Page:Lectures on The Historians of Bohemia by Count Lutzow (1905).djvu/43

 and worldly Bohemian Church dignitaries, of whom he has in his Postilla given us so biting and impressive an account. It was these men, headed by John (surnamed the ‘Iron’) Bishop of Litomysl, who persuaded Sigismund to break his word; they were aided by some of the inferior clergy of Bohemia, men who had formerly been friends of Hus, and who now exhausted all means of ingenuity and spite for the purpose of misrepresenting the words of their former friend.

Want of time obliges me to quote from the record of Mladenovič less extensively than I should have wished. My regret is, however, tempered by the consideration that two recent English writers, the late Mr. Wratislaw and the late Bishop Creighton, have quoted extensively from the book of Peter of Mladenovic. I will, however, quote a portion of his last chapter, which is entitled ‘The last days of that holy and reverend man, master John Hus, and his passion which he meekly endured.’ I must, of course, abridge the very detailed narrative. After describing the judgement passed on Hus in the cathedral of Constance on July 6, 1415, Mladenovič writes: ‘When the judgement, as stated above, had been delivered, then Hus with bended knees prayed in a loud voice for all his enemies, saying: “Lord Jesus Christ, I beg of Thee to forgive all my enemies because of Thy great mercy. Thou knowest that they have falsely accused me, brought forward false witnesses against me, drawn up false indictments against me. Forgive them because of Thy immense mercy!” When he had said this, many particularly of the most prominent ecclesiastics looked indignantly at him and began to scoff at him.’

Mladenovič then describes how the ignominous cere-