being thus deputed,John Huss sick of an ague in prison. heard the accusation and the witness which was brought in by certain babbling priests of Prague, confirmed by their oaths, and afterwards recited the said accusation unto the said Huss in the prison, at such time as his ague was fervent and extremely upon him.
Debarred of his advocate.Upon this, John Huss required to have an advocate to answer for him; which was plainly and utterly denied him. And the reason that the masters commissioners brought against it was this: that the plain canon doth forbid that any man should be a defender of any cause of him, who is suspected of any kind of heresy. The vanity and folly of the witnesses was such, that if in case they had not been both the accusers and judges themselves, there should have needed no distinct confutation. I would have rehearsed the testimonies in this place, but that I knew them to be such, as the prudent and wise reader could not have read without great tediousness. Howbeit, some of them shall be declared, when we come to the process of his judgment.
Afterwards, when John Huss had recovered a little strength or health, by the commandment of the three commissioners there were presented unto him certain articles, many in number, which, they said, they had gathered out of his book which he made of the church; of which articles some were forged and invented by Master Paletz, and others were gathered only by halves, as shall be more plainly declared hereafter, when we come to speak of the judgment pronounced and given against the said Huss.
Books which John Huss wrote in prison.Thus John Huss remained in the prison of the covent of the Franciscans, until the Wednesday before Palm Sunday, and certain appointed to keep him; and in the mean season, to employ and spend his time withal, he wrote certain books, that is to say, of the ten commandments, of the love and knowledge of God, of matrimony, of penance, of the three enemies of mankind, of the prayer of our Lord, and of the supper of our Lord.
Pope John fled out of Constance.The same day pope John XXIII. changed his apparel, and conveyed himself secretly out of Constance, fearing the judgment by which afterwards he was deprived of his papal dignity, by means of most execrable and abominable forfeits and doings. This was the cause that John Huss was transported and carried unto another prison; for the pope's servants, who had the charge and keeping of John Huss, understanding that their master was fled and gone, delivered up the keys of the prison unto the emperor Sigismund, and to the cardinals, and followed their master the pope. Then, by the whole consent of the council, the said John Huss was put into the hands of the bishop of Constance, who sent him to a castle on the other side of the river Rhine, not very far from Constance, where he was shut up in a tower with fetters on his legs, that he could scarce walk in the day-time, and at night he was fastened up to a rack against the wall hard by his bed.
Noblemen of Bohemia labour for John Huss.In the mean season, certain noblemen and gentlemen of Poland and Bohemia did all their endeavour to purchase his deliverance, having respect to the good renown of all the realm, which was wonderfully defamed and slandered by certain naughty persons. The matter was grown unto this point, that all they who were in the town of Constance, who seemed to bear any favour unto John Huss, were made as mocking