Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/271

 that they must again complain of the treatment of “John Hus, a just man and preacher, a faithful and praiseworthy furtherer of the Holy Gospel, of whom no evil is known in these lands. Yet,” they continued, “this dear master and Christian preacher has been imprisoned because of false and foul calumnies spread by evil men, slanderers and enemies of God’s word. Through the dishonourable calumnies against this man, all the lands of the Bohemian crown and the Slavic nation have been guiltlessly defamed. He (Hus) went freely without any compulsion to the universal council at Constance, and wished as a good and faithful Christian to free himself and his country from unjust accusations before a general council of the whole Christian world. He received from your Majesty a letter of safe-conduct, though so good a man did not require one.” After further remarks concerning the safe-conduct, the letter continues thus: “But also we hear that when the pope fled, as well as those who guarded him (Hus), he was taken from his prison—it is best known to God by whose order—and transferred to a more cruel prison belonging to the Bishop of Constance, where he has been cruelly and in an unchristian fashion fettered by the hands and feet and denied even that amount of justice which it would be seemly to grant to a heathen.” The letter ends with the words: "“We trust that your Majesty will grant your full attention to this matter, as is fitting for the kind and gracious heir and successor to our land.” A similar |letter was sent from Prague four days later by the assembled nobles of Bohemia. Both letters bear the signatures of almost all the men then prominent in Bohemia and Moravia—if we except the dignitaries of the church. The letters, written in Bohemian, were translated into Latin by Palacky as long ago as 1869, but they have not been much noticed by historians. The Bohemian nobles at Constance—besides those who had accompanied Hus, a few others had arrived, wishing to be near him in the hour of danger—