Bohemia, from the earliest times to the fall of national independence in 1620 / With a short summary of later events

by C. Edmund Maurice

It will be remembered that the Council of Pisa had professed to put an end to the disunion in the Church by deposing the two claimants of the Papacy, and electing Alexander V. in their place. But, though Alexander V., and his successor, John XXIII., had probably been accepted by a majority of the authorities of the Church, the deposed Popes still, at times, put forward claims which could easily be taken advantage of by those who wished to stir up division in the Church. Ladislaus, the king of Naples, who had a grudge against John, took up the cause of Gregory XII. Therefore, in December, 1411, John proclaimed a crusade against the King of Naples, and promised plenary indulgence to all who would support this expedition, either in purse or person.

The commissioners for promoting this war arrived in Prague in 1412; and they soon set to work, not merely to preach the crusade, but to organise a regular system for the sale of the indulgences. Some attempt to start this trade had been begun in 1393, but it does not seem to have been then carried on on so extensive a scale. Now the Legate farmed out the right of selling these indulgences to other priests, granting them preferment in the Church, and receiving from them a commission on what they raised. As respectable clergymen would not often undertake such an office, the trade fell into the hands of men of disreputable lives, who were thus brought prominently to the front. Hus had objected, from the first, to the attempt to involve the Bohemians in a war which he considered unchristian; and, when to the proposal for the crusade was added the organisation of the sale of indulgences, he determined to raise the question in an assembly of the University.

But he now found that some, who had been hitherto his followers, were prepared to resist and oppose him. Stanislaus of Znojem and Stephen Pálec̆ had been released from their imprisonment at Bologna, at the request of Wenceslaus; and since their return to Prague they had gradually drifted into the ranks of the opponents of reform. Stanislaus had been the first to show this change. The charge of heresy on which he had been arrested had been based on a pamphlet dealing with Wyclif’s doctrines. He pleaded that the apparent Wyclifite tendency of the pamphlet was due to its incompleteness; and, when ordered to finish it, he did so in a sense hostile to the doctrines of Wyclif.

It will be remembered that, though Hus had repudiated many of the doctrines of the English Reformer, he had yet opposed the general condemnation of his works, and had spoken warmly of his character. Therefore Stanislaus’ attack upon Wyclif paved the way for an open opposition to Hus. Pálec̆, indeed, had remained on the side of his old leader during the struggle with Zbynĕk, but the opposition to the Papal Bull drove him also into the orthodox ranks. The cry of cowardice has been raised against him by the friends of Hus, and seems, indeed, to have been sanctioned by Hus himself. But, unscrupulous and malignant as Pálec̆ afterwards showed himself, it may be doubted whether the charge of cowardice was, in this instance, a just one. It must be remembered that in his previous opposition to Popes, Hus had protected himself by the well-recognised formula that the Pope had been misinformed on the condition of affairs in Bohemia. On this occasion the question at issue was not so much one of information about special facts as of clear moral principles; and the issue of the Bull took away all possibility of throwing the blame of the Pope’s action on misleading advisers. Moreover, the opposition of Hus was no longer covered by the authority of the King. Wenceslaus, having once committed himself to opposition to Gregory, was not disposed to inquire too curiously into the methods which were used to suppress the fallen Pope. He had therefore sanctioned John’s Bull, and thereby approved the crusade. It may well, therefore, have been that Pálec̆, though willing to resist the ordinary current of clerical opinion, might yet doubt the lawfulness and propriety of setting himself against his spiritual and temporal rulers. At any rate, when Hus brought before the Masters of the University his proposal to denounce the crusade and its methods, Pálec̆ and Stanislaus headed the opposition to their former leader, and won the majority of the Masters to their side.

But Hus was not to be silenced. He continued to preach and write against the sale of indulgences; and he proposed to hold a discussion on the Papal Bull in the Carolinum, a college founded for the clergy by Charles IV. He was now compelled into a position which seems to anticipate the more advanced Reformers of the following century; for when the new Archbishop, Albik, called on him to obey the Apostolic commands, he answered that the Apostolic commands were those contained in the teaching of Christ and His Apostles; that, so far as the Pope’s commands agreed with them, he would obey them gladly; but that, if they did not agree with them, he would not obey them, if the fire were kindled in his presence.

Hus was now at issue with old friends, with the leaders of learning, and with the rulers of Church and State. It was therefore with special satisfaction that he must have hailed a new supporter who came to his aid at this crisis. This was a young Bohemian nobleman, named Hieronymus, or Jerom. He has often been credited with the first introduction of Wyclif’s works into Bohemia, though some historians have thrown doubt on this claim. Whether it were so or not, he certainly now formed a link between the reforming leaders and the fashionable world, which did not previously exist. His easy circumstances and noble birth gave him entrance to the Court circles of Europe; and his attractive manners, splendid dress, and love of display gained him fame and popularity. Moreover, he had found great delight in exciting discussions on doubtful points of theology in the various Universities which he had visited. He began these discussions at Heidelberg, apparently against the wish of the University authorities. He had visited Oxford, whither a reputation for heresy had preceded him; and he had specially provoked the opposition of Gerson, the Chancellor of the Paris University, by the controversies which he had inaugurated in that famous centre of learning. He now plunged boldly into the dispute about the sale of indulgences. His brilliant and polished oratory threw into shade for the time the simpler eloquence of Hus. He was followed home, on one occasion, by a large crowd of students; and the reforming movement began to attract the sympathies of the younger nobles.

But it soon became evident that the new converts would bring more zeal than dignity to the camp of the reformers. The forms of ridicule of the clerical party indulged in by these fiery spirits can scarcely have been welcome to the soberer reformers who had been first drawn to the teaching of Hus. Thus, for instance, a procession was organised, which marched through the streets of Prague, and in which the chief figure was a student, who was dressed as a woman of ill-fame, wearing round her neck an imitation of the Papal Bulls. Such demonstrations as these, when accompanied by satirical songs, naturally led to disorder and riot. Wenceslaus, who was divided in feeling between his friendliness to Hus and his desire to enforce his own decrees, tried in vain to effect a compromise between the contending parties, and, finding reconciliation or even partial restraint impossible, he forbad the reformers to offer any further opposition to the sale of indulgences.

This decree at once called out the sterner and nobler side of the reforming spirit. In spite of the king’s prohibition, three young men came to the church where the champions of the indulgences were preaching, and made a public protest against the preacher’s words. The intruders were promptly secured by the officials of the town council, and were at once taken to the Great Ring. A large crowd gathered to see what was intended, and Hus came forward to remind the councillors that he was the first promoter of the opposition to the indulgences, and that they ought therefore to punish him before they punished these young men. The Councillors gave an answer which seemed to imply that the prisoners should not be injured; but no sooner had the crowd dispersed than the youths were taken into a side street and summarily executed.

Great excitement followed this treachery; and numbers of people paraded the streets declaring their readiness to die for the truth. Hus, from his pulpit, praised the young men who had been executed, and exhorted his hearers to stand by the truth.

Another opponent now came forward to give new impulse to the attacks on Hus. This was a German priest of questionable antecedents, called Michael de Causis. He drew up a list of articles against the reformer, which revived, more definitely, the charge of sympathising with Wyclif’s doctrine, both as to the Sacraments, and the interference of secular authorities with the property of the clergy. With these charges Michael now combined the accusation of stirring up the people against the bishops, and making ill-feeling in the University. Pope John, already indignant at the opposition to his Bull, was roused by these charges to more decided action. He excommunicated Hus, and laid an Interdict on Prague. Several Germans tried to give practical force to this sentence by rushing armed into the Bethlehem chapel, and attempting to kill Hus; but his friends rallied round him, and the assassins were forced to retire.