that the time had come for presenting their Confession of Faith to
Ferdinand himself, and asking for a milder judgment than he had at
first been disposed to pass upon them. But the temporary retirement
of Soliman from Europe had now left Ferdinand at liberty to carry out
his plans of uniformity. Although the Brotherhood had now broken off
their intercourse with the Anabaptists, yet Ferdinand still remembered
that attempt against them; and he was even more embittered by the
recollection of Krajek’s disobedience. He therefore not only refused
to consider the Confession, but early in 1535 he issued an order for
the expulsion of the Brothers from all the towns immediately dependent
on the king’s authority. The Utraquists eagerly seconded the Catholics
in this persecution; and the towns of Vodnian, Klattov, and Taus
(Domaz̆lic̆e) were the first to carry out the order. The expelled
Brothers were also summoned before the royal Court in Prague to answer
for their offences. Amongst others, two young lords of Janovic, who had
been known as patrons of the Brotherhood, were summoned to Prague, and
condemned to imprisonment in the Black Tower of the Castle. A Brother
named John Zbornik, generally known as John the Hermit, was summoned
at the same time. Conrad of Krajek, however, maintained that Zbornik
was his serf, and that the young lords of Janovic were not responsible
for him. Then Conrad was ordered to appear himself, to answer for his
interference with the law, and at the same time to produce Zbornik.
Conrad came with Zbornik, and also with a large attendance of knights
and lords; but, in spite of their protests, Zbornik was condemned
without any regular trial, and imprisoned in the Castle for three
years.
Conrad did not yet abandon the cause; and he persuaded Augusta to
draw up an additional statement of their Faith for presentation to
Ferdinand. In this copy the original Article about the Sacraments
was modified, so as not to offend the Lutherans; and Luther himself
expressed his approval of this second document. Conrad now hastened to
Vienna, to entreat for the liberation of Zbornik and the young lords of
Janovic. He dwelt much on the illegality of the proceedings connected
with their imprisonment; but Ferdinand maintained the most despotic
principles of authority, declared that he was only bound to protect the
Catholics and the Utraquists, and told Krajek that the devil had led
him to his present faith. Krajek retorted that it was Christ, and not
the devil, who had led him there; and that, if Christ was a “Picard,”
then he (Conrad) was so too. Yet, in spite of his defiant tone,
Ferdinand seems to have been impressed by Conrad’s protest; for, in the
following year, Zbornik and the young lords were released from prison.
This release, however, was rather a concession to the principle
of legality than an abandonment by Ferdinand of his plans for
ecclesiastical uniformity; and he fully hoped, by securing firmer
support amongst the Utraquists, to crush the extreme Protestant sects.
He had promised, at his coronation, to support the Compacts of Basel;
and, in May, 1537, he appealed to the Bohemian Assembly so to enforce
the Compacts as to suppress those sects who did not accept them. After
a sharp discussion, the representatives of the Brotherhood were
persuaded to withdraw from the Assembly; but it was soon found that
the attempts at union had been brought no nearer to their realisation
by this exclusion. Many of the Utraquists objected to the Compacts of
Basel, as an attempt to substitute a new document for the words of
Scripture. Others maintained that the Catholic bishops had violated the
Compacts, and that they were still eager to suppress the Utraquists.
Though, therefore, the Catholics and Utraquists agreed in hating
the Brothers, they were not able to combine their forces for their
suppression; and a new outbreak of the Turkish war still further
hindered the designs of Ferdinand.
In the meantime Augusta had been trying to strengthen the union
between the Brotherhood and the foreign Protestants. He had visited
Bucer and Calvin at Geneva, had received a kindly welcome from them,
and had accepted many of Calvin’s doctrines about Predestination. But
his greatest hope and his strongest personal sympathies were always
directed to Wittenberg; and his translation and eulogy of a pamphlet
written by Luther excited Ferdinand’s indignant attention even during
the Turkish war. Threatened with arrest and imprisonment in consequence
of this publication, Augusta fled once more to Wittenberg. There he was
again welcomed by Luther and Melancthon; and he complained to them of
the growing corruptions of the Church in Bohemia, and of the increase
of luxury, even in the Brotherhood. Finally, he implored Luther to
interfere in these matters, and to establish a new system of church
discipline in Bohemia. Some suggestion of the kind had apparently
been made by other Bohemian exiles; but Luther was far too wise to
listen to the proposal. He had been willing enough to discuss matters
of doctrine with the Brothers, and to welcome them as friends and
allies; but he had none of the national mania for Germanising other
countries; and he recognised to the full the necessity for a variety
of customs, and even for modifications in the expression of doctrine.
“Do you,” He said to Augusta and his friends, “be the Apostles of the
Bohemians; I and mine will be the Apostles of the Germans. Do you act
according to the opportunities presented to you, and so will we.”
If Joseph II., in the eighteenth century, had been half as wise as
Luther was in the sixteenth, the relations of Germans and Bohemians
to each other might even now be considerably more friendly than they
are. After this interview Augusta returned to Bohemia, and devoted
himself, for the next year or two, partly to a defence of the Brothers
against the attacks of the Utraquists, partly to an effort to restore
the Brotherhood itself to that simpler mode of life from which it was
drifting away.
In the meantime, the progress of Protestant doctrine in Germany
had produced considerable influence on many of the old-fashioned
Utraquists in Bohemia; and they now offered fresh hindrances to
Ferdinand’s efforts after uniformity. Mistopol, the Administrator of
the Utraquist Consistory, and Mitmánek, a leading preacher, had been
particularly prominent in their attacks on the Catholics; and when,
in 1543, Ferdinand once more called together the Bohemian Assembly,
he found that his offer to enforce the Compacts of Basel was met by
a reaffirmation of the Four Articles of Prague in their simplest and
extremest form. This roused him to great indignation; and he now
insisted on further restrictions, both in ritual and preaching, and
even forbade any general meeting of the Utraquists, under penalty to
person and property. He insisted, however, that the celebration of the
anniversary of the death of Hus should be maintained as one of the
ordinary observances of the Church. But Mistopol succeeded in seizing
the opportunity of this anniversary for a violent sermon against the
Catholics, which he preached in the old Bethlehem chapel of Hus. For
this defiance Mistopol was summoned before the Court of Prague; and
though his sentence was deferred for a time, Mitmánek, his chief
supporter, was banished from the country. The attempt to conciliate the
Utraquists having thus failed, Ferdinand opened negotiations with the
Pope, which were to lead to the calling of the Council of Trent. Such
was the relation of parties to each other when, in 1546, the death of
Luther removed the last hindrance to the outbreak which was to change
the conditions both of Germany and Bohemia.
The formation of the Schmalkaldic League, in 1542, had already prepared
the Protestants for collective action; and the threatening attitude
of Charles V., coupled with the proposal for a Council, which would
undoubtedly condemn Protestantism, seemed to many of the more eager
spirits to justify immediate action. The Landgrave of Hesse and John
Frederick, Elector of Saxony, determined to anticipate the attacks of
Charles; and, not many months after Luther’s death, they marched into
Bavaria and attacked the town of Ingolstadt. But, scarcely was this
step taken, when it was discovered that Charles had provided against
the attacks of his enemies, by bringing to his side one of the most
formidable of them. Moritz of Saxony had been induced, by the promise
of his cousin’s lands, to desert the cause of the Protestants, and
to secure his new possession by force of arms. Ferdinand hoped to
reconcile the Bohemians to Moritz by persuading him to renew a former
treaty of hereditary alliance between Saxony and Bohemia.
But the Protestant feeling of Bohemia was too strong to be juggled
with in this manner; and, on March 18, 1546, a League had already
been formed for the protection of the civil and religious liberties
of Bohemia. They even went so far as to appoint a Committee of Eight,
who were to manage the affairs of the kingdom, and to raise arms and
men without asking the leave of the king. When, then, John Frederick
of Saxony suddenly entered Silesia, and seized on the monastery of
Dobrilug, Ferdinand found that large numbers of the Bohemians refused
to repel this invasion of Bohemian territory; and even those who went
to the war were unwilling to fight. Though Ferdinand at once sentenced
to death the leading mutineers, he could not hinder the citizens of
Prague from further negotiations with John Frederick. From refusal to
fight they rapidly passed into more active opposition; and at last
they even enabled Caspar Pflug to raise forces for the assistance of
the Elector.
As the struggle went on, the enthusiasm of the Bohemians rose; and
on April 7, 1547, the fiercer spirits of Prague suddenly seized the
Town Council Houses and bridges into their own hands, demanded a
safe-conduct for one of the men whom Ferdinand had just condemned
for mutiny, and insisted on the imprisonment of one of Ferdinand’s
Councillors, and the recall to the Teyn Church of a preacher who had
been expelled for heresy. They even compelled many of the Catholic
leaders to give in their adherence to the League; and all seemed
ready for an actual revolution. Suddenly, while the excitement was
still at its height, the news came that John Frederick of Saxony had
been completely overthrown at the battle of Mühlberg. Instantly the
more timid of the conspirators deserted the League, and even sent
congratulations to Ferdinand on his victory. But the fiercer spirits
desired to fight it out; and, as the troops of Ferdinand and Charles
advanced upon Prague, the citizens rang the alarm bell, and the
peasants flocked in with their flails from the neighbouring villages,
and repelled the first advance of the royal forces. The Burgomasters
and leading Councillors had had no desire to resist the King; but they
were completely overborne by the fiercer citizens; and, on the 6th
of July, the anniversary of the death of Jan Hus, an appeal was sent
round to the nearest Circles, calling on all the citizens to come to
the defence of Prague. Yet, in spite of this apparent vigour, there was
little real vitality in the movement; the leaders of the League had
hoped for the help of the Saxons; and when that failed, they had had
no desire to continue the struggle. The men who had now undertaken the
defence were utterly unorganised, and without any capable leaders. The
first forces, who came in from the neighbouring districts were defeated
by the troops of Charles; and, on the 8th of July, the city consented
to submit unconditionally to Ferdinand.
The first acts of Ferdinand on the recapture of Prague were marked
by an unexpected moderation. Comparatively few of the conspirators
were put to death; the great bulk of them were let off with fines,
or the surrender of lands; and most of the liberties of Bohemia were
confirmed. But it was felt, nevertheless, that all who had sympathised
with the insurrection were in a difficult and dangerous situation;
and the Utraquists, who had begun the movement, combined with the
Catholics, who had in many cases yielded to it, to lay the whole guilt
upon the Bohemian Brotherhood.
The Bunzlau district had no doubt been conspicuous in its refusal to
send forces to the Saxon war. Three or four of the lords, who were
condemned for their share in the insurrection, had been known for their
protection of the Brothers; and some of the Elders of the Brotherhood
had ordered a day for prayer and fasting during the insurrection. It
was resolved, therefore, to seize this opportunity for crushing this
unpopular sect, and the chief suspicion was directed against John
Augusta. He had indeed protested against the insurrection from the
first, but it was proved that he had come to Prague while it was
still going on; a visit to Liegnitz in Silesia was also looked upon as
suspicious; while undoubtedly the chief charges against him were his
known influence in the Brotherhood and his connection with Wittenberg.
Even the lords who had hitherto been favourable now disowned the
accused; and the Captain of Moravia, himself a member of the Society,
told Augusta that he ought to have prevented the insurrection.
The Archduke Ferdinand was ordered to take measures for carrying out
the intended persecution; and in the following year a Commission was
appointed, which reconstituted the Town Councils in various districts,
and ordered the new Councillors to proceed rigorously against the
Brothers. The chief persecution began at Litomys̆l, where several men
were arrested for singing hymns at the funeral of a Brother. On their
refusal to abandon the Brotherhood they were imprisoned in the White
Tower of the Castle of Prague; and, when threats and entreaties were
found to be of no avail, they were taken from the tower and thrust into
a hole into which the filth from the castle discharged itself. After
some months of this treatment several of them gave way; but the others
remained firm, and were at last set free on condition of withdrawing
into Prussia.
During the early part of their imprisonment, Augusta, from his place
of concealment, continually supplied them with money and letters of
encouragement. But the organisers of the persecution were resolved, at
all hazards, to make him their prisoner; and one of the most active of
them persuaded a leader of the Brotherhood to secure him a private
interview. Augusta had been taunted by some of the prisoners with
taking too much care for his own safety, and he therefore resolved to
risk the interview. Instead of the man who had appointed it, three
others appeared, who at once arrested Augusta and his secretary Bilek,
and carried them off to the White Tower of Prague. Thence he was
speedily removed to a wine-cellar, where he was chained hand and foot.
Soon after he was placed on the rack, and his side was burnt with
boiling pitch. The Archduke Ferdinand himself doubted the legality
of these proceedings; but the King was rigorous in the enforcement
of his plans, and he wrote to his son suggesting further means of
torture. Augusta, he said, was not to be allowed a moment for rest or
sleep; and, as one means for obtaining this end, an insect was to be
fastened near him which would worry him continually; or, as another
means of causing the same misery, he might be allowed food, but never
anything to quench his thirst. But, before the letter containing these
barbarous instructions arrived, Augusta had been removed from Prague
to Kr̆ivoklát, where he seems for a time to have fallen under a more
humane gaoler.
Nor was the persecution directed solely against a few leaders of the
Society. In the same month in which Augusta was arrested, a general
Edict had been issued for the expulsion of the Brotherhood and the
arrest of their clergy. As they were ordered to leave Bohemia within
six weeks, the Brothers in Litomys̆l entreated that a longer time might
be allowed for the sake of the sick and of the women who were in
labour; and they pointed out that a similar relaxation had been granted
in the case of the Jews and Anabaptists. This concession was, however,
refused; and the unfortunate people gathered together at Rychnov to
march over the Silesian hills. But though the lords, who had formerly
posed as patrons of the Brothers, now deserted their cause and joined
in the persecution, help for the journey was, nevertheless, provided by
the richer members of the Society; and the members of the Brotherhood,
who lived in those Silesian towns through which the exiles passed,
guided them securely through the dangers of the hills; nay, even many
of the Utraquists and Catholics were so touched by their sufferings
that they joined in this assistance.
At last the procession entered Poland, and the Brothers settled for
a time in the town of Posen. But, though many of the Polish nobles
welcomed them heartily, the Bishop of Posen stirred up the King of
Poland against them, and put them to such inconveniences, that many of
the Brotherhood accepted the invitation of the Elector of Brandenburg
to settle in his newly conquered province of Prussia. Not even in
Prussia, however, were the troubles of the exiles at an end. Mitmánek,
the Utraquist preacher who had been banished by Ferdinand, excited the
suspicions of the Elector of Brandenburg against the new-comers, and
even assured him that the Confession which Augusta had taken to Luther
was not really the composition of the Brothers at all; but that, in
truth, they were Arians and Novatians. An inquiry was set on foot into
the real doctrines of the Brotherhood; and, though the decision of the
inquisitors was mainly in favour of the Brothers, yet the restrictions
placed on them by the Elector were so galling, and the pressure upon
them to accept the Confession of Augsburg was so persistent, that many
preferred to take their chance once more among their Slavonic kinsmen
of Poland, rather than to accept the nominal protection of the Elector,
when accompanied with so many practical inconveniences.
Ferdinand’s schemes, for the unification both of State and Church,
seemed now ripe for further development. With regard to the question
of civil government many difficulties had arisen during the Turkish
wars, from the claims for local privileges put forward by various towns
and districts of Bohemia. When Ferdinand had required money for the
purposes of these wars, he had been forced to consider not merely the
constitutional rights of the Assemblies of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia,
and the Lausitz, but also the peculiar privileges of the district of
Loket, the miners’ rights in Joachims Thal and Kutna Hora, and, above
all, the extremely anomalous position of the town and district of Eger
(Cheb), which had claimed, ever since the fourteenth century, to be
more nearly connected with the German Empire than with the kingdom of
Bohemia. And even more embarrassing than any of these legal privileges
were the claims of the Assemblies of the Districts or Circles. These
were perhaps the most important check, which still existed, on the
power of the king. As the nobles gradually sank into mere courtiers,
and as the towns became, in many instances specially dependent upon
the King, that Order of Knights, which had played so important a part
in the Utraquist struggles, found it more convenient to deliberate in
their own districts, where they held an independent position, rather
than in Prague, where they might be outvoted by lords and citizens,
and overruled by officers of the King. These meetings of the Circles
were gradually gaining a kind of legal authority; and, both in the
Turkish and Saxon wars, they had formed an important check on the
action of the Assembly at Prague, and had considerably hampered the
designs of Ferdinand. They had even identified their interest at that
time with the provincial claims of Moravia and Silesia; and they had
maintained that an Assembly, composed only of those Bohemians who met
at Prague, could not decide on so weighty a question as the war against
John Frederick. Ferdinand, therefore, had come to look upon these
Assemblies as his most dangerous opponents; and, though he could not at
once suppress them completely, he contrived to limit their powers and
control their actions.
But Ferdinand had a special device of his own for counteracting local
independence and increasing the royal power. This was the creation of
a Chamber of Finance, called in German “Hof-Kammer,” and in Bohemian
“Komora Dvorska.” This institution was primarily introduced to meet
the difficulties of the King’s private income. During the reigns of
Ladislaus and Louis the royal lands had been heavily burdened with
debts; and Ferdinand’s relations with the lords, to whom these estates
had been mortgaged, had made it difficult for him to ascertain the
exact state of the royal finances. The duty of the new Court was to
inquire into the condition of the king’s Bohemian lands, and to base
upon this inquiry an annual statement of his needs. This statement was
to be followed by a demand from the various Assemblies of the exact
amount required. When this central Chamber of Finance was supplemented
by other chambers of a similar kind in the different districts of
Bohemia, it was clear that an organisation had been formed which might
bring considerable increase to the King’s power. The inquiry into the
condition of his finances would be accompanied by questions about the
inclination of each Assembly to concede the money required; and thus
questions of taxation would be to a large extent settled before they
had been submitted to the lawful authority. Such a scheme, however,
could only come gradually into operation; and it was during the reigns
of Ferdinand’s successors that the significance of the Hof-Kammer began
to be realised. In the meantime the King did not forget to provide a
more immediate security for the stability of the House of Hapsburg;
and, in 1549, the Bohemian Assembly was persuaded to accept Maximilian
as the future King of Bohemia.
But the union of the Church was as much a part of Ferdinand’s scheme
as the centralisation of the royal power; and Ferdinand supposed that
since the Catholics and Utraquists had united in persecuting the
Brotherhood, they would have no objection to accept the same bishop
as their spiritual ruler. But again he was mistaken. The Utraquists
were as determined as ever to assert their independence; and they
resented extremely the attempt to bring them under the rule of the
Catholic bishop. Indeed, so strong was the opposition which was roused
by this proposal, that many of the Utraquists began to repent of their
persecution of the Brotherhood, and even to show signs of sympathy with
them.
Ferdinand at once sprang to the conclusion that a new plot was on foot;
and, with a suspiciousness little short of insane, he assumed that
Augusta must be at the bottom of it. The torturers were sent down to
the prison at Kr̆ivoklát; and both Augusta and his secretary were again
stretched upon the rack. But, when no conspiracy was discovered by this
method, Ferdinand had to look elsewhere for the source of opposition to
his wishes; and it was now for the first time that he became conscious
of a weak point in his plans, which till then he had strangely
overlooked.