this mean and Judas-like letter. Dr. Flajshans, the most recent Bohemian writer on the life of Hus, admits the authenticity of Jerome’s letter, but suggests that he may have been forced to write it. There can at any rate only have been; moral persuasion, for there is no evidence whatever to prove that torture was applied to Jerome. That the true nature of Jerome should formerly have been so little known is undoubtedly a consequence of the tradition—which arose at a time when little was known of Bohemia—placing Jerome on the same, or nearly the same level as Hus. Even this short note on Jerome is, I think, sufficient to denote the world-wide difference that existed between the two men. Jerome, a man not exempt from the scepticism innate in the humanist, recanted for the purpose of saving his life and regaining his liberty.
As mentioned in his letter, Jerome shortly after Hus’s martyrdom, recanted the so-called heresies of which he had been accused. This was done by means of a statement which Jerome himself drew up and forwarded to the council. That assembly, however, distrusting his motives,[1] decided to demand a formal and solemn recantation in the presence of the council. Jerome consented and his public abjuration took place at a meeting of the council on Sepetmber 23, 1415.[2] Jerome first read out the statement which he had previously sent to the council, stating that knowing the true Catholic and apostolic faith, he anathematised all heresies, and in particular the teaching of John Wycliffe and John Hus as contained in their works, tracts and sermons before the clergy and the people. Having read out this statement, Jerome added that, had he formerly possessed the knowledge which he now had, he would never have maintained these errors. If then his liberty were
- ↑ See the statement in Von der Hardt, T. iv. p. 497: “Pellectus per concilium ad recantandum non ex animo sed metu supplicii ac spe evadendi consensit tandem, formula a se conscripta et in congregatione solemni praelecta.”
- ↑ Von der Hardt (T. iv., pp. 499-514) gives a full account of the proceedings on that day and prints in full the documents referred to above.
