POPE JOHN THE TWENTY-THIRD AND MASTER JOHN HUS OF BOHEMIA POPE JOHN THE TWENTY-THIRD AND MASTER JOHN HUS OF BOHEMIA BY EUSTACE J. KITTS A. UTHOR OF 'IN THE DAYS OF THE COUNCILS' ILLUSTRATED LONDON CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED 10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE 1910 INTRODUCTION IN this book I have endeavoured to narrate the five years' history of three men and a movement; the men are Pope John the Twenty-third, John Hus, the patriot reformer of Bohemia, and Sigismund, King of the Romans; and the movement is the conciliar movement up to the middle of the year 1415. I have already, in my book entitled In the Days ef the Councils, given the history of Baldassare Cossa, who became Pope John the Twenty-third, up to the death of Pope Alexander the Fifth. Baldassare Cossa was in no sense a hero; there were indeed very few heroes in those days. One thing which makes history so much more interesting than fiction is that the characters have their human frailties as well as their human virtues. 'Il n'y a pas,' says M. Boissier, 'de gens parfaits que dans les romans.' Baldassare Cossa was simply a strong man placed in a position for which he had striven hut for which he was eminently unfit, struggling with adversity. It is in the struggle that the interest of his story lies. Up till the battle of Rocca Secca all went well with him; after that, Fate was consistentlv against him. He had the misfortune to have for an enemy one of the foremost literary men of his time; and literary men then said all that they knew was true, all that they thought was true, and much that they hoped was true. They took rumour and scandal without investigation, and gave it currency as fact. Unhappily our own greatest historian accepted all that Dietrich von Niem wrote, and the glamour of Gibbon's great name has worked evil to the repute of Pope John the Twenty-third until in these last days the patient labour of German historians has succeeded in disen­ tangling fact from fiction and in painting his character in the colours of verisimilitude. 9336 v1 POPE JOHN THE TWENTY-THIRD John Hus, it is necessary to remember, was a patriot as well as a reformer. Bohemia for the Bohemians was his leading thought when he got the Teutons expelled from the University of Prague, and when he went to clear his country of the imputation of heresy at the Council of Constance. It was his hatred of the German race that made him so popular with the nobles of Hungary; it was his influence, no less as patriot than as reformer, that inspired the Hussite Wars. Personally he was a gentle and lovable man, a follower of W yclif in philosophy and deeply imbued with the religious views of the English reformer. As to religion it is at first sight difficult to place him. He was not a Catholic, seeing that he was burned by the Council of Constance for heresy; nor was he, in the ordinary modern acceptation of the term, a Protestant, seeing that he venerated the Virgin Mary, believed in transubstantiation, and knew nothing of justifica­ tion by faith. But if we leave isolated doctrines and come to fundamental principles, then John Hus must be adjudged the equivalent of a Protestant, for it is clear that he took the Bible as being alone the true standard and rule of faith, that he practically rejected Tradition, and disowned Church authority. In his unconscious appeal to the liberty of the individual conscience, a conscience duly enlightened by the study of the Scripture and meditation on the Fathers, and to the letter of the written Word as an authority superior to Pope or Council, John Hus was a precursor of the Refor­ mation. The character of King Sigismund is a riddle to which different answers have been given. To some he has appeared sensual, impulsive, and wanting in perseverance, while others regard him as the embodiment of all that is grandest in the German monarchy. In the five years with which I deal he had undoubtedly sobered down from the light-hearted excesses of his youth, and the influence of three fixed ideas can be clearly traced in his policy ; he believed in the majesty of the Holy Roman Empire, the unity of the Holy Roman Church, and the expulsion of the Turks from Europe ; and to these ideas he held true throughout. In my previous book and in the present I have sketched the INTRODUCTION Vll rise of that conciliar spirit which arrogated to the councils the superiority over the papacy; and I have told the story of the Councils of Pisa, of Cividale, of Perpignan, and of Rome. With the Council of Constance I am only concerned during the first eight months of its existence, during which time its proceedings were practically unanimous and amicable, whereas later on they became conflicting and at times turbulent. I have only attempted to give the history of the Council in detail so far as the burning of John Hus. This will account for, and I hope excuse, the sketchy characters of the last two chapters of this volume. LIST OF CARDINALS A. LIST OF CARDINALS IN THE CONCLAVE AT THE ELECTION OF POPE JOHN xxm. (1) HENRICus M1NuLTuLUs, Neapolitan; created cardinal 18th December 1389 by Boniface IX. ; at first Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum, then of Sabina; was made Papal Legate of Bologna in 1411 ; died at Bologna on 18th May 1412. (2) NrnoLAUS BRANCACIUS, Neapolitan; Cardinal Bishop of Albano; created cardinal by Clement vu. in January 1378; died 1412. (3) JEANilE BROGNY, Frenchman; born 1342; Cardinal Bishop ofOstia: also called Larclinal de Viviers ; created cardinal by Benedict xm. in 1394; was at Constance ; died 1426. (4) PIERRE GERARD, Bishop du Puy; Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum; created cardinal by Clement vu. in October 1390; died 1415. (5) ANGF..LUs DE ANNA, Neapolitan; Cardinal Priest of S. Pudenziana; known as the Cardinal of Lodi; created cardinal by Urban vr. ; was at Constance ; died 1428. (6) PETRUS FERNANDI FarAs, Spaniard; Cardinal Priest of S. Prassede; created cardinal by Clement vu. in 1394; was at Constance; died at Florence in September 1420. (7) CONRAD CARACCIOLO, Neapolitan; Cardinal Priest of S. Crisogono; created cardinal by Innocent vu. in 1405; died 1411. (8) FRANoEsco UoocmoNE of Urbino, Italian; Archbishop of Bordeaux; Cardinal Priest of SS. Quattro Coronati; created cardinal by Innocent vu. in 1405; died 1412. (9) GIORDANO ORSINI, Roman; Cardinal Priest of S. Lorenzo in Damaso; created cardinal by Innocent vu. in 1405; was at Constance; died 1439. (10) GIOVANNI DE' MEcLIORATI; Cardinal Priest of S. Croce in Geru­ salemme ; known as the Cardinal of Ravenna ; created cardinal by his uncle, Innocent vn., in 1405; died 1410. (11) ANTONIUs CALvus, Roman; Cardinal Priest of S. Prassede; created cardinal hy Innocent v11. in 1405 ; known as the Cardinal of Mileto ; died 1411. x POPE JOHN THE TWENTY-THIRD (12) RAYNALDUS BRANCAcrns, Neapolitan : Cardinal Deacon of SS. Vito e Modesto; created cardinal by Urban v1. in 1385; was at Con­ stance; died 1427. (13) LANDULFUS MARAMAUR, Neapolitan; Cardinal Deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano ; Legate in Spain; created cardinal by Urban vr. in 1381; died at Constance in 1415. (14) BALDASSARE CossA, Neapolitan; Pope John xxm. (15) ODDO COLONNA, Roman ; Cardinal Deacon of S. Giorgio in V elabro ; created cardinal by Innocent vu. in 1405; Pope Martin v. (16) PETRUS SrEFANEscus HANNIBALnus, Roman; Cardinal Deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria ; created cardinal by Innocent vu. in 1405 ; was at Constance and died there in 1417. (17) ANTOINE DE CHALANT, Savoyard; Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata; created cardinal by Benedict xm. on 9th May 1404; was at Constance; died 4th September 1418. B. LIST OF CARDINALS OF THE SAME OBEDIENCE WHO WERE NOT IN THE CONCLAVE (18) Guy DE MArLLEsEC ( or Malesset); known as the Cardinal of Poitiers; died 1411. (19) ANTONIO CAETANI, Roman; Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina; created cardinal by Boniface 1x. in 1402; died January 1412. (20) PIERRE DE THURY, Frenchman ; Cardinal Priest of S. Susanna; Legate in France ; created cardinal by Clement vu. in 1385 ; died September 1412. (21) JEAN FLANDRIN, Frenchman; Cardinal D' Auch; Cardinal Priest of SS. Giovanni e Paolo ; created cardinal by Clement vu. in 1390 ; was not at Constance. 22) Louis DE BAR, Frenchman ; Cardinal Priest of XII. Apostoli ; created cardinal by Benedict xm. in 1397; not at Constance; died 1430. (23) Loms Frnscm of Geneva ; Cardinal Deacon of S. Adriano in Foro Romano; created cardinal by Urban v1. in 1384; was at Con­ stance; <lied 1423. (24) AMADEUS DE SALuzzo, Italian; Cardinal Deaeon of S. Maria Nova; created cardinal by Clement vII. in 1382 ; was at Constance ; died at Florence in July 1419. LIST OF CARDINALS Xl c. LIST OF CARDINALS NOMINATED BY POPE JOHN xxm. ON 6TH JUNE 1411 (1) FaANCEScus LANDus, Venetian; Cardinal Priest of S. Croce in Gerusalemme ; known as the Cardinal of Venice ; was at Con­ stance; died 1427. (2) ANTONIUs PANCERA DE PoRTOGRUARIO, Patriarch of Aquileia, nephew of Cardinal Caetani ; Cardinal Priest of S. Susanna ; was at Con­ stance; died 1431. (3) JonN OF PORTUGAL; Cardinal Priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli; died on 23rd January 1415. ( 4) ALAM.AN ADIMAR, Florentine, Archbishop of Pisa ; Cardinal Priest of S. Eusebio ; was at Constance; died 27th September 1422. (5) PIERRE n' ArLLY, Frenchman; born 1350 ; Cardinal Priest of S. Crisogono; was at Constance; died 8th August 1425. 6) GEORGE voN LICHTENSTEIN, Bishop of Trient; never came to Rome.