XV.

effectual manner [m]. This vigorous proceed-c ENT. ing prepared the way for the degradation of pART II. JOHN XXIII. who, during the twelfth session, was unanimously deposed from the pontificate [n], on account of several flagitious crimes that were laid to his charge, and more especially on account of the scandalous violation of a solemn engagement he had taken about the beginning of the council, to resign the papal chair, if that measure should appear necessary to the peace of the church; which engagement he broke some weeks after by a clandestine flight. In this same year (1415), GREGORY XII. sent to the council of CHARLES DE MALATESTA to make, in his name, and as a proxy, a solemn and voluntary resignation of the pontificate. About two years after this, BENEDICT XIII. was deposed by a solemn resolution of the council [o], and OTTA DE COLONNA raised, by the unanimous suffrages of the cardinals, to the high dignity of head of the church, which he ruled under the title of MARTIN V. BENEDICT, who resided still at Perpignan was far from being disposed to submit either to the decree of the council, which deposed him, or the determination of the cardinals with respect to his successor. On the contrary, he persisted until the day of his death, which happened in the year 1423, in assuming the title, the prerogatives, and the authority of the papacy. And when this obstinate man was dead, a certain Spaniard, named GILES MUNIOS, was chosen pope Dd3

in

[m] For an account of these two famous decrees, which set such wise limits to the supremacy of the pontifs, see NATALIS ALEXAND. Hist. Eccl. Sec. xv. Diss. iv.-BoSSUET, Defens. Sententiæ Cleri Gallican. de Potest. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. p. 2. 23. LENFANT, Dissert. Historique et Apologetique pour Jean Ger son, et le Concile de Constance, which is subjoined to his history of that council.

[2] On the 29th of May, 1415. [•] On the 26th of July, 1417:

་

XV.

CENT. in his place by two cardinals, under the auspiciPART II Ous patronage of ALPHONSUS, king of Sicily, and adopted the title of CLEMENT VIII.; but this sorry pontif, in the year 1429, was persuaded to resign his pretensions to the papacy, and to leave the government of the church to MARTIN V.

John Huss.

V. If, from the measures that were taken in this council to check the lordly arrogance of the Roman pontifs, we turn our eyes to the proceedings that were carried on against those that were called heretics, we shall observe in this new scene nothing worthy of applause, but several things, on the contrary, that are proper to excite our indignation, and which no pretext, no consideration, can render excusable. Before the meeting of this council, there were great commotions raised in several parts of Europe, and more especially in Bohemia, concerning religious matters. One of the persons that gave occasion to these disputes was JOHN HUSS, who lived at Prague in the highest reputation, both on account of the sanctity of his manners and the purity of his doctrine, who was distinguished by his uncommon erudition and eloquence, and performed, at the same time, the functions of professor of divinity in the university, and of ordinary pastor in the church of that famous city [p]. This eminent ecclesiastic declaimed with vehemence against the vices that had corrupted all the different ranks and orders of the clergy; nor was he singular in this respect; such

"

[] A Bohemian Jesuit, who was far from being favourable to JOHN Huss, and who had the best opportunity of being acquainted with his real character, describes him thus: "He was more subtile than eloquent, but the gravity and austerity of his manners, his frugal and exemplary life, his pale and meagre countenance, his sweetness of temper, and his uncommon affability towards persons of all ranks and conditions, from the highest to the lowest, were much more persuasive than any eloquence could be." See BOHUS. BALBINUS, Epitom. Rer. Bebem. lib. iv. cap. v. p. 431.

XV. PART H.

such remonstrances were become very common, C E N T. and they were generally approved of by the wise and good. Huss, however, went still farther; and, from the year 1408, used his most earnest and assiduous endeavours to withdraw the university of Prague from the jurisdiction of GREGORY XII. whom the kingdom of Bohemia had hitherto acknowledged as the true and lawful head of the church. The archbishop of Prague, and the clergy in general, who were warmly attached to the interests of GREGORY, were greatly exasperated at these proceedings. Hence arose a violent quarrel between the incensed prelate and the zealous reformer, which the latter inflamed and augmented, from day to day, by his pathetic exclamations against the court of Rome, and the corruptions that prevailed among the sacerdotal order,

excited the

VI. Such were the circumstances that first ex- The reacited the resentment of the clergy against JOHN sons that Huss. This resentment, however, might have been resentment easily calmed, and perhaps totally extinguished, of the clermore important kind John Huss. gy against if new incidents of a had not arisen to keep up the flame, and increase its fury, In the first place, he adopted the philosophical opinions of the Realists, and shewed his warm attachment to their cause, in the manner that was usual in this barbarous age, even by persecuting to the utmost of his power their adversaries the Nominalists, whose number was great, and whose influence was considerable in the university of Prague [q]. He also multi

plied

[q] See the Litera Nominalium ad Regem Francie Ludovicum VI. in BALUZII Miscellan. tom. iv. p. 534. where we read the following passage: "Legimus Nominales expulsos de Bohemia eo tempore, quo hæretici voluerunt Bohemicum Regnum suis hæresibus inficere.-Quum dicti heretici non possent dispu tando superare, impetraverunt ab Abbisseslao (Wenceslao)

Principe

XV

CENT.plied the number of his enemies in the year 1408, PART II. by procuring, through his great credit, a sentence in favour of the Bohemians, who disputed with the Germans concerning the number of suffrages, that their respective nations were entitled to in all matters that were carried by election in the university of Prague. That the nature of this contest may be better understood, it will be proper to observe, that this famous university was divi'ded, by its founder CHARLES IV. into four nations, to wit, the Bohemians, Bavarians, Poles,, and Saxons, of which, according to the original laws of the university, the first had three suffrages; and the other three, who were comprehended under the title of the German nation, only one. This arrangement, however, had not only been altered by custom, but was entirely inverted in favour of the Germans, who were vastly superior to the Bohemians in number, and assumed to themselves the three suffrages, which, according to the original institution of the university, belonged, undoubtedly, to the latter. Huss, therefore, whether animated by a principle of patriotism, or by an aversion to the Nominalists, who were peculiarly favoured by the Germans, raised his voice against this abuse, and employed, with success, the extraordinary credit he had obtained at court, by his flowing and masculine eloquence, in depriving the Germans of the privilege they had usurped, and in reducing their three suffrages to one. The issue of this long and tedious contest [r] was so offensive to the Germans, that a prodigious

Principe Bohemiæ ut gubernarentur studia Pragensia ritu Parisiensium. Quo edicto coacti sunt supradicti Nominales Pragam civitatem relinquere, et se transtulerunt ad Lipzicam civitatem, et ibidem erexerunt-universitatem solemnissimam.”

[r] WENCESLAUS, king of Bohemia, who was bribed by both of the contending parties, protracted instead of abridging this dispute, and used to say with a smile, that he had found a

good

XV. PART II.

prodigious number of them, with JOHN HOFF-C EN T. MAN the rector of the university at their head [s], retired from Prague, and repaired to Leipsic, where FREDERICK, surnamed the Wise, elector of Saxony, erected for them, in the year 1409, the famous academy which still subsists in a flourishing state. This event contributed greatly to render Huss odious to many, and, by the consequences that followed it, was certainly instrumental in bringing on his ruin. For no sooner had the Germans retired from Prague, than he began, not only to inveigh with greater freedom than he had formerly done against the vices and corruptions of the clergy, but even went so far as to recommend, in an open and public manner, the writings and opinions of the famous WICKLIFF, whose new doctrines had already made such a noise in England. Hence an accusation was brought against him, in the year 1410, before the tribunal of JOHN XXIII. by whom he was solemnly expelled from the communion of the church. He treated, indeed, this excommunication with the utmost contempt, and, both in his conversation, and his writings, laid open the disorders that preyed upon the vitals of the church, and the vices that dishonoured the conduct of its ministers [t]; and the fortitude and zeal he discovered in this matter were almost universally applauded.

is burned

VII. This eminent man, whose piety was truly John Huss fervent and sincere, though his zeal perhaps was rather too violent, and his prudence not always

equally good goose, which laid every day a considerable number of gold and silver eggs. This was playing upon the word Huss, which, in the German language, signifies a goose.

[] Historians differ much in their accounts of the number of Germans that retired from the university of Prague upon this occasion. Æneas Sylvius reckons 5000, Trithemius and others 2000, Dubravius 24,000, Luparius 44,000, Lauda, a contemporary writer, 36,000.

[] See LAUR. BYZINII Diarium Belli Hussitici, in LUDWIG's Reliquiae Manuscriptorum, tom. vi. p. 127.

alive.