A History of Bohemian LiteratureLützow, Francis, hrabe
History
A History of Bohemian Literature
Lützow, Francis, hrabe
Czech literature -- History and criticism
Brother Lucas was certainly one of the greatest men of the Unity,
probably the greatest theologian whom the community produced. It was
principally through the reorganisation of the community, that is his
work, that the brethren were able to play a considerable part in
Bohemian history. It is, however, an exaggeration to consider Lucas as
a "second founder" of the Unity. The main lines of Brother Gregory's
great structure remained. Of Lucas as an author, Brother Blahoslav[85]
writes as follows: "Brother Lucas wrote a great many books, but he
was not a very good Bohemian (writer); he imitated Latin more than is
befitting, and his knowledge of German was also harmful to him, for
his family came from a place where much German was spoken. 'In summe
Latinismos et Germanismos plurrimos admittere solebat.'[86] Therefore,
and also for another reason,[87] his works appeared to many not clear
and displeasing."
In connection with Lucas I shall briefly refer to his associate
Krasonický. Krasonický was, like Lucas, an adherent of the "large
party." He appears to have been a fertile writer, but many of his
works are known only by name. Among those that have been preserved is
a treatise addressed to Brother Amos, the leader of the "small party."
Another work of Krasonický, recently discovered by Dr. Goll in the
town-library of Görlitz, is addressed to Cahera, then administrator
of the Utraquist consistory. Its subject is the sacrament, a question
on which so large a part of the theological controversy of the period
revolved. Krasonický's treatise, however, goes far beyond the immediate
limits of his subject. Of the foundation of the Unity he gives an
account that is far more detailed than that of Brother Gregory, from
which I have quoted, though it does not contain many facts that are
found in the writings of yet later writers. Krasonický also refers to
the then all-important question of apostolic succession, the existence
of which he altogether denies. Even should it yet exist, he writes,
it certainly cannot be found within the Church of Rome. Like Brother
Lucas, Krasonický maintains that St. Peter never visited Rome. When
referring to those who had borne witness to the corruption of the Roman
Church, he mentions "Dr. Jerome Savonarola." He writes of him: "The
works that he composed, his letters to the emperor and others, prove
what his opinions were. Half the city mourned over him when the Pope
first caused him to be tortured, then publicly proclaimed what torture
had forced him to confess, and at last caused him on the public square
of Florence to be first hanged on a cross with two companions, and then
to be burnt." Dr. Goll is, no doubt, right in conjecturing that this
accurate account of the death of Savonarola is derived from Brother
Lucas, who was an eye-witness of that event. Other existent theological
works of this period are ascribed both to Krasonický and to Prokop,
who has already been mentioned. Blahoslav describes Krasonický as "a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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