MarginaliaThe epitaphe of Zisca.J Iohn Zisca not inferiour to any Emperour or captayne in warlike policy, a seuere punisher of þ^e pryde and auarice of the Cleargy, and a defender of my countrey, do lie here. That which Appi⁹ Claudius by geuing good councel, and M. Furius Camillus by valiantnes did for þ^e Romaines: the same I beyng blynd, haue done for my Bohemians. I neuer slacked oportunitie of battaill, neyther dyd fortune at anye tyme fayle me. I beyng blynd did foresee all oportunitie of well orderyng or doyng my busines. MarginaliaZisca eleuen tymes victour in the field.Eleuen tymes in ioyning battaile, I went victour out of the field. I semed to haue worthely defēded the cause of the miserable and hungry against the delicate, fatte, and glotonous priestes, and for that cause to haue receyued help at the hand of God. If their enuy had not let it without doubt I had deserued to be numbred amongest the most famous mē. Notwithstādyng my bones lye here in thys halowed place, euen in despite of the Pope.

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¶ Iohn Zisca a Bohemian, enemy to all wicked and couetout
priestes, but with a godly zeale.

And thus haue you the actes and doynges of thys worthy Zisca, and other Bohemians, which for the more credite we haue drawen out of Æneas Syluius, only his ralyng termes excepted, which we haue here suppressed.All this while þ^e Emperour, with þ^e whole power of the Germines, were not so busy on þ^e one side, but Martin the Pope was as much occupied on þ^e other side: who about þ^e same tyme directed down a terrible Bull, full of all poyson to all bishops & Archbishops, against all such as toke any part or side w^t Wickleffe, I. Hus, Hierom, or with their doctrine & opinions. The copye of whych Bull, which I found in an olde written monument, I wish the reader thorowly to peruse, wherein he shall see the Pope to poure out at once all his poison.

MarginaliaPope Martins bloudy bull, to all bishops and Archbishops.MArtine bishop, the seruaunt of Gods seruauntes, to our reuerende brethren the Archbyshops of Salzeburgen. Guezuen. and Pragen. & to the bishops of Olumcen. Luthomusten. Bambergen. Misnen. Patauien. Vratislauien. Ratisponen. Cratouien. Poznamen, and Nitrien. and also to our beloued chyldren the Inquisitours appoynted of the prelates aboue recited, or where ells soeuer, vnto whom these present letters shall come, greeting & apostolicall benediction. Amongest all other pastorall cares, wherwith we are oppressed, this chiefely and specially doth inforce vs, that heretikes wyth theyr false doctrine & errours, being vtterly expulsed frō amongest the company of Christen men, and rooted out (so far forth as God wyll make vs able to doe) the righte and catholique fayth maye remayne sounde and vndefiled: and that all Christian people, immoueable and inuiolate, may stande and abide in the synceritye of the same fayth, the whole vayle of obscuritie beyng remoued. But latelye, in diuers places of the world, but especially in Bohemia and the Dukedome of Morauia, and in the strayghtes adioynyng thereunto, certayne Archheretickes haue risen and sprong vp, not agaynst one onely but agaynst diuers and sundry documentes of the catholike fayth, being landlopers, schismatickes, & sedicious persons, fraught with diuelish pryde & Woluish madnes, deceiued by the subtilty of Sathā, & frō one euill vanitie brought to a worse. MarginaliaAll these errours and heresies be, for that they speake agaynst the pride of prelates and their excessiue dignities.Who although they rose vp & sprang in diuers partes of the worlde, yet agreed they all in one, hauing their tayles as it were knitte together: to wyt, Iohn Wicklieffe of England, Iohn Hus of Bohemia, and Hierome of Prage of damnable memory, who drew with them no small number to miserable ruine and infidelitie. For when as those & such lyke pestiferous persons did in the begynnyng of their poysoned doctrine, obstinatly sow & spred abroade peruerse and false opinions, the prelates who had theregimient & execution of the iudiciall power, lyke dūme dogges not able to barke, neither yet reuenging spedely with the Apostle, all such disobediēce, nor regarding corporally to caste out of the Lordes house (as they were inioyned by the canons) those subtill and pestilent Archheretickes and their woluishe furye and crueltye wyth all expedition, but suffering their false and pernicious doctrine negligentlye, by their ouer longe delayes, to growe and waxe stronge: a greate multitude of people in stede of true doctrine receiued those thinges, whiche they did long falsly, perniciously, and damnably sowe among them, and geuing credite vnto them, fell from the right fayth, and are intangled (the more pity) in the foule errours of Paganisme. MarginaliaAll be Pagans with the pope that like not his superstitious and idolatrous traditions.Insomuch, that those Archheretickes and such as spring of them, haue infected the catholique flocke of Christ in diuers climates of the world and partes bordering vppon the same, and haue caused them to putrifie in the fylthye dunghyll of theyr lyes. Wherefore the generall Synode of Constance, was compelled with Sainct Augustine to exclaime agaynst so greate and ruinous a plague of faythfull men, and of the sounde and true fayth it selfe, saying: what shall the soueraigne medicine of the churche doe, with motherlye loue seeking the health of her sheepe, chasyng as it were, amongest a companye of men franticke, and hauing the disease of the Lethargie? MarginaliaA great difference betwene a louing mother & the frantike whore of Babylon.What? shall she desist & leaue of her good purpose? No not so. But rather let her, if there be no remedye, be sharpe to both these sortes, whiche are the greuous enemies of her wombe. For the Phisition is sharpe vnto the man bestraught and raging in hys frensy, & yet is he a father to his own rude and vnmanerly sonne, in binding the one, in beating the other, by shewyng therein hys great loue vnto them both. But if they bee negligent, and suffer them to perish (saith Augustine:) this mansuetude is rather to be supposed false crueltie. And therefore the foresaide Synode, to the glory of almighty God, and preseruation of hys cacholike faith, and augmenting of christian religiō, & for the saluation of mens soules: hath corporally reiected and cast forth of the housholde of God, the foresayde Iohn Wicklieffe, Iohn Hus, and Ierome: who amongest other thinges, dyd beleue, preach, teach, and mayntayne of the Sacrament of the aultar, and other Sacramentes of the church and articles of the fayth, contrary to that the holye churche of Rome beleueth, holdeth, preacheth, and teacheth, and haue presumed obstinatelye to preach, teach, hold and beleue many other moe to the damnation of them selues and of others: and the sayd Synode hath separated the same, as obstinate and malaperte heretiques from the communion of the faythfull people, and haue declared them to be spirituallye thrown forth: and many other thinges both wholesome and profitable hath the same councel as touching the premisses, stablished & decreed, whereby they whych by the meanes of those Archheretickes, and by their false doctrine haue spiritually departed frō the lords house, may by the canonicall rules be reduced to the strayght path of truth and veritye. And moreouer (as we to our great griefe doe heare) not only in the kingdome of Bohemia, & Dukedome of Morauia & other places aboue recited, but also in certayne partes and prouinces nere adioyning and bordering vpon the same, there be many other of the sectaries and followers of the foresayd Archheretiques and hereticall opinions, casting behynd theyr backes, as wel the feare of god, as the shame of þ^e world, neyther receauing fruite of conuersion and repentaunce by the miserable destruction of the foresayd Iohn Hus, and Hierome, but as men drowned in the dungeon of their sinnes, cease not to blaspheme the Lorde God, MarginaliaWe fooles thought their life to be madnes, and their ende without honour.taking hys name in vayne (Whose myndes the father of lyes hath damnablye blynded) and do read & studie the foresaid bokes or workes, cōtaining heresies & errours, being lately by the foresayd Synode condemned to be burned: also, to the perill of them selues, and manye other simple men, and agaynst the statutes, decrees, and ordinances in the Synode aforesayde, and the Canonicall sanctions, doe presume to preache and teache the same, to the great perill of soules, the derogation of the catholique fayth, and sclaunder of manye other besides. We therfore considing, that errour, when it is not resisted, semeth to be allowed and liked, and hauyng a desire to resist such euils and pernicious errours, and vtterlye roote them out from amongest the companye of faythfull Christians, especially frō the afore recited places of Bohemia, Morauia, and other straightes and I-