Milič fell into what were considered errors of dogma. The great corruption of the times appears to have inspired him with the idea that the end of the world was near, and he gave publicity to his views in a pamphlet entitled Libellus de Antichristo. Milič started to Rome to defend himself, and was imprisoned there during the absence of Pope Urban. After the Pope's arrival in Rome an interview between him and Milič took place, and the Pontiff, evidently recognizing the purity of his intentions, ordered him to be set at liberty. It has, however, been noted that Milič henceforth laid less stress on his peculiar views concerning the Antichrist, though he never formally withdrew them; his zeal for the reform of the Church became even greater than before.
Milič returned to Prague immediately after his liberation, and was received with great rejoicing by the people, if not by the mendicant friars, who had considered his condemnation to death as certain.[1] Milič now resumed his preaching, and though advanced in years acquired the knowledge of the German language so as to be able to preach to the German inhabitants of Prague also. The old enmity of the mendicant friars against the saintly priest never seems to have grown less, and they—despairing of harming him in Bohemia, where the protection of Charles ensured his safety—again denounced him to the Papal See. Milič again appealed to the Pope, and repaired to the papal court at Avignon, where he died (1374), before his case had been judged by the ecclesiastical tribunal. Besides Conrad Waldhauser and Milič of Kroměřiže, Matthew of Janow, a disciple of Milič, and Thomas of Štitný[2] are also generally counted among the precursors of Hus.
It is probable that these dissensions, the first beginning of a movement that was to become of world-wide importance, did not attract much attention at the time, and were considered of hardly greater importance than the controversies between the different religious orders, which were so
- ↑ "Cum vero Pragam"—Milič and his companion—"venissent quasi nova lux omnibus Christi fidelibus orta fuisset, ita gaudebant quia per viros religiosos mendicantes saepe in eorum praedicationibus audiebant ubi dicebatur: Carissimi ecce jam Milicius eremabitur" (from the life of Milič contained in the learned Jesuit Balbinus's Miscellanea Historica Regni Bohemiae, vol. iv).
- ↑ For Thomas of Štitný see my History of Bohemian Literature, pp. 63–79 (2nd ed.).
