gious instance of impudence and perfidy that || in a posture of defence, and warmly exhorted he exhibited to the world was in 1463, when the European princes to check the progress of he publicly retracted all that he had written in that warlike people; but many obstacles arose, favour of the council of Basil, and declared which rendered their exhortations ineffectual. without either shame or hesitation, that, as The other undertakings that were projected or Eneas Sylvius, he was a damnable heretic, but carried on, during their continuance at the that, as Pius II., he was an orthodox pontiff. head of the church, are not of sufficient imThis indecorous declaration was the last cir- portance to require particular notice. cumstance, worthy of notice, that happened during his pontificate; for he died in July, 1464.* XVII. Paul II., a Venetian by birth, whose name was Peter Barbo, was raised to the head of the church in 1464, and died in 1471. His administration was distinguished by some measures, which, if we consider the genius of the times, were worthy of praise; though it must at the same time be confessed, that he did many things which were evidently inexcusable, (not to mention his reducing the jubilee circle to twenty-five years, and thus accelerating the return of that most absurd and superstitious ceremony;) so that his reputation became at least dubious in aftertimes, and was viewed in different lights by different persons. The following popes, Sixtus IV., and Innocent VIII., whose names were Francis Albescola and John Baptist Cibo, were neither remarkable for their virtues nor their vices. The former died in 1484, and the latter in 1492. Filled with the most terrible apprehensions of the danger that threatened Europe in general, and Italy in particular, from the growing power of the Turks, both these pontiffs attempted to put themselves sions and encroachments of the pontiff's abolished, and the authority of a general council declared superior to that of the pope. This edict was drawn up in concert with the fathers of the council of Basil, and the articles were taken from the decrees of that council, though they were admitted by the Gallican church with certain modifications, which the nature of the times and the manners of the nation rendered expedient. Such then was the Pragmatic Sanction, which Pius II. engaged Louis XI. (who received upon that occasion, for himself and his successors, the title of Most Christian) to abolish by a solemn decla ration; the full execution of which was, however, prevented by the noble stand made by the university of Paris in favour of the edict. The king also, perceiving that he had been deluded into this declaration by the treacherous insinuations of Geoffry, bishop of Arras, (whom the pope had bribed with a cardinal's cap, and large promises of a more lucrafive kind,) took no sort of pains to have it executed, but published, on the contrary, new edicts against the pecuniary pretensions and extortions of the court of Rome; so that in reality the Pragmatic Sanction was not abolished before the adjustment of the Concordat or agreement, which was transacted between Francis I. and Leo X. in 1517, and was forced upon the French nation in opposition to the united efforts of the clergy, the university, the parliament, and the people. See, for a farther account of this matter, Du Clos. Histoire de Louis XI. vol. i. p. 115-132. Beside the writers of ecclesiastical history, see Nouveau Diction. Histor. et Critique, tom. ii. at the article Enee Sylvius. † Paul II. has had the good fortune to find, in one of the most eminent and learned men of this age, (the famous cardinal Quirini,) a zealous apologist. See, among the productions of that illustrious prelate, the piece entitled, "Pauli II. Vita, ex Codice Anglica Bibliothecæ desumpta, præmissis ipsius Vindiciis adversus Platinam aliosque obtrectatores, Roniæ, 1740." account of this convention may be seen in bishop Burnet's excellent History of the Reformation, vol. iii. and in a book entitled, Histoire du Droit public Ecclesiastique Francois, published in 1737. XVIII. In the series of pontiffs that ruled the church during this century, the last, in order of time, was Alexander VI., a Spaniard by birth, whose name was Roderic Borgia. The life and actions of this man show, that there was a Nero among the popes, as well as among the emperors. The crimes and enormities, that history has imputed to this papal Nero, evidently prove him to have been not only destitute of all religious and virtuous principles, but even regardless of decency, and hardened against the very feeling of shame; and, though the malignity of his enemies may have forged false accusations against him, and, in some instances, exaggerated the horror of his real crimes, yet we have upon record an authentic list of undoubted facts, which, both by their number and their atrocity, are sufficient to render the name and memory of Alexander VI. odious and detestable, in the opinion even of such as have the smallest tincture of virtuous principles and feelings. An inordinate affection for his children was the principal source from which proceeded a great part of the crimes he committed. He had four sons by a concubine with whom he had lived Cæsar Borgia. A daughter, named Lucretia, many years; among whom was the infamous was likewise among the fruits of this unlawful commerce. The tenderness of the pontiff for his spurious offspring was excessive beyond all expression; his only aim was to load them with riches and honours; and, in the execution of this purpose, he trampled with contempt upon every obstacle, which the demands of justice, the dictates of reason, and the remonstrances of religion, threw in his way.* he persisted in his profligate career until the year 1503, when the poison, which he and his son Cæsar had mingled for others who stood in the way of their avarice and ambition, cut short, by a happy mistake, his own days. Thus XIX. The monastic societies, as we learn from a multitude of authentic records, and from the testimonies of the best writers, were, at this time, so many herds of lazy, illiterate, profligate, and licentious Epicureans, whose views in life were confined to opulence, idleness, and pleasure. The rich monks, particularly those of the Benedictine and Augustine orders, perverted their revenues to the gratification of their lusts; and renouncing, in their conduct, all regard to their respective rules of discipline, drew upon themselves great *The life of this execrable tyrant was written in subject has been treated with greater moderation by English by Mr. Alexander Gordon; but the same the ingenious and learned author of the Histoire du Droit Publ. Eccles. Francois, to which work are subjoined the lives of Alexander VI. and Leo X. † Such is the account which the best historians have given of the death of Alexander VI. Notwithstanding these authorities, Voltaire has pretended to prove that this pontiff' died a natural death. popular odium by their sensuality and licen- || patronised them, others opposed them: and tiousness. This was matter of affliction to this circumstance frequently changed the asmany wise and good men, especially in France pect of affairs, and, for a long time, rendered and Germany, who formed the pious design of the decision of the contest dubious.* The stemming the torrent of monkish luxury, and persecution that was carried on against the excited a spirit of reformation among that de- Beguins became also an occasion of increasing generate order. Among the German reform- the odium that had been cast upon the begging ers, who undertook the restoration of virtue monks, and was extremely prejudicial to their and temperance in the monasteries, Nicolas de interests. For the Beguins and Lollards, to Mazen, an Austrian abbot, and Nicolas Dun- escape the fury of their inverate enemies, the kelspuhl, professor at Vienna, held the first bishops and others, frequently took refuge in rank. They attempted, with unparalleled zeal the third order of the Franciscans, Dominiand assiduity, the reformation of the Benedic- cans, and Augustinians, hoping that, in the tines throughout Germany, and succeeded so patronage and protection of these numerous far as to restore, at least, a certain air of de- and powerful societies, they might find a secency and virtue in the conventual establish- cure retreat from the calamities that oppressed ments of Suabia, Franconia, and Bavaria. them. Nor were their hopes entirely disapThe reformation of the same order was at- pointed; but the storm that hitherto pursued tempted in France by many, and particularly them, fell upon their new patrons and protecby Guy Juvenal, a learned man, whose wri- tors, the Mendicants; who, by affording a retings, upon that and on other subjects, were fuge to a sect so odious to the clergy, drew received with applause. § It is, however, upon themselves the indignation of that sacred certain, that the majority of the monks, both order, and were thereby involved in various in France and elsewhere, resisted, with obsti- difficulties and perplexities.† nacy, the salutary attempts of these spiritual physicians, and returned their zeal with the worst treatment that it was possible to show them. XX. While the opulent monks exhibited to the world scandalous examples of luxury, ignorance, indolence, and licentiousness, accompanied with a barbarous aversion to every thing that carried the remotest aspect of science, the Mendicants, and more especially the Dominicans and Franciscans, were chargeable with irregularities of another kind. Beside their arrogance, which was excessive, a quarrelsome and litigious spirit, an ambitious desire of encroaching upon the rights and privileges of others, an insatiable zeal for the propagation of superstition, and the itch of disputing and of starting absurd and intricate questions of a religious kind, prevailed among them, and drew upon them justly the displeasure and indignation of many. It was this wrangling spirit that seriously protracted the controveries which had subsisted so long between them and the bishops, and, indeed, the whole sacerdotal order; and it was their vain curiosity, and their inordinate passion for novelty, that made the divines, in the greatest part of the European colleges, complain of the dangerous and destructive errors which they had introduced into religion. These complaints were repeated, without interruption, in all the provinces where the Mendicants had any credit; and the same complaints were often presented to the court of Rome, where they exercised sufficiently both the patience and subtlety of the pope. and his ministers. The different pontiffs who ruled the church during this century, were differently affected toward the Mendicants; some * See Martin Senging, Tuitiones Ordinis S. Bene dicti, sen Oratio in Concilio Basiliensi, an. 1433, contra vitia Benedict. recitata, in Bern. Pezii Bib. Ascetica, t. viii. † See Leibnitii Præf. ad t. ii. Script. Bruns. XXI. The more austere and rebellious Franciscans, who, separating themselves from the church, renounced their allegiance to the Roman pontiffs, and were distinguished by the appellation of Fratricelli or Minorites, continued, with their Tertiaries, the Beghards, to carry on an open war against the court of Rome. Their head-quarters were in Italy, in the marquisite of Ancona and the neighbouring countries; for it was there that their leader and chief ruler resided. They were persecuted, about the middle of this century, with the greatest severity, by pope Nicolas V., who employed every method he could devise to vanquish their obstinacy, sending for that purpose successively against them the Franciscan monks, armed hosts, and civil magistrates, and committing to the flames many of those who remained unmoved by all these means of conversion. This heavy persecution was carried on by the succeeding pontiffs, and by none with greater bitterness and vehemence than by Paul II., though it is said, that this pope chose rather to conquer the headstrong and stubborn perseverance of this sect by imprisonment and exile, than by fire and sword.§ The Fratricelli, on the other hand, animated by the protection of several persons of great influence, who became their patrons on account of the striking appearance of sanctity which they exhibited, had recourse to violence, and went so far as to put to death some of the inquisitors, among whom Angelo of Camaldoli fell a victim to their vengeance. *See Launoy, Lib. de Canone Utriusque Sexus, op. tom. i. part i-Boulay, tom. v.-Ant. Wood, tom. i. See the history of the preceding century. Mauritius Sartius, de Antiqua Picentum civitate Cupromontana, in Angeli Calogera Raccolta di Opusculi Scientifici, tom. xxxix. where we have several extracts from the manuscript dialogue of Jacobus de Marchia against the Fratricelli. § Ang. Mar. Quirini Vita Pauli II. p. 78.-Jo. Targionius, Præf. ad claror. Venetor. Epistolas ad Magliabechium, tom. i. p. 43, where we have an account of the books that were written against the Fratricelli by Nicolas Palmerius and others under the pon§ See Liron's Singularites Historiques et Lite-tificate of Paul II. and which are yet in manuscript. raires, tom. iii. p. 49. See the Acta Sanctor. tom. ii. Maii, p. 356. ing, in the education of young females, and in branches of industry suitable to their sex. The schools, that were erected by the clerks of this fraternity, acquired a great and illustrious reputation in this century. From them issued those immortal restorers of learning and taste which gave a new face to the republic of letters in Germany and Holland, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Alexander Hegius, John Murmelius, and several others.* But the institution of the order of Jesuits seemed to diminish the credit of these excellent schools, which, from that period, began to decline. It ought to be added, that the Brethren of the common life, however encouraged by the pub Nor were the commotions raised by this trou- || that were not consecrated to prayer and readblesome sect confined to Italy; other countries felt the effects of their petulant zeal; and Bohemia and Silesia (where they preached with warmth their favourite doctrine, "that the true imitation of Christ consisted in beggary and extreme poverty") became the theatres of the spiritual war. The king of Bohemia was well affected to these fanatics, granted them his protection, and was on that account excommunicated by Paul II. In France, their affairs were far from being prosperous; such of them as fell into the hands of the inquisitors, were committed to the flames, and they were eagerly searched after in the province of Toulouse and the adjacent countries, where great numbers of them lay concealed, and endea-lic, were exposed to the insults and opposition voured to escape the vigilance of their enemies; while several of their scattered parties removed to England and Ireland.§ Even the dreadful series of calamities and persecutions that harassed this miserable sect did not entirely extinguish it; for it subsisted to the time of the reformation in Germany, when its remaining votaries adopted the cause, and embraced the doctrines and discipline of Luther. XXII. Of the religious fraternities that were founded in this century, not one deserves a more honourable mention than the Brethren and Clerks of the common life, (as they called themselves,) who lived under the rule of St. Augustine, and were eminently useful in promoting the cause of religion, learning, and virtue. This society had been formed in the preceding age by Gerard Groote, a native of Deventer, remarkable for his fervent piety and extensive erudition; it was not, however, before the present century, that it received a proper degree of consistence, and, having obtained the approbation of the council of Constance, flourished in Holland, the Lower Germany, and the adjacent provinces. It was divided into two classes, the Lettered Brethren or Clerks, and the Illiterate, who, though they occupied separate habitations, lived in the firmest bonds of fraternal union. The Clerks applied themselves with exemplary zeal and assiduity to the study of polite literature, and to the education of youth. They composed learned works for the instruction of their contemporaries, and erected schools and seminaries of learning wherever they went. The Illiterate Brethren, on the other hand, were employed in manual labour, and exercised with success the mechanic arts. No religious vows restrained the members of either class; yet they had all things in common, and this community was the great bond of their union. The Sisters of this virtuous society lived much in the same manner, and employed the hours, * Jo. Georgii Schelhornii Acta Historica Eccles. part i. † Quirini Vita Pauli II. p. 73. I have in manuscript the acts or decrees of the inquisition against John Gudulchi de Castellione and Francis d'Archata, both of them Fratricelli, who were burned in France, in 1454. Wood's Antiq. Oxoniens. tom. i. p. 232. The life of this famous Dutchman, Gerard Groote, was written by Thomas a Kempis, and is to be found in his works. It stands at the head of the lives of eleven of his contemporaries, composed by this eminent writer. of the clergy and monks, who had a strong aversion to every thing that bore the remotest aspect of learning or taste.f XXIII. Of the Greeks, who acquired fame by their learned productions, the most eminent were, Simeon of Thessalonica, the author of several treatises, and, among others, of a book against the heresies that had troubled the church; to which we may add his writings against the Latins, which are yet extant;‡ Josephus Bryennius, who wrote a book concerning the Trinity, and another against the Latins; Macarius Macres, whose animosity against the Latins was carried to the greatest height; George Phranza, whose historical talent makes a figure in the compilation of the Byzantine historians; Marcus Ephesius, who was an obstinate enemy to the council of Florence;§ Cardinal Bessarion, the illustrious protector and supporter of the Platonic school, a man of unparalleled genius and erudition; but much hated by the Greeks, because he seemed to lean to the party of the Latins, and proposed an union of the two nations to the prejudice of the former;|| George Scholarius, otherwise called Genna dius, who wrote against the Latins, especially * Accounts of this order have been given by Aub Miræus, in his Chronicon, ad an. 1384, and by Helyot in his Histoire des Ordres, tom. iii. But, in thay which I have here given, there are some circumstan ces taken from ancient records not yet published. have in my possession several manuscripts, which furnish materials for a much more clear and circum stantial account of the institution and progress of this order, than can be derived from the books that have hitherto appeared on that subject. † We read frequently, in the records of this cen tury, of schools erected by the Lollards, and some times by the Beghards, at Deventer, Brunswick Koningsberg, and Munster, and many other places Now these Lollards were the clerks of the common life, who, on account of their virtue, industry, and learning, which rendered them very useful in the education of youth, were invited by the magistrates of several cities to reside among them. Jo. Alb. Fabricius, Bibl. Græc. vol. xiv. p. 49.Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliotheque Eccles. par M. Du-Pin, tom. i. p. 400. § Rich. Simon, tom. i. p. 431. For an account of Bessarion and the other learned men here mentioned, see Bornerus and Hody, in their histories of the restoration of letters in Italy. by the Greeks who took refuge there, after the taking of Constantinople; add to these the Bibliotheca Græca of Fabricius. against the council of Florence, with greater | solidity of his judgment, as may appear from a learning, candour, and perspicuity, than the work of his, entitled, "Conjectures concerning rest of his countrymen displayed;* the last Day;" George Gemistius Pletho, a man of eminent learning, who excited many of the Italians to the study, not only of the Platonic philosophy in particular, but of Grecian literature in general; John Nieder, whose writings are very proper to give us an accurate notion of the manners and spirit of the age in which he lived, and whose journeys and transactions have rendered him famous; George of Trapesond, who translated seve- John Capistran, who was in high esteem at ral of the most eminent Grecian authors into the court of Rome on account of the ardour Latin, and supported the cause of the Latins and vehemence with which he defended the against the Greeks by his dexterous and elo-jurisdiction and majesty of the pontiffs against quent pen; all their enemies and opposers;† George Codinus, of whom we have yet remaining several productions relating to the Byzantine history. John Wesselus and Jerome Savanarola, who may justly be placed among the wisest and worthiest men of this age. The former, XXIV. The tribe of Latin writers that who was a native of Groningen, and on acadorned or dishonoured this century, cannot count of his extraordinary penetration and saeasily be numbered. We shall therefore con- gacity was called the Light of the World, fine ourselves to the enumeration of those who propagated several of those doctrines, which wrote upon theological points; and even of Luther afterwards inculcated with greater evithese we shall only mention the most eminent. dence and energy, and animadverted with At their head we may justly place John Ger- freedom and candour upon the corruptions of son, chancellor of the university of Paris, the the Romish church. The latter was a Domimost illustrious ornament that this age could nican and a native of Ferrara, remarkable for boast of, a man of the greatest influence and piety, eloquence, and learning; who touched authority, whom the council of Constance the sores of the church with a heavier hand, looked upon as its oracle, the lovers of liberty and inveighed against the pontiffs with greater as their patron, and whose memory is yet pre- severity. For this freedom he severely suffered. cious to such among the French, as are zealous He was committed to the flames at Florence for the maintenance of their privileges against in 1498, and bore his fate with the most triumpapal despotism. This excellent man pub-phant fortitude and serenity of mind;§ lished a considerable number of treatises that were admirably adapted to reform the corruptions of a superstitious worship, to excite a spirit of genuine piety, and to heal the wounds of a divided church; though, in some respects, he does not seem to have thoroughly understood the demands and injunctions of the Gospel. The most eminent among the other theo-Henry Gorcomius, Gabriel Biel, Stephen Brulogical writers were, Nicolas de Clemangis, a man of uncommon candour and integrity, who, in the most eloquent and affecting strains, lamented the calamities of the times and the unhappy state of the Christian church; Alphonsus Tostatus, bishop of Avila, who loaded the Scriptures with unwieldy and voluminous commentaries, and also composed other works, in which there is a great mixture of good and bad; Ambrose of Camaldoli, who acquired a high degree of reputation by his profound knowledge of the Greck language, and his uncommon acquaintance with Grecian literature, as also by the zeal and industry he discovered in his attempts to effectuate a reconciliation between the Greeks and Latins; Nicolas de Cusa, a man of vast erudition, and no mean genius, though not famed for the * Rich. Simon, Croyance de l'Eglise Orientale sur la Transubstantiation, p. 87. See Du Pin's Gersoniana, prefixed to the edition of the works of Gerson, which we owe to that laborious author, and which appeared at Antwerp in five volumes folio, in 1706. See also Jo. Launoii Historia Gymnasii Regii Navarreni, part iii. lib. ii. cap. i. p. 514, tom. iv. p. i. op.-Herm. von der Hardt, Acta Concil. Constant. tom. i. part iv. Alphonsus Spina, who wrote a book against the Jews and Saracens, which he called Fortalitium Fidei. To all these we must join the whole tribe of the scholastic writers, whose chief ornaments were, John Capreolus, John de Turrecremata, Antoninus of Florence, Dionysius à Ryckel, lifer, and others. The most remarkable among the Mystics were, Vincent Ferrerius, Henry Harphius, Laurence Justinianus, Bernardine of Sienna, and Thomas à Kempis, who shone among these with a superior lustre, and to whom the famous book, concerning the imitation of Christ, is commonly attributed.|| CHAPTER III. Concerning the State of Religion, and the Doctrine of the Church, during this, Century. I. THE state of religion had become so cor||rupt among the Latins, that it was utterly des* Bayle, Reponse aux Questions d'un Provincial, tom. ii. cap. cxvii. L'Enfant's Histoire de la Guerre des Hussites, tom. ii. Wadding, Annales Minorum, tom. ix. Jo. Henr. Maii Vita Reuchlini, p. 156. Jo. Franc. Buddei Parerga Historico-Theologica. The life of Savanarola was written by J. Francis Picus, and published at Paris, with various annotations, letters, and original pieces, by Quetif, in 1674. The same editor published also the Spiritual and Ascetic Epistles of Savanarola, translated from the Italian into Latin. See Echard, Scriptor. Prædicator. tom. i. p. 884. The late abbe Lenglet du Fresnoy promised the world a demonstration that this work, whose true author has been so much disputed among the learned, was originally written in French by a person I See Launoii Hist. part iii. lib. ii. cap. iii.-Lon-named Gersen, or Gerson, and only translated into gueval, Hist. de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. xiv. p. 436.The works of Clemangis were published by Lydius at Leyden, with a glossary, in 1631. Latin by Thomas a Kempis. See Granetus in Lau. noianis, part ii. tom. iv. part ii, op. p. 414. The his tory of this celebrated production is given by Vin THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. titute of any thing that could attract the esteem of the truly virtuous and judicious part of mankind. This is a fact, which even those individuals whose prejudices render them unwilling to acknowledge it, will never presume to deny. Among the Greeks and Orientals, religion had scarcely a better aspect than among the Latins; at least, if the difference was in their favour, it was far from being considerable. The worship of the Deity consisted in a round of frivolous and insipid ceremonies. The discourses of those who instructed the people in public, were not only destitute of sense, judgment, and spirit, but even of piety and devotion, and were in reality nothing more than a motley mixture of the grossest fictions and the most extravagant inventions. The reputation of Christian knowledge and piety was easily acquired; it was lavished upon those who professed a profound veneration for the sacred order, and their spiritual head the Roman pontiff, who studied to render the saints (i. e. the clergy, their ministers) propitious by frequent and rich donations, who were exact and regular in the observance of the stated ceremonies of the church, and who had wealth enough to pay the fines which the papal quæstors had annexed to the commission of all the different degrees of transgression; or, in other words, to purchase indulgences. Such were the ingredients of ordinary piety; but persons who added to these a certain degree of austerity and bodily mortification were placed in the highest order of worthies, and considered as the peculiar favourites of Heaven. On the other hand, the number of those who were studious to acquire a just notion of religion, to investigate the true sense of the sacred writings, and to model their lives and manners after the precepts and example of the divine Saviour, was extremely small; and such had much difficulty in escaping the flames, at a time when virtue and sense were deemed heretical. II. This miserable state of affairs, this enormous perversion of religion and morality, throughout almost all the western provinces, were observed and deplored by many wise and good men, who all endeavoured, though in different ways, to stem the torrent of superstition, and to reform a corrupt church. In England and Scotland, the disciples of Wickliffe, whom the multitude had stigmatized with the odious title of Lollards, continued to inveigh against the despotic laws of the pontiffs, and the licentious manners of the clergy. The Waldenses, though persecuted and oppressed on all sides, raised their voices even in the remote valleys and lurking-places whither they were driven by the violence of their enemies, and called aloud for succour to the expiring cause of religion and virtue. Even in Italy, many, and among others the famous Savanarola, had the courage to declare, that Rome was become the image of Babylon; and this notion was soon adopted by multitudes of all ranks and conditions. But the greatest part of the clergy centius Thuillierius, in the Opera Posthuma Mabilloni et Ruinarti, tom. iii. p. 54. *See Wilkins, Concilia Magna Britann. et Hibern. tom. iv.-Wood, Antiq. Oxon. tom. i. and monks, persuaded that their honours, influence, and riches, would diminish in proportion to the increase of knowledge among the people, and would receive inexpressible detriment from the downfall of superstition, vigorously opposed every thing that had the remotest aspect of a reformation, and imposed silence upon these importunate censors by the formidable authority of fire and sword. excited in Bohemia by the ministry of John III. The religious dissensions that had been Huss and his disciple Jacobellus de Misa, were doubly inflamed by the deplorable fate of Huss and Jerome of Prague, and broke out into an open war, which was carried on with unparalleled barbarity. The followers of Huss, who pleaded for the administration of the cup to the laity in the holy sacrament, being persecuted and oppressed in various ways by the emissaries and ministers of the court of Rome, retired to a steep and high mountain in the district of Bechin, in which they held their religious meetings, and administered the sacrament of the Lord's supper under both kinds. This mountain they called Tabor, from the tents which they at first erected there for their habitation; and in process of time they raised a considerable fortification for its defence, and adorned it with a well-built and regular city. Forming more grand and important projects, they chose for their chiefs Nicolas of Hussinetz, and the famous John Ziska, a Bohemian knight, a man of the most undaunted courage and resolution; and proposed, under the standards of these violent leaders, to revenge the death of Huss and Jerome upon the creatures of the Roman pontiff, and obtain a liberty of worshipping God in a more rational manner than that which was prescribed by the church of Rome. After the death of Nicolas, which happened in 1420, Ziska commanded alone this warlike body, and had the satisfaction to see his army daily increase. During the first a prelude to calamities of a much more dreadtumults of this war, which were no more than ful kind, Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, resigned his breath in the year 1419.* him on the throne of Bohemia, employed not IV. The emperor Sigismund, who succeeded only edicts and remonstrances, but also the terror of penal laws and the force of arms, to put an end to these lamentable divisions; and great numbers of the Hussites perished, by his orders, in the most barbarous manner. The Bohemians, irritated by these inhuman proceedings, threw off his despotic yoke in 1420, and, with Ziska at their head, made war against their sovereign. This famous leader, though deprived of his sight, discovered, in every step he took, such an admirable mixture of prudence and intrepidity, that his name became a terror to his enemies. Upon his death, which happened in 1424, the majority of the Hus the decrees of the council of Constance against the |