BOHEMIAN, MORAVIAN AND SLOVAKIAN
The Bohemians, who with the Moravians form the vanguard of the
Slavs in Europe, occupy the mountain-girt plateau of Bohemia in
the very heart of the continent. Here, a steady easterly spread of
Teutons has prevented expansion of these Slavs along the eastern
valleys which provide them with communication with the rest of
the continent. Bohemians and Moravians thus found themselves shut
within the mountainous rim of their land by the Germans of Silesia
and Austria proper.
The German ring surrounding Bohemia is composed of groups belonging
to various types of the Teutonic family. A southwestern element
consists of descendants of Bavarian settlers. Farmers and woodsmen
were introduced into the Böhmerwald, as an inevitable phase of the
exploitation of the mountainous area, by religious communities
of the thirteenth century. The end of the Thirty Years’ War was
marked by a new influx of Germans needed to repopulate the sorely
devastated Bohemian districts. The Bavarians, however, never
reached the foot of the eastern slopes. Modern Bohemian resistance
to their spread toward the plain persists unflinchingly. Northward,
the Erzgebirge uplift is also a German ethnographic conquest. For
centuries its mineral wealth has attracted artisans from Franconia,
Thuringia and Saxony. The mountain slopes re-echo today to the
sound of the dialects of these ancient countries. The Saxon element
prevails particularly among the inhabitants of the Elbe valley.
Farther east, descendants of Lusatian and Silesian peasants still
use the vernacular of their ancestors in the upland formed by the
Iser Gebirge and the Riesen Gebirge. In modern times the valleys
of these mountains yield a steady stream of German-speaking
inhabitants to the industrial towns of the southern plain. The
German workingman’s competition with his Bohemian fellow laborer
is keen in this district, but it has not been marked by a notable
advance of the Teutonic idiom.
Linguistically the Bohemians and Moravians form a unit hemmed in
by Germans on all sides except the east, where they abut against
their Slovak kinsmen. Community of national aspirations, under the
leadership of the Bohemian element, is generally ascribed to these
three Slavic groups. The union has been fostered by the lack of a
literary language among Moravians, who have adopted the Bohemian
alphabet and style. With the Slovaks[144] inferiority of numbers
helped the spread of the Bohemian language and literature.
The Czech linguistic area presents homogeneity of composition
which is seldom encountered in other parts of Austria-Hungary.
Intermingling of Slavic and Teutonic elements has been slight
in this advanced strip of Slavdom. Overlapping of German is
met in belts generally parallel to the political divide. It is
particularly noticeable in the angle formed by the junction of the
Böhmerwald and Erzgebirge near the western linguistic divide, where
it almost attains the town of Pilsen.[145] Beyond, in a northerly
direction, the volcanic area characterized by thermal springs
lies within the German line. Reichenberg, a strenuous center of
Teutonism, maintains easterly and westerly prongs of German in
the Iser-Riesen uplifts and the Elbe valley, respectively. The
German of Silesia spreads into Moravia along the Zwittau-Olmütz-Neu
Titschen line.
A short stretch of the linguistic boundary coincides with the
political frontier in the neighborhood of Taus, but the rest of
the southern Böhmerwald overlooking Bohemian levels is German in
speech from the crests to the zone in which widening of the valleys
becomes established. The disappearance of this mountainous chain,
in southern Moravia, coincides with a southerly extension of Czech
in the valley of the March. Contact with Slovak dialects begins in
the Beskid area.
Celts, Teutons and Slavs have occupied the Bohemian lozenge in
turn. The appellation Czechs first appears in the sixth century.
National consolidation began with the country’s conversion to
Christianity, three hundred years later, and was maintained with
varying fortunes until 1620. Bohemian political freedom was
annihilated in that year on the battlefield of the White Mountain.
After this defeat the land and its inhabitants lapsed into a state
of lethargy. The high cultural attainment of a few modern Bohemians
was sufficient to rouse the country to a sense of national
feeling.[146] Fortunately native poets, historians and scientists
were successful in infusing their patriotic ideals in the minds of
their countrymen. In particular, the fire of Bohemian patriotism
has been kept alive by literary activity.
Successful attempts on the part of Hungarians to assimilate the
Slovaks has caused these mountaineers to turn to their Bohemian
kinsmen for assistance in the preservation of race and tradition.
Merging of national aspirations in this case, was facilitated
by close linguistic affinity. A Czecho-Slovak body consisting
of 8,410,998 individuals[147] thus came into being within the
Dual Monarchy in order to maintain resistance against German and
Hungarian encroachments.
The struggle between Teuton and Slav in Bohemia goes back to the
obscure period of the country’s early history. As late as the
middle of the ninth century Bohemia was mainly a pagan state.
German missionaries at that time were endeavoring to convert the
natives to Christianity. But the mere nationality of the apostles
of the new faith prevented them from gaining adherents. From the
heart of Europe the Bohemians looked eastward to the Christians of
the Slavic race for religious salvation. We read of envoys being
sent to the court of the Byzantine emperor to beseech this ruler
to send Christian teachers of the Slavic faith to Bohemia, as the
German missionaries could not make themselves intelligible to the
natives. These steps were viewed with considerable apprehension by
German bishops, especially after the success which attended the
proselytizing efforts of Methodus and his colleagues. The Byzantine
priests had brought with them a translation of the Bible in the
Slavic language of Macedonia. The replacement of Bohemian by German
was thus effectively prevented. Bohemia and Moravia definitely
became bilingual countries in the thirteenth century as a result of
the inflow of German colonists who responded to urgent appeals for
settlers made by Bohemian rulers in that period. The belt of German
towns which completely encircles Bohemia is a consequence of this
policy. The deforested zones of the west and northwest received the
largest number of settlers.
In western and northern Bohemia a struggle for supremacy between
German and Czech has been carried on for years with unabated
vehemence. The scene of contest between the two peoples is often
laid in individual communes. Clerical, industrial and educational
influences are constantly at work for the extension of the
linguistic area with which they side. On the whole the Bohemians,
being in command of superior pecuniary resources, appear to be
gaining ground, although from special causes the German element
shows an advance in certain districts. In those parts where mixture
has taken place no definite boundary between pure German and
Bohemian (i.e., in over 90 per cent of the respective peoples) can
be drawn. As a rule, it is the Bohemians who have of late advanced
their outposts into the German sphere, the Germanization of which
dates back some two hundred years. Although they have fallen
back somewhat in the tongue of land which projected into German
ground, north of Mies, they have gained much ground in Pilsen
and in the industrial region around Nürschan, west of that town.
Fifty years ago only some three or four thousand out of a total
population of fourteen thousand in Pilsen were Bohemians, but the
influx of population which has since taken place has been almost
entirely Bohemian. In 1890 the proportion of Germans in the city
only amounted to 16.2 per cent. Nürschan, the chief center of the
coal-fields of western Bohemia, boasts a Bohemian majority and if
the process now going on is continued the Bohemian population will
probably in time join hands with that in Mies.[148]
Further to the northeast similar conditions prevail, though the
linguistic frontier is in parts more sharply defined. In the
coal-fields of Brüx and Dux the Bohemian element has largely
increased on the German side of the normal frontier owing to the
influx of Czech miners. In Trebnitz again the Czech language
has gained a firm footing, although the town at the end of the
nineteenth century was entirely German. In the neighboring town
of Lobositz, however, which occupies an important position at the
junction of six lines of railway, the prospects from the German
point of view are brighter. The accession of Charles IV to the
throne of Bohemia in 1346 was an event of the utmost importance in
the linguistic history of the country.[149] This sovereign, the
successor of German princes who had never allowed Bohemia fair
play, showed marked affection for the land he was called upon to
rule and set himself to master its language thoroughly. For two
hundred years prior to his reign, Bohemian stood in danger of being
replaced by German. Other Slav dialects were fast disappearing
before the vigorous advance of Teutonic speech. Through its
literature alone the Bohemian language was preserved. This literary
development was an advantage which was not possessed by the Slav
languages, which gave way before German.
As a result of Charles’s benevolent policy Bohemian became the
language of the court. Furthermore it was used exclusively in
many courts of law, which were re-established through the same
influence. It was even decreed that speakers at the assemblies of
town magistrates should use the language of their choice and that
no one speaking only German could be appointed a judge. In this way
equality for the Bohemian language was obtained in the districts in
which Germans had settled.[150]
The creation of the Archbishopric of Prague and the foundation of
the “new town” of Prague dated also from the reign of King Charles.
Bohemian clergymen were encouraged to preach in the vernacular.
Their sermons reached the people and stirred them to thought. The
national movement against the Roman Church was thus facilitated.
But another cause favored the spread of Protestantism in Bohemia.
Antagonism to Catholicism was merely a special form of Bohemian
objection to German influence in the land. The Hussite movement is
therefore an episode in the prolonged struggle between Teuton and
Slav.
The enlargement of Prague infused vitality into the Bohemian
language. The new town was Bohemian in speech as well as in
sentiment. Slavic prevailed exclusively in municipal offices and
tribunals. Venceslas, who followed Charles, faithfully maintained
his predecessor’s attitude towards Bohemian. A notable advance
in favor of the language of the land was made in his reign by
a decision according to which all decrees of the court and the
government, which hitherto had been rendered in either German or
Latin, were to be henceforth published in Bohemian.
The University of Prague, which has always been a center of
Bohemian intellectual life, was also affected by these changes. In
the middle of the fifteenth century the German element in Bohemia
had complete control of the affairs of this institution. Its
chairs were filled by Teutons and its dignities awarded to their
kinsmen. In 1385, swayed by national aspirations and relying on
the predilection shown them in high quarters, Bohemians began to
protest against the presence of foreigners in their national seat
of learning. Their appeal found a response with the Archbishop
of Prague, who ruled that Bohemians were entitled to priority in
appointments to university offices, and that only in case of their
unfitness was a German to be selected. Complaint of this decision
was made by the Germans to the Pope and a compromise reached in
virtue of which predominance of Bohemian rights was obtained. The
appearance of John Huss on the scene of this struggle was the next
step in the task of completely emancipating Bohemia from German
rule.
The national movement fostered in this manner was to end
disastrously at the battle of the White Mountain in 1620. The
treaty of Westphalia removed all probability of the establishment
of an autonomous Bohemian nation. But Bohemian patriots have a
saying that “as long as the language lives the nation is not dead,”
and through all the dark days of the country’s history, in the very
heart of continental Europe, cut off from the surrounding lands by
a wall of forested slopes, the Bohemian language has held its own,
not merely as a vernacular but as a literary language worthy of the
nation’s pride.
A period of marked decline intervened, however, between the
seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The crushing blow inflicted
on Bohemian nationalism in 1620 was speedily followed by a rigid
German oversight of the country. Seven years later, Ferdinand
inaugurated a series of measures aimed at destroying the cause for
which Bohemians had sacrificed their lives. The German language
began to supplant the Bohemian. The “renewed ordinance of the
land,” issued in 1627, contained provisions for the recognition
of German in tribunals and government offices on the same terms
as Bohemian. The appointment of Germans to important offices was
a policy which marked this period. Its effects became perceptible
in the growing use of the conquerors’ language. The seventeenth
century is marked by a rapid growth of the Teutonic belt
encircling Bohemia. Luditz and Saaz were lost to the Bohemian
language in that period. So were the districts of Rokytince and
Vichlaby[151] in the eastern section of the country. But since the
beginning of the eighteenth century little change has taken place
in the German-Bohemian linguistic boundary.
Among the causes which contributed to the decline of the Bohemian
language about this time were the land confiscations which were
carried out on an extensive scale by the Imperialists.[152] Most of
the noblemen of Bohemia were deprived of their estates. As a result
about half the landed property of the country was taken away from
its Slav owners. This spoliation was carried on by the Catholics,
the despoiled and exiled Hussites being replaced by Germans,
Spaniards, Walloons and even Irish. This foreign element naturally
adopted the German language and Bohemian was abandoned to serfs and
peasants.
The humble tillers of Bohemian soil proved faithful custodians of
their native speech. They stored the language during two centuries
as though they had been gifted with the foreknowledge of the
splendid literary revival which was to mark its renaissance at the
magic touch of Kolár, Sofarik and Palacký. Coincident with this
movement national consciousness was reborn among Bohemians. Writers
and poets naturally took the past greatness of their native land
as the theme of their compositions. They told their countrymen of
the glorious days of Bohemian history. The movement fortunately
took place when the wave of liberalism set in motion by the French
Revolution was still advancing into the recesses of central Europe.
By the year 1840 all Bohemia had awakened to the idea of national
independence. Attempts to secure partial autonomy proved abortive,
however. Revolutionary outbreaks in 1848 were quickly repressed
by Austrian troops, but the struggle between the two elements
increased in bitterness as years went by.
At present two-thirds of the inhabitants of Bohemia are Bohemians,
and this Slavic element is gradually forcing its way into districts
which were formerly occupied exclusively by Germans. The causes
of this shifting are economic. The German element, controlling
industry and vested with authority, has attained a state of
relative prosperity. Even its poorest members are not attracted by
the prospect of work held out by Bohemia’s growing industry. The
less advanced Bohemians, however, not so content with their lot,
are attracted by certain kinds of labor which the German element
spurns. Having fewer local ties than their Teutonic countrymen,
they easily move from place to place. It thus happens that out of
the thirty-six German districts of Bohemia, twenty-two are now
fully 5 per cent Bohemian.[153]
The inhabitants of the Margravate of Moravia are also true
Bohemians. This state is a crown-land of Bohemia, to the east of
which it lies. Its population consists of 1,870,000 Bohemians and
720,000 Germans. Close affiliation with the kingdom of Bohemia
is revealed in Moravia’s past history. The two states formed the
nucleus of the Bohemian nation. At present Moravia is even more
truly Bohemian than her larger sister state, since three-fourths
of the landowners of Moravia are Bohemians, while in Bohemia that
element holds only about three-fifths of the soil. In spite of the
mountainous character of the country, and the isolation produced by
it, very slight traces of early tribal differences can be detected
among these Bohemians. In Moravia alone three distinct types can be
distinguished by their dialects and their physical or ethnographic
features. Dress in the last case plays an important part.[154]
The northeastern section of Moravia is known as the Lassko country
and is peopled by Lassi Moravians. This group occupies districts
mainly around the towns of Moravska-Ostrava and Frydland. South
of them a number of Slovak villages are found within the Moravian
border. Their inhabitants, sometimes known as Moravian Slovaks, are
emigrants from the Hungarian mountains who reached the western
Carpathians in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Although they
speak Bohemian, their customs differ considerably from Bohemian
usages. The balance of Moravia is peopled by Hanaks, who are easily
distinguished by temperamental differences from the previous two
groups. The Hanaks as a rule are calm and inclined to ponderous
ways of thought and action, whereas both the Lassi and Slovaks are
quick-minded and lively.
German expansion into Moravia is facilitated by the valley of
the March, which penetrates into the heart of the Margravate.
The Elbe and Moldau in Bohemia play a similar part as agents of
Germanization. As in Bohemia, the Germans are confined to the
border heights or the towns. In the thirteenth century many German
fortified towns existed in Moravia. The rise of a powerful German
middle class dates from this period. Intellectually as well as
industrially the Teuton element is the more advanced. Racial and
linguistic differences are accentuated by religious antagonism, the
German element being Roman in creed. The clergy in fact have acted
as a powerful agent of Germanization in Moravia.
The Slovaks are dwellers of the northern highland border of Hungary
who reached Europe in the sixth century B.C. They are closely
related by racial and linguistic affinity to the Bohemians and
Moravians. The course of centuries has failed to change their
customs or the mode of life they led in the western Carpathians.
The Hungarian plain spread out below their rocky habitation without
tempting them to forsake the huddled conditions of their native
valleys. Their language holds its own as far east as the Laborec
valley. Junction with Polish is effected in the Tatra.
Once only in their history did the Slovaks succeed in creating a
great nation. In 870 A.D., under the leadership of Svatopuk, they
established the short-lived Great Moravian Empire. Unfortunately
his successors were unable to maintain the independence of the
nation he founded and the empire crumbled to pieces before the
repeated attacks of the Hungarians. By the tenth century the
political ties between Bohemians and Slovaks were completely
severed.
In the fifteenth century the two peoples were drawn to each other
by ties of religion. An enthusiastic reception had been given
to the teachings of John Huss by the Slovaks. They adopted the
Bohemian translation of the Bible. Religious reformation was
followed by a literary revival and Bohemian became the language
of culture among them. It was mainly among Protestant Slovaks,
however, that the influence of Bohemian prevailed. The Catholic
clergy opposed the movement by encouraging literary development of
Slovakian. This linguistic struggle is maintained to the present
day. In spite of opposition, however, Bohemian remains the literary
language of the Slovak people. John Kollar, one of the greatest
writers of Bohemian poetry, was a Slovak.
The Slovaks number approximately two million souls spread over ten
of the “comitats” of northern Hungary. Their occupation of this
region antedates the coming of the Magyars. Survivals of ancient
Slovak populations are still met in the villages of central and
southern Hungary. Bohemian refugees of kindred speech and religion
reinforced this autochthonous element after the battle of the
White Mountain in 1620. These circumstances perhaps have prevented
their assimilation by the conquering race. The aristocracy alone
has intermarried with the Hungarians. The masses have no more
intercourse with the rulers than they can help. Linguistic and
religious differences intensify the breach.
While the Slovaks form compact populations in the mountains of
northern Hungary, their colonies are found scattered throughout
the southern parts of this country except in the Transylvanian
districts. The campaign waged by Hungarians to suppress Slovak
national aims renders the lot of these Slavs particularly trying.
The ancient names of their villages and towns are being officially
replaced by Magyar names, even where most of the inhabitants use
Slovakian as their vernacular.
Although Slovak-land is an integral part of the Hungarian kingdom,
it has proved an attractive field for German colonization since the
ninth century. The comitat of Zips was settled by a large colony of
Germans in the middle of the twelfth century. Fifty years later the
Teutons began to invade the comitats of Pressburg and Neutra[155]
by advancing from the west. In Bars and Hont, to both of which they
proceeded from the south, they were not known before the thirteenth
century. The Germanization of Slovak districts was particularly
intense during the Tatar invasion of this period. Hungary had been
grievously affected by this eastern scourge, and its kings offered
special inducements to repopulate their devastated provinces.
Their call was heeded by numerous families of German peasants. In
the first half of the sixteenth century almost every town within
Slovak boundaries contained one or two German families at least.
The heart of this German colonization was situated in the mining
districts of the country. Kremnitz and Nemecke Prava, as well as
adjoining districts, attracted heavy contingents of Teuton workers.
This movement ended in the seventeenth century when the inflow of
German colonists was checked by special legislation and the foreign
element was absorbed by either the Slovaks or the Hungarians.
The modern boundary of Slovakian language in Hungary starts
according to Niederle at Devinska Novaves near the confluence of
the Morva[156] and Danube. From this point it extends southeastward
to Novezansky and Leva. Thence it is continued south of Abanj as
far as Huta, which is the easternmost Slovak village. The line
now turns westward and skirts the Galician frontier as far as the
German border.
The area included within these confines is not altogether
homogeneous. The comitats of Neutra, Turocz, Bars and Gömö
contain enclaves of Germans. Polish and Hungarian settlements are
also known between Vrable and Neutra as well as at Abanj, west
of Kashau. Many Slovak communities exist, however, beyond the
region outlined above. These extra-territorial nuclei more than
counterbalance numerically the alien total in Slovak-land.
The most important localities inhabited by Slovaks outside of their
native land are Gran, in the comitat of Esztergom, and Budapest.
The Hungarian capital probably contains between 25,000 and 40,000
Slovaks. Their number in Vienna is estimated at 50,000. In other
parts of Hungary, as for instance at Kerepes and Pilis, highly
ancient Slovak communities are believed to represent survivals of
the people who lived in Hungary prior to the appearance of the
Hungarians.
Bohemia’s national enfranchisement, if carried out on a linguistic
basis, will rescue the old lands of the Bohemian crown, namely
Bohemia, Moravia and the Slovak districts of northwestern Hungary,
from Teutonic rule. The historical validity of Bohemia’s claims
to independence and the failure of centuries of Germanization to
deprive the Bohemian of his individuality establish the country’s
right to a distinct place in a Europe of free and harmonious
nations. The Bohemian has his own objects in self-development and
the achievement of his independence should be no disparagement of
the aims and pursuits of other nations.
FOOTNOTES:
[144] Official Austrian figures estimate the number of Slovaks at
slightly over 2,000,000. Slavic authorities generally give higher
figures.
[145] J. Zemmich: Deutschen und Slawen in den österreichischen
Südetenländern, _Deutsche Erde_, Vol. 2, 1903, pp. 1-4.
[146] L. Bourlier: Les Tchèques et la Bohême contemporaine, Paris,
1897, pp. 143-220.
[147] Census returns for 1910. New Inter. Encyc., New York, 1914.
[148] Quoted from the _Geogr. Journ._, Vol. 16, 1900, p. 553.
[149] According to data gathered by Niederle “the Bohemian
boundary in the fourteenth century started at Kynwart and passed
through Zdar, Kralipy and Komotan, the latter being German. Thence
it attained Most and spread to Duchcov and Dieczin. Bilin and
Teplitz were still Bohemian. The frontier then reached the German
settlement of Benesov and extended to Jablonna and beyond the
Iestred mountains until it struck the sources of the Iser river.
Reichenberg was a German city in the fourteenth century. The
Germans also occupied the mountainous land beyond Hohenelbe. This
town was then peopled by Bohemians mainly, but Pilnikov, Trutnov,
Zaclev and Stare Buky were already German. Starkov was Bohemian,
but the Brunov region and the Kladsko country was Germanized.
Olesnica and Rokytince were Bohemian. Beyond Policzka and Litomysl
the situation was similar to that of our day. Nemecky Brod
contained a German enclave. Jindrichuv Hradec as well as Budweiss,
Krumlov and Prachatice were inhabited by both peoples. The Kasperk
mountains were mainly German. The boundary in the Domazlice country
was on Bohemian soil. Klatovy was a mixed zone, while Tachov was
German.”
[150] Lützow: Bohemia, New York, 1910, pp. 71, 92.
[151] L. Niederle: La race slave, Paris, 1916, p. 109.
[152] Lützow: op. cit., p. 294.
[153] V. Gayda: Modern Austria, New York, 1915.
[154] L. Niederle: La race slave, Paris, 1911, p. 127.
[155] L. Niederle: La race slave, Paris, 1916, p. 106.
[156] The March acquires this name in its last stretch.