and the other nobles of Bohemia and Moravia, as well as the faithful lords of the Polish kingdom, and to gratefully remember their zeal; for as brave defenders of God and upholders of the truth they often withstood the whole council, speaking and replying in favour of my liberation; render thanks particularly to Lord Venceslas of Duba and to the Lord of Chlum, and believe what they will tell you;[1] for they were present at the council on several days when I defended myself. These men know which Bohemians[2] falsely accused me of many infamous deeds, how the whole council railed against me, and how I answered the questions that were addressed to me. I beg you also to pray for his Majesty the Roman and Bohemian king,[3] and for his queen, and for the lords, that our beloved God may abide with them in His grace now, and afterwards guide them to eternal bliss.
“I write this letter to you in prison and in fetters, expecting to-morrow the sentence of death, full of hope in God, resolved not to recede from the divine truth, nor to recant the errors which false witnesses have invented and attributed to me. How God has acted towards me, how he has been with me during all my troubles—that you will only know when by the grace of God we shall meet again in heaven. Of Master Jerome, my beloved comrade, I hear nothing except that he is in prison, as I am, expecting death and that because of his faith, which he bravely expounded to the Bohemians. It was those Bohemians who are our bitterest enemies who delivered us up for imprisonment to our other enemies. I beg you to pray to God for these men. I also beg you all, but especially the Praguers, to befriend the Bethlehem chapel, as long as God permits that the divine word be preached there. The devil has been greatly incensed against this spot, and has incited
