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

by C. Edmund Maurice

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.