Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/438

■ 22 GERMANY. After a preliminary meeting, when the assembly convened for business, February 8, 1479, the inquisitor von Elten presided, with Archbishop Diether under him, and opened the proceedmgs bv suggesting that two or three friends of the accused should warn him to repent of his errors and beg for mercy, in which case he should have mercy, but otherwise not. A deputation was thereupon despatched, but their mission was not speedily per- formed ; the inquisitor chafed at the delay, and began blustermg and threatening. A high official was sent to hurry the matter, but at that moment John of Wesel entered, pallid, bent with age, leaning on his staff, and supported by two Franciscans. He was made to sit on the floor ; von Elten repeated to him the message, and when he attempted to defend himself he was cut short, badg- ered and threatened, until he was brought to sue for pardon. After this he was put through a long and exhausting examma- tion and was finaUy remanded until the next day. A commission consisting principally of the Cologne and Heidelberg doctors was appointed to determine what should be done with him The next day he was again brought out and examined afresh, when he endeavored to defend his views. "If aU men renounce Christ he said "I will stiU worship him and be a Christian, to which von Elten retorted, " So say aU heretics, even when at the stake Finallv it was resolved that three doctors should be deputed piouslv to exhort him to abandon his errors. As in the case of Huss "it was not his death that was wanted, but his humiliation. On the 10th the deputies labored with him. " If Christ were here " he told them, " and were treated like me, you would con- demn him as a heretic-but he would get the better of you with his subtlety " At length he was persuaded to acknowledge that his views were erroneous, on the deputies agreeing to take the re- sponsibihty on their own consciences. He had long been sick when the trial was commenced, all assistance was withheld from him • age, weakness, and the dark and filthy dungeon from which he had vainly begged to be relieved broke down his powers of re- sistance, and he submitted. He publicly recanted and abjured his books were burned before his face, and he was sentenced t', imprisonment for hfe in the Augustinian monastery of Mainz^ He did not long survive his mortification and misery, for he died in 1481 The trial excited great interest among all the sclioiars