home. Just before leaving the Council chamber, Prokop the Great asked leave to speak. He said that he had noticed that some members of the Council imagined that he had, with his own hands, put people to death. He declared that for the whole world he would not be guilty of a falsehood, and that he could say with truth that he had never shed a drop of human blood, much less put any one to death. He did not deny that he had been the commander in many battles where large numbers of people had perished, but that he could not be blamed for this, since he had repeatedly urged the Pope and cardinals to make peace and work for reform in the Church. Now that the Council was called, he implored it to make those reforms that the nations were longing for with sighs and tears. He also exhorted the fathers to cease persecuting people who did not agree with them in doctrines; for example, such as the Waldenses, who, although poor, were good and honest people.
April 14th, the Bohemians started for home, accompanied by the delegates that the Council sent to represent it in the Diet to be held in Prague.
The respect shown the Bohemian nation by an assembly composed of representatives of all the nations in Christendom, is one of the most noteworthy events in history. Never before had Bohemia been so honored and so feared, and never before did Pope, prelate, and priest resort to so much artifice to win her favor and friendship. The reign of Charles IV is regarded as the “Golden Age” of Bohemian history; and yet, to secure the favor of the Church and keep peace, Charles IV was obliged to resort to all these artifices that now the Church employed to secure the favor—
