A History of Bohemian LiteratureLützow, Francis, hrabe
History
A History of Bohemian Literature
Lützow, Francis, hrabe
Czech literature -- History and criticism
I will give a last quotation from the _Net of Faith_, illustrating
Chelčicky's views as to the manner in which the Church first became
possessed of worldly goods. It will be noticed how naively he here
refers to the grievances of the Bohemian peasants of his time,
and without hesitation speaks of them as existing at the time of
Constantine. "The emperor," Chelčicky writes, "having made a lord
of the Pope by means of the gift of a royal estate, and having
given him the honour of royal glory, ordered that everywhere in his
dominions churches should be built, and fields with ploughs attached
to them. Then the apostles of Antichrist, having settled down in these
churches, and being clever and thrifty men, amply enlarged the gift
of Constantine; besides their (church) farms, they obtained lordly
donations, woods, fishponds, taxes on the people, rich tithes; they
taxed all religious functions and their services, and for the purpose
of obtaining money they introduced the ringing of bells, and in all the
land near their church they sell (religious rites) at the burial of the
dead."
I have dealt somewhat more fully with the _Net of Faith_, as being
Chelčicky's most valuable and most characteristic work. It will
therefore be sufficient to notice but briefly his remaining writings,
particularly as there is a marked decline in the interest of what he
composed after the year 1340, when the _Net of Faith_ appeared. Of
the four books which--following Dr. Goll--I have called Chelčicky's
principal works, it only remains to notice his _Reply to Rokycan_,
which is generally considered the most important of his polemical
writings. While Rokycan, the Utraquist archbishop, was in exile from
Prague, he met Chelčicky, and a conversation between them began
concerning "the men who are called priests, and the slight advantage
they have conferred on men." The conversation was followed by a
correspondence of which only this treatise has been preserved. It is a
lengthy diatribe against the "band" of the ecclesiastics, and attacks
not only the Roman clergy, but also the priests of the Bohemian
National (Utraquist) Church, whom Rokycan, now returned from exile, was
endeavouring to organise hierarchically.
As already mentioned, many minor works of Chelčicky have become known,
some quite recently. Of these, the most important are the _Exposition
of the Passion according to St. John_ and the treatise _On the Beast
and its Image_. They are commentaries, the former on the last chapter
of the Gospel, the latter on the Revelation of St. John, a saint
whose particular influence on Chelčicky is often noticeable. Of other
minor works, the treatise _On the Body of Christ_ and that _On the
Foundation of Worldly Laws_ are most worthy of notice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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