His eyes brightened. He lifted his head high and distended his nostrils. `We will go to Konstanz,' he said,
The marchesa left Bologna with Bernaba and a household of 119 people, including 37 of Bernaba's most costly courtesans collected from Bologna, Florence, Perugia, Parma, Lodi, Modena and Siena, to cross the Alps to Konstanz to inspect the properties and arrangements which her daughters had opted, to control,, and to get Bernaba started on the organization of courtesans, gambling and entertainment.
Cossa refused to as much as consider starting the journey until it had been confirmed that Sigismund had signed a treaty with the burgomaster and city magistrates of Konstanz guaranteeing his reception in the city with all honour and ceremony, and had set forth in writing that no one from any nation or of any rank was to take precedence over him. He insisted that the treaty recognize his full spiritual and temporal jurisdiction in Konstanz for as long as he chose to remain with the council. `They must defend these matters against any citizens or visitors to Konstanz while I am there. My dominance of the council must be assured. The safe conducts which I issue must be respected.'
The marchesa sent a copy of the treaty from Konstanz. It arrived in Bologna at the end of the third week of September. On 1 October, Pope John XXIII left Bologna with a household of 582 people and 619 camp followers. He journeyed down the Reno river to where it joined the Po, then was floated up the Po to Ferrara, where he rested with the Marquess of Este. The papal party moved along the river to Verona. Ahead of them lay the valley of the Adige, through which German Groups had marched with the many Kings of the Romans on their way to be crowned emperors in Rome. Ten miles further up the river the great procession halted at the village of St Michael, where there was a rich monastery. A note from the marchesa, enclosing a letter from her daughter Rosa in, Prague, was waiting for Cossa.
`Dear Mama,' Rosa's letter read. `John Hus is the hero of this nation. He is rare among heroes. He has the character of an amiable angel and is perhaps the most lovable man to whom Pippo and I have ever spoken. His kindliness and gentle nature win the love and sympathy and support of even those who first approach him as enemies. Sigismund will make the greatest capital by supporting this fellow in Bohemia against the archbishop and against the Teuton nobility because the rest of this nation is on the side of Hus.
'His fault, and it is a serious fault Pippo says, is that he thinks often of wearing the crown of martyrdom. He has withstood his enemies who had cast the foul stain of heresy upon him or who had otherwise maligned him to the pope. He is convinced that, if he can reach Konstanz, he will emerge victorious, cleansed of all foul charges. But he has this evil presentiment that he will never return to Prague.
`Pippo and I fear that Hus may be deluding himself by believing that, once in Konstanz, he will be allowed to hold forth in academic disputation with adversaries who will be less prejudiced and intolerant of him than are the prelates of Prague. He actually thinks that all will be solved by calm and temperate discussion, and sweet reasonableness.
`Yesterday, because he says, he is concerned with appearing at Konstanz with the proper credentials of orthodoxy, he nailed a notice to the castle gate which called upon the King of Bohemia and his counsellors to bear witness to his orthodoxy. He petitioned a large number of the Bohemian. nobility to appear before the papal inquisitor to ask publicly if the inquisitor knew of any error or heresy in Hus or if anyone had incriminated Hus before him.’
'The inquisitor replied that he had eaten and drunk with Hus, listened to many of his discourses and, in all his words and works, had, found him to be a true Catholic. A notarial instrument was drawn to this effect. It was signed by the inquisitor and copies were sent to the pope and to the Bohemian, king. After this, three barons in an assembly of nobles asked the archbishop whether he could accuse Hus of any error or heresy. The archbishop is Hus's mortal enemy, but he replied that he knew of no heresy by Hus and could make no accusation against him. Because, of all this, but mostly because of Hus's extreme popularity with the Bohemian people, Sigismund is determined to take Hus under his protection. He intends that Hus shall enter Konstanz in his train. He has commissioned John of Chlum and Wenzel of Duba to escort Hus to the royal camp Hus will leave Prague on 20 September.’
`Mama – this amiable man believes he is in God's special care. He knows nothing of the world and I fear he will fail to follow Sigismund's instructions and this could be politically most dangerous if he does not join with Sigismund's train and enter Konstanz'
`For your reference: Hus tells me he will lodge in Konstanz with a widow named Fida in the street of St Paul near the Snezthor
Cossa clumped Rosa's letter into a ball and flung it from himself `Why is the Church cursed with people like Hus?' he asked me rhetorically. `It has thousands of high. officers, all trained people – canon lawyers, administrators and theologians – but an ambitious priest like this one has to get attention for himself and worse, do it all in the name of sweetness and light.'
`If you think he is only ambitious and you want to shut him up,' I said, `make him a bishop.'
`Maybe ambitious was the wrong word. Hus is one of those professional saints who thinks he is helping the people by making trouble. He thinks that what he is doing isn't hurting anyone, except that every damned theatrical thing he does leads us closer to Church reform and all because he's one of those people who want to be loved. Come on, Franco Ellera, get the cards. We'll play a little tarocchini and maybe I'll get some of my money back.'
The papal household moved in ten-mile steps each day as it ascended the Alps. It stopped at the village of Tramin, then moved on upward until on 15 October, it reached Meran, ancient capital of the Tyrol on the right bank of the Passer, where Cossa was greeted by Frederick, Duke of Austria, his friend – who was Sigismund's enemy.
Frederick was not only ambitious, he was headstrong He held fortress castles near Konstanz. For that alone, Cossa saw him as invaluable. He was already in league with John of Nassau and the Marquess of Baden, two more of Cossa's rampant warrior friends. Cossa made a formal treaty with Frederick and gave him 16,000 florins to seal the bargain which made Frederick captain general of the papal troop's with an annual salary of 2000 florins. Cossa wanted to have protection when he needed it and Frederick promised him safe conduct anywhere against any man. It was probably the worst deal anyone made for himself in the century. With the kind of judgement he had; it is surprising Frederick ever made it beyond the cradle.
The ponderous household struggled up the narrow path of the valley of the Eisak, past Klausen to Brixen. From Brixen the mass of animals and men went up the Brenner to Innsbruck, then the road led west. They climbed the steep valley of the Inn – nine cardinals, thirty-one bishops and the. entire curia in the train. They kept climbing until they came at last to the chasmic glacier of the Riffler in St Anton, where they climbed to the Arlberg pass; over 6000 feet above the seas, through a wild, slanted valley. A work party had cleared the road through the powdery snow. Hundreds of horse’s hooves which had hardened, the way for the pope's red wagon had also pounded it into slippery ice. They were just beyond the little hospice of St Christopher when the wagon skidded crazily and overturned, sending the Holy Father rolling wildly, over and over, into the snowbank. Six pairs of hands pulled him out. Count Weiler, the papal physician, came running in to see if he were hurt. `'My epitaph came to me just as the carriage capsized,' Cossa said, grinning broadly. `It shall be "Here I lie in the name of the Devil," Not bad, hey, Abramo? Or should I have stayed in Bologna?'