German Society at the Close of the Middle AgesBax, Ernest Belfort
History
German Society at the Close of the Middle Ages
Bax, Ernest Belfort
Germany -- Social conditions; Reformation -- Germany
The Wycliffite movement in England was less a doctrinal heterodoxy
than a revolt against the Papacy and the priestly hierarchy. Mere
theoretical speculations were seldom interfered with, but anything
which touched their material interests at once aroused the vigilance
of the clergy. It is noticeable that the diffusion of Lollardism, that
is of the ideas of Wyclif, if not the cause of, was at least followed
by the peasant rising under the leadership of John Ball, a connection
which is also visible in the Tziska revolt following the Hussite
movement, and the Peasants' War in Germany which came on the heels
of the Lutheran Reformation. How much Huss was directly influenced by
the teachings of Wyclif is clear. The works of the latter were widely
circulated throughout Europe; for one of the advantages of the custom
of writing in Latin, which was universal during the Middle Ages, was
that books of an important character were immediately current amongst
all scholars without having, as now, to wait upon the caprice and
ability of translators. Huss read Wyclif's works as the preparation for
his theological degree, and subsequently made them his text-books when
teaching at the University of Prague. After his treacherous execution
at Constance, and the events which followed thereupon in Bohemia, a
number of Hussite fugitives settled in Southern Germany, carrying with
them the seeds of the new doctrines. An anonymous contemporary writer
states that "to John Huss and his followers are to be traced almost
all those false principles concerning the power of the spiritual and
temporal authorities and the possession of earthly goods and rights
which before in Bohemia, and now with us, have called forth revolt
and rebellion, plunder, arson, and murder, and have shaken to its
foundations the whole commonwealth. The poison of these false doctrines
has been long flowing from Bohemia into Germany, and will produce the
same desolating consequences wherever it spreads."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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