the priesthood. From the sources we possess it does not appear very clearly when the negotiations to induce Hus to attend the council began. As one who was excommunicated he was by canon law prohibited from attending a council. His frequent -requests to appear before the recent synod at Prague had met with a refusal. It was, therefore, a very serious step on the part of Hus to proceed to Constance. Yet now, as at every moment when he believed that he was obeying God’s command, he did not hesitate. The negotiations concerning Hus’s journey to Constance were probably carried on at the castle of Krakovec. Peter of Mladenovic,[1] who is our foremost authority on the last months of the life of Hus, writes:[2] “After having come to an agreement with Pope John XXIII. for the purpose that a general council of the church should be held at Constance in Suabia, King Sigismund sent from Lombardy certain Bohemian noblemen, his councillors and friends, who were to persuade Magister John Hus to proceed to Constance that he might there purge both himself and the kingdom of Bohemia from the infamous accusation (i.e., of heresy). They were to inform him that the king would grant him a safe-conduct which would enable him to go safely to Constance and to return safely to Bohemia.” The much-discussed though really very clear question as to Hus’s safe-conduct will have to be mentioned when referring to its violation by Sigismund. It should, however, here already be noted that Sigismund distinctly guaranteed Hus’s safe return to Bohemia, whatever might be the decision of the council. Hus, Mladenovic continues, having received so great and so far-reaching promises, wrote to the king that he would proceed to Constance.
There were not wanting warning voices that advised Hus to reconsider his decision. Even one of Sigismund’s envoys,
- ↑ For Mladenovic, see my History of Bohemian Literature, 2nd edition, p. 145.
- ↑ “Relatio de magistri Joannis Hus causa” (printed by Palacky, Documenta).
