Hussites
The followers of Jan Hus did not of themselves assume the name of
Hussites. Like Hus, they believed their creed to be truly
Catholic; in papal and conciliar documents they appear as
Wycliffites, although Hus and even Jerome of Prague are also named
as their leaders. They wisely objected to the appellation of
Hussites, which implied separation from the Universal Church;
willing to venerate Hus as a holy martyr of the old religion, they
refused to see in him the founder of a new one. Only about 1420,
with the beginning of the Hussite Wars does the new name occur,
first in the neighbouring lands; then it gradually imposes itself
as connoting both the original followers of Hus and the subsequent
smaller sects into which they divided. The distinctive tenet of
the Hussites is the necessity, alike for priest and layman of
Communion under both kinds, sub utraque specie whence the term
Utraquists. Hus himself never preached Utraquism. During his
presence at the Council of Constance, his successor in influence
at the university of Prague Jacobellus von Mies, taking His stand
on the Bible as the supreme rule of faith and practice in the
Church, persuaded the people that partaking of the chalice was of
absolute necessity for salvation, this being expressly taught by
Christ: "Amen amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the
Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you."
(John 6:54)
Three parishes at once adopted the innovation. Former unauthorized
sermons by Jacobellus, and trespasses on episcopal rights by the
parish clergy) had prepared the ground in these particular places.
The introduction of the lay chalice was regarded by many well-
intentioned men as the outward sign of a nascent schism. These
withdrew from the movement, but the people at large eagerly joined
it as if the chalice were a panacea for all the evils of the time.
Their eagerness is partly accounted for by a kind of crusade in
favour of frequent and even daily Communion, and by a huge mass of
eucharistic literature in Bohemia during the fourteenth century.
As far back as 1380 a priest in Prague (Altstadt) is said to have
preached to his parishioners the necessity of Communion under both
kinds. Jacobellus was excommunicated. and Andreas von Brod
confuted his teaching in a treatise but he continued preaching and
answered Andreas's tract by one of his own. Hus, then in
Constance, was consulted. In a letter to the Knight von Chlum, he
said: "it would be wise not to introduce such an innovation
without the approbation of the Church." Soon, however, seeing how
the council upheld the existing practice, he inveighed against it
and maintained that Christ and the Apostle Paul should be obeyed
by giving the chalice to the laity; he also entreated the Bohemian
nobles to protect the lay chalice against the council. These last
words of Hus, written in sight of his funeral pyre, aroused
Bohemia. In Prague the priests faithful to the Church were driven
out of their parishes and replaced by Utraquists; in the country
the nobles likewise filled all the parishes in their gift with men
of the new discipline.
The change caused many excesses. Bishop Johann of Leitomischl had
all his possessions devastated by the neighbouring nobles because
of his strenuous opposition to Hus at Constance. King Wenceslaus
(Wenzel) did not interfere. He had a grudge against the Emperor
Sigismund for the role he played at the council, and he regarded
the execution of Hus as an infringement of his royal rights.
Meanwhile the fathers assembled in council at Constance sent
earnest letters to the civil and ecclesiastical authorities in
Bohemia, insisting on complete extirpation of the dangerous heresy
(July, 1415); and gave ample powers to the Bishop of Leitomischl
as legate for the same purpose. The Bohemian and Moravian nobles
took up the gauntlets. Four hundred and fifty-two of them appended
their seals to a joint answer to the council, setting forth their
conviction that the sentence on Hus was unjust and insulting to
their country, that there were no heretics in Bohemia, that any
assertion to the contrary was itself a heresy of the worst kind.
This document bears date 2 September 1415. Three days later they
formed an offensive and defensive league by which they bound
themselves for six years to grant on their estates to all priests
applying for it freedom to preach the word of God, and protection
against episcopal prosecutions for heresy, and against
excommunication except from the local bishops. The clergy,
however, should obey a lawfully elected pope in all things not
contrary to God and God's law. The authority of the council was
thereby set at naught the Wycliffite principle that the laity
should restrict and restrain the power of the clergy was fully
applied.
The Catholics did not remain idle; episcopal ordinances of 5
September enjoined the publication in all churches of the
prohibition of the lay chalice, a decree of 18 September inhibited
vagrant, i.e. Utraquist, preachers; a league of Catholic lords was
formed on 1 October; it consisted mostly of the southern and
northern gentry accessible to German influence. King Wenceslaus
was on their side in word, if not in deed. Before this favourable
turn of events became known to it, the council in its ordinary
proceedings against Wycliffism, took a step of the gravest
consequences -- the laying of the interdict on Prague for
sheltering Johann of Jesenic, already excommunicated in 1412.
Armed crowds of citizens invaded every church and monastery where
Divine service had been suspended in obedience to the interdict,
drove out all priests and monks unwilling to submit to the popular
will, robbed them of their possessions and put Utraquist clergy in
their places. The whole country followed the example of the
capital, the king and the magistrates looked on without concern.
The council's legate, Bishop Johann of Leitomischl, was powerless
to stem the evil tide. Probably on his denunciation, the four
hundred and fifty-two signatories of the Utraquist covenant --
together with Archbishop Conrad of Prague and Wenceslaus, Bishop
of Olmutz -- were summoned to appear before the council as
suspected of heresy. Archbishop Conrad had been remiss in carrying
out the conciliary measures; in the beginning of 1416 he had, in
concert with the king, suspended the interdict on the far-off
chance of thus conciliating the dissidents. The council was even
then (1416) determined to use the secular arm against the King of
Bohemia and his unruly land, but Sigismund, with whom lay the
execution, refused his aid, hoping, as he said, to come to an
understanding with King Wenceslaus.
The University of Prague was heavily Utraquist; the council,
therefore, towards the end of 1416, suspended all its privileges
and forbade, under excommunication, all further academical
proceedings. The lecturers, however, continued to lecture as
before; but since the chancellor, Archbishop Conrad, refused his
co-operation, no new degrees could be conferred. Notwithstanding
the turbulent spirit of many masters the influence of the
university as a whole was moderating. For example, on 25 January,
1417, when some fanatical country parsons had destroyed the images
and profaned the relics of their churches, the university, in
virtue of the teaching authority it claimed, sent to all the
faithful an exhortation to abstain from innovations and to hold
fast to old customs. The noblemen of the Hussite league ordered
the clergy dependent on them to conform to their teaching. This
act in the right direction was followed on 10 March, 1416, by
another which gave Utraquism the sanction of the only teaching
authority then recognized in the country. The rector, Johann von
Reinstein (surnamed Cardinalis), declared, with the consent of all
the Magistri, that Communion under both kinds is an ordination of
Christ Himself and a practice of the ancient Church, against which
no human ordinances of later date could prevail. The declaration
had been given in answer to questions by members of the Hussite
league, and it was acted upon, wherever they ruled, with such
thoroughness that the Utraquist clergy was insufficient to fill
the places of the ejected Catholic priests. The head of the
league, Vincenz von Wartenberg, found a way out of the difficulty.
He waylaid the Auxiliary Bishop of Prague, confined him in a
stronghold, and forced him to ordain as many Utraquist candidates
for the priesthood as were needed.
The archbishop henceforth withheld ordination and benefices from
all who did not abjure Wycliffism and Utraquism. The Council of
Constance meanwhile gave continued attention to Bohemian affairs.
Martin V who, in 1411, as Cardinal Colonna, had terminated the
trial of Jan Hus with the sentence of excommunication, now, as
pope, confirmed all the council's enactments regarding him and his
followers; he wrote to all whom it might concern to return to the
Church or to lend their aid in suppressing the new heresies.
Before the close of the council he addressed to King Wenceslaus a
rule containing twenty-four articles, designed to bring back the
religious status of the country to what it was before the Hussite
upheaval. The task was heavy, and perhaps uncongenial to King
Wenceslaus. Could he force all Wycliffites and Hussites to abjure
or to die, reinstate all ejected priests in their benefices,
maintain Catholic ascendency? He made no attempt. In June, 1418 he
forbade the exercise of foreign jurisdiction over his subjects, a
measure which put a stop to the work of the cardinal legate,
Giovanni Domenici. The same year saw the arrival of foreign
sectarians, Beghards -- called Pickarts -- attracted by Bohemia's
fame for religious liberty, and of the Oxford Wycliffite Peter
Payne, admitted to the faculty of arts at the university. The
university, apprehensive of doctrinal excesses, assembled
(September, 1418) the whole party, the Communitas fratrum, in
order to come to an agreement on doubtful points. The assembly
granted Communion to newborn infants but forbade all deviation
from tradition except where it was evidently opposed to Scripture,
as in the case of Utraquism.
In 1419 Utraquism received an accession of strength from the
repressive measures against it. King Wenceslaus at last giving way
to the pope, and the emperor threatening a "crusade" against
Bohemia banished Johann of Jesenic from Prague and commanded that
all ejected Catholic beneficiaries should be reinstated in their
offices and revenues. The people, accustomed by this time to
Utraquist ministrations, resented the change they fought for their
churches and schools, blood was shed, but the king's ordinance was
executed wherever his authority was strong enough to enforce it.
The success was however, far from complete. The Utraquist clergy,
followed by their numerous adherents, now assembled on the hills,
to which they gave Scriptural names, such as Tabor, Horeb, and
Mount Olivet. In July, 1419 "Mount Tabor" was the scene of an
epoch-making assembly. Nicolaus of Husinec, banished by Wenceslaus
as a dangerous agitator, had brought together 42,000 Utraquists;
they listened to Utraquist preachers, received the chalice, and
spent the day in organizing resistance to any interference with
their religion; they sent a message to the king that they, one and
all, were ready to die for the chalice. In Prague itself matters
had gone even further. Ziska of Troznow, like Nicolaus of Husinec,
a former favourite of the king, had taken the lead of the
malcontents and familiarized them with the thought of armed
resistance.
Ziska belonged to the inferior nobility of southern Bohemia, he
had distinguished himself both as an undaunted fighter and as an
excellent leader of men. Johann, formerly a Premonstratensian monk
of Selau now a zealot for Utraquism, on 30 July, 1419, carried the
Blessed Sacrament in procession through the streets of Prague
(Neustadt); the processionists, excited by a fiery sermon of their
leader, first penetrated into St. Stephen's church which had been
closed to them; then they assembled in front of the town hall,
where Johann, still holding up the Blessed Sacrament, demanded
from the magistrates the release of several Utraquists imprisoned
for previous disturbances. The magistrates refused and prepared
for resistance. Ziska ordered the storming of the town hall; all
persons found therein were thrown out of the windows on to the
spears and swords of the processionists, and hacked to pieces,
whilst Johann called on God in His Sacrament to inflame their
murderous fury. The mob there and then elected four captains,
called all men to arms and fortified the Neustadt. King Wenceslaus
swore death to all the rebels, but a stroke of apoplexy, caused by
excitement, carried him off, 16 August, 1419. The next months were
marked by deeds of violence against the faithful clergy, by wanton
destruction of church furniture, and by the burning of monastic
houses. Many citizens, especially Germans and the higher clergy,
had to flee.
Wenceslaus's successor on the Bohemian throne was his brother
Sigismund, German Emperor and King of Hungary. He had been the
very soul of the Council of Constance; but the Bohemians, holding
him responsible for the death of their beloved Hus, disliked and
distrusted him. Nor was Sigismund eager to assume the ruling of
this troubled kingdom. He tarried in Hungary, leaving Bohemia to
be governed by the queen-widow and Vincenz von Wartenberg, the
chief of the Utraquist league. The popular masses led by the
lesser nobility and fanatical priests, now began to multiply their
meetings on "holy" mountains -- Tabors -- and to move towards
Prague in armed bands. The queen regent, with the assent of the
higher nobility, forbade them to meet or even to come near to
Prague. In various encounters Ziska and Nicolaus of Husinec
successfully resisted the royal troops (4-9 November, 1419), an
armistice was, however concluded and Ziska withdrew to Pilsen.
Sigismund now gave up his plans of a campaign against the Turks
and resolved to restore his new kingdom to Roman unity. On his
side were the Catholic nobles, the higher clergy, the Germans
settled in the land, and all who had suffered persecution and
losses at the hands of the sectarians; against him stood Ziska and
Nicolaus of Husinec at the head of the peasantry. Sigismund took
up the government in December, then went to Silesia to collect
more troops. The Catholics regained courage. They were hard on the
Utraquists wherever they were the stronger: in Kuttenberg, for
instance, hundreds of captured Utraquists were thrown by the
miners into the shafts of disused silver mines. The leaders of the
people meanwhile, built the impregnable stronghold of Tabor
whither the country people betook themselves with all their
movable possessions, in order to await in the "community of the
brethren" the things that were to come.
Here Utraquism entered upon a new development. The priests of
Austi, starting from the principle that the Bible contained the
whole teaching of Christ, abolished every traditional rite and
liturgy. There were to be no more churches, altars, vestments,
sacred vessels, chants, or ceremonies. The Lord's Prayer was the
only liturgical prayer; the communion table was a common table
with common bread and common appointments, the celebrant wore his
everyday clothes and was untonsured. Children were baptized with
the first water at hand and without any further ceremony they
received Communion in both kinds immediately after Baptism.
Extreme unction and auricular confession were abolished; mortal
sins were to be confessed in public. Purgatory and the worship of
saints were suppressed, likewise all feasts and fasts. Such a
creed accounts for the fury of destruction which possessed the
Hussites. Ziska spent his time in drilling his peasants and
artisans into an army capable to withstand the dreaded knights in
armour of the king's army. Clever tactics, apt choice of the
battlefield, and confidence in their chief and in their cause,
made up for their defective armament. Straightened scythes, flails
forks and iron-shod cudgels were their weapons. Their religious
fanaticism was heightened by a young Moravian priest, Martin
Houska, surnamed Loquis, who taught them to read in the Bible that
the last days had come, that salvation was only to be found in the
mountains -- their Tabors -- that after the great battle the
millennium would reign on earth.
Sigismund's army had been strengthened by contingents from Hungary
and other adjoining lands; everyone was ready for the fray. On 1
March, 1420, Pope Martin V issued a Bull inviting all Christians
to unite in a crusade for the extermination of Wycliffites,
Hussites, and other heretics. This Bull was read to the imperial
diet assembled at Breslau on 17 March. Its effect was terror on
the Catholic side, holy enthusiasm and closest union for deadly
warfare on the side of the Taborites. Many Catholics fled; the
Utraquist nobles renounced their allegiance and declared war on
Sigismund "who had brought the slander of heresy on the land"; a
secret embassy offered the Bohemian crown to King Wladislaw II of
Poland. The energetic Ziska at once began operations in southern
Bohemia. Royal towns, fortresses, and monasteries fell into his
hands. These latter were plundered and destroyed. Koniggratz
submitted, as did also some nobles disgusted with the excesses of
the Taborites. While the king was waiting for the "crusaders" from
Germany, he had seventeen Utraquists drowned in the Elbe at
Leitmeritz and two burnt at Echlau. The rebels retaliated by
setting fire to several monasteries near Prague and by burning the
monks. The "crusading" army arrived in July; with the king's
troops they were 100,000 strong. Before engaging in battle, the
papal legate, Ferdinand of Lucca, examined the "Four Prague
Articles", i.e. four points on the granting of which the rebels
would submit.
These articles emanated from the university. In substance they
are:
� "The Word of God is to be freely examined by Christian priests
throughout the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margravate of Moravia.
� The venerable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
is to be given in two kinds to adults as well as to children, as
Jesus Christ has instituted.
� The priests and monks, of whom many meddle with the affairs of
the State, are to be deprived of the worldly goods which they
possess in great quantities and which make them neglect their
sacred office; and their goods shall be restored to us, in order
that, in accordance with the doctrine of the Gospel, and the
practice of the Apostles, the clergy shall be subject to us, and,
living in poverty, serve as a pattern of humility to others.
� All the public sins which are called mortal, and all other
trespasses contrary to the law of God, are to be punished
according to the laws of the country, by those in charge of them,
in order to wipe from the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margravate of
Moravia the bad reputation of tolerating disorders."
The legate concluded his examination by a demand of almost
unconditional submission. The "Calixtines", now so called from the
chalice which decorated their flags, weapons, and clothes, took up
the unequal fight, on 14 July, 1420, they inflicted a signal
defeat on the crusaders. Sigismund had recourse to new negotiation
on the four articles. But seeing his best supporters wavering, he
had himself crowned in the cathedral of Prague (28 July), and two
days later he dissolved the crusading army. In order to pay his
mercenaries he turned the treasures of several churches into
money, and pledged their lands to the nobles, who never parted
with them again.
The Utraquist magistrates imposed their whole will on the town and
the university; riots and deeds of violence occurred everywhere
the wealthy monasteries were the first and greatest sufferers.
Many of the best citizens proclaimed their horror at the
destruction of the fairest buildings and their disgust with the
Taborite forms of worship. In Prague, however, they were kept down
by Johann of Selau, who had assumed a kind of dictatorship, in the
country the Taborite leaders themselves thought it better to give
another direction to the destructive mania of their followers.
Ziska in the southern borderlands and the Prague army added
victory to victory; the strong town of Wysehrad surrendered, 1
November, 1420, after a crushing defeat of Sigismund's troops. The
rebels, now sure of their power, offered the Bohemian throne to
King Wladislaw II of Poland. In March, 1421 King Wenceslaus
returned to Hungary, leaving his country almost defenseless. By
June of the same year the Hussites had established their dominion
over the whole kingdom, with the exception of a few northern and
western border districts. The inhabitants were asked to accept the
Four Prague articles or to emigrate within a stated time, captains
and sheriffs were appointed to rule the towns with royal powers.
Thus Utraquism and home rule supplanted Catholicism and German
rule. The nobility accepted the new order; Archbishop Conrad of
Prague adapted the four articles (21 April, 1421), ordained
Utraquist clergy, and invited the older clergy likewise to
conform. The metropolitan chapter, however, who had fled to Zittau
and Olm�tz, remained faithful, and appointed the "iron" Johann of
Leitomischl, later of Olm�tz, administrator of the archdiocese.
The Hussites never had a sterner enemy.
Among the Taborites, a new sect arose about this time. The priest
Martin Loquis taught these rabid levellers of monasteries and
murderers of priests that Christ was not really present in the
Eucharist; consequently, that worshipping the sacrament was
idolatry. Sacrilegious profanations became the order of the day.
Proceedings were taken by the Utraquist authorities, advised by
the university, against the innovators. Loquis and another were
taken prisoners, dragged through the country, cruelly tortured and
finally burnt in a barrel. His four hundred followers were
expelled from Tabor. For some time they roamed through the country
"as avenging angels", robbing, burning, and killing. Ziska, in
disgust, had twenty-four (some say fifty) of the worst put to
death by fire. The remainder, reinforced by some fanatical
Chiliasts, formed a sect of Adamites subject to no law and
possessing their women in common. Ziska surrounded them on their
island in the River Nez�rka and exterminated them to the last man
(October, 1421). The summer of 1421 was employed by the Hussites
in consolidating their new power. Successful expeditions
penetrated to the northwestern border, burned more monasteries,
killed more monks, priests, and inoffensive citizens; but here
also they suffered their first serious defeat at the hands of
Catholic knights and the troops of Meissen (5 August, 1421). As
early as April a second army of crusaders, twice as strong as the
first, had been forming at Nuremberg, while Sigismund was expected
to bring up his Hungarian army. The crusaders laid siege to Saaz.
On 2 October, the news spread that Ziska was coming to the rescue
of the besieged. This perhaps false information sufficed to
disperse the crusaders and their five leaders in all directions in
disorderly flight. Not a blow was struck. Sigismund entered
Moravia, which he reduced to submission, and met Ziska in battle
at Kuttenberg. The stronger battalions were on the emperor's side,
but Ziska fought his way through them and shortly afterwards, at
Deutsch-Brod, almost annihilated them (8 January, 1422). This
victory kept the Hussites' foreign foes in wholesome fear for many
years; new crusades were indeed preached year after year, but not
carried out. The field was left free for internal dissensions to
undo what had so far been done. Prague began by shaking off the
tyrannical dictatorship of Johann of Selau. With twelve of his
partisans he was beheaded, 9 March, 1422. The mob avenged his
death by ravaging the university, colleges, and libraries. Next,
civil war broke out between, on the one hand the Taborites under
Ziska a few southern towns and Saaz with Laun in the northwest,
and on the other, Prague with the whole nobility and the other
towns. Its cause was the proposal to unite all parties under the
administration of Sigismund Korybut, a nephew of the Grand Duke
Witold of Lithuania, who had accepted the Bohemian crown refused
by the King of Poland, and appointed Korybut as governor. The
first victory again was Ziska's (end of April, 1423). Some futile
negotiations followed. From January to September 1424 the
Taborites waged a most successful war, which led their victorious
army up to the gates of the capital. Korybut and Prague now sent
to Ziska the eloquent priest Rokyzana, who succeeded in bringing
about a complete understanding between the parties. They then
joined in an expedition against Moravia. Close to the Moravian
frontier, at Pribislau, Ziska fell ill and died (14 October,
1424).
His death was followed by new groupings of the parties. The closer
partisans of Ziska, who represented the moderates, now took the
name of "Orphans." Their priests still said Mass in liturgical
vestments and followed the old rite. The more extreme Taborites
chose new chiefs, of whom the most prominent was Andrew Procopius,
a married priest surnamed "the Great" or "the Shaven", to
distinguish him from Little Procopius (Prokupek) who in time
became the spiritual leader of the Orphans. Orphans and Taborites
fought together against any common foe; when there was no common
foe they fought or quarrelled with one another. Their united
forces, under Procopius the Shaven, won the battle of Aussig on
the Elbe (16 June, 1426), in which 15,000 Germans and many Saxon
and Thuringian nobles lost their lives, but they were beaten in
their turn by Albert of Austria, at Zwettel, 12 March, 1427. While
these horrible wars were laying waste the country, the Magistri of
Prague, pro tem. the supreme judges in matters of Faith, divided
into two parties. Rokyzana, Jacobellus, and Peter Payne favoured a
nearer approach to the Taborite innovations; others had gained the
conviction that peace and union were only to be found in returning
to the Roman allegiance. The chalice for the laity was the only
point they wished to retain. Korybut, the governor, favoured the
latter view. He engaged in secret negotiations with Pope Martin V,
but the secret having leaked out Rokyzana, at the head of the
populace of Prague seized him and confined him to a fortress (17
April 1427). The Hussites under Procopius the Shaven now raided
Lusatia and Silesia. In July, 1427, a third army of crusaders,
some 150,000 strong, entered Bohemia from the west. Procopius met
and defeated them at Mies (4 August). Another army coming from
Silesia had a similar fate.
Being complete masters of the situation at home, the Hussites set
out for further raids abroad. Their own country was lying waste
after so many years of war; the people had become a huge horde of
brigands bent on bloodshed and plunder. In the years 1428-1431 the
combined Orphans, Taborites, and the townsmen of Prague invaded
Hungary, laid waste Silesia as far as Breslau, plundered Lusatia,
Meissen, Saxony, and advanced to Nuremberg, leaving in their track
the remains of flourishing towns and villages, and devastated
lands. Negotiations for an armistice came to naught. When the
raiders returned in 1430 they had with them 3,000 wagons of booty,
each drawn by from six to fourteen horses; a hundred towns and
more than a thousand villages had been destroyed. In 1431 a fourth
crusade, sent by the unbending Martin V, entered Bohemia. The
crusaders numbered 90,000 foot and 40,000 horse; they were
accompanied by the papal legate and commanded by the Electoral
Prince Frederick of Brandenburg. They met a strong army of
Hussites at Taus. The wild war-songs of the enemy filled the
soldiers of the Cross with uncontrollable fear; once more they
fled in disorder, losing many men and 300 wagons of stores (14
August, 1431). After so many reverses the Catholics realized that
peace was only to be attained by concessions to the Hussites.
Advances were made by Emperor Sigismund and by the Council of
Basle, which was then sitting. A meeting of the contending
parties' delegates took place at Eger, where preliminaries for
further discussion at Basle were agreed upon. Meanwhile the
excommunicated Archbishop Conrad of Prague and the "iron" Bishop
Johann of Olmutz died, and the Utraquist Rokyzana had an eye on
the See of Prague: it was therefore his interest to make further
peace negotiations with Rome. The Taborites, on the contrary,
continued the war, heedless of the Eger arrangements. They raided
Silesia and Brandenburg, advancing as far as Berlin, and fought
Albert of Austria in Moravia and in his own Austrian dominions.
At length, 4 January, 1433, a deputation of fifteen members,
provided with safe-conducts and accompanied by a numerous train,
arrived at Basle. Discussion on the Four Articles of Prague lasted
till April without any result. The deputies left Basle on 14
April, but with them went a deputation from the council to
continue negotiations with the diet assembled at Prague. Here some
progress was made, notwithstanding the opposition of Procopius and
the extreme Taborites who were loath to lay down their arms and
return to peaceful pursuits. The conferences dragged on till 26
November, 1433. The council, chiefly bent on safeguarding the
dogma, consented to the following disciplinary articles, known as
the Compactata of Basle:
� In Bohemia and Moravia, communion under both kinds is to be
given to all adults who desire it,
� All mortal sins, especially public ones, shall be publicly
punished by the lawful authorities;
� The Word of God may be freely preached by approved preachers
but without infringing papal authority;
� Secular power shall not be exercised by the clergy bound by
vows to the contrary; other clergy, and the Church itself may
acquire and hold temporal goods, but merely as administrators and
such.
In substance, the Compactata reproduced the Four Articles of
Prague. They were accepted by the delegates, but further
discussion on minor points led to a new rupture, and in the
beginning of 1434 the delegates left Basle. A new party now arose:
the friends of the Compactata. It soon gathered strength enough to
order the Taborites who were besieging Pilsen and infesting the
country to dissolve their armed bands. Instead of dispersing, they
brought all their forces together at Lipau near Prague and offered
battle. Here they suffered a crushing defeat from which they never
recovered. Their two best leaders, Procopius the Shaven and
Prokupek, were killed (30 May, 1434).
The tedious negotiations, in which religious, political, and
personal interests had to be satisfied, went on with various
vicissitudes until 5 July, 1436, when the Bohemian representatives
at the Diet of Iglau, solemnly accepted the Compactata and
promised obedience to the council. The representatives of the
council, on their side, removed the ban from the Bohemians and
acknowledged them as true sons of the Church. The diet accepted
Sigismund as King of Bohemia: on 23 August he entered Prague, and
took possession of his kingdom. Henceforth the Utraquists or
Calixtines and the Subunists (sub una specie) had separate
churches and lived together in comparative peace. Priests were
ordained for the Utraquist rite. New difficulties were created by
Rokyzana's failing to obtain the bishopric for which he had so
long agitated and which he had been promised by Sigismund. His
partisans went back to former aberrations, e.g. they re-
established the feast of the "Holy Martyr Hus" on 6 July.
In 1448 Cardinal Carvajal came to Prague to settle the ever open
question of Rokyzana's claims. Having demanded restitution of
confiscated church property as the first step, he was threatened
with murder and fled. In December of the same year Rokyzana
returned to Prague as president of the Utraquist consistory. The
governor, George Podiebrad, supported him in his disobedience to
Rome and nullified all Roman attempts at a final settlement; he
opposed St. John Capistran, who was then converting thousands of
Utraquists in Moravia. As things were going from bad to worse,
Pope Pius II, who had had long experience of the sectarians at
Basle and as legate to Prague, refused to acknowledge the
Utraquist rite, and declared the Compactata null and void, 31
March, 1462. Podiebrad retaliated by persecuting the Catholics in
1466 he was excommunicated by Paul II; there followed other
religious and civil wars. In 1485 King Wladislaw granted equal
liberty and rights to both parties. Judging by its results this
was a step in the right direction. By degrees the Utraquists
conformed to the Roman rites so as to be hardly distinguishable
from them, except through the chalice for the laity. In the
sixteenth century they resisted Lutheran inroads even better than
the Subunists. Their further history is told in the article
BOHEMIAN BRETHREN.
J. WILHELM
Transcribed by Tomas Hancil
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
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