Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/135

 habitants of a kingdom should hold supremacy over the foreigners who visit their country. The letter then contains a detailed refutation of the German statement that the regulations favourable to them at the university were of long standing. Denying this, the letter declares that Charles IV., according to his charter of foundation, had wished it mainly to benefit his Bohemian subjects. If the Bohemians were at first inferior to the Germans in learning, and were indeed as slaves, they now have, with God’s help, become stronger and superior to the Germans in all arts and sciences. Let, therefore, those who had formerly been advantaged at the expense of the true owners of the land give way to them, and let these true owners rule the university for all centuries.

The authorship of this very important document has often been attributed to Hus, but it is more probable that it was the work of his disciple, Master John of Jesenice. The question is of little importance, as the document clearly and circumstantially expresses the views of the whole national party. Important as this state-paper was in any case, it became yet more so in consequence of the events that followed almost immediately.

After the publication of the decree of Kutna Hora all work at the university stopped. It became impossible to elect a rector, and constant conflicts between Bohemians and Germans occurred. The stern command of the king to elect a rector remained unheeded by the Germans, and when the royal decree referred to above was brought to their knowledge, they immediately determined to carry out their threats. Some of the most important German masters had already entered into negotiations with German princes, such as the Landgrave of Thuringia and the Margrave of Meissen, with regard to their eventual emigration to Germany. These negotiations, however, took up some time, and it was only on May 16 that a large number of German magisters and students left Prague for Leipzig. Including servants and menials, they