Wenceslas, instead of punishing the murderers, as justice
would seem to have demanded, solaced his easy conscience by punishing
the victims, declaring all debts owed by Christians to Jews to be null
and void.
His next act of injustice and cruelty was perpetrated in 1393, and arose
from a dispute between the crown and the church. One of the royal
chamberlains had caused two priests to be executed on the accusation of
committing a flagrant crime. This action was resented by the Archbishop
of Prague, who declared that it was an encroachment upon the prerogative
of the church, which alone had the right to punish an ecclesiastic. He,
therefore, excommunicated the chamberlain.
This action of the daring churchman threw the emperor into such a
paroxysm of rage that the archbishop, knowing well the man he had to
deal with, took to flight, saving his neck at the expense of his
dignity. The furious Wenceslas, finding that the chief offender had
escaped, vented his wrath on the subordinates, several of whom were
seized. One of them, the dean, moved by indignation, dealt the emperor
so heavy a blow on the head with his sword-knot as to bring the blood.
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