Moravia were resentful at the introduction into the churches of what
they considered a barbarous language; and they saw danger to their
power, both in the adoption of a ritual which was understood by the
people, and in the assertion of an episcopal authority which claimed
to be independent of the German bishops. Nor was it only by foreigners
that the influence of Cyril and Methodius was endangered; an opposition
was roused even among the Moravians themselves. Svatopluk, the nephew
and rival of Rostislav, seems to have accepted some kind of nominal
Christianity, but unaccompanied by any change of life, or even by any
great reverence for the externals of worship; and he opposed the new
apostles of the Slavs with the greatest fierceness. The opposition
of this ambitious prince no doubt arose at first from his desire to
pose as the champion of the German party, who were undermining his
uncle’s authority. According to one story he had already attempted to
poison Rostislav, and having failed in that purpose he conspired with
the Emperor Louis against him, made him prisoner, and sent him off to
the Imperial Court to be tried. Louis threw Rostislav into prison,
and put out his eyes. But Svatopluk, though he succeeded in seizing
the Dukedom, did not long retain the confidence of the Emperor or the
German party. He, in his turn, was deposed and thrown into prison.
Then the Moravians rose against the Franks, under a man named Slavomir,
who, according to one story, was a pupil of Methodius. The Emperor
thereupon set Svatopluk free, and sent him at the head of an army
to suppress the new rising. Svatopluk betrayed his soldiers to his
countrymen, destroyed the German army, and once more became Duke of
Moravia. He now felt it impossible any longer to pose as the champion
of the German party; and he had married the sister of Duke Bor̆ivoj,
of Bohemia, in order to strengthen the alliance of the Slavs against
the Franks. As a part of his new policy, he was forced, for a time, to
encourage the movement of Methodius; and it was during this period that
the archbishop or one of his followers converted and baptised Bor̆ivoj,
and induced him to found two churches in memory of St. Clement of Rome,
whose remains Cyril had discovered in his expedition to the Chazars.
There seems some difficulty in ascertaining how far the Slavonic
ritual came into general use in Bohemia at this time. It is tolerably
certain, on the one hand, that Methodius did not desire to oppose the
authority of the Bishop of Regensburg, who claimed to be primate over
the Bohemian Christians; and that bishop, like all the German prelates,
was opposed to the spread of the Slavonic ritual. On the other hand,
it is clear that, as Christianity grew in Bohemia, it connected itself
with Slavonic traditions; and we find that in less than a century from
this time the Bohemian congregations had adopted a Slavonic hymn as a
necessary part of their ritual.
But, however slow the progress of Slavonic Christianity may have been
in Bohemia, Methodius does not seem to have excited there that savage
hostility which he continued to provoke in Moravia. Svatopluk and his
courtiers were, no doubt, indignant at the higher morality preached by
Methodius; and one of the claimants of the German Empire, with whom
Svatopluk was alternately in alliance and enmity, resented extremely
the authority claimed by Methodius over Pannonia as well as Moravia.
But, in order to strengthen their position, the opponents of Methodius
took advantage of his having come from Constantinople, to attack him as
a rebel against the Pope, and a supporter of the Greek heresy of the
Single Procession.
[Illustration: CYRIL AND METHODIUS, FROM THE WINDOW OF A CHURCH IN
CAROLINEN-THAL.]
The first of these charges was singularly inconsistent with the
traditions of both the brothers, who led the mission to the Slavs.
Cyril had been partially induced to go on his mission to the Chazars
by the unfriendly relations which had arisen between him and the
Patriarch of Constantinople. While in the Chersonesus he had discovered
the bones of the Roman saint, Clement, who had died there; and he had
ever since recognised this saint as the special patron of his mission
to the Slavs. After Cyril and Methodius had established themselves in
Moravia, they had applied to Rome for sanction to their work; and when
they had been summoned to the Court of the Pope, in consequence of this
application, Cyril had been so much attracted to the place that he
had entered a Roman monastery, and had abandoned the mission, for the
future, to Methodius. Methodius, on his part, seems to have been little
inclined to resist authority, where no moral or religious principle
was concerned. So in 879 he readily accepted the summons to appear
before the Roman Synod, and easily convinced Pope John VIII. of his
willingness to obey him. Methodius was equally happy in vindicating his
orthodoxy in the matter of the Double Procession.
But when these points had been settled, there still remained the real
subjects of dispute. These were the lawfulness of the Slavonic ritual,
and the position of Methodius as Archbishop of Moravia. Svatopluk had
thrown himself with eagerness into the cause of Methodius’s opponents,
and joined in the denunciation of the Slavonic ritual, declaring that
it degraded worship by connecting it with a barbarous dialect. The
champions of the Latin ritual attempted to strengthen their cause
by referring to the inscription written by Pilate on the Cross in
Hebrew and Greek and Latin. This argument brought them the nickname of
Pilatici, or followers of Pilate, while Methodius and his disciples
appealed, in answer, to the authority of the Apostles, who, on the
Day of Pentecost, had uttered in all languages the wonderful works of
God. Pope John seems clearly to have understood that the opposition to
Methodius arose rather from prejudice of race than from ecclesiastical
principle; and he recognised this fact in the Bull which sanctioned the
Slavonic ritual. For in this document he expressly required that all
the clergy in the diocese of Moravia and Pannonia, whether Slav _or of
whatever race they might be_, should be submissive to the archbishop.
A very noteworthy modification was subjoined to this decision which
seemed to stamp a popular and democratic character on the Slavonic
movement. “If Svatopluk,” said the Pope, “and the members of his Court
desire to use the Latin ritual, they may do so still.”
An even more crushing blow to the hopes of the enemies of Methodius was
given in a second decision of the Pope. The German party had persuaded
Svatopluk to appoint a preacher named Wiching as Bishop of Nitra in
Pannonia, thereby hoping at any rate to counterbalance the authority
of Methodius. Pope John, however, decided that he would only recognise
this appointment on condition that Wiching acknowledged the archbishop
as his superior; and he expressly recommended Svatopluk to choose
his next bishop with the advice and consent of Methodius. So alarmed
were Wiching and his friends at this letter from the Pope that they
succeeded in suppressing it, before it could reach Svatopluk; and they
forged another in which the Pope was made to say that Methodius had
indeed recanted his heresy about the Double Procession; but that he
was forbidden to use the Slavonic ritual, and that Bishop Wiching was
appointed to carry out the papal decrees.
Methodius denied the genuineness of the document, and wrote to Rome for
another letter. John confirmed his former decree, and summoned Wiching
to Rome to answer for his proceedings. Wiching, however, refused to go;
and he was backed in his opposition both by Svatopluk and by Arnulf,
the claimant of the Empire, whose hold over Pannonia had been one
of the chief causes of the opposition to the episcopal authority of
Methodius.
The relations between Methodius and Svatopluk, always hostile, would
now have probably culminated in the death or exile of the archbishop,
but that a quarrel broke out between Svatopluk and Arnulf; and the
desire of Svatopluk to overthrow Arnulf’s influence in Pannonia
naturally hindered his action against Methodius. For the few remaining
years of the archbishop’s life, he was able to carry on his work,
both moral and religious, with much less opposition; but when, after
his death, his friends attempted to get his pupil Gorazd appointed
as successor in the archbishopric, Wiching succeeded in stirring up
Svatopluk against him, in renewing the alliance with Arnulf, and
finally in securing the expulsion from Moravia of the leading followers
of Methodius. But in spite of the opposition of dukes and Germans, the
Slavonic ritual held its own in Moravia, and Svatopluk’s son Mojmir
became its champion against the bishops of Salzburg.
Important, however, as the defence of the Slavonic language and
ritual was in the history of Bohemia and Moravia, the enemy against
whom it had specially served as a watchword had ceased to become the
object of uncompromising hostility. A new power had made its way into
Europe, more dangerous, for the moment, to Slavonic unity and Bohemian
independence than Frank, Saxon, or Bavarian; and the Bohemians and
Moravians were for a time compelled to forget their fears and hatred of
the Germans, in order to combine with them against a new enemy.
II.
BOHEMIAN SAINTS AND WARRIORS IN THE TENTH CENTURY.
(885-997.)
The ideal of life and character hinted at in the Libus̆in Saud affects,
in an often contradictory way, the popular judgments of the prominent
characters of Bohemian history. So strangely does this tendency
manifest itself at more than one stage of the story, that it would
almost seem as if the ordinary conceptions of national greatness, and
sometimes even of independence, were entirely obscured by the Christian
aspiration after a peaceable national life. Kings and warriors,
who had done much to extend the prestige and power of Bohemia, are
remembered mainly for their cruelty and oppression; while saints, who
may in some degree have weakened the sense of Bohemian independence,
are not merely honoured, but are even put forward as the symbols of
distinctive national life. Thus, for instance, Svatopluk, the cruel
and unscrupulous persecutor of Methodius and his followers, might,
from the ordinary nationalist point of view, have been looked upon
as the establisher of Slavonic greatness, the champion of Moravian
independence, and even the protector of Bohemia and Moravia against a
cruel and barbarous invader.
Under his rule Moravia had become the centre of a great Slavonic
alliance extending eastwards to Bulgaria and northwards to Magdeburg.
The exact relations between the dukedom of Moravia and the other States
referred to may be difficult to define; but the whole story of his
relations with Bohemia shows that Svatopluk exercised an authority
there which was, at least, equal to that maintained by the German
Emperor over many of the states subject to him; and we may fairly
assume that he held a somewhat similar position towards the other
Slavonic States which surrounded him.
Such a position, in the then condition of Europe, could not but excite
rivalry and jealousy among the neighbouring princes; and Arnulf, the
Duke of Pannonia, who had aspired to the throne of the Frankish Empire,
was particularly jealous of a man whose power, as he considered,
had been largely due to the patronage which Arnulf had granted to
him. The exact merits of the numerous quarrels between these princes
it is impossible to estimate accurately; but it is clear that, as
Svatopluk gained power, he became more and more resolved to throw off
the authority which Arnulf found difficult to assert. At last Arnulf,
having lost hope of maintaining his authority by his own force, and
perhaps suspecting that Pannonia would itself fall a prey to his rival,
resolved to call in a new ally to his assistance.
The emperors of Constantinople had followed the tradition of the
Western Empire, by playing off their barbarian invaders against one
another. And, as the Romans had used their alliance with the Goths to
drive back the hordes of Attila, so the Emperor of Constantinople had
called on the descendants of Attila’s followers to protect the decaying
empire from the inroads of the Bulgarians.
It was apparently in the latter part of the sixth century that the
Hungarians, or, as some called them, the Turks, had been driven into
Europe by the pressure of other Asiatic races. They had been hospitably
received at Constantinople, and, after various fortunes, had settled,
in the eighth century, among the Chazars. But they were never allowed
to remain long in one place; and it was in consequence of their
alliance with the Emperors of the East that they overran Transylvania,
and secured their first settlement in their future kingdom. Even here,
however, they were not allowed to remain quietly, and another tribe
succeeded in driving them out of Transylvania for a time.
It was while this contest was at its height that the new invaders
attracted the attention of Arnulf; and, in the year 892, finding
himself in a desperate plight, he persuaded the Hungarians to join
him in an invasion of Moravia. Svatopluk fought gallantly against his
enemies, and more than once repelled them from his dukedom; but, in
894, he was finally defeated by the combined forces of his opponents.
Then comes in a story which illustrates in a startling manner the
Bohemian feeling that no military successes could atone for acts of
cruelty and treachery. Although Svatopluk was undoubtedly fighting
for the independence of his country, he was seized, according to this
legend, with so extreme a fit of penitence for his crimes, that he fled
from the battle to a secret place in the mountains, where he killed his
horse, buried his sword in the ground, and lived and died a hermit.
What gives a still stranger flavour to the legend is the cause which
Cosmas assigns for the Duke’s penitence; for this cause was not his
persecution of Methodius, but his ingratitude to Arnulf.
The ruin of the Moravian dukedom speedily followed. According to one
tradition, Wiching, Svatopluk’s German bishop, was used by Arnulf
to stir up division between the sons of Svatopluk. If so, he must
undoubtedly have used his influence in favour of the younger Svatopluk,
and against Mojmir, the champion of the Slavonic ritual. But, whatever
the cause of division, the fact of the civil war is undoubted; and all
the enemies of the country took advantage of it. In 896 the Hungarians
again invaded Moravia, and this time with much greater success. The
struggle was, however, continued for a few years longer, during which
the Emperor endeavoured to assist Mojmir; but at last, in 907, Mojmir
was killed in battle, and the old dukedom of Moravia was completely
destroyed.
[Illustration: TOMB OF ST. LUDMILA.]
Although the overthrow of this powerful State broke down, for a time,
a barrier between the savage invaders and the settled governments of
Europe, it seems, strangely enough, to have produced less immediate
evil to Bohemia than to the German principalities. It is, however, easy
to understand that the protection and championship of a neighbouring
State by such a ruler as Svatopluk may have had its disadvantages, both
in checking the independence of the country protected, and in involving
it in wars in which it had little interest. Indeed, it appears as if
Bor̆ivoj and his immediate successors were too much concerned with the
internal struggles of their country, to take much immediate interest
in the apparently larger issues which were being settled in the
neighbouring States. The Bohemian struggles were mainly concerned with
the rivalry between heathens and Christians. The zeal of Bor̆ivoj for
the new faith soon irritated a large number of his subjects against
him; and, being unwilling to maintain his authority by force of arms,
he abdicated in favour of his son Spitihnĕv. In the latter we seem
to catch a glimpse of a premature champion of toleration, who, while
desiring to encourage the progress of Christianity, resented the
excessive influence of the Christian priests, and declared that he was
equally the king of his heathen and Christian subjects alike. This,
however, was a position that it was obviously impossible to maintain
at such a transitional period; and, after Spitihnĕv’s death, Bor̆ivoj,
being recalled to the throne, resolved that the propagation of his
creed should not again suffer by the laxity of his family. He therefore
put his second son, Vratislav, under the special care of Methodius;
and, after Bor̆ivoj and Methodius were both dead, Vratislav’s mother,
Ludmila, continued to influence him in favour of the new faith. But the
power of Ludmila was counteracted, especially among the nobles, by
her daughter-in-law Drahomíra, who became the centre of the heathen
opposition to Ludmila and the clergy; and she trained her son Boleslav
to follow in her footsteps. Vratislav’s other son, Václav (or, as we
call him, Wenceslaus), was protected from Drahomíra’s influence by his
grandmother Ludmila; and thus the two brothers became the champions,
the one of the Christian, and the other of the heathen party, in the
State. The Duke was so little conscious of the mischief that was
brewing that, after building the town of Bolislava in honour of his
younger son, he celebrated the occasion by building a church in that
town in honour of Cyril and Methodius; and he apparently sanctioned
that division of his territory between his sons which was carried out
after his death. No sooner, however, was Vratislav dead, than Drahomíra
commanded the Christians to close their churches; and this order was
speedily followed by a massacre; nor was Wenceslaus able to save even
his grandmother Ludmila from the vengeance of his mother. Indeed, this
favourite saint of the Bohemians seems to have had so little vigour,
as a ruler, that he could not protect even the clergy, whom he most
desired to favour, from the intimidation of Boleslav and Drahomíra.
Thus, for instance, when he invited the Bishop of Regensburg to
consecrate a new church at Prague, the bishop was so terrified by the
threats of his enemies that he dared not come. It would, indeed, be
unjust to deny that the position of a Christian Duke in the midst of
this sudden revival of heathenism was a most difficult and dangerous
one; nor is there the smallest ground to suspect Wenceslaus of
personal cowardice. On the contrary, he is represented on two occasions
as offering personal combat to an invading prince, in order to save his
country from the evils of war; and no doubt, according to his lights,
he was very willing to sacrifice himself for the good of Bohemia. Yet
one cannot but detect certain weaknesses in his career, which may well
have alarmed some of the stronger, if coarser, statesmen, who stood
near the throne; and though he distinguished himself by many acts
of benevolence and devotion, and succeeded on several occasions in
preserving peace and preventing bloodshed, yet it was not wholly by
his virtues that he excited the indignation of the party led by his
brother. The tendency to encourage those who were engaged in other
work to become priests, and his excessive reliance on the authority
of the Emperor, might well have given occasion to a more reasonable
opposition than that which expressed itself in the mere persecution of
the Christians.
Nor is it a wholly satisfactory sign that his piety, like that of
Edward the Confessor, took the form of a contempt for marriage, or,
to use the ecclesiastical phrase, of the zeal for preserving his
virginity. He was therefore probably in the right when he meditated
retiring into a Benedictine monastery; but the Pope, glad enough, no
doubt, to secure a Christian Duke on the throne of a half-converted
nation, threw great difficulties in the way of his abdication. His
mother and brother, indignant at the frustration of their hopes,
resolved on murder; and as a first step, to their purpose, they invited
Wenceslaus to be present at the baptism of the son of Boleslav. So
unexpected a concession to Christianity aroused the suspicions of
Wenceslaus; but his religion throughout seems to have had a touch of
fatalism, and he went to the feast in the full expectation of death.
While the revelry was at its height, he withdrew from the table to
worship in the church; and it was there that Boleslav found him and
murdered him, while he clung to the door of the church for safety. The
murder was followed by a general massacre of the Christian priests,
among whom is especially mentioned Podiven, the follower known to
English readers as having warmed his feet by treading in the footsteps
of his master.[3]
The German Emperor was naturally indignant at the murder of his
faithful _protégé_; and he exacted from Boleslav, as the price of
peace, the recall of the banished Christians, the renewal of the
tribute which he had just remitted to Wenceslaus, and an oath of
allegiance, such as had hitherto been paid to the Emperor only by
German princes. Boleslav was apparently induced to submit to these
severe terms, partly by his fear of the power of the Emperor, partly by
a sense of the danger which was still threatening the civilised States
of Europe, a danger which could only be faced by an alliance with
the new ruler who had arisen in Germany. For while Bor̆ivoj and his
successors had been struggling to assert their power over their heathen
subjects, the old Saxon kingdom had succeeded in producing a champion
of European freedom and civilisation.
Henry the Fowler had thrown off the effete yoke of the Franks, and
rallied the Germans under his banner; he had then routed the Hungarians
at the celebrated battle of Merseburg, and had founded towns, by which
a new order of civilisation was being introduced into Germany. His son
Otto was vigorously carrying on the struggle against the Hungarians;
and Boleslav, however much he might dislike foreign rule, saw that an
alliance with Otto was the only hope for his country. The Hungarians
were now advancing into Bohemia, and Boleslav encountered them on the
frontier and completely defeated them. He then proceeded to suppress
a robber tribe who had given much trouble to Wenceslaus, and who had
established a castle on the borders of Bohemia, from whence they had
harassed the country.
The chroniclers declare that Drahomíra was swallowed up in an
earthquake, and perhaps her death removed the chief anti-Christian
influence in the life of Boleslav; for, to whatever motives of
conviction or policy the change may have been due, it is evident that,
from this time forward, he not merely abandoned his persecution of the
Christians, but used all his power to encourage their influence. The
son whose baptism had been the occasion of the murder of Wenceslaus,
became a monk; while the second son was trained with such effect in
the principles of Christianity that he afterwards gained the name of
Boleslav the Pious. But to the father of these princes the Bohemian
chroniclers are as inexorable as they had been to Svatopluk; and,
while Wenceslaus is remembered as one of the chief national saints of
Bohemia, his brother lives in history as Boleslav the Cruel.