Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/325

 mand not to keep faith with a heretic, and that he had even exceeded his powers by granting a safe-conduct to Hus. This argument might have had some force at other periods of the history of the church, but at this one it certainly had none. Personal violence had been used against Pope Boniface VIII. and more recently a pope had been besieged at his castle of Avignon. Sigismund himself had imprisoned Pope John XXIII. Even among those who were faithful believers in the teaching of Rome, the popes and prelates had at that time fallen into disesteem and even contempt. Sigismund would certainly not have hesitated to ignore the demands of Pope John XXIII., and afterwards of the council with regard to Hus, had he thought it in his interest to do so. It is true that he shielded himself by invoking the authority of the church when his treachery caused general indignation in Bohemia. It has also been stated that the safe-conduct granted by Sigismund only assured the safe arrival of Hus at Constance. This, however, is in direct contradiction with the wording of the safe-conduct as well as with the fact that Hus started from Prague without this document. It has also been argued in defence of Sigismund that, if the safe-conduct given to Hus had guaranteed his immunity, his trial would have been illusory, as no punishment could have been inflicted. This argument is also founded on a misconception. Had the safe-conduct not been violated, Hus would have been conducted back to his country, and punished according to the decision of his sovereign, King Venceslas of Bohemia. That this by no means necessarily meant immunity will be clearly understood by all who remember that Venceslas had once before threatened Hus with death at the stake.

The contemporaries of Sigismund, and the Bohemians in particular, were almost unanimous in condemning Sigismund’s misdeed. When the news of the execution of Hus reached the Bohemian court, King Venceslas said: “They ought not to have treated him in this manner as he had a safe-conduct.”