§ 47. THE HUSSITES. 391
that you would have said he was another Cato. O man, worthy of the everlasting memory of men ! I praise not that which he advanced, if anything contrary to the institutions of the Church ; but I admire his learning, his eloquence, his persuasiveness of speech, his adroitness in reply. . . . Persevering in his errors, he went to his fate with joyful and willing countenance,forhefearednottlie firenoranykindof tortureordeath. . . . When the executioners wished to start the fire behind his back that he might not see it, he said, ' Come here and light the fire in front of me. If I had been afraid of it, I should never have come to this place.' In this way a man worthy, except in respect of faith, was burnt. . . . Not Mutius himself suffered his arm to burn with such high courage as did this man his whole body. Nor did Socrates drink the poison so willingly as he accepted the flames.^
^neas Sylvius, afterwards Pius II., bore similar testimony to the cheerfulness which Huss and Jerome displayed in the face of death, and said that they went to the stake as to a feast and suffered death with more courage than any philosopher. ^
§ 47. The Hussites.
The news of Huss' execution stirred the Bohemian nation _toJts_dejitlij.. Huss was looked upon as a national hero and a martyr. The revolt^_which followed, threiitened the vftrv .esiatfiiice Df the. papal rule in Bohemia. No other dissenting movement of the Middle Ages assumed such formidable proportions. The Hussites, the name given to the adherents of the new body, soon divided into two organized parties, the Taborites and the Calixtines or Utraquists. They agreed iii demanding the dis^tribution of the cup to the laity. A third body, the Unitas Fratrum, or Bohemian Brethren, originated in the middle of the 15th century, forty years after Huss' death. When it became known that Huss had perished in the flames, the populace of Prag stoned the houses of the priests unfriendly to the martyr ; and the archbishop himself was attacked in his palace, and with difficulty eluded the popular rage by flight. King Wenzel at first seemed about to favor the popular party.
The Council of Constance, true to itself, addressed a documenttothe bishop and clergy of Prag, designating Wyclif, Huss
1 Huss, Opera, II. 532-534. Palacky, Mon. 624-699. A full translation is given by Whitcomb in Lit. Source-Book of the Italian Benaissance, pp. 40-47. ^ Hist. Boh., c. 36.
392 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and Jerome as most unrighteous, dangemus^nd shameful men,^ and calling upon the Prag officials to put down those who were sowing their doctrines.
The lugh regard in_which IIuss was held_found_splendid expression atj;he Bohemian diety. Sept. 2, l41.5»JKhejaj|52jiobles signed an indignant remonstrance to the council for its treatjment of their '' most beloved brothej^-," whom they pronounced to be a righteous and catholic man, known in Bohemia for many years by his exemplary life and honest preaching of the law of the Gospel. They concluded the document by announcing their intention to defend, even to the effusion of blood, the law of Christ and his devoted preachers.^ Three days later, the ^lobles forpied a league which was to remain in force for six years, in wliicli they bound themselves to defend the free preaching of the Gosijcl on their estates, and to recognize the authority of prelates only so far as they acted according to the Scriptures.
To this nuuiifesto tlie council, Feb. 20, 141G, replied by citing the signers to appear before it within 50 day's, on pain of being declared contumacious.
Hu^s' memoty-also hadhonor at the hands of tlie university, which, on May 23, 1416, sent forth a communication addressed to all lands, eulogizing him as in all things a master whose life was without an equal. ^ In omnibus Magister vitae sine pari.
Upon the dissolution of the council, Martin ^., who, as a member of the curia, had excommunicated Huss, did not allow the measures to root out Hussitism drag. In his bull Inter eunetos,'^ Feb. 22, 1418, he ai'dered all of both sexes punislied as heretics who maintained " the pestilential doctrine of tlie heresiarchs, John Wyclif, John Huss and Jerome of Priig." Wenzel announced his purpose to obey the council, but many of his councillors left the court, including the statesman, Nicolas of Pistna, and the military leader, tlie one-eyed John Zizka. The popular excitement ran so high that, during a
^ Improbissimos, et periculosissimos, teterrimosque viros, Maiisi, XXVII. 781-783. 2 Mansi, pp. 789-91.
8 Palacky, Moiium., I. 80-82. * Mansi, XXVII. 1204-16. Also Mirbt, p. 157 sqq.