Historical View of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic Nations: With a Sketch of Their Popular PoetryTalvj
History
Historical View of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic Nations: With a Sketch of Their Popular Poetry
Talvj
Folk songs, Slavic; Slavic languages -- History; Slavic literature -- History and criticism
Those of his works which caused the greatest
sensation, were his treatise 'On the Church,' and a pamphlet entitled
'The Six Errors;' both of which he caused to be fixed on the walls and
gates of the chapel of Bethlehem. Both were directed against
indulgences, against the abuse of excommunication, simony,
transubstantiation, and the like; and, above all, against the
unlimited obedience required by the see of Rome; maintaining that the
Scriptures presented the only rule of faith and conduct for the
Christian.
In consequence of this conviction, the correction and distribution of
the Bohemian Bible was his constant care. In all his Bohemian writings
he paid an uncommon attention to the language, and exerted a decided
and lasting influence on it. The old Bohemian alphabet, which
consisted of forty-two letters, he arranged anew; and first settled
the Bohemian orthography according to fixed principles.[18] In order
to render it more interesting and impressive to learners, he
imitated Cyril's ingenious mode of giving to each letter the name of
some well-known Bohemian word, which had the same initial letter, e.g.
H, _hospodin_, lord; K, _kral_, king, etc. Thus he devoted his whole
life to the different means of enlightening his countrymen; and justly
considered a general cultivation of the mind as the best preparation
for receiving the truth.
Among the coadjutors of Huss, the most distinguished was Hieronymus
von Faulfisch, more generally known under the name of Jerome of
Prague; who was, like Huss, professor in the university. In erudition
and eloquence he surpassed his friend; he accorded with him in his
doctrinal views; but did not possess the mild disposition, the
moderation of conduct, for which Huss was distinguished. His hatred
against the abuses of the Romish church was so violent, that he used
to trample under his feet the relics regarded as holy by that church.
He is even said to have once ordered a monk who resisted him, to be
thrown into the river. He was so great an admirer of Wickliffe,
several of whose writings he translated into Bohemian, that even when
preaching before the emperor at Buda, he could not but interweave that
reformer's doctrines in his sermons; an imprudence which caused him to
be arrested immediately afterwards at Vienna. He obtained his liberty
in consequence of the solicitation of the university of Prague. He
wrote several works in the Bohemian language, for the instruction of
the people, hymns, pamphlets, etc. His reputation for erudition and
extraordinary powers rests, however, more on the testimony of his
cotemporaries, than on his works, of which very few remain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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