3. The Four Articles of Prague

The program of the more conservative Hussites is contained in the four articles of Prague, which were agreed upon in July, 1420, and promulgated in the Latin, Czech, and German languages: (1) Freedom in preaching; (2) communion in both kinds; (3) reduction of the clergy to apostolic poverty; (4) severe punishment of all open sins.

4. Calixtines or Ultraquists, and Taborites

The views of the moderate Hussites were represented at the university and among the citizens of Prague; therefore they were called the Prague party; they were also called Calixtines or Utraquists, because they emphasized the second article, and the chalice became their emblem. The radicals had their gathering-place in the small town of Austie, on the Luschnitz, south of Prague. But as the place was not defensible, they founded a city upon a neighboring hill, which they called Tabor; hence they were called Taborites. They comprised the essential force of Hussism. Their aim was to destroy the enemies of the law of God, and to extend his kingdom by the sword. For the former purpose they waged bloody wars, for the second purpose they established a strict jurisdiction, inflicting the severest punishment not only upon heinous crimes like murder and adultery, but also upon faults like perjury and usury, and tried to apply the conditions required in the law of God to the social relations of the world.

5. The Hussite Wars

The news of the death of King Wenceslaus produced the greatest commotion among the people of Prague. A revolution swept over the country; churches and monasteries were destroyed, and the ecclesiastical possessions were seized by the Hussite nobility. Sigismund could get possession of his kingdom only by the power of arms. Martin V. called upon all Christians of the Occident to take up arms against the Hussites, and there followed a twelve-years' war which was carried on by the Hussites at first defensively, but after 1427 they assumed the offensive. Apart from their religious aims, they fought for the national interests of the Czechs. The moderate and radical parties were united and they not only repelled the attacks of the army of crusaders, but entered the neighboring countries.

6. The Council of Basel and Compacta of Prague.

At last their opponents were forced to think of an amicable settlement. A Bohemian embassy was invited to appear at the council of Basel. The discussions began on Jan. 10, 1432, centering chiefly in the four articles of Prague. No agreement was

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arrived at. After repeated negotiations between Basel and Bohemia, a Bohemian-Moravian state assembly in Prague accepted the Compactata of Prague on Nov. 30, 1433. Communion in both kinds was granted to all who desired it, but with the understanding that Christ was entirely present in each kind. Free preaching was granted conditionally; priests must be approved and sent by their superiors, and the power of the bishop must be considered. The article which prohibits the secular power of the clergy was almost reversed. The Taborites refused to conform, and the Calixtines united with the Roman Catholics and destroyed the Taborites in a battle near Lipan (May 30, 1434). From that time the Taborites lose their importance. The Compactata were confirmed at the state assembly of Iglau in 1436 and received the sanction of law. Thus the reconciliation of Bohemia with Rome and the Western Church was accomplished, and now Sigismund first obtained possession of the Bohemian crown. His reactionary measures caused a ferment in the whole country, but he died in 1437. Wyclif's doctrine of the Lord's Supper, which was obnoxious to the Utraquists, was rejected as heresy at the state assembly in Prague in 1444. Most of the Taborites now went over to the party of the Utraquists; the rest joined the "Brothers of the Law of Christ" (see Unity of the Brethren; also Bohemian Brethren).

7. Final Disappearance of the Hussites

The Utraquists had retained hardly anything of the doctrines of Huss except communion in both kinds. In 1462 Pius II. declared the Compactata null and void, prohibited communion in both kinds, and acknowledged George of Podiebrad as king under the condition that he would promise an unconditional harmony with the Roman Church. This he refused, but his successor, King Vladislaus II., favored the Roman Catholics and proceeded against some zealous clergymen of the Calixtines. The troubles of the Utraquists increased from year to year. In 1485, at the diet of Kuttenberg, an agreement between the Roman Catholics and Utraquists was obtained which lasted for thirty-one years. But it was considerably later, at the diet of 1512, that the equal rights of both religions were permanently established. Luther's appearance was hailed by the Utraquist clergy, and Luther himself was astonished to find so many points of agreement between the doctrines of Huss and his own. But not all Utraquists approved of the German Reformation; a schism arose among them, and many returned to the Roman doctrine, while the better elements had long before joined the Unitas Fratrum. Under Maximilian II., the Bohemian state assembly established the Confessio Bohemica, upon which Lutherans, Reformed, and Bohemian Brethren agreed. From that time Hussism began to die out; but it was completely eradicated only after the battle at the White Mountain (Nov. 8, 1620) and the Roman Catholic reaction which fundamentally changed the ecclesiastical conditions of Bohemia and Moravia.

(J. Loserth.)

Bibliography: An edition of the works which shall distinguish between the works of Huss and those of Wyclif which he used and translated has long been a desideratum; of an ed. of the works of Huss by J. R. Vilímek, Opera omnia, the following have appeared: Expositio decalogi, ed., W. Flajšhans, Prague, 1903; De corpore Christi, ib. 1904; De sanguine Christi, ib. 1904; Super IV. Sententiarum, ed. W. Flajšhans and W. Kominkova, ib. 1905; Sermones de sanctis, ib. 1907-08; the works in Bohemian were published by B. J. Ermen, Prague, 1865-1868; other sources are K. Höfler, Geschichtsschreiber der Husitischen Bewegung in Böhmen, in Fontes rerum Austriacarum, 3 vols., Vienna, 1856-66; Historia et monumenta J. Hus atque Hieronymi Pragensis, 2 vols, Nuremberg, 1715; the most available and so far the best source is Documenta Magistri Johannis Hus, ed. F. Palacký, Prague, 1869 (contains essays on the life and teachings of Huss); a volume of Letters attributed to John Huss has been edited with introduction and notes by H. B. Workman and R. M. Pope, London, 1904 (the one Eng. transl. direct from the originals).

On the life and teachings and contemporary history consult: J. Dobneck (Cochlaeus), Hist. Hussitarum, Mainz, 1549; F. Palacký, Geschichte von Böhmen, 5 vols., Prague, 1836-67; idem, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Hussitenkrieges, 2 vols., ib. 1873-74; F. P. E. Boisnormand de Bonnechose, Les Réformateurs avant le réforme, Paris, 1845, Eng. transl., New York, 1844; J. A. van Helfert, Hus und Hieronymus, Prague, 1853; G. L. Herman, John Huss, Dublin, 1854; A. Jeep, Gerson, Wiclefus und Hus, Göttingen, 1857; C. Becker, Die beiden böhmischen Reformatoren und Märtyrer, Nördlingen, 1858; J. Friedrich, Die Lehre des Johann Hus, Regensburg, 1882; E. L. T. Henke, Johann Hus und die Synode von Constanz, Berlin, 1886; E. H. Gillett, Life and Times of John Huss, 2 vols., New York, 1870; L. Krumml, Johannes Hus, Heidelberg, 1870; W. Berger, Johannes Hus, und König Sigmund, Augsburg, 1871 (a careful study); F. van Bezold, König Sigismund und die Reichskriege gegen die Husiten, 3 vols., Munich, 1872-75; idem, Zur Geschichte des Husitenthums ib. 1874; E. Denis, Huss et la guerre des Hussites, Paris, 1878 (reproduces Palacký's studies); A. H. Wratislaw, John Hus, London, 1882; G. V. Lechler, Johannes Hus, Halle, 1889; idem, John Wiclif and his English Precursors, London, 1884; J. Loserth, Hus und Wiclif, Prague, 1884, Eng. transl., London, 1884; D. Nasmith, Makers of Modern Thought, vol. i., New York, 1892; K. Müller, König Sigismund's Geleit für Hus, 1898; H. B. Workman, The Dawn of the Reformation, vol. ii., The Age of Hus, London, 1902; Neander, Christian Church, vol. v. passim; Milman, Latin Christianity, vii. 433-506; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vol. viii. passim; Pastor, Popes, i. 181-163; Creighton, Papacy, vols. i.-ii (contain much valuable matter). Ausgewählte Predigten of John Huss were published by W. van Langsdorff, Leipsic, 1894. Consult the literature under Basel, Council of; Constance, Council of.