Hus’s countrymen have never taken much interest in these questions. To them he has always been a fearless enemy of simony, profligacy, and the unlimited power of the clergy, and a brave champion of his country and its nationality. To quote words I wrote more than ten years ago:[1] “If neglecting for a moment the minutiae of mediæval theological controversy, we consider as a martyr that man who willingly sacrifices his individual life for what he firmly believes to be the good of humanity at large, who ‘takes the world’s life on him and his own lays down,’ then assuredly there is no truer martyr in the world’s annals than John of Husinec.”
Very different from the judgment which should be passed on the attitude of the council with regard to Hus is that which we must pass on Sigismund. The council had made no promise of safety to Hus, and was acting in accordance with the teaching of the church when it urged Sigismund not to keep faith with a heretic. Sigismund, on the other hand, had in the most formal and solemn way assured Hus that he would be allowed to safely proceed to Constance, to be heard there freely, and whatever sentence should be passed on him, to return unharmed to Bohemia.[2] It is difficult to conceive baser treachery than that of Sigismund with regard to Hus. I must refer the reader to an earlier chapter of this book[3] for the motives that induced Sigismund to entice Hus to Constance, whence—this the King of Hungary had from the first decided—he was never to return to his own country. Yet Sigismund’s conduct has found defenders, and not only among the extreme adherents of the Church of Rome. One of Sigismund’s strongest partisans indeed does not, or did not, belong to any Christian community. It is stated that Sigismund, as a member of the Roman Church, was obliged to obey its com-
- ↑ A History of Bohemian Literature, p. 141.
- ↑ The distinguished Roman Catholic priest, Dr. Lenz, whom I have repeatedly quoted, writes: “Sigismund broke his word by not handing over Hus to the King of Bohemia after he had been condemned. He was not justified in carrying out the sentence of the council on the unhappy master.”
- ↑ See Chapter VI.
