ment, and Jerome was remitted to prison, where he was bound to a stake, with his hands, feet, and neck so that lie could scarcely move his head. Thus he lay two days, with nothing to eat but bread and water. Then for the lirst time he obtained, through the mediation of I'eter IMaldonisuritz, who had been told of his situation by his keepers, other means of subsistence. This se- vere imprisonment threw him into a violent fit of sick- ness, lie demanded a confessor, which was at first re- fused, and then granted with difficulty. After he had spent several months in this severe confinement, he heard of the martyrdom of his friend, whose death and the imprisonment of Jerome produced the greatest ex- asperation of feeling among the knights in Bohemia and Moravia. On the 2d of September they put forth a letter to the council, in which they expressed their indignation, declared tliat they had known Huss but as a pious man, zealous for the doctrines of the Gospel ; and that he had fallen a victim only to his enemies and the enemies of hLs country. They entered a bitter com- plaint against the captivity of the innocent Jerome, who had made himself famous by his brilliant gifts; perhaps he, too, had already been murdered like lluss. They declared themselves resolved to contend, even to the shedding of their blood, in defence of the law of Christ and of his faithful servants" (Neander, Ch. Hist. V, 375). This decided stand of Jerome's friends forced the council to milder terms, and they determined, if possible, to induce him to recant of his heretical opin- ions, a point which the effect of Jerome's close confine- ment, and the sufferings that he had endured for the past six months, made them believe might be carried \ Avithotit much difficidty. The}- mainly pressed him to recant his opinion on the doctrine of transubstantiation ; and on the third examination, Sept. 11, 1415, Jerome, by this time worn out both in body and mind, made a public and unqualified recantation of the Hussite state- ment of the eucharistic theorj'. Here the disreputable conduct of the Romanists might well have rested, and Jerome have been permitted to return to his native land. But there were men in the council who well understood that Jerome had been induced to recant only because he saw no other door to lead from the prison, and that, his liberty once regained, he would return to his friends, to preach anew the truth as he had heard it from the lips of Huss, and as he had received it from the writings of Wicklitle. Indeed, they had reasons to fear that if he ever escaped with his life, it would be given to the cause in which Huss had just fallen. On the other hand, there were men of honor in the council — men who, though they had narrowed themselves down until they coidd see Christ exemplified only in those who bowed submissive- ly before the papal chair, yet would not make pledges only to break them as soon as they found it to their in- terest to do so. One of these was the cardinal of Cam- bray, who insisted that Jerome ought now to be liber- ated, as had been jiromised him before his recantation. The counsel of the more cuiming, however, prevailed, and Jerome was detained to answer other and more se- rious accusations. Tired of the crooked A\-ays of these so-called defenders of the Christian faith, Jerome finally declined to be any longer subjected to private exam- inations, and declared that publicly only would he be ready to answer the calumnies of his accusers. IVIay 23, 1416, he finally succeeded in obtaining a public hear- ing. On this day, and on the 2Gth, he spent from six in the morning until one in the afternoon in replying to the different accusations made against him, and closed, to the surprise of all the council, by passionately dis- claiming his former cowardly recantation. " Of all the sins," lie exclaimed now, Avith great feeling, " that I have committed since my youth, none weigh so heavily on my mind and cause me such poignant remorse as that which I committed in this fatal place when I ap- proved of the iniquitous sentence rendered against Wick- liffe and against the holy martyr John Huss, my master and friend." If his defence had been delivered with
such presence of mind, with so much eloquence and wit as to excite universal admiration and to incline his judges to mercy, the closing declaration against his for- mer recantation certainly sealed his own death-warrant, and left not the least \\o\)q for escape from martyrdom. Yet there were some among his judges in whom he had excited so dee]) a sympathy that they would not de- clare against him ; tliere were also some who dared not, by this new martyrdom, provoke still further the angrj- feelings of the Bohemians. He was granted a respite of forty days for reflection, and an opportiuiity was af- forded to those v.'ho still wavered in condemning the her- etic to influence him possibly to recant of this decided o))position to the Church. But Jerome remained stead- fast this time. If he had seen a period when, like Cran- mer's, his faith faltered, it had passed, and he was now ready to die rather than again deny that he thought and felt as a Hussite. May 30 had been appointed to pass final judgment. He still refusing to rtcant, the council pronounced against him, and he was handed over for execution to tlic seculr.r authorities. Tiie whole trial and his last hours are vividly pictured by a Roman Catholic eye-witness, I'oggio, a Florentine, who is freely cited bj' Neander {Ch. Ilixl. v, 378 sq.), and is given in full by Gilpin (Lire/), p. 255 sq.). Of his last hoiu'S Pog- gio relates as follows: "With cheerful looks he went readil}' and willingly to his death; he feared neither death nor the fire and its torture. No stoic ever suffer- ed death with so firm a soid as that with which he seemed to demand it. Jerome endured the torments of the fire with more tranquillity than SocTates displayed in drinking his cup of hemlock." Jerome was burned like his friend and master Huss, and his ashes likewise thrown into the Rhine. " Historians, [Roman] Catholic and Protestant alike, vie Avith each other in paying homage to the heroic courage and apostolic resignation with which Jerome met his doom. Posterity has con- firmed their verdict, and reveres him as a martyr to the truth, Avho, unwearied in life and noble in ileath, has ac- (juired an immortal renown for his share in the Refor- mation." Indeed we question whether to Jerome and Huss sufficient credit is given for their share in the Ref- ormation of the 16th century. We fear that it is through neglect alone that to Huss and Jerome is denied a place by the side of Luther and Calvin, to which, as Gillctt (f/uss and his Times, Preface) rightly says, they arc justly entitled. " It is true, indeed, that the great reform movement, of which Huss was the leader, was, to human view, after a most desperate and prolonged struggle, crushed out ; not, however, without leaving behind it most important results." See Gillett, Huss ami his Times (2 vols. 8vo, new edit. 1871) ; Nean- der, Church History, vol. v (sec Index) ; Tischer, Lehen (1. Ilieron. v. Prar/. (Lpz. 1835); Helfert, Hiis n. Hieron. (Prag. 1853, p. 151 sq., 208 sq.; perhaps the most impor- tant, though rather partial) ; Czcnvenka, Gesch. der evan- gel. Kirche in Bohmen (Bielef. 1869), vol. i; Bohringer, Die Kirche Christi, ii, 4, G08 sq. ; Krummel, Gesch. der hohm. Reformation (Gotha, 1867, 8vo) ; Palacky, Gcsch. V. Bohm. vol. iii and iv. See Huss. (J. H. W.)