is practiced in the Universities of Paris, Lombardy and Italy.”
The German professors and students met the proclamation with great indignation, and entered into a solemn agreement rather to emigrate from Prague than submit to so infamous a regulation. They made strenuous exertions to secure a revocation of the order; but King Václav remained inexorable.
The Germans then prepared to put the threat into execution. To make their departure more imposing, it was agreed that they should all start upon the same day. In the summer of 1409, a strange sight met the eyes of the country people. The highways leading to Prague were filled with motley crowds of angry Germans; professors, students, and attendants were moving away in all manner of vehicles that could be impressed into service for the occasion. Some authorities say that 20,000 men left Prague that day; but Tomek puts the number down to 5,000. But whether the number was 20,000 or 5,000, their departure was a grievous loss to the city. Sigmund, writing to the Council of Constance, in 1416, deplored this loss in the following words: “That splendid University of Prague was counted among the rarest jewels of our realm; for of all the universities of the German nation, it bore, not undeservedly, the name of being the greatest. Into it flowed, from all parts of Germany, youths and men of mature years, alike through love of virtue and study, who, seeking the treasures of knowledge and philosophy, found them there in abundance.” All this at once ceased. The university became small in numbers, and still smaller in influence; and both the city and the country were great losers thereby.
