A month was allowed him, to give in his final
answer. During this time cardinals and bishops tried their eloquence
to persuade him to recant; especially at the instigation of the
emperor, who wished to save his life on account of his own pledged
honour. But all these efforts could not move the faith nor firmness of
this pious and heroic man; and on the 6th of July, A.D. 1415, he was
unanimously condemned, ignominiously degraded from the office of a
priest, and burned alive the same day. His ashes were thrown into the
Rhine.[19]
His friend Jerome of Prague, on hearing of his dangerous situation,
hurried to Constance, to assist and support him, without even waiting
for a safe conduct from the emperor or Council. In the vicinity of
Constance he stopped, and tried all possible means to obtain some
assurance for his personal safety. Not succeeding in this, he felt
himself compelled by prudence to return, although slowly and
reluctantly, to Bohemia. But on the road, in consequence of a dispute
in which he became engaged with some bigoted priests, he was arrested
by the duke of Salzbach and sent to Constance, where the same scenes
were repeated before the Council, as in the case of Huss. At his first
appearance, a thousand voices exclaimed: Away with him! burn him, burn
him! It is most melancholy to read in the reports of the time, that
even this strong and pious man could have been terrified into
temporary submission; not by the prospect of death, which he met
gladly, but by the horrors of a lonely and protracted imprisonment in
a noxious dungeon.
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