154 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and even clergymen of the lowest rank. Why, reasoned D'Ailly, should a titular bishop have an equal voice with a bishop ruling over an extensive see, say the archbishopic of Mainz, and why should a doctor be denied all right to vote who has given up his time and thought to the questions under discussion ? And why, argued Fillastre, should an abbot, having control over only ten monks, have a vote, when a rector with a cure of a thousand or ten thousand souls is excluded ? An ignorant king or prelate he called a " crowned ass." Doctors were on hand for the very purpose of clearing up ignorance.
When the Italian tract appeared, which teemed with charges against John, matters were brouglit to a crisis. Then it became evident that the scheme calling for the removal of all three popes would go through, and John, to avoid a worse fate, agreed taifisigj^, making the condition that^ Gregory XII. and Benedict should also resign. The formal announcement, which was read at the second session, March 2, 1415, ran : " I, John XXIII., pope, promise, agree, and obligate myself, vow and swear before God, the Church, and this holy council, of my own free will and spontaneously, to give peace to the Church by abdication, provided the pretenders, Benedict and Gregory, do the same.''^ At the words "vow and swear," John rose from his seat and knelt down at the altar, remaining on his knees till he finished the reading. The reading being over, Sigismund removed his crown, bent before John, and kissed his feet. Five days after, John issued a bull confirming his oath.
Constance was wild with joy. The bells rang out the glad news. In the cathedral, joy expressed itself in tears. The spontaneity of John's self-deposition nuiy be questioned, in view of the feeling which prevailed among the councillors and the report that he had made an offer to cede the papacy for 30,000 gulden. 2
A most annoying, though ridiculous, turn was now given to affairs by .TnV>n's flight f'-'^ni Const.ii.i^f^p^ ATm-nli op Ru-
1 Hardt, II. 240, also IV. 44 ; Mansi, XXVII. 508. Also Riclieiital, p. 56.
2 According to a MS. found at Vienna by Finke, Foi-schuiKjoi, p. 148.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OP CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 155
mors had been whispered about that he was contempLating such a move. He talked of transferrmg the council to Rizza, and complained of the unhealthiness of the air of Constance. He, however, made the solemn declaration that he would not leave the town before the dissolution of the council. To be on the safe side, Sigismund gave orders for the gates to be kept closed and the lake watched. But John had practised dark arts before, and, unmindful of his oath, escaped at high noon on a " little horse," in the disguise of a groom, wrapped in a gray cloak, wearing a gray cap, and having a crossbow tied to his saddle.^ The flight was made while the gay festivities of a tournament, instituted by Frederick, duke of Austria, were going on, and with two attendants. The pope continued his course without rest till he reached Scliaffhausen. This place belonged to the duke, who was in the secret, and on whom John had conferred the ofi&ce of commander of the papal troops, with a yearly grant of 6000 gulden. John's act was an act of desperation. He wrote back to the council, giving as the reason of his flight that he had been in fear of Sigismund, and that his freedom of action had been restricted by the king.^
So great was the panic produced by the pope's flight that the council would probably have been brought to a sudden close by a general scattering of its members, had it not been for Sigismund's prompt action. Cardinals and envoys despatched^ by_the king and jcouncil made haste to stop Jhe fleeing po^ge, who continued on to Laufenburg, Freiburg, and Breisach. John wrote to Sigismund, expressing his regard for him, but with the same pen he was addressing communications to the University of Paris and the duke of Orleans, seeking to awaken sympathy for his cause by playing upon the national feelings of the French. He attempted to make it appear that the French delegation had been disparaged when the council proceeded to business before the arrival of the twenty-two deputies of the University. France and
1 Richental, pp. 62-72, gives a vivid account of John's flight and seizure.
2 Fillastre ; Finke, Forschungen, p. IQ9, papa dicebat quod pro timore regis Bomanorum recesserat.