Some years
afterwards, war continuing, Wenceslas sought to get rid of his brother
Sigismund in the same manner as he had disposed of his brother John, by
poison. He was successful in having it administered to Sigismund and his
ally, Albert of Austria, in their camp before Zuaym. Albert died, but
Sigismund was saved by a rude treatment which seems to have been in
vogue in that day. He was suspended by the feet for twenty-four hours,
so that the poison ran out of his mouth.
The later events in the life of Wenceslas have to do with the most
famous era in the history of Bohemia, the reformation in that country,
and the stories of John Huss and Ziska. The fate of Huss is well known.
Summoned before the council at Constance, and promised a safe-conduct by
the Emperor Sigismund, he went, only to find the emperor faithless to
his word and himself condemned and burnt as a heretic. This base act of
treachery was destined to bring a bloody retribution. It infuriated the
reformers in Bohemia, who, after brooding for several years over their
wrongs, broke out into an insurrection of revenge.
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