that he was wholly unworthy of trust. During the long negotiations between the Council of Basle and the Hussites, in which he took part, we see him endeavoring impartially to deceive both sides, making solemn engagements with no intention of fulfilling them, and regarded by all parties as utterly devoid of honor. Unfortunate in war and chronically impecunious, he was ever ready to adopt any temporary expedient to evade a difficulty, and to sacrifice his plighted word to obtain an advantage.[1]
It cost him little, therefore, to withdraw from the assertion of his own honor, and the matter was so speedily arranged that when on January 1, 1415, the council formally asked him that free course of justice be allowed in the case of Huss, in spite of the pretext of safe-conduct, he at once issued a decree declaring the council free in all matters of faith and capable of proceeding against all who were defamed for heresy; moreover, he pledged himself to set at naught the threats which were freely uttered of defending Huss at all hazards. Yet the discussion still continued during January, and the pressure on him from Bohemia was so strong that for a while he still fluctuated irresolutely, but, April 8, he formally revoked all letters of safe-conduct. Huss himself had no hesitation in declar- ing that he had been betrayed and that Sigismund had promised his safe return. His friends took the same position. In February an assembly of the magnates of Bohemia and Moravia, gathered at Mezeritz, sent an address to Sigismund pointing out in language more forcible than courtly the disgrace and humiliation attendant upon the disregard of the imperial faith. Again, in May, after
- ↑ Martene Thesaur. II. 1611.—Von der Hardt II. x. 255; IV. 26. —alacky Documenta, p. 612.—Berger, Johann Hus u. König Sigmund, pp. 133, 136.—Fistenport. Chron. ann. 1419 (Hahn Collect. Monument. I. 404).—Ægid. Carlerii Lib. de Legationibus (Monument. Conc. General. Sæc. XV. T. I. pp. 531, 536–7, 595–6, 612-13, 662-73, 680-4, 688-93, 695-7).—Thomæ Ebendorferi Diar. (Ib. p. 767).—Jo. de Turonis Regestr. (Ib. pp. 834-5). Even in France Sigismund was reproached for surrendering Huss after giving him a safe-conduct, and was accused of disregarding other engagements of the same kind.-(Martene Ampl. Coll. II. 1444-5.) Yet had he persisted he would have been liable to excommunication and heavy penalties as an impeder of the Inquisition; and had he carried out his threat of forcibly liberating Huss, under the bull Ad extirpanda he would have been punishable by perpetual relegation and the forfeiture of all his dominions (Mag. Bull. Rom. Ed. Luxemb. 1742, I. 92, 149).
