He is always harping on the great harm that had been done by me and my friends. He told me also that they had a letter addressed to Bohemia containing the news that I had composed while at Gottlieben,[1] two verses about my chains to the tune “Buoh Wšemohúcí.”[2]
For God’s sake look after the letters. Do not give them to any clerk[3] to carry. Let me have a hint if the nobles are to ride with Sigismund.[4] In His mercy Christ Jesus ever keeps me to my former resolve.
LXXVI. To the Faithful Bohemians[5]
(June 26, 1415)
Master John Hus, a servant of God in hope, to all the faithful Bohemians who love and will love God, sendeth his earnest desires and unprofitable prayers that they may both live and die in the grace of God and dwell with God for ever.
Faithful and beloved in God! this likewise I have determined to write that you may know that the Council—proud, avaricious, and defiled with every crime—hath condemned my Czech books, which it hath never either seen nor heard read, and if it had listened with all its power, would never have understood (for there were present at the Council Frenchmen, Italians, Britons,[6] Spaniards, Germans, and other people of different nationalities), unless perchance John Bishop of Leitomischl might have understood
- ↑ In castro.
- ↑ “God omnipotent.” The poem seems lost. Whether the tune still exists I cannot say. See also p. 15 for Hus and his songs.
- ↑ Nulli clerico.
- ↑ See p. 259, n.
- ↑ This letter is in Czech.
- ↑ Britanni. There were some Scots present, but whether Hus knew this and deliberately used the word is at least doubtful.
