Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/495

Rh borne. Yet the slower but not less wearing torture of indefinite imprisonment was not spared him. He was kept in the Domini- can convent until March 24. Although his petition to be al- lowed to see his friends was refused, they were permitted to furnish him with writing materials, and he employed his enforced leisure in composing a number of tracts which, written without the aid of books, show his extensive and accurate acquaintance with Scripture and the Fathers. His sweet temper won the good- will of all who were brought in contact with him, and he grate- fully alludes to the kindness with which he was treated both by his guards and by the clerks of the papal chamber. The winning nature of the man, as well as the gold of his friends, probably explains the correspondence which at this period he was able to maintain with them, though all communication with him was for- bidden. Letters were conveyed back and forth clandestinely, sometimes carried in food, in spite of the vigilance of his enemies. Michael de Causis hovered around the gate, saying, "By the grace of God we shall burn that heretic who has cost me so many flor- ins," and procuring that the wives of the guards, whom he sus- pected as letter - carriers, should be excluded. when the quarrel between pope and council culminated. On All this ceased March 20 John XXIII. secretly fled from Constance, when the guards placed over Huss delivered the keys to Sigismund and fol- lowed their master. The council then handed Huss over to the custody of the Bishop of Constance, who carried him in chains by night to the castle of Gottlieben, some miles from the city across the Rhine. His friends had requested that he should have a more airy prison, and the request was more than granted, for he was now confined in a room at the top of a tall tower. Though his feet were fettered he was able to move about during the day, but at night his arm was chained to the wall. As escape was im- possible, the confinement was evidently intended to be punitive. Here he was completely isolated from all intercourse with his fellow-beings and left to his own dreary introspection. Disease added to the harshness of his prison. From the foul Dominican cell to the windy turret-room of Gottlieben, he was exposed to every variety of unwholesome conditions. Stone, an affection hitherto unknown to him, tormented him greatly. Toothache and headache combined to increase his sufferings. On one occa-