrances of the 

 Bohemian and Moravian nobles, was kept in confine- 

 ment, and, though sick, was not permitted an advo- 

 cate. At a public examination, June 5, 1415, the 

 fathers of the council interrupted him in his defence 

 by loud and vehement vociferation. In a trial on 

 the 7th and 8th of June, he defended himself at 

 length, in the presence of the emperor; but his grounds 

 of defence were not regarded, and an unconditional 

 recantation of heresies which he had not taught, as 

 well as those which he had, was demanded of him. 

 Huss, however, remained firm in his belief, a nil the 

 last examination (July 6) eventuated in a sentence of 

 death, which had long since been determined on. 

 Huss on this occasion reminded the emperor of his 

 promise of safe conduct, at which Sigismund could 

 not refrain from showing his shame by a blush ; yet 

 the hatred against a man who had ventured to speak 

 the truth was too great to allow any hopes of safety. 

 He was, without being convicted of any error, that 

 same day burnt alive, and his ashes were thrown into 

 the Rhine. On his way to the pile, he was observed to 

 smile at a place where some of his writings had been 

 burnt, and afterwards expired in the midst of joyful 

 prayers. Even his enemies speak with admiration of 

 his unblemished virtue and his firmness iu the hour 

 of death. 



Hussites. The gentle and pious mind of Huss 

 would not have approved of the terrible revenge, 

 which his Bohemian adherents took upon the em- 

 peror, the empire, and the clergy, for his death, in 

 one of the most bloody and terrible wars ever known. 

 The decrees and excommunications of the council 

 were despised in Bohemia. Instead of destroying 

 the new doctrines, the auto da-fe of Constance was 

 the watchword of union for multitudes of all classes, 

 who, from their teacher, were called Hussites. 

 Wenceslaus was compelled, in 1417, to grant them 

 many churches for the celebration of the sacrament 

 in both forms, and as their number increased every 

 day, there were soon many among them who wished 

 for something more than mere religious freedom. 

 The wavering and temporizing conduct of this king 

 (who died August 13, 1419) and the inquisitorial 

 violence of the cardinal legate, John Dominico, 

 kindled the fire of insurrection. The people could 

 not, however, set aside the claims of the hated 

 emperor Sigismund to the vacant throne. Always 

 bent upon the extirpation of heretics, faithless in 

 treaties, and unequal to contend with the activity of 

 the Hussites, and the genius of their generals, he was 

 obliged to see the kingdom which he had inherited 

 in a state of anarchy for fifteen years. The Hussites 

 commenced their rebellion by a bloody vengeance on 

 the Catholics ; their convents, many of which, in Bo- 

 hemia, were more splendid than elsewhere, and their 

 churches, were plundered and burnt, and the priests 

 and monks murdered. John Ziska of Trocznow, 

 a Bohemian knight, formed of the large bodies of 

 people which were constantly flocking to him, a well 

 mounted and disciplined army, which , in its barricado 

 of wagons, repelled all attacks, and built the fortified 

 city of Tabor, for a place of arms and a point of 

 defence, upon a mountain consecrated by the field 

 preachings of Huss, and strong by nature, in the 

 circU* <>f Bechin. The oldest friend of Huss, Nicholas 

 faeg, commanded under this general. Nicholas. 



