Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/523

heresy the belief which was now professed by the majority of Bohemians. The council had proposed to follow up the execution of Huss by an immediate application of inquisitorial methods to the whole Bohemian kingdom, but, at the instance of John, Bishop of Lito- mysl, it had commenced by the expedient of giving notice in its letter of July 26, 1415. This, as we have seen, only added to the exasperation of Bohemia, and on August 31 it issued to Bishop John letters commissioning him with inquisitorial powers to sup- press all heresy in Bohemia; if he could not perform his office in safety elsewhere he was authorized to summon all suspect to his episcopal seat at Litomysl. Wenceslas dutifully issued to him a safe-conduct, but the irate Bohemians were already ravaging his territories, and he consulted prudence in not venturing his person there. The canons evidently could not be enforced amid a people so exasperated; so, on September 23, after listening to the recanta- tion of Jerome, the council tried a further expedient, by a decree appointing John, Patriarch of Constantinople, and John, Bishop of Senlis, as commissioners (or, rather, inquisitors) to try all Hussite heretics. They were empowered to summon all heretics or sus- pects to appear before them in the Roman curia by public edict, to be posted in the places frequented by such heretics, or in the neigh- boring territories if it were dangerous to attempt it at the resi- dences of the accused, and such edicts might be either general in character or special. This was strictly according to rule, and if the object had been to secure the legal condemnation in absentia of the mass of the Bohemian nation, it was well adapted for the purpose; but as the nation was seething in revolt, and was vener- ating Huss and Jerome with as much ardor as was shown in Rome to St. Peter and St. Paul, its only effect was to strengthen the hands of the extremists. This was seen when, on December 30, 1415, an address was delivered to the council, signed by four hun- dred and fifty Bohemian nobles, reiterating their complaints of the execution of Huss, and withdrawing themselves from all obe- dience. This hardy challenge was accepted February 20, 1416, by citing all the signers and other supporters of Huss and Wick- liff to appear before the council within fifty days and answer to the charge of heresy, in default of which they were to be pro- ceeded against as contumacious. As it was not safe to serve this