A History of Bohemian LiteratureLützow, Francis, hrabe
History
A History of Bohemian Literature
Lützow, Francis, hrabe
Czech literature -- History and criticism
Of Hlavsa Bartholomew writes: "John Hlavsa was born in the town of
Střibro (Mies), of honest and orderly parents, who belonged to the
estate of the townsmen. He also, having previously been a needy
scholar, afterwards became a schoolmaster. Then, after he married, he
rose in the world, and during the reign of King Vladislav obtained
a coat-of-arms with the title of 'Liboslav.' Having an enlightened
intellect and great talents, he was elected an alderman, and soon
obtained the highest rank in that court. How much good he did for
the king and the estate of the townsmen, that is known to many in
Bohemia and elsewhere; but as to the merits of the other (Pasěk)
there is silence. Thence, in consequence of the king's taking away
his appointments from the one (Hlavsa) and giving them to the other
(Pasěk), great hatred and jealousy sprung up between them and spread
widely; for it is the result of vain worldly vanity that every one
desires honours for himself and not for others. And yet we must
truthfully admit (let who will be angry with me) that through these
discords much benefit and profit was obtained, rather from the deeds
of the one who had not obtained the degree of master[122] (Hlavsa)
than from those of the other, as I have already stated. In consequence
of the differences between these two parties arose, one called that
of Pasěk and the other that of Hlavsa, and this extended to many.
Many also took part in these dissensions, and were enraged against one
another; the consequence was a lamentable persecution of one party by
the other."
Bartholomew, like most Bohemian historians of his time, lays no claim
to impartiality, and he attacks the Utraquists of the moderate faction
almost more ferociously than the partisans of Rome. Bartholomew was
certainly "a good hater," and his portrait of Archbishop Rokycan is
distinctly unfair. He indeed gives a totally incorrect account of the
negotiations of the Bohemian Utraquists with the Eastern Church,[123]
for the purpose of discrediting Rokycan by insinuating that he had
been treated with contempt by the dignitaries of the Greek Church.
Bartholomew, as already noticed, often extends his narrative beyond its
immediate subject, and he has the taste for theological controversy
which was innate in almost all Bohemians at that time. The last part
of Bartholomew's book deals with the election of Ferdinand I. as King
of Bohemia in 1526; it has considerable historical value, and has been
largely used by the writers who have reconstructed Bohemian history in
the present century. Bartholomew died in 1535, it is not certain at
what age.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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