Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/409



indefatigable searcher of documents appertaining to ancient Bohemian history, Mr. Adolphus Patera, formerly head-librarian of the Bohemian museum, about the year 1888 discovered in the library of Prince Lobkowitz at Roudnice a contemporary Bohemian account of the death of Hus that was previously entirely unknown. I had intended merely to refer to this account briefly, while telling the story of the death of the master according to the well-known account of his disciple, Peter Mladenovic, which will never be superseded. I found, however, that such references retarded and impeded the narrative, and I have therefore translated for the benefit of those interested in the matter the Bohemian paper which Mr. Patera read at the general meeting of the Bohemian Society of Sciences on April 9, 1888. Mr. Patera stated: In a paper manuscript contained in the library of Prince Lobkowitz at Roudnice (vi. Fg. 60) which begins with the “Dispute of Intellect and Conscience on the worthy manner of receiving the Body of God,” I found among other matter also an “Account of the Trial and Burning of Master John Hus.” In the present—nineteenth—century some one wrote on the cover: “The following little work is known under the name of Peter Mladenovic’s Life of John Hus, and J. Jungmann in his History of Bohemian Literature, 1849, p. 71, n. 159, maintains that this notice is derived mainly from the writings of Hus about himself.” Both these conjectures are, however, not founded on truth. We also can give no credit to the view that the writer was an eye-witness of the events which he describes, though he himself affirms this, writing of himself, “I have briefly noted down everything concerning the events that befell in the Suabian country and its capital called Constance, for