§ 47. THE HUSSITES. 397
accepted the responsibility, took the cross and invaded Moravia. The war was still in progress when Podiebrad died. By the peace of Kuttenberg 1485 and an agreement made in 1512, the Utraquists preserved their right to exist at the side of their Catholic neighbors. Thus they continued till 1629, when the right of communion in both kinds was withdrawn by Ferdinand II. of Austria, whose hard and bloody hand put an end to all open dissent in Bohemia. ^
The third outgrowth from the Hussite stock^the UnitasFitatrum,, commonly called the Bohemian Brethren, has had an honorable and a longer history than the Taborites and Calixtines. This body still has existence in the Moraviaijs, whose missionary labors, with Herrnhut as a centre, have stirred all Protestant Christendom. Its beginnings are uncertain. It appears distinctly for the first time in 1457, and continued to grow till the time of the Reformation. Its synod of 1467 was attended by 60 Brethren. The members in Prag were subjected to persecution, and George Podiebrad gave them permission to settle on the estate, Lititz, in the village corporation of Kunwald.^ Martin, priest at Koniggraetz, with a part of his flock afhliated himself with them, and other congregations were soon formed. They were a distinct type, worshipping by themselves, and did not take the sacraments from the Catholic priests. They rejected oaths, war and military service and resorted, apparently from the beginning, to the lot. They also rejected the doctrine of purgatory and all services of priests of unworthy life.
The exact relation which this Hussite body bore to the Taborites and to the Austrian Waldenses is a matter which has
yet he was obliged to say that, though they were bound by no compulsory system of tithes, they filled their priests' houses with corn, wood, vegetables and meat. See Lea, II. 561.
1 The Utraquists came into contact with Luther as early as 1519. At the time of the Leipzig Colloquy, two of their preachers in Prag, John Poduschka and Wenzel Rosdalowsky, wrote him letters. The first also sent Luther a gift of knives, and the second, Huss' work On the Church, which was reprinted in Wittenberg, 1520. Luther replied by sending them some of his smaller writings. Kostlin, 31. Luther, I. 290.
2 The<»ld Moravian sch*»l for girls near Lancaster, Pa., gets its name from this colony. The wife of President Benjamin Harrison studied there.
398 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
called forth much learned discussion, and is still involved in uncertainty. But there seems to be no doubt that the Bohemian Brethren were moved by the spirit of Huss, and also that in their earliest period they came into contact with the Waldenses. Pressing up from Italy, the followers of Peter Valdez had penetrated into Bohemia in the later part of the 14th century, and had Frederick Reiser as their leader.^ This Apostolic man was present at the Council of Basel, 1435, and styled himself " the bishop of the faithful in the Romish church, who reject the donation of Constantine." With Anna Weiler, he suffered at the stake in Strassburg, 1458. One of the earliest names associated with the Bohemian Brethren is the name of Peter Chelcicky, a marked religious personage in his day in Bohemia. We know he was a man of authority among them, but little more. 2
Believing that the papal priesthood had been corrupt since Constantine's donation to Sylvester, the Brethren, at the synod of 1467, chose Michael, pastor of Senftenburg, "presbyter and bishop," and sent him to the Waldensian bishop Stephen for sanction or consecration.^ It seems probable that Stephen had received orders at Basel from bishops in the regular succession. On his return, Michael consecrated Matthias of Kunwald, while he himself, for a time and for a reason not known, was not officially recognized. The synod had resorted to the lot and placed the words "he is" on 3 out of 12 ballots, 9 being left
1 For the earlier history of the Austrian Waldensians, see vol. V., part I., p. 500 sq.
2 Goll, Untersuchungen, is a strong advocate of the dependence of the Bohemian Brethren upon the Waldenses for their peculiar views, although he denies that the two sects had any organic connection. Karl Miiller, Herzog Enc, III. 448, comes to the same conclusion. He is, however, in doubt whether Chelcicky was associated with the Waldenses. Goll is of the opinion that he was strongly influenced by them. Preger, Ueber d. Verhdltniss der Taboriten zu den Waldesiern des l^ten Jahrh., Munich, 1887, occupies an isolated position when he represents the Taborites as a continuation of the Bohemian Waldenses, with some modification. These two bodies were separate when the Bohemian Brethren began to appear on the scene.
3 So Lucas of Prag. See his writings in Goll, pp.107, 112. De Schweinitz, Hist, of the Un. Fmtrum^j). 141 sqq., accepts the ordination of Stephen as regular. Miiller questions it, Herzog, III. 452. .