ching the Sacrament of the aulter, and the transubstantiation of the bread into the body of Christ, that he doth hold & beleue as the church doth hold & beleeue, saying also that he doth geue more credit vnto S. Augustine, and the other Doctors of the Church, then vnto Wickliffe and Hus. It appereth moreouer by the premisses, that the sayd Ierom is an adherent & maintainer of the sayd Wickliffe & Hus, & theyr errors, and both is and hath bene a fauourer of them. Wherfore the said sacred Synode determineth the sayd M. Hierome as a rotten and withered braunch not growing vpon the vine, to be cut of and cast out. The sayd Synode also pronounceth, declareth & condemneth him as an heretick, and drowned in all kinde of heresies, excommunicate and accursed, MarginaliaHierome geuen to the secular power.leauing him vnto the arbitrement and iudgement of the secular iudge, to receiue iust and due punishment, according to the quality of so great an offence: The sayd sacred Synode, notwithstanding intreatment that the sayd iudge would moderate his sentence of iudgemēt with out perill of death.

The which sentence so geuen before his face, & ended. MarginaliaA paper with redde deuilles put vpon the head of M. Hierome, by deuelishe papistes.A great & lōg miter of paper was brought vnto him, painted about with red deuils: the whiche when he beheld and saw, throwing away his hood vpon the ground amongest the Prelates, he tooke the miter, and put it vpon his head: saying, Our Lorde Iesu Christ, when as he shoulde suffer death for me most wretched sinner, did weare a crowne of thorne vpon his head: and I for his sake in stede of that crowne, will willingly weare this miter and cappe. MarginaliaM. Hierome committed to the secular power.Afterward he was layd hold of by the secular power.

After that he was ledde out of the sayde Church to the place of execution, when he was going out of the Churche with a cherefull coūtenance & a loud voyce lifting his eyes vp into heauen, MarginaliaM. Hierome went singing vnto his martirdome.he began to sing Credo in vnum Deum, as it is accustomed to be song in þ^e church. Afterward as he passed a long, he did sing some Canticles of the Church. The which being ended, in the entring out of the gate of the city, as men go vnto Gothlehem, he did sing this himne, fælix namque And that respond being ended, after he came to the place of execution where as Maister Iohn Hus before had suffred death innocently, MarginaliaM. Hierome praieth.kneeling downe before an image which was like vnto the picture of M. Iohn Hus, which was there prepared to burne M. Hierom, he made a certayne deuout prayer.

While he was thus praying, the tormentors tooke him vp and lifting him vp from the ground, spoyled him of all his garmentes, and left him naked, and afterward girded him about the loynes with a linnen cloth, MarginaliaM. Hierome tied to an Image like to Iohn Hus.and bound him fast with cordes and chaynes of Iron to the sayde Image, whiche was made fast vnto the earth: and so standinge vpon the ground, when as they beganne to lay the woode about him, he songe Salue festa dies. MarginaliaM. Hierome singeth at his burning.And when the himne was ended, he songe agayne with a loude voyce, Credo in vnum Deum, vnto the end. That being ended, he sayde vnto the people in the Germaine toung in effect as foloweth. MarginaliaThe wordes of Hierome to the people.Dearely bloued children, euen as I haue now song, so do I beleue and none otherwise. And this Creede is my whole fayth: notwithstanding nowe I dye for this cause, because I would not consent, and agree to the councel, and with them affirme and hold that maister Iohn Hus, was by thē holily and iustly condemned: MarginaliaM. Hierome geueth testimony of Iohn Hus.For I did know well enough that he was a true preacher of the Gospell of Iesu Christ.

After that he was compassed in with the wood vp to the crowne of the head, they cast all his garments vpō þ^e wood also, and with a firebrand they set it on fire. The which being once fired, he began to sing with a loud voyce: In manus tuas domine commendo spiritum meum. When that was ended, and that he began vehemently to burne, he sayd in the vulgar Bohemian tongue: MarginaliaThe last wordes of M. Hierome.O Lord God father almighty, haue mercy vpon me and be mercifull vnto mine offēces, for thou knowet how þ^t sincerely I haue loued thy trueth. Then his voyce by the vehemency of the fire, was choked & stopped, that it was no longer heard, but he moued continually his mouth and lips, as though he had still prayed or spoken within himselfe.

MarginaliaThe crueltie of his death.When as in a maner his whole body w^t his beard was burned round about, and that there appeared through the great burning vpon his body certayne great bladders, as big as an egge, yet he continually very strongly & stoutlye moued, & shaked his head & mouth, by the space almost of one quarter of an houre. So burning in the fire, he liued w^t great paine & Martyrdome, whiles one might easily haue gone from S. Clementes ouer the bridge, vnto our Lady Church: he was of suche a stout and strong nature. After that he was thus deade in the fire, by and by they brought his bedding, his strawbed, his bootes, his hood, & all otherthinges that he had in the prison, and burned them all to ashes in the same fire. MarginaliaThe ashes of M. Hierome cast into the riuer of Rheine.The which ashes, after that the fire was out, they did diligently gather together, and cary thē in a cart, and cast them into the riuer of Rheine, which ran hard by the City.

That man whiche was the true reporter hereof,MarginaliaThe witnes of the writer. and which testified vnto vs the actes and doinges about the condemnation Maister Hierome, and sent the same vnto vs to Prage in writinge, doth thus conclude: All these thinges (sayth he) I did beholde, see and heare to be done in this forme & maner. And if any man do tell you the contrary, do not credite him, for al those things which happened vnto him, when he came toward Constance, and also at his first comming vnto Constance of his own free well, and afterward when he was brought bounde vnto Constance, as is aforesayd, I myselfe did see and perfectly beholde: and for a perpetually memory thereof to be had for euer, I haue directed the same vnto you, not lying or falsifying any poynte thereof, as he which is the searcher of all mennes hartes can beare me witnesse:MarginaliaThe truth of this storie. willing rather to sustaine the note of ignoraunce & rudenesse of stile, to beare witnesse vnto the trueth, then I would by any meanes bee compelled by tickling or flattring the eares of the hearers, with fayned and cloked speach to swerue or goe aside from the truth,

Thus end the tragicall histories of M. Iohn Hus, and M. Hierom of Prage, faythfully gathered and collected by a certain Bohemian, being a present witnes and beholder of the same, written and compiled first in Latine, & so sent by the said Bohemian into his country of Boheme: and agayne translated out of the Latine with like fidelitye, into our English toung.

In the meane time while Maister Hierome was in this trouble, and before the Councell, the nobles and Lordes of Boheme and of Morauia (but not a little agreeued thereat) directed theyr letters vnto this barbarous Councell of popishe murderers, in tenour and forme of wordes as followeth.

☞ To the right reuerend Fathers and Lordes in Christ, the Lordes, Cardinals, Patriarkes, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, Ambassadours, Doctors, & Maysters, and to the whole Councell Constaunce. We the Nobles, Lordes, Knightes and Esquyres, of the famous Marquesdome of Morauia, wishe the desyre of al goodnes, and the obseruation of the commaundementes of our Lord Iesu Christ.

FOrsomuch as euery man both by the law of nature, and also by Gods law, is commaunded to doe that vnto an other man, which he woulde haue done vnto himselfe, and is forbidden to do that thing vnto an other, which he would not haue done vnto himselfe, as our Sauiour sayth: MarginaliaMath. 7.all things whatsoeuer you wyll that men should do vnto you, the same doe you vnto thē, for this is the law and the Prophetes, yea the lawe is fulfilled in this one poynt: MarginaliaRom. 13.thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy self: We therfore (God being our author) have respect as much as in vs lieth vnto the said law of God: & the loue of our neighbor, before did send our letters vnto Constaunce for our dearelye beloued frende of good memorye Mayster Iohn Husse Bacheler of Diuinitye and Preacher of the Gospell. Whome of late in the Councell of Constaunce (wee knowe not with what spirite beeing ledde) you haue condemned as an obstinate hereticke: neither hauing confessed any thing, neither being lawfully conuict as were expediēt: hauing no errours or heresies declared or layde agaynst him, but onely at the sinister, false and importune accusations, suggestiōs and instigations of his mortall enemies, and the traytours of our kingdome and Marquesdome of Morauia. And being thus vnmercifully condemned, you haue slayne him with most shamefull and cruell death: to the perpetuall shame and infamy of our most christian kingdome of Boheme, and the famous Marquesdome of Morauia (as we haue written vnto Constance, vnto the most noble Price and Lord, the Lord Sigismund king of Romaynes, and of Hungary, the Heyre and Successor of our kingdom) the which was also read and published in your congregations, whiche wee will here also haue enrolled: and haue burned him, as it is reported, in the reproch and contempt of vs.

MarginaliaThe cause of I. Hus cleared by the testimony of the nobles of Bohemia.Wherfore we haue thought good, euen now to direct our letters patentes to your reuerences nowe present, in the behalfe of Maister Iohn Hus, openly professing and protesting both wyth