VILLAGE OF HUSINEC.
Along with the movement for ecclesiastical reform, the Bohemian national revival had been steadily making way; and the opposition of the German party had served to deepen the zeal of the reformers for the encouragement of the Bohemian languages. A most important link was formed in 1396 between the linguistic and the moral revival. In that year a man named John of Milheim founded a chapel which was to be entirely devoted to Bohemian preaching, in order, as its founder expressed it, “that the Word of God should not be fettered, and that Bohemian preachers should not be obliged to go from house to house.” The new foundation was to be called the Bethlehem Chapel, and was to be consecrated to the Holy Innocents. Strange to say, the first three preachers seem to have been somewhat hesitating and uncertain in their tendencies; and it was not till 1402 that the appointment of Jan Hus secured to the Bethlehem Chapel a special position in the history of Bohemia.
HUSINEC, SHOWING COTTAGE WHERE HUS WAS BORN.
On July 6, 1369, Jan Hus was born at Husinec, in the south of Bohemia. This village lies in a deep valley among pine-covered hills, and the tiny cottage in which Hus was born still remains. As his parents were poor, he was forced to support himself in his early days by singing in churches; and even after he had been sent to the University he was in such straits that he was at one time compelled to live on dry bread. Nevertheless he made steady way in the University; two years after taking his degree of Master of Arts, he was appointed examiner; in 1401 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and in 1403 he was chosen Rector of the University. He had thrown himself from the first into the national cause; and he denounced, from his pulpit in the Bethlehem Chapel, the expedition of the rebel nobles against Prague. He showed great zeal in giving new literary expression to the Bohemian language, and expunged from it the Germanisms which had crept into it. He also persistently opposed the encroachments of the Germans in the government of the University. At the same time he always declared that he would prefer a good German to a bad Bohemian, even if the latter were his brother.
It was in this same year, 1403, that the national reform movement began to connect itself generally with questions of ritual and doctrine. The exact point in history at which the doctrines of Wyclif gained influence in Bohemia, is very difficult to fix. The marriage of Anna, the sister of Wenceslaus, in 1381, to Richard II. of England, undoubtedly produced close contact between the two countries. It is clear, from his own statements, that Wyclif was much impressed by the forwardness of the Bohemians in religious knowledge, and specially by the fact that they had already translated the Bible into their native tongue. But, although this experience much affected the work of the English Reformer, it seems doubtful how soon he began to repay the debt, by imparting his ideas to Bohemia. Apparently, neither Matthias of Janov nor Thomas of S̆títný were deeply acquainted with Wyclif’s works; and neither his condemnation in 1382 nor his death in 1385 seem to have excited much interest in Bohemia. Yet, on the other hand, it is evident, from the scene which is about to be described, that both Hus and some of his followers must have given considerable attention to Wyclif’s writings.
It was, however, the enemies of the English Reformer who first publicly called the attention of the Bohemians to his works. A German Silesian, named Hubner, had selected from Wyclif’s writings forty-five propositions which he asked the University of Prague to condemn. The period of Hus’s Rectorship seems to have come to an end before this proposal was made; and on May 28, 1403, the new Rector of the University convoked an assembly of the Masters of Arts, and laid before them the propositions which Hubner had compiled. Hus at once came forward to answer Hubner, but he based his opposition entirely on the inaccuracy of the summaries laid before them. He referred to the burning alive of certain adulterators of saffron, which had recently taken place in Prague; and he declared that such a fate was better deserved by these adulterators of books. But some of his followers went much further. Stephen Pálec̆ threw a book of Wyclif’s on the table, declaring that he was willing to defend it against all attacks; and Stanislaus of Znaym (Znojem) offered to prove that none of the articles attributed to Wyclif were heretical. This statement so offended some of the older Masters that they at once left the room; but, in spite of their retirement, a majority of those who remained condemned the forty-five Articles of Wyclif, and decided that they should not be taught in Bohemia. The influence of Wenceslaus was, for the moment, thrown on the side of reform; and, after the death of the Archbishop of Prague, he appointed to the see an ex-soldier named Zbynĕk Zajíc, who had a great dislike to many of the impostures which had been encouraged by the clergy. The new Archbishop at once sent Hus to inquire into several fictitious miracles which had recently become notorious in the country; and, by his help, these abuses were checked for the time.
