Of these arguments, the first may be fairly dismissed as one of those pieces of ill-tempered rhetoric which are usually thrust forward on such occasions. If an oath to maintain the laws of an association implies an opposition to any possible change in those laws, there can be few corporations in the world which are not deeply tainted with perjury. But the second argument, which appealed to the wishes and intentions of Charles IV., had undoubtedly some plausibility, especially when one considers that the University was only sixty years old. An answer to this objection could, however, be easily found by the Bohemians. Though Charles IV. had no doubt desired to make the University the centre of the Empire, other words of his could be quoted to show that he had also intended that his Foundation should secure special advantages to the Bohemians.
The explanation was, that Charles’s idea, however grand, was self-contradictory; and, while inconsistent schemes may work very well, as long as all who are interested in them wish them to do so, they must fall to pieces at once if they are administered by two antagonistic parties with directly opposite ideals about the welfare of the institution. Charles had undoubtedly wished, as the Germans said, to make Prague an intellectual centre for Europe; he had also desired, as the Bohemians said, to call out the national life and encourage the national literature of Bohemia. It now appeared that these two objects were incompatible; and the question was, which must yield to the other. Charles IV. was a great statesman; but, as in the case of so many great men, the effect which he ultimately produced was precisely the contrary of that which he desired. He had wished to found a University, which should gratify the feelings both of Bohemians and Germans, and be a centre of unity and peace to the Empire. He had, instead, given an impulse to life, movement, and struggle, which was to overthrow many abuses which he condemned, but also to drag down in their fall much which he desired to maintain.
Finding that their arguments were of no avail, the Germans devoted themselves to more practical forms of obstruction. They insisted on disregarding the decree of the King and on voting in the old fashion at the next election of the Examiners. The Bohemians resisted this attempt; and the consequence was that no examination took place. A similar dispute arose about the election of the Deans of Faculties; and a similar result followed. It was obvious that the continuance of this struggle must end in the destruction of the work of the University. Moreover, whatever doubts Wenceslaus might have on other subjects, he was quite clear about the duty of enforcing his own decrees. So, on May 9, 1409, he summoned an extraordinary meeting of the University, at which he appointed a new Rector and a new Dean of Arts on his own authority. The Germans, finding further resistance hopeless, resolved to abandon the struggle; and, on May 16th, several thousand German students left Prague for ever.
VIII.
FROM THE RETIREMENT OF THE GERMANS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF PRAGUE TO THE DEATH OF HUS.
(1409-1415.)
The overthrow of German supremacy in the Bohemian University has been considered by both sides to mark a great crisis in the history of Bohemia. The national character, which had been stamped at so early a time on the reforming movement, now became more visible to the world at large, and at the same time more exclusive and defiant. Nor was its effect on the life and death of Hus less notable. When he became recognised as the most complete embodiment of the principles of the Bohemian Reformation, his German enemies naturally fixed upon him as the chief actor in this important stage of the movement; and wild charges of violence and intimidation towards the Germans helped to increase the hostility which had been roused by the suspicion of heresy.