XIII.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE BOHEMIAN BROTHERHOOD TO THE ACCESSION OF FERDINAND I. TO THE THROWN OF BOHEMIA.

(1419-1526.)

Reference has already been made in the previous chapters to a possible historical parallel between the Bohemian struggle of the fifteenth century and the English revolution of the seventeenth; but the most startling point of that parallel has still to be mentioned. Whatever likenesses or differences there may be between the Calixtines and the Presbyterians, the Taborites and the Independents, or between George of Podĕbrad and Oliver Cromwell, there can, at least, be no doubt that George Fox and his followers found their prototypes in Bohemia in the fifteenth century; and that the treatment which the Bohemian Quakers received from the Utraquists, exactly foreshadowed the persecution of the English Society of Friends by their Puritan countrymen.

Yet even here we must note, by anticipation, an important difference between the Bohemian and the English story. It is perfectly possible to give an intelligent and connected account of the English history of the seventeenth century, without making more than a casual reference to the Quaker movement. For, important as the life of George Fox would be in a general sketch of European philanthropy, it can scarcely be said to form a necessary link between any two periods of English history. On the other hand, it is impossible to give a clear impression of the Bohemian history of the sixteenth century without calling considerable attention to the work and influence of the Bohemian Brotherhood.

One reason for this difference is that the movement for peace, and all the ideas that gather round such a movement, were more in harmony with the traditions of Bohemia than with those of England. This statement may sound startling and paradoxical, when it follows so closely on the account of the Utraquist wars. They, more than any other event, have brought Bohemia into prominence in European history; and it was chiefly as fighters that the Bohemians were known to the surrounding nations at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, early traditions, whether legendary or historical, never entirely lose their influence on the character of a nation.

The gentle figure of Libus̆a presiding over a peaceable community is a marked contrast to the figures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table; and the essentially combative character of St. George suggests directly opposite ideas of saintship to those represented by St. Wenceslaus and St. Adalbert. Nor, when the stream of religious tradition divides into the two branches of Catholic and Protestant, does the contrast cease between the English and Bohemian models. The legendary picture of St. John Nepomuc is more gentle and suffering than even the historical facts would justify, and it offers a strange contrast to all the traditions that gather round the name of Becket; while the loving and hesitating character of Jan Hus is almost equally unlike the sternly defiant figure of Wyclif.

There is, however, another reason for the difference exercised on their respective countries by the Bohemian and the English Society. While the stern idealism of the Quakers hindered them from directly influencing the ordinary course of public life, the more accommodating character of the Bohemian Brothers enabled them to affect the general policy of their country by sacrificing something of their perfection as a Christian community. This point of difference will become more clearly evident as the story proceeds; it will now be sufficient to have called attention to the fact that, on both these grounds, the followers of Peter of Chelc̆ic are more closely connected with the course of Bohemian history than the followers of George Fox with the history of England.

Peter of Chelc̆ic, like George Fox, was a shoemaker by trade; but he educated himself carefully, both in the Latin language and in the history of his country. He does not seem ever to have wandered far from the little village of Chelc̆ic, in the Prachin district; though the narrowness of his geographical outlook did not hinder him from plunging tolerably early into the important controversies with which his life was concerned. It was he who in 1419 propounded to the Masters of the Prague University his doubts on the lawfulness of religious wars. He was not satisfied with the answer which he received; and the weakness which he detected in Jakaubek’s arguments doubtless strengthened him in his previous convictions.

He gradually adopted all those doctrines which we specially associate with the name of George Fox. He rejected all rank and property for Christians; declared that the conversion of Constantine was the ruin of the Church; condemned oaths in law courts, and advocated the passive endurance of injuries.

He soon began to attract attention; and when Peter Payne was driven out of Prague, after the restoration of Sigismund, he took refuge at Chelc̆ic with his namesake. Apparently a dislike of the new teaching began, a little later, to show itself amongst the Utraquists; for in 1443 we find that Peter was summoned before an Assembly at Kutna Hora to answer for his doctrines. Nothing seems to have come of this examination, for Peter was soon after allowed to publish his first book; and others speedily followed, in which he attacked the Pope and the clergy.

Just at this time Rokycana was engaged in a controversy with the Franciscan Capistran; and, as he had completely triumphed over the Taborites, he felt ready to sympathise with a new ally against Rome. He even recommended the writings of Peter to many of his hearers in the Teyn Church; and Peter was suffered to found a community which took the name of the Chelc̆ic Brothers. Many of those who were desiring to lead a purer and more self-denying life drew near to the Brotherhood; and the protection and encouragement of Rokycana gave the Society for a time the means of easy development.

But after the coronation of George of Podĕbrad, Rokycana’s feeling towards the Brothers underwent a rapid change. His increase of power made him more determined to assert that power at all hazards. Had the Brothers, indeed, been contented to settle under the priests whom the Archbishop chose for them, Rokycana might still have suffered them to remain unmolested; but he was irritated by their desire to form a separate community of their own, independent of all other ecclesiastical organisations. While this controversy was still in its early stage, Peter died, and his nephew Gregory succeeded to the chief position in the society. The new movement had now begun to include men of all classes, although the nobles were expected to give up their rank if they actually joined the Brotherhood.

But a more trying time was coming. In 1461, Gregory came to Prague and held a meeting of his friends in the New Town. This was the time when Fantinus de Valle was beginning to excite the suspicions of the Pope against the Bohemian heresies; and, urged on doubtless by Rokycana, the King ordered the arrest of the organisers of this meeting on the charge of being engaged in a conspiracy. The attempts to convict them of political intrigue entirely broke down; and they were then denounced as heretics, because of their denial of the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Under pressure of torture, some of them recanted, but Gregory remained firm. He reminded Rokycana of his recommendation of the works of Peter of Chelc̆ic, and he complained of the Archbishop’s inconsistency in now denouncing them. Rokycana, however, persisted in the course on which he had entered, and he refused to allow the Brothers any of the sacraments of the Church. The Brothers now fled to the hills of Reichenau, and resolved to form a stronger organisation for carrying on their work.

With the curious inconsistency which naturally attaches to such movements, they showed a great desire to connect themselves, in tradition if not in organisation, with the older churches; and they chose as their chief president a regularly ordained priest, named Michael. They elected a small council to support him in his management of the Brotherhood; and then they chose their priests by lot, and requested them to rebaptise all the Brotherhood. Although, too, they rejected Episcopacy as a separate dignity, they practically entrusted to Michael the special duties of a bishop. They now became known as “Jednota Bratrska,” or the Unity of Brothers; and they speedily began to attract attention from those who were out of sympathy with the existing churches. These were not confined to pure-minded and earnest men like themselves, but included wild sects like the Adamites, whom the Brotherhood were obliged to repel from their body.

In the meantime Rokycana’s fury increased. He stirred up both King and People against the Brotherhood, and persuaded the Assembly to pass a decree ordering the suppression or compulsory conversion of the Brothers. Again Gregory protested, and Rokycana now answered that no new Church could be founded without a special revelation from Heaven. But when the Brothers offered to explain the nature of their revelation, they were answered by imprisonment, torture, and in some cases by burning. They were now compelled to meet in woods, ditches, and clefts of the rock to carry on their religious services; yet they still stood firm, and Gregory and a woman named Katerina succeeded in keeping up methods of communication between them in various parts of Bohemia and Moravia.

The deaths of King George and of Rokycana released them for a time from persecution. The new King showed himself more kindly towards them. This King was Ladislaus, the son of the King of Poland. He had been chosen King of Bohemia, in spite of the resistance of Matthias. He was only sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he seems to have speedily left on people around him the impression of a youth of mild and weak temperament. He released the Brothers who were still in prison, and they renewed their propaganda.

But their troubles were not yet at an end. Joanna, the widow of King George, fiercely demanded their suppression; and when they asked for a free discussion on the points at issue, the Masters of the Prague University informed them that they might come to Prague to state their doctrines, and then submit to be convinced of their errors by the Masters. This was precisely what the Council of Basel had proposed to the Utraquists themselves, a proposal which they had scornfully rejected; and the inconsistent character of the claim made by the Utraquist leaders seems forcibly to have impressed, not only their Catholic enemies, but even some of their supporters.

Therefore, under the pressure of public opinion, the Masters of the Prague University consented, in 1473, to a discussion with the Brothers. Strangely enough, the points which the Masters proposed for discussion did not refer to the distinctive doctrines of Peter of Chelc̆ic, but were rather concerned with the meaning of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and the right means of obtaining salvation. The Brotherhood denied the doctrine of the Real Presence, and maintained that salvation was only to be found in a virtuous life; they were consequently denounced by the Masters of Prague, and very little real discussion took place. The Masters soon after issued a letter, in which they declared that the Brothers were the chief enemies of the Church; and they further complained of them for choosing workmen for the office of priests.

It was during this phase of the controversy that Gregory died. He had combined remarkable courage with an unselfish devotion to the cause of the Brotherhood. He had willingly resigned the first place in favour of the priest Michael; but he had, none the less, stamped his special convictions on the minds of certain members of the Brotherhood; and, for a time, on the constitution of the whole society. He warned the Brothers very strongly against the dangerous influence of learned scholars, declaring that such people were given to subtle intrigues, inconsistent with simplicity of life. At the same time he gave enormous power into the hands of the Bishop of the Church. He was to have the right of changing at will the members of the Council who acted with him; and no Brother was to be allowed to publish any book without the sanction of the Bishop and this Council of his nominees. More general questions of faith and doctrine were to be decided by synods of the Brotherhood.

Though Gregory’s immediate successor in the Brotherhood was a man of like feelings with himself, neither he nor any one else could ultimately maintain so strict an organisation in its original form. It has, indeed, already been hinted that the Bohemian Brotherhood, unlike their English successors, came, after a short time, into friendly contact with the outer world; and they suffered in simplicity, while they gained in influence.

They had now spread over a hundred and eighty square miles of territory; and though they still for a time maintained the exclusion of worldly rank and worldly power from their body, they did not object to accept the protection of friendly nobles, who remained outside their body. Of these the most prominent and sympathetic was Kostka of Postupic, whose father had endeavoured to protect the Brothers against King George, and whose great-grandfather had fought for Z̆iz̆ka. Through his influence many nobles were induced to modify that attitude of hostility which the democratic tendencies of the Brotherhood had naturally produced in them. But this connection could not fail in time to produce a corresponding change in the feelings of the Brothers themselves; and some of them began, before long, to propose a modification of the stern principles which Gregory had enforced. Might not oaths be used on certain occasions? Say, for instance, to free a Brother from unjust charges in a law-court? And might not worldly offices be held, if they were administered in a right spirit? These questions of practice, together with others of pure doctrine, began gradually to excite divisions in the Brotherhood; and, though it was some time before the more moderate creed could gain much ground, it soon found a powerful and eloquent supporter, who knew how to make it acceptable.

About the year 1480, Lukas of Prague, a young and learned theologian, was admitted into the Brotherhood. He had studied the old classics and the Fathers of the Church; and he was strongly in favour of a relaxation of those stern simplicities on which Gregory had insisted. He also desired to give greater prominence to the doctrine of Justification by Faith, as distinguished from that exclusive advocacy of good life which had hitherto been the mark of the Brotherhood. Under the influence of Lukas, it was resolved in 1490 that the heads of the congregations should be allowed to relax the severity of the rules, on certain occasions, in regard both to questions of luxury and to the appeals to the secular power.

Amos of S̆tekna strongly denounced this compromise, and declared that the devil of worldliness had entered as thoroughly into the Brotherhood as he had entered into the Church in the time of Constantine and Sylvester. Mathias of Kunvald, the successor of Gregory in the leadership of the Brotherhood, sympathised with the sterner party; and, by his influence, the relaxing decrees were repealed.

A project was then started for sending expeditions to various parts of the world, in order to find out where the simplicity of faith was still maintained. Nothing, however, seems to have resulted from these visits; and the party of Lukas continued to gain ground. Mathias was unable to hold his own against the pressure of the new Reformers; so at last he resigned his judgeship in despair, and consented to the abolition of the Small Council. Thereupon Amos of S̆tekna and his followers revolted from the Brotherhood, and founded a new sect which was called, after its founder, the Amosites. At the same time the old society became generally known as the Bunzlau Brothers, after the town of Jungbunzlau (Mláda Boleslav) which was now their chief centre.

Two results followed from this separation; first, an intensity of bitterness between the old Society and the seceders, greater than that between the Utraquists and the Brothers; and, secondly, the adoption of new modifications and compromises by those who adhered to the old Society. All compromises have a certain want of logic about them; and compromises between the Church and the World on such questions as war and peace, simplicity and luxury, equality and distinctions of rank, must necessarily produce results which, while painful and pathetic to those who realise the state of mind of their framers, will strike an unsympathising world as grotesque and even ludicrous.

Under the new arrangements, the members of the Brotherhood were allowed to wear dress in proportion to their rank, if they did not become luxurious; but silk and embroidery were still strictly forbidden. The compromise about war was still stranger. If a Brother considered that the war which his king had made was a just one, he should not refuse to take part in it if the lot fell upon him; but he was to try, whenever possible, to find a substitute, or to get some office about the Court which would excuse him from military duty, or to find some service in connection with the army which did not involve fighting; but if he could not find any such means of escape, then let him fight in God’s name; but let him not fight for idle fame, and let him draw the sword with reluctance.

Some of the other modifications of principle seem more in accordance with ordinary conceptions of life. Trade might now be practised, but usury was to be avoided. Beer might be sold, if pure; but it was only to be sold in a public manner to travellers. Oaths, again, might be taken by witnesses if they were convinced of the justice of the cause in which they appeared.

But though such relaxations permitted the extension of membership to those who had hitherto been excluded from the Brotherhood, the bonds of the Society were drawn closer than ever round those members who had entered it. Strict arrangements were made for the visitation of the Brothers by their clergy, and for inquiry into the morals of each family; more rigid limitations than before were placed on the acquirement of property by the clergy themselves, while the appeals to worldly law-courts were more carefully guarded against by the provision of Courts of Appeal within the Brotherhood. Lastly, the exclusive position of the Brotherhood was strengthened by a most startling provision; if a husband or wife joined the Brotherhood without the sympathy of their partner, and were afterwards interfered with by him or her in matters of faith, the brother or sister so hampered might claim a divorce, and make a new marriage. Thus, then, the Brotherhood seemed to be strengthened and consolidated, both by the facilities of admission to those who had been repelled by its sterner rules, and by the stricter organisation which separated the enlarged Society more distinctly from the outer world.

But an additional source of strength was soon to be provided by the renewal of persecution. This persecution was due to three causes. Soon after the changes above mentioned, Lukas and some of the other Brothers had made an expedition to Italy to investigate the condition of the Waldensian Communities. It was the time of the struggle between Alexander VI. and Savonarola, and some of the Bohemian missionaries were actually present in Florence at the burning of the great Dominican. They returned to Bohemia, offended at the laxity of many of the Bohemian Communities, and more embittered than before against a Catholic Church which was ruled by Alexander Borgia. Alexander, on his side, had been roused by his struggle against Florence to a fervid zeal for the suppression of heresy, and his attention had evidently been called to these strange visitors to Italy. So in 1500 he despatched inquisitors to Moravia with orders to burn all heretical books, and especially those of Peter of Chelc̆ic. So effectively was this part of the work performed, that of the book which Peter had specially written against the Pope, only one copy is to be found at this day. The inquisitor, indeed, found it easier to burn books than to convert the Brothers, but his efforts in that direction were soon supported by men of a very different type.

The first of these was Bohuslav Hassenstein of Lobkovic, a learned and cultivated scholar, who had gained some reputation as a poet. He had quarrelled with Pope Alexander, in consequence of the Pope’s refusal to confirm him in the bishopric of Olmütz; and he was at first disposed to look rather to King Ladislaus than to any ecclesiastical authority for the restoration of unity and order in the Church. He seems indeed to have had some genuine zeal for moral reform; for he denounced the luxury and pride of the nobility; the gluttony, drunkenness, and debauchery of all classes; and the general decline of art and literature. For all these evils he suggested the one remedy--that Ladislaus should restore religious unity to the Church. But, like every earnest man who came in contact with this unfortunate king, Hassenstein began by admiring his gentleness, and ended by despising his weakness and incapacity. Since the death of Matthias, Ladislaus had been elected King of Hungary; and, if he had been unable to govern Bohemia effectively from Prague, he was still less able to govern it from Presburg. Hassenstein, in despair, turned to his clerical brethren for help; and they resolved to promote religious unity by a friendly compromise with the Utraquists, which was to be a preparation for a joint persecution of the Brotherhood.

But a third enemy of the Brothers proved more efficacious than Borgia or Hassenstein in stirring up the embers of persecution. Amos of S̆tekna had heard with renewed indignation of the later modification of their creed introduced by the Brothers after his secession; and he had particularly resented the compromises with regard to war, and the completer recognition of the civil power. He, therefore, wrote to Ladislaus that the Brothers were now taking up the position of the old Taborites. The suggestion was the one best fitted to alarm such a man. “What!” exclaimed the king, “are they going to imitate Z̆iz̆ka?” (Z̆iz̆kovati), and he at once rushed into action with all the irritable energy of a weak nature.

Orders were now sent out to all those towns and country districts which were directly dependent upon the King, directing them to suppress the meetings of the Brothers, to arrest all their teachers, and to send them to Prague, where they would either be forced to recant, or else be burnt alive; and these measures were to be followed by the expulsion of the rest of the Brotherhood from Bohemia. Many wholesale arrests were made; and one nobleman burnt some of the Brothers whom he found on his estate.

But these summary proceedings of the King roused against him the constitutional feelings both of the nobility and of the representatives of the towns. They disputed his right to act in so arbitrary a manner, even in the districts dependent upon him; and they feared that he would soon exert the same power in the independent towns and on the estates of the nobles.

Apart from these general objections, there were three noblemen, at least, who were disposed to extend their protection to the Brothers; and it was on their estates that the largest number of the Brothers were to be found. Different motives actuated the nobles who took this course. Kostka, who has been already referred to, sympathised personally with the teaching of the Brotherhood; Schellenberg wished to spare them, because his wife was a member of their society; Pernstein was entirely indifferent to all theological disputes, and therefore saw no reason for the persecution. But all the three were united in the determination to assert their feudal rights for the protection of their dependants; and they insisted that, if any Brothers were summoned to Prague from their estates, they should be secured complete protection and a fair hearing.

When, however, the Brothers arrived in Prague, they found that the Committee of the Masters of Arts intended to administer a rebuke, without hearing the defence of the accused parties. Against this injustice the Brothers protested; and at last the nobles and citizens succeeded in persuading the Masters to withdraw, before the accused persons were introduced. When, then, the Brothers appeared to answer the charges against them, they found themselves in the presence only of the nobles and citizens, who informed them that their mere appearance in Prague was all that was required of them, and that they might now go home again. This result was considered to be, in the main, a victory for the Brothers. But some of them were more indignant at the time which had been wasted than pleased at their escape from condemnation; and Lukas and his friends followed up this visit by an energetic war of pamphlets.

A new weapon, it must be remembered, was now at the service of all promoters of new teaching. The invention of printing had quickly spread to Bohemia; and, in 1468, the fourth printing-press ever established in Europe had begun to work at Pilsen. The Brothers quickly saw the advantage of the new discovery; and, in 1500, they established a printing-press at Mláda Boleslav. More than one lady of rank joined the Brotherhood; and at least one Catholic noble found the new creed rapidly spreading among his dependants.

Ladislaus now recognised the mistake which he had made in ignoring the constitutional methods of procedure. He therefore resolved to appeal to the regular Assemblies for support in his war against heresy; and he believed that he would find his best chance in Moravia. The Moravian Assembly, unlike the Bohemian, admitted the clergy to a special representation as a fourth estate; the Bishop of Olmütz had been active in the propaganda against the Brotherhood; and the great power which the Germans and Catholics had obtained in Moravia during the wars, seemed to point to an easy victory in the Moravian Assembly.

But again the King had miscalculated. The victories of the Germans and Catholics had excited against them a bitterness, both national and religious, far more intense than was to be found in other parts of the kingdom. The cruelties of Sigismund, the Germanising zeal of Albert of Austria, and the many injustices of Sternberg and the Catholic League, had consolidated against them a mass of Moravian feeling, which, if unable to secure victories on the battlefield, was eminently calculated to give strength to an opposition in the Assembly. To the Bohemians of the western province the Catholics and Germans were enemies, whom they had met on equal terms and often thoroughly routed; to the Moravians they were victorious tyrants, whose rule was to be thrown off at the first opportunity.

When, then, the Catholics demanded that the Assembly should unite in suppressing the “Picard” heresy, they were startled to find that the Utraquists made common cause with the Brothers in opposing this motion, and that they actually chose as their spokesman a member of the Brotherhood named John of Z̆erotin. This nobleman demanded that the complaints already made by the Utraquists should be attended to before the question of supposed heresy was dealt with. The Bishop of Olmütz taunted Z̆erotin with professing a sympathy with the Utraquists which he did not feel; but the Opposition remained firm; and the Assembly broke up without coming to any decision.

In Bohemia the Catholic party had an easier task. The opposition to Ladislaus’s former proceedings had been mainly based on constitutional grounds; and it now appeared that there was little religious sympathy with the Brotherhood amongst the leaders of public opinion. The power which the Utraquists had gained during the reign of King George had drawn them into sympathy with the leading nobles; and Rokycana had inspired them with a special dislike of the Brotherhood. The Bohemian Assembly, therefore, consented to a decree, which ordered the burning of the books of the Brotherhood, the suppression of their meetings, and the punishment of their teachers. Elated by this victory, the Bishop of Olmütz hurried back to Moravia, intending to summon the Assembly for a second meeting, and to secure the reversal of its former decision; but he was taken ill on his way, and died before the Assembly could meet; nor, from that time till the fall of Bohemian independence in 1620, did any Moravian Assembly consent to the suppression of the Brotherhood.

Nevertheless, the Catholic party found full compensation for their failure in Moravia in a specially fierce enforcement of the law just passed in Bohemia. Indeed, the former patrons of the Brotherhood became so much alarmed, that even Kostka forbade the Brothers to hold any further meetings on his estates. In spite of this opposition, the Brothers still maintained their ground, and even extended their preaching further; and but few of them could be persuaded, even by the most cruel tortures, to submit to the authorities of the Church. In 1511 the Brothers hoped, for a short time, to secure the protection of the greatest scholar of the time, Erasmus of Rotterdam. They had heard of some private letters of his, in which he had defended them against the attacks of their enemies; and they now prepared a Defence in Latin, which they sent to him. He thanked them for their communication, and expressed approval of at least part of their defence; but he declined to publish his opinion, on the ground that it would not help them, and might injure his work. So the persecution went on. Even Peter of Rosenberg found himself unable to protect a Brother, in whom he was interested, from being imprisoned and nearly starved to death. He succeeded, indeed, in getting him released before death had actually occurred, and he then urged him to submit to the Church; but the Brother, though almost too exhausted to speak, steadily refused to submit; and he was set free without further persecution. Lukas, who was now the most prominent member of the Brotherhood, succeeded for a long time in escaping the vigilance of his persecutors; but, in 1515, he was treacherously seized under false pretences, brought to Prague, and subjected to the torture. When nothing could be obtained from him by this means, he was set free, on the understanding that he was to appear before the Utraquist Consistory in April, 1516; but in the month before this appearance was to take place King Ladislaus died, and the persecution again slackened for a time.

In the meantime, the long absence of the King in Hungary, and the growing sense of his weakness of character, had been producing other divisions in Bohemia which gradually turned men’s minds away from the religious controversies. The wars of the fifteenth century, like all wars, had tended to draw the people away from their ordinary occupations, and to make them dependent on their military leaders. As long as the Taborite organisation lasted, its democratic spirit provided at least some check on the oppressions of the military nobles; and the alliance between the peasants and the Order of Knights, to which Z̆iz̆ka had belonged, counteracted any advantages which the nobles might have gained by their military prowess. But the fall of Tabor had destroyed any hopes, which the peasantry and townsmen might have had, of strengthening their position through war.

Under these circumstances the peasantry gradually fell back into the condition from which they had been escaping in the fourteenth century. The right of leaving their masters at their pleasure, of settling in towns, and of becoming priests without the sanction of their landlords, were gradually taken from them; and at last they were deprived even of that right of appeal to the King’s Court by which Charles had protected them against the absolute power of their lords.

But, though the peasantry were thus crushed back into a state of serfdom, the organisation of the towns was too strong to yield at once to the attacks of the nobles. Unfortunately, however, the lords gained about this time a new and important ally in their struggle for supremacy. The knights, or independent country gentlemen, who had been such zealous rivals of the higher Order in the fifteenth century, had lately consented to a reconciliation with their opponents; and these two classes were thus able to combine their forces against the towns.

The new king was little able to give the weaker party any assistance in the struggle. Ladislaus had succeeded in securing to his son Louis the succession to the crown, and he had even had him crowned during his lifetime. But Louis was a boy of ten; he was in the main under Hungarian influences; and he was of course utterly unfitted to control the fierce factions which were struggling in Bohemia.

The three chief points at issue between the Towns and the other Orders were, firstly, the right of the Town Tribunals to summon before them the nobles and knights in cases specially affecting the towns; secondly, the monopoly claimed by the towns in the brewing trade; thirdly, the right of the towns to send representatives to the Bohemian Assembly. In 1517, indeed, a nominal settlement was effected on all these points by the treaty of St. Wenceslaus. By that treaty the towns surrendered their monopoly of brewing, but were secured the peaceable possession of their other privileges. Such treaties had little effect in a time of discord, and it was not long before a new violation of town rights led to the outbreak of a civil war, in which the citizens gained some victories. Both parties, however, soon began to desire peace, and the king was called in to arbitrate between them.

When Louis arrived in Prague to inquire into the circumstances of the contest, he found that the disturbances of the country had been largely increased by the rise of certain self-seeking politicians, who had made their profit out of the difficulties of the kingdom. Of these the most powerful and unscrupulous was Lev of Roz̆mital, the brother-in-law of King George. He had induced Ladislaus to mortgage to him some of the royal property. By this and other means he had gained a great control over the finances of the kingdom, and he refused to give any account of his use of that power. He was supported in most of his intrigues by a citizen who had recently been ennobled, and who had taken the name of Pas̆ek of Wrat. These two men had gradually gained complete power over the government of Prague; and, on one occasion, a man who had opposed Lev in the Town Council had been dragged out and beaten to death.

Fortunately, however, there were powerful influences in the country which worked in favour of the young king. One of the Rosenbergs of Krumov was a rival and enemy of Lev; and an equally formidable opponent of these schemes was found in Karl, Duke of Münsterberg, and nephew of King George. Louis’s uncle, King Sigismund of Poland readily supported his nephew by advice and encouragement. The respectable citizens of Prague were willing to rally round him; and, with such friends as these, the boy could venture to act vigorously. He deposed Lev from his office, raised a citizen named Hlavsa to the place which Pas̆ek had formerly held on the Council, and made Karl of Münsterberg the chief governor of the kingdom.

This change of government was intended by Louis and his nearest advisers simply as a means of restoring order and honesty in public affairs; but, besides that result, his action produced another effect, of which neither the King nor his uncle Sigismund would have approved. In choosing his new Councillors from the most respectable politicians whom he could find, Louis had unintentionally singled out men who were in sympathy with the movement for religious reform.

That movement had recently entered on an entirely new phase. In the middle of the exciting political struggles in their own country, many of the Utraquists and Bohemian Brothers had heard with the greatest interest that a German monk had come forward to denounce that very practice of the Sale of Indulgences which had first brought Hus into direct collision with the Papacy; and a rapid approximation followed between a section of the Bohemian Reformers and the new German teacher.

Luther’s attitude towards the followers of Hus is made clear enough by his own statements. He had been induced to read the story of Hus’s career before he had entered on his actual contest with Rome. He had even then been impressed by the greatness of the Bohemian Reformer, but he had thrust the book aside as likely to lead him into evil. Something of this old feeling still hung about him in the early part of his struggle. And, when Eck brought against him the charge of favouring the Bohemian heresy, he had been inclined to repel it with indignation. Yet it was that very charge which had induced him to return to the study of Hus; and he soon began to express so earnest an admiration for the Bohemian leader that his enemies spread the rumour that he was himself a Bohemian, who had been educated in Prague on the writings of Wyclif. Nay, they even went so far as to Bohemianise his name--a change in which they doubtless took a malicious pleasure, for the Bohemian word “Lŭtr̆e” means a scoundrel. Several letters of encouragement from scholars and clergymen at Prague were addressed to Luther in the earliest years of his struggle; and he declared that he would himself have come to Bohemia had he not feared that such a visit would have seemed like a flight from his enemies.

But he very soon began to recognise the distinction between his own position and that of Hus. This difference he has referred to in several of his writings; and perhaps the passage in his “Table Talk” is the one which will be best remembered, from the vigorous metaphor by which he illustrates his opinion: “Hus,” he said, “cut down and rooted out some thorns, thickets, and chips from the vineyard of Christ, and chastised the abuses and evil life of the Pope. But I, Dr. Martin Luther, have come into an open, flat, and well-ploughed field, and have attacked and overthrown the doctrine of the Pope.”

If this distinction between the attacks of Hus on the immorality of the Papacy, and his own attack on its doctrines, seemed to Luther to put the earlier Reformer in a less important position than that which he himself occupied, he must have felt this difference still more strongly with regard to the later Utraquistic movement. Very few of the leaders of that movement had ever desired that complete separation from Rome which Luther soon perceived to be an absolute necessity. They had been driven, against their will, to combine the assertion of their national independence with resistance to the authority of the Pope; but, when the deaths of King George and Rokycana had removed at once the main ground of Papal hostility to Bohemia, and the most determined asserters of an independent national Church, the Utraquists began to show an even painful eagerness for a reconciliation with the Papacy. They felt the need of a priesthood which possessed the dignity and legal stability secured by the consecration of Romanist bishops; and they not only sent their clergy to Italy to obtain this privilege, but they even welcomed in priests of other countries, who had been appointed to their offices in the orthodox manner.

Luther, in his desire to win the Bohemians to his side, energetically protested against this practice. He pointed out to them the dangers to morality and order which they were incurring by letting in priests of whom they knew nothing, except that they had been consecrated; men who, in many cases, had left their country from discreditable reasons. Finally, he appealed to them not to sacrifice that Bohemian independence for which they had struggled so long, nor to compromise with the representatives of those who had shed the blood of Hus and Jerom.

Unfortunately, Luther himself fell into the very same error against which he had so energetically warned the Bohemians. During these negotiations he put his chief trust in a man who was totally unworthy of his confidence. This was Gallus Cahera, the son of a butcher of Prague, who had studied in the University and gained a Master’s degree. He had then taken Holy Orders, and been appointed parish priest of Litmerice. From thence he had gone to Wittenberg; and so completely did he gain the confidence of the Reformers that, in 1523, Luther sent him back to Prague with letters to the Utraquistic congregation, urging them to choose him as their leader in the work of reform. He arrived there just when Louis was accomplishing his changes in the administration of Bohemia. In the following year the Utraquists elected Cahera as the Administrator of their Consistory; and he proceeded to draw up a series of Articles for their acceptance, which approached nearer than any of their previous formularies to the Lutheran creed. A proposal, indeed, to condemn the celibacy of the clergy was rejected by the Assembly; but the Articles which were adopted were sufficiently extreme to alarm the old-fashioned Utraquists; and Pas̆ek and his friends began at once to make use of this feeling.

It must be remembered that Utraquism had always been most powerful when it had been connected with efforts for Bohemian independence; and, unfortunately, the national feeling of Bohemia was generally closely connected with a hatred of all German influence. Pas̆ek had been able to appeal to this prejudice, in resisting the appointment of Karl of Münsterberg, who was not a Bohemian by birth; and, though the hatred of the tyranny of Lev and Pas̆ek had been strong enough for the moment to destroy the effect of this appeal, yet the dread of a German heresy was easily awakened in the citizens of Prague. Louis had already called on the Moravian Assembly to condemn the new doctrines; and that body, which had defended the national movement of the Bohemian Brotherhood, readily denounced the teaching of the monk of Wittenberg.

Pas̆ek soon succeeded in gaining help from an unexpected quarter. Cahera was a weak and unprincipled man, and his opponents were easily able to work upon his vanity. They proposed to him the splendid task of reconciling the Utraquists to the Pope; and Cahera was so dazzled by the prospect of the fame and dignity which such an undertaking promised him, that he quickly drifted away from his former friends and helped forward Pas̆ek’s intrigues. In vain did Luther remonstrate with Cahera on this desertion of his principles. The reaction steadily went on. Pas̆ek was re-elected to the Council; Louis, forgetful of his former distrust, encouraged the town in its new course; Karl of Münsterberg came over to the Catholic side; and the Assembly of Bohemia once more appealed to the Pope to ratify the Compacts of Basel.

But Pas̆ek was not yet satisfied. He and Lev of Roz̆mital were determined to recover the power which they had lost; and they found that the discovery and denunciation of heretics were the easiest means of obtaining this end. They therefore seized the opportunity of Cahera’s change of policy to pass laws to strengthen the position of the Administrator of the Consistory. At the same time some Lutheran sympathisers were expelled from Prague, and a regular organisation was formed in the Small Division to crush opposition. The Reformers soon began to complain of the armed men who were allowed to parade the streets. But these complaints were quoted by Pas̆ek’s friends as evidence of an heretical plot. Suspicion was stirred up against those reforming clergy who still remained in Prague, and at last a tradesman named Zika appeared before the Council to denounce all those leading councillors who were opposed to Pas̆ek. Hlavsa and his friends were seized and thrown into prison, and Pas̆ek endeavoured to obtain evidence against his leading opponents by putting their followers to the torture. Lev of Roz̆mital was restored to all his former power, and a system of terror was gradually established, under which the Brothers and all Lutheran sympathisers were subjected to various kinds of persecution. Karl of Münsterberg tried at first to check the progress of this tyranny; but the intriguers had succeeded for a time in winning to their side the king and the Hungarian bishops, and by their influence the opposition of the governor was silenced.

A general atmosphere of suspicion now began to dominate the city and its neighbourhood. Private avarice and vindictiveness found their opportunity under the plea of orthodoxy. Men stopping to speak to each other in the streets were accused of heretical conspiracies, and the enforcement of a more rigorous form of confession put a powerful weapon into the hands of the persecutors. Many workmen were deprived of their means of livelihood by the espionage to which they were subjected, and citizens coming to Prague to claim their debts were thrown into prison on a charge of heresy.

Such a tyranny necessarily overshot its mark. Many of the nobles were indignant at the power which Roz̆mital had gained, and he soon received a startling proof of their hostility. Remembering the bait by which they had drawn Cahera to their side, Pas̆ek and Roz̆mital despatched an embassy to the king, who was then at Presburg, to persuade him to second them in an appeal to the Pope to ratify the Compacts of Basel. The Rosenbergs seized this opportunity for a blow at the new rulers of Prague. They despatched a counter embassy to the king, in which they denied Roz̆mital’s right to speak in the name of the nobles of Bohemia.

A still more impressive protest followed. Hlavsa and one of his friends had escaped from prison, and they now appeared in Presburg to convince the king of the injustice of their imprisonment. They showed, too, that Roz̆mital and his friends had exceeded the powers granted to them, and had inflicted sentences which were greater than any that the king had permitted. Louis was impressed by these statements, and he at once wrote to Roz̆mital, ordering him to reverse his illegal sentences, to give Hlavsa and his friends a fair trial, and to restore order and justice in Prague.

Karl of Münsterberg and Lev of Roz̆mital combined to defy the king’s commands; and after vainly appealing to the Town Council of Prague to resist this act of rebellion, the king summoned a Bohemian Assembly to meet at the town of Kolin on the Elbe, and excluded from its deliberations Karl, Lev, and all their supporters. He then secured the trial and acquittal of Hlavsa and his friends, and punished Prague for its contumacy by depriving it of its civic rights. So far, however, were the Praguer from yielding that they now expelled from the city the wives of the men whom they had been ordered to recall; and they even imprisoned a citizen whom Louis had sent to Prague to recover the property of which the Town Council had deprived him.

But, absolute as was Roz̆mital’s rule within the walls of Prague, a curious story of the time reminds us of the formidable influences which were counteracting his power in other parts of Bohemia. Peter of Rosenberg had bequeathed to Roz̆mital the castle and town of Krumov; but Peter’s nephew, Henry of Rosenberg, maintained that such an alienation of the property was contrary to the settlements under which it was held. Lev thereupon summoned Henry to appear before the law court in Prague, to answer for his resistance to his uncle’s will. When the messengers appeared at Krumov with the letters of summons, Henry of Rosenberg at once threw them into prison. He then summoned them before him, made them eat the letters which they had brought, gave them wine to enable them to swallow this strange food, and then hunted them with dogs from the gates of his castle.

Although this story shows that Roz̆mital’s power was confined within certain local limits, yet, within those limits, he could not only resist the remonstrances and commands of Louis, but could even hamper in an important way his general schemes of policy. This power for evil was shortly to receive a terrible manifestation. While the Bohemians and Hungarians had been wrangling, the Turks had been steadily advancing in Europe. Soliman the Great had considerably increased the military prestige of his race; and Louis was startled, in the middle of his domestic troubles, by the news that Belgrade had been captured by the Turks. Then the young king appealed to the Bohemians to stand by him and his Hungarian subjects in their resistance to this terrible invader. The Rosenbergs and other nobles responded to this appeal; but Roz̆mital and the Council of Prague, while ashamed to give a direct refusal, yet succeeded in inventing all manner of delays, so as to prevent their troops from coming in time to the king’s help. Some of the Bohemian nobles wished to wait till their whole forces were gathered, but the Hungarians soon grew impatient of delay, and on the 29th of August, 1526, they insisted on joining battle with the Turks at Mohács. Louis, anticipating a certain defeat, fled from the field before the battle began; but, in his flight, his horse fell into a swamp, and his unfortunate life of failure was cut short at the age of twenty.

The result of the battle was as Louis had foreseen. The Hungarians were signally defeated, and the Turks speedily followed up their victory by the capture of the fortress of Buda. A long series of intrigues followed in Bohemia. The Austrian party were supported by the Rosenbergs, and the Saxon party were led by Lev of Roz̆mital; but the opposition of Lev was finally bought off, and the Archduke Ferdinand, brother of the Emperor Charles, and brother-in-law of the unfortunate Louis, was elected king of Bohemia.