Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/172

 Hus himself was a heretic. Hus read this letter to the assembled members of the university, who entirely approved of it, and it was decided that as a token of this approbation the seal of the university should be affixed to the letter. It is probable that about this time Venceslas also wrote to Pope John XXIII. again praising Hus and interceding for him.

The hope for a peaceful settlement disappeared almost as rapidly as it had arisen. The archbishop soon considered that he had new causes to complain of the king and his courtiers. It cannot be denied that Venceslas was during his whole life hostile to the higher clergy of Bohemia, though his attitude towards Hus proves that he honoured and respected a pious and virtuous priest. Zbynek complained that some of the royal courtiers had interfered with his archi-episcopal rights and demanded an audience to bring his grievances before the king. On his refusal Zbynek again declared that he was no longer safe at Prague, and left the city only a few weeks after the agreement had been made. The archbishop first proceeded to Litomysl, the residence of John, surnamed the “iron,” bishop of the city. The iron bishop was known as a bitter enemy of King Venceslas and a notorious simonist. He was naturally and from selfish reasons a strong opponent of church-reform. The iron bishop played a considerable part in the life of Hus. It was at his instigation that the wealthy Bohemian priests at the time of Hus’s departure for Constance collected a large sum of money to procure evidence against him. Hus always believed that the Bishop of Litomysl, with the spies and informers who were in his pay, contributed largely to his condemnation at Constance. In the Hussite wars the iron bishop became notorious through his excessive cruelty and, as the Hussite leaders were but too ready to follow his example, the Bishop of Litomysl bears no slight responsibility for the cruelty and bitterness, exceptional even among religious wars, which