The council proceeded to consider the opinions of Wyclif, condemning
260 of his errors and ordering his bones to be dug up and burnt, as was
done twelve years later. Every effort was then made to get Huss to
recant a list of propositions drawn up by the council and attributed to
him. Some of these charges were absurd, as that he was accused of
calling himself the fourth person of the Trinity. Other opinions, like
the denial of transubstantiation, he declared, and doubtless with
truth, that he had never held. Much was made of his saying that he
hoped his soul would be with the soul of Wyclif after death, and the
emperor was alarmed by his argument that neither priest nor king living
in mortal sin had a right to exercise his office. He was therefore
condemned to the stake.
His death was perfect. His last letters are full of calm resolution,
love to his friends, and forgiveness to his enemies. Haled to the
cathedral where the council sat on July 6, 1415, he was given one last
chance to recant and save his life. Refusing, he was stripped of his
vestments, and a paper crown with three demons painted on it put on his
head with the words, "We commit thy soul to the devil"; he was then led
to the public square and burnt alive. Sigismund, threatened by the
council, made no effort to redeem his safe-conduct, and in September
the reverend fathers passed a decree that no safe-conduct to a heretic,
and {40} no pledge prejudicial to the Catholic faith, could be
considered binding. Among the large concourse of divines not one voice
was raised against this treacherous murder.
Huss's most prominent follower, Jerome of Prague, after recantation,
returned to his former position and was burnt at Constance on May 30,
1416. A bull of 1418 ordered the similar punishment of all heretics
who maintained the positions of Wyclif, Huss, or Jerome of Prague.
As early as September a loud remonstrance against the treatment of
their master was voiced by the Bohemian Diet. The more radical party,
known as Taborites, rejected transubstantiation, worship of the saints,
prayers for the dead, indulgences, auricular confession, and oaths.
They allowed women to preach, demanded the use of the vernacular in
divine service and the giving of the cup to the laity. A crusade was
started against them, but they knew how to defend themselves. The
Council of Basle [Sidenote: 1431-6] was driven to negotiate with them
and ended by a compromise allowing the cup to the laity and some other
reforms. Subsequent efforts to reduce them proved futile. Under King
Podiebrad the Ultraquists maintained their rights.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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