to the execution of the sentence. Resistance being apprehended from the Hussite party, the prisoners were conducted under a large escort of soldiers to the place of death, and as, in the mean time, the concourse of spectators running together in the highest state of excitement, increased every moment, they hurried the execution, and finished it even before arriving at the destined spot. But the adherents of Huss had no intention of resorting to violence. When the headsman, after his work was done, cried out, "Let him who does the like expect to suffer the same fate," many among the multitude exclaimed at once: "We are all ready to do the like and to suffer the same." This execution could have no other effect than to increase the excitement of feeling and the enthusiasm of the people for the cause of Huss. Those three young men would of course be regarded by the party they belonged to, as martyrs for the truth. It would be impossible to devise anything better calculated to promote any cause, bad or good, than to give it martyrs. Several, and in particular the so-called Beguines of this party, of whom we have spoken above, dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood of the victims, and treasured them up as precious relics.* A woman who witnessed the execution offered white linen to enshroud the dead bodies; and another individual who was present, Master von Jitzin, attached to the party of Huss, hastened with a company of students to convey the bodies to Bethlehem Chapel. Borne thither as saints with chanted hymns and loud songs, they were buried amid great solemnities, under the direction of Huss. This event gave new importance to Bethlehem Chapel in the eyes of the party of Huss. They named it the Chapel of the Three Saints. It is certain that Huss took a lively interest in the death of these young men. He thought they might justly be called martyrs for Christian truth, like others whose memory is preserved in the history of the church. Nor was there anything in this which could justly subject him to the slightest reproach. Certainly by

* Words of the abbot of Dola: Ut illorum sanguinem linteis, maxime beginæ tuæ et quidam alii, extergerent. Steph. Dol. &c. p. 381.

Ita ut te largiente et te donante locus ille tuæ cathedræ summus non jam Bethlehem, sed ad tres sanctos per te et tuos complices vocaretur. Ibid.

his sermons he contributed to nourish the enthusiasm with which the memory of these witnesses for the truth was cherished among the people. But as public rumour, in such times of commotion, is not wont to discriminate between the different agents, and the different shares taken by each in a transaction, but is inclined to lay the whole upon the shoulders of the one who happens to be the most important individual, so Huss soon came to be pointed out as the person who headed the procession at the burial of the three young men. This is reported by the abbot of Dola.* Accordingly the blame of the whole affair is thrown upon Huss at the council of Constance; but he could deny, with truth, that the procession had been got up at his instigation.† It is indeed possible, though the statement of so violent an opponent as the abbot of Dola cannot be received as altogether trustworthy, that it was remarked by Huss or some one of his followers: If that Wenceslaus, whom his brother, Boleslav, the cruel, caused to be executed, deserved to be called a martyr, much more were those three young witnesses to evangelical truth entitled to be honoured as martyrs; or that Huss, following the precedent of Matthias of Janow, spoke disapprovingly of the superstition and quackery with which the traffic in relics, whether genuine or counterfeit, was carried on; or that, one of his adherents had said, the bones of these three, who ought certainly to be reverenced as witnesses for the truth, must

* Accessisti siquidem et jacentia rebellium corpora sub mediastino sustulisti: et cum ea, quæ tibi videbatur, summa reverentia ad cathedram tuæ superbiæ, capellam dictam Bethlehem detulisti; te ipso et scholaribus tuæ societatis, sanctæ, obedientiæ contrariis, clamosis et altissimis vocibus usque ad inferni novissima concrepantibus: Isti sunt sancti, et hujusmodi plurima. Ibid. This serves to confirm the account given above of the solemnities observed in conveying the bodies of those three young men to Bethlehem Chapel, except that the abbot makes no distinction of persons, and charges Huss alone with the whole affair.

At the council of Constance this also was introduced among the articles of complaint against Huss, regarding the burial of the three young men Eos per eundem Hus cum pompa scholasticorum elatos et publica concione in sanctorum numerum relatos esse. But Huss declares this to be false, as he was not present when the affair occurred: Falsum est, cadavera a me ad sepulturam cum aliqua pompa delata esse, cum ego ne adfuerim quidem. V. d. Hardt, IV. 2, p. 327.

be more precious to the memory of the pious than those relics that were held to be present at one and the same time in several places.* But we may hear what Huss himself says concerning these witnesses of the truth, as his words are recorded in his book De Ecclesia, written at a somewhat later period. After citing the passage in Dan. xi. 33, he remarks: " Experience gives us the right interpretation of these words,-since persons made learned by the grace of God, simple laymen and priests, many taught by the example of a good life, because they openly resisted the lying word of Antichrist, have fallen under the edge of the sword; of which we have an example in those three laymen, John, Martin, and Stasek, who, because they contradicted the lying disciples of Antichrist, fell victims to the sword." Then, in allusion to what afterwards transpired in consequence of these commotions, he adds: "But others who gave up their lives for the truth, died the death of martyrs, or were imprisoned, and still have not denied the truth of Christ, priests, and laymen, and even women."†

The first blood having been shed, the persecuting party thought it inexpedient to venture immediately upon anything further. They perceived the danger of attempting to put a stop to these commotions by force. They had learned by experience to what a height the enthusiasm of the people had already mounted by the death of those three young men. Accordingly the other prisoners, who were now looking for nothing but martyrdom, were set at large. The conflict between the two parties, which had divided the university, since the dispute about the papal bulls relating to indulgence and a crusade, still went on, and grew more violent; the smaller party, consisting of those who now declared themselves opposed to all Wickliffite doctrines and in favour of the whole system of papal absolutism, and

*They are the words of the abbot of Dola: Venerationem sanctorum ossium juxta ritum ecclesiæ sanctæ cum tuis reprobas dicens, quod S. Wenceslaus modico martyrio, id est fratricidio regnum promeruit martyrii et hic cum aliis sanctis, quos sacerdotes et monachi prædicant, habent unius multa capita, multa bracchia et diversa ossa, quæ utique non sanctorum, sed vilium cadaverum esse potius reputantur. V. d. Hardt, IV. p. 327.

† De Ecclesia, Opp. I. fol. 245, 2.

the larger party of those, who espoused the cause of reform, at the head of whom stood Huss. The former had on their side all who were attached to the hierarchy; and they supposed they could reckon also on the help of king Wenceslaus, whom, in fact, they had joined on defending the bull, and who had issued the edict against its opponents. Those eight doctors, at whose head stood at that time Paletz, as dean, believed they were entitled to represent themselves as constituting the theological faculty. They now united in condemning the forty-five articles of Wickliff, although some of them had before this defended those articles; and, hence, Huss calls them the Cancrisantes. They declared to the prelates their agreement with them in the earlier resolutions against those articles; and, by a course which to Huss appeared retrograde, though to the advocates of hierarchy it could appear no otherwise than an advance, gave them the highest satisfaction. They next proceeded to condemn the forty-five articles in a solemn session.* To these propositions they added six others. 1. "That he is a heretic who judges otherwise than the Roman church concerning the sacraments and the spiritual power of the keys," which doubtless refers to the proceedings of Huss against indulgences. 2. "That in these days, to suppose that great Antichrist is present and rules, who, according to the faith of the church, and according to holy Scripture, and the holy teachers, shall appear at the end of the world, is shown by experience to be a manifest error." This refers to the doctrine concerning Antichrist, which, as we have seen, proceeded first from Militz, had been further unfolded by Matthias of Janow, and so passed over to Huss. 3. To say that the ordinances of the holy fathers, and the praiseworthy customs in the church, are not to be observed, because they are not contained in holy Scripture, is an error." This is evidently directed against a doctrine of Huss, which we have explained on a former page. 4. "That the relics, the bones

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* Huss says of Paletz: Recepit articulos, qui sunt prælatis contrarii et cucurrit ad eos, qui gavisi sunt videntes ipsum et Stanislaum cancrisantes. Unde inito consilio pactum fecerunt invicem, ut articulos in prætorio condemnarent. Resp. ad Scr. Paletz, Opp. I. fol. 259, 2. This is the condemnation in prætorio to which Huss in his writings subsequent to this time in defence of these articles often alludes.

of the saints, the clothes and robes of the faithful are not to be reverenced, is an error. 5. "That priests cannot absolve from sins and forgive sins, when, as ministers of the church, they bestow and apply the sacrament of penance, but that they only announce that the penitent is absolved, is an error.' This also plainly enough refers to the doctrine set forth by Huss in the controversy about indulgences. 6. "That the pope may not, where it becomes necessary, call upon the faithful or demand contributions of them for the defence of the Apostolical See, of the Roman church and city, and for the coercion and subjection of opponents and enemies among Christians, while he bestows on the faithful who loyally come to the rescue, show true penitence, have confessed and are mortified, the full forgiveness of all sins, is an error.' ""* Huss represents it as a piece of arrogance in those eight doctors to think themselves entitled to act in the name of the entire faculty, and to put forth their condemnation as a condemnation by the whole faculty. Now, as this party could not reckon, as appears evident from what has been said, on the concurrence of the whole university, and therefore could not take any open step in common, they, as the theological faculty, applied to the magistracy of Prague, and petitioned them to obtain the king's consent, that the teaching and spreading abroad of those articles should be forbidden by a royal edict. This theological faculty had, moreover, declared that certain preachers, on whose account violent insurrections, strifes, and divisions had sprung up among the people, ought to be silenced. And they stated, as their last reason, that this was the way to restore peace among the people.‡ A

*We cite the unprinted articles from the Latin original published by Palacky. Palacky, III. 1, p. 282.

He protests against their arrogance in calling themselves the alma et venerabilis facultas theologica, and prefers to designate them as the octo doctores, remarking in his tract against Stanislaus: Est autem illa facultas theologica, quæ aciem contra nos dirigit, magistrorum theologiæ octonarius. Resp. ad Scr. Stanisl. a Znoyma, Opp. I. fol. 265, 1.

Quod certi prædicatores, propter quos, ut timetur, insultus et discordiæ et dissensiones sunt exortæ in populo, cessent a prædicatione. Et adducunt in fine pro causa: Et speratur, quod per hoc fiet pax in populo et insultus conquiescent. Resp. ad Scr. Stanislai, Opp. I. fol. 266, 2.