only called out new divisions in the Utraquist party. John Rokycana,
the preacher at the Teyn Church, heard of these negotiations; and,
though a strict and zealous Calixtine, he was a warm patriot, and by
no means disposed to put either his faith or his nation at the feet
of either Emperor or Pope. So in April, 1427, he preached an alarmist
sermon warning the people that their interests were being betrayed.
The people sprang to arms; Korybut was imprisoned; and Pr̆zibram and
several of his allies were banished from Prague. But, to prove that
the movement had a national rather than a doctrinal purpose, Rokycana
and his friends passed a resolution in favour of at least a modified
form of Transubstantiation. Thus Peter Payne was compelled to take his
part with the Taborites, while a new division was formed among the
Calixtines themselves.
But in the meantime the aggressive policy of Procop had roused Martin
V. to new energy; and since Germans, Hungarians, and Poles had each in
turn failed him, he entrusted the management of a fourth crusade to
an Englishman. This was the celebrated Cardinal Beaufort, who was now
appointed legate for Bohemia, Hungary, and Germany, and under whose
auspices a special Hussite tax was raised throughout the Empire. The
Margrave of Brandenburg and the Archbishop of Trier took the leading
part in the command of the army; and in July, 1427, the new crusaders
entered Bohemia and began the siege of Kladrau. While they were almost
hoping to capture the town, Procop suddenly advanced against them at
the head of the united Utraquist army. Immediately the strange panic,
which had become traditional at the approach of the Utraquists, seized
upon the enemy; and they fled to the town of Tachov, which was at that
time in their hands. Here Beaufort met them, reproached them with their
cowardice, and persuaded them to prepare for battle. But no sooner did
Procop’s army again appear in sight than the panic once more returned.
Beaufort, enraged, seized the banner of the Empire and tore it to
pieces in their presence. But the sense of fear was too strong, even
for soldierly dignity; and at last the indignant Cardinal was swept
away in the flight. Several new victories followed, though Pilsen
(Plz̆en) still held out against the Utraquist armies. Beaufort demanded
that a new anti-Hussite tax should be raised, and at the same time sent
a command to the men of Pilsen that they should abstain from a proposed
discussion with the Hussites on points of doctrine. The discussion
took place notwithstanding; and Rokycana and Peter Payne were appointed
to represent the Utraquist party.
The Cardinal might have spared his fears; for the result of the
discussion was to widen the gulf, not between the Catholics and the
Utraquists, but between the Calixtines and the Taborites. This led
to other discussions between the two Utraquist parties, of so fierce
a kind that it seemed as if their enemies might almost succeed in
profiting by their divisions. But those enemies were now becoming
thoroughly exhausted. The raids of Procop had brought home to Germans
and Hungarians the danger of provoking the Bohemians too far; while
among many of the German citizens the question was beginning to be
asked, whether a cause which enabled untrained peasants to strike
terror into the best armies of Europe was not perhaps the cause of
God. Under these circumstances the cry for a Church Council to settle
these matters by discussion, rather than by force of arms, was becoming
general, and, much as the Pope loathed such an idea, he found the
ground cut from under his feet by the desertion of his most sturdy
supporter. The war between France and England had suddenly received
a new turn by the appearance of Joan of Arc; and Cardinal Beaufort’s
anxiety for the success of his country decided him on the desperate
step of employing the money and men whom he had raised to fight against
Bohemia in the war against France. Alarmed as the Pope and his friends
were at this sudden desertion, they hoped for a time that the wonderful
Maid might herself take up their cause against the heretics. But
when this hope was cut short by her defeat and imprisonment, the cry
for a Council became again strong, and Martin was even told that, if
he sincerely desired to put down the Hussites, he would prove it by
granting the discussion.
[Illustration: CHODI BOHEMIAN PEASANTS OF THE BAVARIAN BORDER.]
The fiery Pope, however, was determined to make one last appeal to
arms; and this time he chose an Italian cardinal, Giuliano Cesarini,
to organise a crusade. Before the crusade could start, Martin V.
died; but Cesarini was as determined as the Pope had been on leading
the expedition to its triumph. The Margrave of Brandenburg was again
appointed commander, though the suspicions which his previous flight
had caused were so great, that the Cardinal and the Electors insisted
on checking his power by a Council of Nine. Sigismund declared his
approval of the crusade, and then wrote to Prague to assure the
citizens of his desire for peace.
In the meantime Procop had rallied his forces and advanced to the
borders of Bavaria; but they waited so long for the enemy that their
food began to fail, and some of the troops dropped off to forage for
supplies. The Germans, encouraged by this laxity, once more advanced to
the town of Tachov. The Cardinal desired them to storm the town; but
the generals decided to delay the attack; and the townsmen succeeded
in so well fortifying the town that the German army abandoned the
siege, and finally retreated to Taus (Domaz̆lic̆e). In the meantime
the Bohemians had collected their forces, and on Aug. 14, 1431,
they advanced towards Domaz̆lic̆e, singing one of their favourite
hymns, “Kdoz̆ jste Boz̆i bojovnici”--“Ye who are the soldiers of the
Lord.” The Cardinal went up the hill to consult the Duke of Saxony
about the arrangements of the battle, when suddenly he observed a
strange confusion, and heard loud cries in the camp of the Margrave
of Brandenburg. Soon after, Frederick himself came hastily to him, to
tell him that his army was in full flight and could not be checked.
The panic quickly spread; and this time it was so complete, that even
the waggons and firearms were left behind; while among the spoil the
Bohemians had the satisfaction of finding, not only the coat and
crucifix of Cardinal Cesarini, but even the Papal Bull sanctioning the
crusade against Bohemia. So ended the fifth and last attempt to crush
out the Hussite heresy by force; and it was now to be tried whether
the Doctors of the Church could succeed in convincing the heretics who
could not be conquered by the sword.
XI.
FROM THE OPENING OF THE COUNCIL OF BASEL TO THE FALL OF TABOR.
(1437-1452.)
The Council of Basel seemed to many to be the natural result of the
Council of Constance. The conception of a constitutional check on
the power of the Popes, and of a better provision for the orderly
government of the Church, was an idea which had become familiar to
the leading theologians of Europe during the bitter ecclesiastical
divisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. And it must be
remembered that, however unsatisfactory the results of the Council of
Constance may seem to us, the dignity of its members and the apparent
vigour of its action left a very different impression on the minds of
many of its contemporaries. It had succeeded in deposing and electing
Popes; it had burnt the heretics whom it had condemned; it had found
princes ready to enforce its decrees by fire and sword. And if that
last exercise of its power had ended in failure and disgrace, it might
be plausibly urged that the greater part of the war which it had
initiated had been carried on after the dissolution of the Council
itself; and it was held therefore by many that the summoning of a
similar Council would revive an influence in Europe more capable than
the Pope’s of crushing out heresy and restoring power to the Church.
It was just this consciousness of the popular expectation from the new
Council which strengthened the opposition of Martin V. to the demand
for its convocation. He may, no doubt, have honestly believed that his
personal initiative was more likely to produce the desired effect on
the crusaders than the necessarily divided counsels of a large body of
princes and clergy. But at the same time he was very anxious that the
experiment should not be tried of setting up so dangerous a rival to
the Papal authority.
For the time, however, the feeling of the orthodox world seemed, with
few exceptions, to be overwhelmingly opposed to his; and, even before
his death, the Council of Basel had already begun its deliberations.
But, from an early stage in the preparations for the Council, a very
different conception had been put forward of the purposes for which
it might be used. The Utraquists had from the first maintained that
they had not had a fair hearing before the Council of Constance; and
their early victories had roused a hope that some less partial tribunal
might give them that opportunity of discussion of which they had been
defrauded. In the dispute after the battle of the Z̆iz̆ka Hill, they
had had a taste of those delights of argument for which they hungered;
and the later victories of Z̆iz̆ka had induced Ulric of Rosenberg to
demand, and Sigismund to promise, that even the Taborites should have
their share in such a discussion.
In 1427 even Frederick of Brandenburg and Cardinal Beaufort had
actually prepared the way for a meeting which was to afford
opportunities for doctrinal discussion; and, though Pope Martin was
able at that time to prohibit the proposed conference, the Utraquists
did not lose sight of the prospect then held out to them. But, though
this conception of the more pacific purpose to which a Council might be
turned, naturally induced the Utraquists to listen with some interest
and hope to the arrangements for the meeting at Basel, that hope was
strongly mixed with fear and suspicion. To them, at least, the memories
of Constance brought nothing but bitterness and loathing; and the
evident hostility of those who were calling for the Council, led them
to doubt whether their experiences of Basel would be likely to be any
more satisfactory than the unforgotten wrongs of Constance. But, above
all other causes of discontent, was their ever-deepening distrust of
the promises of Sigismund; and at no time had that distrust been more
fully justified.
New promises for a fair hearing were despatched by him almost
simultaneously with preparations for a new war; and concessions of
the most hopeful kind were continually explained away. Even the great
overthrow of the last crusade did not bring to an end the fierce desire
of Sigismund to re-establish his power by force of arms; and the Duke
of Bavaria and the Count Palatine of the Rhine were eager to second
his efforts in a cause which most men now recognised as hopeless.
But the growing desire for peace was now increased by a terrible fear.
The rulers of Europe remembered that desire to throw off the power
of their predecessors, which had shown itself among the peasantry of
Europe after the failure of the crusades in the thirteenth century;
and which had been renewed after the overthrow of the French nobles
by the English invaders of the fourteenth. This same feeling was now
again apparent; and this time the hopes which accompanied it were
evidently based on more reasonable grounds. That the Saracen generals
should defeat the armies of Louis IX., or that the English nobles
should overthrow the French at Crecy and Poictiers, might be convincing
arguments of the weakness of the defeated parties; but they did not
necessarily prove that those who yielded to such opponents, would
succumb to the attacks of an untrained peasantry. Now, however, for
twelve years past, the peasantry of Bohemia, armed mainly with their
thrashing flails, had repeatedly put to flight the greatest armies of
Europe, and overawed their own nobility. Surely such an example might
give to the peasants of Germany and France some hope that a time was
coming in which they too might be the equals of their oppressors!
In the South of France the French peasantry rose in large numbers,
demanding that the nobles should, for the future, be content to earn
their bread by the sweat of their brow, and declaring that two priests
were all that were required for the spiritual needs of the country. In
Dauphiné collections were made on behalf of the Bohemians; while in the
Rhine district three thousand peasants near Bonn and Speier declared
their determination to overthrow the power of the clergy and nobles.
Under these circumstances, there was a general cry that, if the Council
did not come to terms with the Hussites, the peasant insurrection would
spread throughout Europe.
Nor, on the other hand, were there wanting strong reasons why the
Bohemians, on their side, should be eager for a peaceable settlement.
On them had fallen the main misery of the war; and it is a curious fact
that, in spite of their brilliant successes on the battlefield, much
of their country was still in the hands of the enemy. Not only was the
greater part of Moravia held down by Albert of Austria, but, in Bohemia
itself, the strong fortress of Carlstein, and the important towns of
Budweis (Budejóvice), Pilsen (Plz̆en), and Eger (Cheb), still held out
against the Utraquists. Moreover, the discontent with the power which
Procop had gained by his victories, was working among the more moderate
section of the Utraquists in favour of a settlement in which learned
men should have more power than soldiers.
Under these circumstances, an understanding was at last brought about;
and, in January, 1433, the representatives of the Bohemians arrived in
Basel. There seem to have been some five, or possibly six, Utraquists
who had been chosen to represent their party; but the burden of the
discussion, at any rate, fell upon four people, who were each entrusted
with the defence of one of the Articles of Prague. The most important
of these champions, and the one who was to gain most credit by the
discussion, was, beyond all question, John Rokycana. He had been
steadily advancing in reputation, both as a learned disputant and as a
moderate and judicious leader. The teacher from whom he had derived his
strongest convictions was Jakaubek of Kladrau; and he had, as it were,
inherited from him a special devotion to the practice of Communion in
both kinds. Rokycana, like Hus, had had great struggles with poverty
in acquiring his early education; and, though his doctrines naturally
connected him with the Calixtine section of the Utraquists, his obscure
origin, combined with his strong will and individuality of character,
often brought him out of sympathy with the aristocratic patrons of the
movement.
[Illustration: JOHN ROKYCANA.]
His first public action had been an attempt to make terms between the
citizens of Prague and Z̆iz̆ka, in the last year of Z̆iz̆ka’s struggle
with the nobles, and he induced the latter to abandon an attack upon
the city. His next prominent appearance had been of a less pacific
kind; for it was connected with his vehement opposition to the attempt
of Prince Korybut to make terms with Sigismund. Though, however, on
that occasion, Rokycana had been the chief promoter of the arrest of
Korybut, Pr̆zibram, and other champions of compromise; yet he had
steadily exerted himself to prevent bloodshed in the collision between
the two parties; and he had afterwards encouraged arrangements for the
bringing back of the Calixtine priests who had been expelled during the
struggles. Since the death of Jakaubek, Rokycana seems to have divided
the leadership of the Utraquist clergy of Prague with the Englishman,
Peter Payne.
Payne, as has been already pointed out, belonged, in doctrine, to
the extremer section of the Utraquists; but by his moderate policy
he had often been drawn into sympathy with the Calixtines. Since the
death of Z̆iz̆ka, he seems to have been frequently identified with
that party of Orphans who claimed to represent, more exactly than the
other Taborites, the policy of their leader. This choice of colleagues
contributed still further to distinguish Payne from the main body of
those who agreed with his doctrines; and lastly, the peculiarity of his
position was increased by that reputation for learning which was always
an object of suspicion to the peasant soldiers of Tabor.
The other two Utraquist delegates at the Council of Basel were entirely
representative of the Taborite party. One was Nicholaus of Pilgram
(Pelhr̆imov), the “Bishop,” as he was called, of the Taborites; and
the other was Procop the Great, the successor of Z̆iz̆ka on the
battlefield. Procop, though less cruel than Z̆iz̆ka, had a more
exclusive faith in physical force; and he was less interested in
questions of statesmanship, or details of doctrine; but, as the most
successful general in the religious wars, he could not be passed over
in the election of representatives.
On January 4, 1433, the Bohemian delegates entered Basel, accompanied
by a troop of three hundred horsemen. A great crowd came out to
meet them; and the windows were full of people of all ages and both
sexes, who gazed with astonishment on the strange dresses of their
visitors; while those who were determined to assist their eyes by their
imagination, discovered that these terrible heretics had repulsive
faces and cruel eyes. To most of the spectators the chief object of
interest was the famous general, Procop; and all strained their eyes to
get a glimpse of the man whose very name had become so great a terror
to the armies of the Empire.
Foremost among those who hastened to welcome the strangers was Cardinal
Julian Cesarini; and it must be owned that few men ever had a more
difficult part to play, or played it with more consummate tact and
success. It required some courage to claim the position of impartial
arbitrator, where one of the parties to the cause was a body of men
against whom he had recently proclaimed a destructive crusade; nor
could it be altogether gratifying to him to face in discussion men
who had won their right to a hearing by putting him to an ignominious
flight. Added to these considerations, was the further difficulty that,
while he heartily desired the success of the Council, he took part in
its proceedings as the representative of a Pope who had denounced it,
and who wished to dissolve it. But the Cardinal was unusually well
supplied with that graceful tact and ready wit which so distinguishes
his countrymen. He resigned the formal presidency of the Council in
deference to the Pope’s opposition; yet he not only remained in the
city, but even managed by timely interventions to gain as much control
over the proceedings of the Council as if he were still its official
chief. With regard to the Bohemian delegates, he evidently set before
himself, from the first, two objects, both of which he, in some
measure, accomplished. He was determined that the Council should pass
off peaceably, and that the Bohemians should have no cause to complain
that they had failed to obtain a fair hearing; but he was equally
resolved that, if concessions should be made to the heretics, those
concessions should be, indirectly, a means of weakening the Utraquist
cause. With the keen eye of a diplomatist, he at once noted the points
of division between his opponents, and the best means of making use of
them. Friendly as was his bearing towards all the representatives of
the Bohemians, the one whom he singled out for peculiar attention and
flattery was Procop; and the determination which he showed to bring
him and his friends to the front betrays a purpose which it is not
difficult to understand.
On January 10, 1433, the Council gathered in the Dominican cloister at
Basel, to receive their new guests. To most of the orthodox Councillors
it must have seemed a most humiliating moment when those, whom they
had hoped to exterminate as heretics, were admitted to argue on equal
terms, in defence of the orthodoxy of their doctrines. But Cesarini was
equal to the occasion; he welcomed the Bohemians as at last returning
to the bosom of their mother Church; and, while promising them a fair
hearing, managed to emphasise the principle that the authority of
Councils and of Fathers of the Church must be accepted as guides in the
settlement of points of faith.
Rokycana answered by admitting that the Councils and Fathers would have
their due weight with his friends; but he maintained, at the same time,
that the Council of Constance had condemned their doctrines without
a hearing. On their part, they were prepared to confirm all their
doctrines by reference to the Gospels and the other sacred writings;
they came to prove their innocence in the presence of the whole Church;
and they asked that they should have a fair hearing before laymen as
well as clergymen. The Utraquists were then asked what points they
wished to discuss in which they differed from the practice of the
Romish Church. They answered by enumerating the Four Prague Articles.
Cesarini now saw his opportunity, and he at once asked the Utraquist
representatives if there were not other doctrines which had been
specially put forth by them; for instance, he had heard it said
that they believed the Mendicant Orders to have been founded by the
devil. Procop immediately sprang up, and exclaimed that that was
perfectly true; for, since these Orders were not founded by Moses,
the Patriarchs, or the Prophets, nor yet by Christ, they must have
been founded by the devil. This extraordinary argument was naturally
received with laughter in the Council; but Cesarini insisted on
treating it as serious, and met it by an elaborate refutation.
On the 16th of January, Rokycana opened his speech in defence of the
granting of the Cup to the laity. While grounding his argument largely
on the custom of the primitive Church, he yet fortified it by reference
to decisions of Councils; and he asked whether any Council, before
that of Constance, had ever condemned the practice as heretical.
His speech produced a deep impression, even on his opponents; but the
effect was somewhat weakened when, a few days later, Nicholaus, the
Bishop of Pilgram (Pelhr̆imov), opened the discussion on the second
Prague Article, namely, the punishment by the Church of offences
against morality. He quickly passed into attacks on the priesthood for
the neglect of their duties, and became so fierce that he caused a
disturbance in the Assembly; so that Rokycana afterwards rebuked his
colleague for his intemperate language.
A less prominent delegate, Oldr̆ich of Znojem, was entrusted with the
defence of the doctrine of the free preaching of the Word; and the
Fourth Article, on the civil dominion of the clergy, was treated by
Peter Payne. Payne had always impressed his opponents with the subtlety
of his arguments; but he must somewhat have embarrassed his colleagues
by a defence of the doctrines of Wyclif; and, particularly by that
claim of the English Reformer that the temporal lords might, in some
circumstances, take away the property of the clergy. It was, however,
among his own countrymen that Payne’s appearance excited the most
irritation; and several of them sprang up to attack him, not only as
a condemned heretic, but as a traitor to King Henry VI. The hubbub at
last became so great that he was forced to end his argument by handing
in a written paper. Then followed the champions of orthodoxy; and very
bitter was the feeling provoked by the attacks of John of Ragusa
upon the Bohemian nation, as a whole. Cesarini exerted himself to
restore order; but he again insisted that the Bohemians should express
their opinions, not only on the Four Articles of Prague, but on the
Twenty-four Articles of the Taborites, which involved a modified denial
of Transubstantiation, and the rejection of many doctrines and rites
accepted by the main body of the Utraquists.