Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/158

 Hus therefore decided not to travel to Italy, but through the advice of his friends at the court of King Venceslas, and perhaps in accordance with the wise councils of Queen Sophia, he determined on sending representatives to the court of Pope John XXIII. He chose for this purpose his friend Master John of Jesenice, doctor of theology, who, according to some accounts, was at that moment at Bologna. Two younger theologians were to act as his assistants. Jesenice was at first able to report good news. On the suggestion of Archbishop Zbynek, who had also sent envoys to Bologna, John XXIII. had requested the University of Bologna to deliberate on the question whether the burning of Wycliffe’s works had been justified. At a meeting of the magisters, at which representatives of the universities of Paris and Oxford were also present, it was decided almost unanimously that the burning was not justifiable. It was also declared that Wycliffe’s writings on logic, philosophy, morals, and theology contained much that was true, good, and useful. This decision was undoubtedly a victory of Hus in his contest with the archbishop. Jesenice, seeing it in that light, caused the public notary to draw up an official document which, on the authority of the dominican Thomas of Udine, dean of the theological faculty, who had presided at the meeting, stated the decisions of the assembly as they are recorded above. A copy of this document was forwarded to Prague.

Hus and his friends probably overrated the importance of this decision. Pope John XXIII., as previously mentioned, had entrusted to Cardinal Colonna the entire control of the investigations referring to the dissension between the archbishop and Hus. The cardinal lost no time in coming to a decision in a matter in which he believed the authority and particularly the worldly power of the church to be at stake. The rich gifts brought by the envoys of the archbishop no doubt confirmed his views. When, in February 1411, the term