ment over the English Schoolmen. Zbynek was forced into the discussion by a summons from Innocent VII, 1405, calling upon him to extirpate the errors of Wyclif sown in his diocese. The papal document was issued in answer to an appeal which reached the pope from Prague.
A synod, convened in 1406, reaffirmed the action taken by the university three years before and threatened with the penalty of excommunication all who denied that the bread and wine after the consecration were the real body and blood of Christ.[1] A number of laymen as well as clerics were cited before the archbishop’s court charged with holding the Englishman’s view, but were dismissed—an issue largely due to Huss’s presence.
The same year a document reached Prague bearing the seal of Oxford university and purporting to have been issued by its chancellor and its masters.[2] The bearer, Nicholas Faulfisch, also had with him a piece of Wyclif’s tombstone which he had broken off at Lutterworth. The document attested the excellency of Wyclif’s life, the profundity of his teachings, and the sweetness of his memory as matters known to all. He knew how to study the best interests of the church. His conversation to the day of his death was so excellent and pure that it exposed not a single dark corner to suspicion. In his lectures, preaching, and discussions he was a strong defender of the faith, and, as a writer on all subjects philosophical, theological and practical, he disposed of by considerations drawn from Scripture and in a catholic manner all who blasphemed Christ’s religion; Oxford had not had his equal. Nor was he convicted of heretical depravity, nor was his body given over to the flames. Far be it from our prelates that they should have condemned a man of such probity as a heretic.
