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The Influence of the Czech in the of Kladsko

MELIC CAPEK

1. KLADSKO ON THE EVE OF THE HUSSITE REVOLUTION

It has been observed several times that the valley of the Upper Nisa River, which constitutes the district of Kladsko, is an image in miniature of the (Moldau) River basin which constitutes . But it has never been noticed that the history of this district shows the same basic features as the history of Bohemia itself. This is hardly surprising for the district itself was an integral part of the until 1742, and belonged to the archdiocese of until 1935. No wonder, then, that the general movement of Czech history is reflected more or less faithfully in the local history of the city and the region of Kladsko. This region went through the same alternating periods of glory and suffering, of material prosperity and tragic destruction, of cultural flowering and spiritual decline, which characterize the history of the whole nation of and . Let us recall at least the important corresponding phases of the national and local histories. In the tenth century, after the destruction of Great by the Magyars, christianized Bohemia took over the cultural heritage of the Eastern branch of the nation; its Northeastern frontier outpost of Kladsko, which at that time belonged to the father of St. Adalbert, then became very probably the main gateway through which Christianity was carried by the Czech apostles to neighbouring . When the Mongolian devastation of Polish created the demographic vacuum which began to be filled by German immigrants, the district of Kladsko was exposed to the same pressure of Germanization as the Western districts of Bohemia. One century later, when the establishment of the archbishopric of Prague (1344) and the University of Prague (1348) had loosened the cultural and administrative dependence of Bohemia on the , the person most closely associated with these two events was the man whose loving interest in Kladsko was later matched only by that of George of Podebrady and Bohuslav Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1185 Balbin. Ernest of Pardubice, first archbishop of Prague and first chan- cellor of the University of Prague, was possibly - at least, according to Professor Simak 1 - even a native of Kladsko; in any case, he was buried there according to his own wish in 1364. A brief description of his significance in the history of the Czech element in Kladsko will make more understandable the subsequent events in the Upper Nisa valley during the fifteenth century, events which have so far been largely ignored by Czech historians. It is hardly accidental that the first signs of the Czech reaction against the Germanization of Kladsko took place in the life time of Ernest of Pardubice. In the same year in which the archbishopric of Prague was founded, King John of Luxemburg, together with his son Charles, signed a solemn declaration stressing the inseparability of Kladsko from the kingdom of Bohemia: "Promittimus firmiter et spondemus, quod Castrum ipsum, Civitatem et districtum Glacensem ... ex quacunqua occasione vel causa a Regno Bohemiae nullatenus separare volumus aut debemus."2 Four years later, on the same day on which the University of Prague was founded, Kladsko - "dominium Glacense" - again was declared to be a part of the kingdom of Bohemia.3 Thus, the reaffirma- tions of the Czech presence in Kladsko took place simultaneously with the two most important events in the fourteenth-century-history of Bohemia - events whose significance for the spiritual and political emancipation of the Czechs with respect to the Holy Roman Empire, became clear only in the next century. Did Ernest of Pardubice, first archbishop of Bohemia and first chancellor of the University, play any role in focussing the attention of the - John and, later, Charles IV - on the importance of Kladsko? This is possible, though not certain. Neither is it certain that he was born in Kladsko; what is certain is that his father was the governor of the castle of Kladsko, that Ernest spent his student days there, and that his emotional attachment to that region lasted throughout his life. What is also certain is that his loving interest in Kladsko found its expression in concrete deeds by which the Czech elements in this area were unquestionably strengthened. On March 25, 1349, he was present at the consecration of the new Augustinian monastery at Kladsko, which he had founded.4 The monks

1 J. V. Simak, "Kdy a kde se narodil arcibiskup ArnoSt z Pardubic", Cesky iasopis historicky, XXXV (1929), 381-90, esp. 389. 2 LBS, II, 171; GQGG, I, 82-3. 3 LBS, I, 9; GQGG, I, 90-1. 4 GQGG, I, 57, 98. 1186 Milic Capek who settled in the new monastery came from the monastery of Roudnice, and were very probably of Czech ; in any case, their first prior was a Czech (Joannes natione Bohemus), who was also a "very learned man" (vir literatura magnce) according to the chronicle of the monas- tery.5 We shall see soon what effect this event had at the beginning of the . Although the foundation of the new monastery was inspired mainly by religious motives, national motives might have played some role too; in any case, they were thus interpreted by the German settlers atSchwedeldorf,who were reluctant to recognize the authority of Ernest, even though their village was on the monastery's estate. They had to be firmly reminded by King Charles himself of the loyalty they owed to the kingdom of Bohemia.6 After 1350, the situation of the Czech population in both the city and the district of Kladsko was visibly improving. Czech began to appear in various documents, particularly in commercial contracts, thus indicating the improvement in Czech social status. In 1356, the Czechs in the city, who were concentrated mainly in the so-called Böhmische Gasse ("platea dicta bohémica", according to Balbin), had two represen- tatives at the city court: Mirislaus and Blahut Berne (Böhme).7 As in many other towns in Bohemia at that time, they were either in a minority, or they were not proportionately represented in the administration. De- Germanization was far more pronounced outside the city, in the rural districts, where some noblemen began to recall their ancient Slavic origin. This was the case with the noble of Panvic and Haugvic in the Western corner of the district, whose names indicate their Slavic, and, more specifically, Lusatian, origin. When Diezcko (Détíich) of Panvic established the altar of St. Catherine in Dusniky (Reinerz) around 1350, he explicitly stipulated that there be no discrimination against the Czech-speaking parishioners in ecclesiastical matters; the officiating priest had no right to refuse them holy communion, confession, or extreme unction. This stipulation was confirmed by his sons in the special charter

5 F. Tadra, Kulturní styks s cizinou az do vdlek husitskych, 333; A. Prazák, Národ se bránil (Praha, 1945), 18. The stipulation that the monks of the mon- astery at Roudnice must be of Czech nationality was abolished by the archbishop Ernest, but this could not possibly have suddenly changed the ethnic character of the monastery. About the prior Joannes, who died in 1382, see Balbin, Miscel- lanea Histórica Regni Bohemiae, Liber III, Caput V, 5; GQGG, I, 100. « 'The letter of King Charles, , 1350', GQGG, I, 113-14. 7 Balbin, op. cit., Caput V, 3; P. Knöte, "Die Strassennamen der Graffschaft ", Graffschaft Glatz, 1926, 124; GQGG, I, 156-57. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1187 written in and dated March 1, 1366: it was nothing less than a declaration of equality for both .8 Another significant document is dated January 29, 1375; in it, the same sons of Décko signed themselves as "brothers of Dusniky" (jraires de Dussnik) thus introducing - probably reintroducing - the Czech for Reinerz. The content of this document is equally significant: it deals with the resignation of the altarist, Divis of Onétice, and his replacement by Zdislav of Pécin; the names of both priests are Czech, as are the names of the villages from which they came and which are located in Bohemia.9 At the beginning of the fifteenth century (1403), the stipulation of Panvic was renewed by the new master, Détrich of , lord of Nächod and captain of the district of Hradec Kralové (Königgrätz); it was under his rule that the castle of Landfried near Dusniky received its Czech name, Homole, which was probably its original name. In 1406, the same lord further stipulated that the parson of Dusniky, if he were German, must have a Czech vicar, and, if Czech, a German vicar; thus, the equal status of both nationalities was further secured.10 In 1401, Détrich Haugvic renamed the village of Friedersdorf - in the same Western corner of the region - Luznice.11 It would be a mistake to believe that this trend was confined to the Western corner of the Kladsko district, where the Czech element was always strong, and where it has survived to the present day; the process of de-Germanization was quite general. Thus, the Czech name Mezilesi, for Mittelwalde, appeared — or, rather, reappeared in 1379; similarly, Wünschelburg became Radkov in 13 86.12 Even more characteristic are the frequent appointments, in various settlements of Kladsko, of Czech ministers coming from Czech parsonages inside Bohemia or Moravia: conversely, priests from Kladsko were sometimes appointed in Bohemia or Moravia. Thus, in 1381, Oldrich (Ulricus) of Svatobof exchanged his place with the minister at ; in 1401, Zbynko of Bobolusk (in the diocese of ) was appointed to the same town of Landek, which

8 GQGG, I, 192-4; Max Perlbach, "Reinerz und die Burg Landsfried (Hum- melsburg) bis zum Jahre 1471", ZGAS, IX (1868), 275. The spelling Dieczko instead of Tyczko occurs in Stillfried, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Schlesischen Adels, II, 94, to which Perlbach refers. • GQGG, I, 218. Pècin is a Czech village on the Bohemian side of the Mountains near Rokytnice. It has never been Germanized. 10 Podlaha, Libri erectionum, VI (1927), 347; GQGG, II, 12, 21. 11 GQGG, II, 5; P. Kiemenz, Die Ortsnamen der Graffschaft Glatz (, 1932), 23. 12 Klemenz, op. cit., 40, 57; GQGG, I, 243. 1188 Milic Capek is located in the area earliest to be Germanized.13 The ministers at Radkov (Wunschelburg) were almost invariably Czechs: in 1378, Milota, in 1379, Velislav, in 1386, Blazek, in 1400, Hanko of Desna. In 1411, the priest Mikulàs came to Mezilesi from the Czech village of Lukavice (in Northeastern Bohemia).14 Even in the apparently "pure" German settlements, Czech ministers began to appear: in Wilhelmsdorf, Bohunko from Kuncice in 1367; in Reichenau, Hanko, in 1369; in Ullersdorf, Mikulàs Psota in 1391; in Waltersdorf, Striczko, in 1405.15 On the other hand, parsons from Kladsko were sometimes appointed to Bohemia: thus, in 1412 "Hanko presbyter" at Kladsko was appointed to Hradec Kràlové; in 1413, Martin, the minister at Bystfice (Habel- schwert) to Nàchod; in 1414, Brother Vincentius from the monastery of Kladsko was appointed to Kostomlaty. In the city of Kladsko itself, the Czech population had its own Church of St. Wenceslaus and its own minister; in 1413, on the very eve of the Hussite period, "Wenceslaus Kladsky" was in charge of the parsonage for a number of Czech villages around the city.18 Thus it is clear that the claims of some German historians that the Germanization of the whole area of Kladsko was completed around 1400 are far from true. Everything indicates that, while a number of villages were still Czech, the towns were probably bilingual, with the patrician German elements controlling the civil, but not always the ecclesiastical, administration.17 This situation explains precisely why the district could not possibly have remained impervious to Hussite influ- ence. Actually, we have documentary evidence that the general religious ferment which led to the Czech reformation reached the remote valley of the Upper Nisa in its very beginnings. On June 23, 1374, Mikulàs, the minister at Jaromér, was investigated by the episcopal vicar at Prague because in his sermons at Prague and at Kladsko, he had criticized the higher clergy and had defended Milic of Kroméfiz, whose disciple he obviously was.18 The fact that the denunciation of Mikulàs came to the attention of the highest ecclesiastic authority shows that his courageous

13 F. Tadra, Soudni akta konsistofe prazské, IV, 109, No. 1891; GQGG, II, 2. 14 Novotny-Simàk, Ceské déjiny, V, 5, 925; GQGG, II, 531. 15 GQGG, I, 206, 209, 259-60; II, 19. " GQGG, II, 531, 534, 533, 535. 17 Cf. the frequent occurrence of the "Tolmetcher" ("interpreter") among the burghers of the city of Kladsko; GQGG, II, passim. 18 V. V. Tomek, Déjepis mèsta Prahy, III, 312. The preacher Mikulàs held some sermons in the Augustinian monastery at Kladsko; Cf. Tadra, Soudni akta, I, 90, Nr. 98. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1189 sermons aroused considerable interest; neither the remote location nor the neighbourhood of Germanized Silesia protected the Upper Nisa valley from exposure to the influences which were then so decisively shaping the history of Prague and the whole kingdom of Bohemia. At about the same time - around 1370 - the Czech chronicler, Neplach, in bitter terms, charged the former King Otokar II of Bohemia, "who preferred to his own people", with the responsibility for Germanizing several frontier districts, including that of Kladsko.19 It is thus obvious that the growth of Czech patriotism, in particular the growing attachment to the native language, was a natural result of the alarming though peaceful, penetration of the German immigrants; the reaction against this danger may be traced back to the beginning of the fourteenth century, but it was only the Hussite reformation which provided, so to speak, an ideological basis for it. The emphasis of the Czech reformation on the necessity to understand the content of the Gospel, rather than on a passive acceptance of the ritual, led naturally to the use of the national language in worship. While the acceptance of Wyclif's ideas represented the doctrinal or theological element of the Hussite movement, the moral indignation against the abuses of the corrupt and wealthy clergy and monasteries constituted an important social, and even revolutionary, component of the same movement. By the resolute opposition of the Germans from Bohemia - and, as we shall see, of the Germans from Kladsko as well - the nascent conflict in Central soon became a clash between two nationalities. This became obvious in 1409, at the time of the famous Decree of Kuttenberg (Kutna Hora) when the Germans from the region of Kladsko and the adjacent parts of Silesia sided with the opponents of John Hus at Prague. Johannes of Wiinschelburg (Radkov) was among the forty-six German professors and masters who left Prague in protest against the new law which changed the structure of the university in favor of its native Czech component. Johannes of Miinsterberg (the Silesian town in the close neighbourhood of Kladsko) became rector of the new university which the departed German students founded at Leipzig.20 It was unfortunate that the resulting ideological and religious split followed the national cleavage lines; this was especially unfortunate in the case of Johannes of

" "Rex Premisl... terras etiam videlicet Cubitensem, Trutnoviensem, Glacen- sem Theutonicis tradidit suos postergando". 20 C. Griinhagen, Geschichte Schlesiens (Gotha, 1884-86), I, 230; P. Klemenz, "Das Glatzer Land und die deutsche Dichtung", in Graffschaft Glatz, ed. by E. Stein (Berlin-Friedanu, 1927), p. 166. 1190 Milic Capek

Wiinschelburg, who not only shared Hus's opposition to some repulsive and crude forms of superstition, but whose writings retained traces of Hus' influence much later, long after the death of Hus, even after the end of the Hussite Wars. No wonder the German Protestants in the sixteenth century claimed Johannes of Wiinschelberg as their pre- decessor; their claim was indirectly confirmed by Paul IV, when in 1559 he placed the writings of Wiinschelburg on the index librorum prohibitorum.'11

2. EARLY HUSSITE INFLUENCES

Yet, tragic as it was, the national antagonism between Czechs and Germans was real, and it was largely that nationalistic prejudice which made Germans, including the Germans of Kladsko, unresponsive to the Czech reform movement. The history of Bohemia shows it clearly, and so does the history of its border district of Kladsko, as reconstructed from the few available documents. This reconstruction is not easy for the following reasons: First, contemporary German and Latin documents record only the observations and opinions of those who were fanatically opposed to the Hussite heretics; consequently, any facts indicating Hussite influence in and around Kladsko are mentioned only incidentally and reluctantly. Second, as in the majority of sources from feudal times, most attention is given to people and events of the ruling patrician and noble classes while happenings among the peasants were almost com- pletely ignored; but the greatest appeal of Hussitism was precisely in the lower strata of the population. Third, the Hussite authors, as far as their writings escaped the destructive rage of the Counter-Reformation, were naturally more concerned about the main events in Prague and inside Bohemia than about the local events of the remote boundary districts. Nevertheless, the scattered, involuntary admissions in the German and Latin sources help us to reconstruct the probable extent of Hussite in- fluence in Kladsko. This reconstruction is much more valuable since it is based on generally hostile sources. The first important evidence of Hussite influence in Kladsko was recorded in the fifteenth-century chronicle of the Augustinian monastery

!1 Dr. J. Schmidt, "Johannes von Wiinschelburg", in Festschrift zu Dr. Franz Volkmers 75 Geburtstag, p. 32-44; Wiinschelburg's books, Liber de signis et miraculis falsis, written in 1444, and Tractates de superstitionibus (1445), show clearly - especially the latter - the influence of Hus, with whom the author rejects the hoax of the alleged "blood of Christ" at Wilsnack. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1191 at Kladsko, written by its prior, Michael Czacheritz. According to him, a certain number of monks in the monastery revolted and broke away from the Church. It is possible that some of them were former theology students at Prague and had had the opportunity to listen to John Hus' sermons; it is very probable that, as Hugo von Wiese thinks, they were of Czech nationality.22 It is not known whether this happened before or after the death of Hus; but it is hardly questionable that this happened prior to the against . In the spring of 1420, after the barbarous execution of Jan Krasa at Breslau (Vratislav) and after the city of Kladsko had opened its gates to the army of Sigismund on their way to Bohemia, nobody in the city dared to declare publicly his sympathy for the Czech heretics, even though, as we shall see later, some secret sympathizers did remain. But there is little doubt that the monks who openly defied the authority of the Church had to leave the city. The split in the Augustinian monastery was an image of the coming split in the whole region of Kladsko, in fact, the whole kingdom of Bohemia. Although the split largely followed national lines, the Czech followers of Hus were mostly among students, the lower clergy, the lower nobility, and, especially, the peasants; while the higher clergy, the wealthy nobility, the Germanized towns and the German monasteries were on the side of the Church and the Emperor. It is not the purpose of this study to follow in detail the military events in the district of Kladsko. This has already been done in a number of special studies;23 let us only recall that these events showed already then the enormous strategic value of the passes of Kladsko for the se- curity of Bohemia. It took the Hussites a whole decade to close the "gap of Kladsko" and thus to make Bohemia secure from the deep penetra- tion by the invading armies coming from Germanized Silesia. But this "closing of the gate of Kladsko" would hardly have been as effective without the active help of the pro-Hussite Czech element in the local population. This is what we will now follow in detail. The geographical location of Kladsko was such that it facilitated the spreading of Hussite ideas in the whole district particularly its Western

22 The manuscript of Czacheritz' chronicle, pp. 35-36, referred to by H. von Wiese in his article, "Das Glatzer Land im Hussitenkriege", ZGAS, XV, 371. It is unfortunate that this part of the chronicle was, as far as I know, never printed; the manuscript was in the archives of Breslau before the war. 23 H. von Wiese, op. cit.; C. Grunhagen, Die Hussitenkdmpfe der Schlesier (Breslau, 1872); F. Albert, "Die Hussitennot im Glatzer Lande", Glatzer Heimats- blatter, XVII (1929); M. Capek, A Key to . The Territory of Kladsko (New York, 1946), ch. IV. 1192 Milic Capek and Southern corners bordering on the passes to Bohemia. The adjacent district of Bohemia was famous for its early pro-Hussite stand; the famous hill with the biblical name of Horeb was the birthplace of the very active religious-military organization, the so-called Horebites, who eventually controlled the whole of Northeastern Bohemia with the exception of a few castles held by the imperial garrisons. Even prior to the outbreak of the Hussite wars, however, the "heretical influences" found their way into the Western corner of Kladsko. The above- mentioned castle of Homole was owned, together with the Castle of Nachod, by Detrich of Janovice; this common ownership, as well as the pro-Czech policy of the owner to which we referred above, certainly strengthened the links between the westernmost corner of Kladsko and Bohemia, and facilitated the penetration of Hussite ideas. After Detrich of Janovice, both castles were owned from 1411 to 1415, by Jindrich Lefl of Lazany, then a personal friend of John Hus.24 It was during his rule and with his permission that Andreas, the minister at Dusniky, exchanged its parsonage with Chval, the minister at Cernilov, a village in the neighbourhood of the already-mentioned hill of Horeb in the district of Hradec Kralove.25 It is easy to imagine how much such ex- changes of parsons between Kladsko and Bohemia furthered the ex- change of ideas. In the year of Hus' death (1415), the domain of both castles was bought by Bocek of Kunstat, the grandfather of the later King George, who held it until 1424. This was unquestionably one of the decisive events in the history of the Czech and Hussite element in Kladsko. Let us mention two recorded events of Bocek's rule: in March 1415, almost on the eve of Hus' death, the successor to Chval, the minister at Dusniky, who meanwhile had died, was again brought from Eastern Bohemia - this time, from Zarov near Kralove Dvur (Konigin Hof). The other fact is far more significant: on September 2, 1415, Bocek of Podebrady signed the famous letter from four hundred and fifty-two Czech lords protesting the condemnation and execution of Hus at Constance. In this way we have unmistakable evidence that the lord of one castle in Kladsko joined the Hussite cause.26 Unlike the former owner of Homole, Jindrich of Lazany, neither Bocek nor his

24 F. Albert, Die Geschichte der Herrschaft Hummel und ihrer Nachbarsge- biete, Erster Teil (Glatz, 1932), 56. Jindrich Lefl of Lazany offered hospitality to Hus at his castle of Krakovec in 1414; cf. Palacky, Dejiny narodu ceskeho, III, 88; V. Novotny, , Zivot a uceni (Praha, 1919), I, 2, 335. 25 GQGG, II, 531. 2t F. Albert, op. cit., 147-48; GQGG, II, 535. See Bocek's in Archiv cesky, III, 187. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1193 descendants deserted the Hussite cause. It was also during Bocek's rule at Homole that in the nearby monastery of Police which lies on the Bohemian side of the present border, an event occurred analogous to that at the Augustinian monastery at Kladsko: the revolt of the monks sympathizing with the Hussite cause (1421). These sympathies were not confined to the monks only; they found a considerable echo in the population which had to pay a ghastly price for it during the retaliatory invasion of the Catholic in the same year.27 The ruthless reli- gious-national war was then on; and although cruelties were committed by both sides, even objective German historians recognize that the initiative came from Sigismund's crusaders and Catholic Silesians.28 The situation in the Southern corner of the district of Kladsko was probably not much different; the same factors as those operating in the west were present here, though perhaps in a lesser degree. The Mezilesi (Mittelwalde) pass provided an easy communication with the eastern- most part of Bohemia, where the domains of the castles Litice and Zampach were in the hands of the Czech pro-Hussite lords: the first was owned by the same of Kunstat and Podebrady as the castles Homole and Nachod, the second by Mikulas of Zampach, alias Potstyn. About the latter, we know that in 1410, he was trying to obtain from the highest ecclesiastical authorities abolition of the decree ordering the burning of Wyclif's books; in 1415 he signed, like Bocek of Kunstat, the protest against the burning of John Hus. It is recorded that in 1416, he introduced a priest at Mladkov, a village located on the Czech side of the present border near the Mezilesi pass.29 All these facts make probable the early penetration of Hussite influence in the Southern corner of the Kladsko region, and the probability becomes certainty if we take into account the following interesting document. In October 1421, when the Silesian troops were marching from the city of Kladsko southwards into Bohemia in to join the main army of the Emperor Sigismund, coming across Moravia from , they found the hills

27 "Eidem abbati rebelles erant subditi in districtu Policensi, adhaerere volentes Hussitarum opinionibus et religioni". Quoted by V. V. Tomek, Pribehy klastera a mesta Police nad Metuji, 36. About the massacring of the inhabitants of Police in the woods of the hill Ostas: Tomek, ibidem, 37; Palacky DSjiny, III, 287, no. 95 (the latter erroneously regards "Ostas" as a town). On the ghastly details of the Silesian atrocities: FRB, V. 491 (the chronicle of Vincentius de Bfezova). 28 Cf. note 33. 2* A. Sedlaiek, Hrady, zamky a tvrze kralovstvi ceskeho, 2nd. ed. (Praha, 1931), II, 126, 267; Emler, Libri confirmationum, VI, 17 (Nicolaus de Potenstein alias de Zampach). 1194 Milic Capek around the town of Mezilesi guarded by "Hussite peasants" under the command of the lord of Zampach. These peasants were probably the inhabitants of the villages on either side of the present boundary; we must not forget that to speak of any definite border between Bohemia and Kladsko at that time would be a sheer anachronism. The defense of this pass was undertaken in spite of the great numeri- cal superiority of the attacking enemy force and, though unsuccessful, it showed the true spirit of the Czech peasantry in the southernmost corner of Kladsko. Incidentally, this was one of the earliest foreign invasions of Bohemia via the Mezilesi pass, and it resulted in the devastation of the area surrounding the Hussite castles of Litice and Zampach.30 True to the spirit of the feudal period, medieval historians hardly ever mentioned the part played by the common people in these events; the afore-mentioned document is one of the few exceptions. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that another explicit mention of early Hussite influence in Kladsko referred to a member of the old noble family, Hyncik of Musin. We know of his pro-Hussite stand from the letter of the bishop of Breslau, Konrad, dated March 4, 1422, announcing the confiscation of his estates in Silesia and their transfer to his cousin Hanusko, who remained loyal to the . As in other civil wars even the members of the same family fought each other. Hyncik is called "hus", "ketzer", and "Wicleff" and "possessed by an evil spirit"; he was at that time residing at the castle of Hostejn in northern Moravia, where, in the neighbourhood of the pro-Hussite lord Tunkl of Brnicko, he was safe from the bishop's wrath. Hyncik either died or was killed during the Hussite wars, since his wife Zofie, who owned a house in Kladsko, is mentioned as a widow in 1435.31 On the

30 SRS, 15-16. The lord of Zampach is called "von Santbach". One Hussite messenger was ambushed and burned alive. Cf. also von Wiese, loc. ext., 377-8; Griinhagen, Hussitenkdmpfe, 59, incorrectly places this event in April 1421. On the Silesian devastations in the area of Litice and Zampach: Palacky, Dejiny, III, 299; FRB, V, 516. The village of Bobischau, south of Mittelwalde, is clearly of Czech origin; it was recorded for the first time in 1358 under the name of "Bobrischow", and as late as 1631, "Bobischaw". ("Bobr" means "beaver" in Czech.) The nearby village of Glasendorf is recorded under its Czech name "Sklenarovice", as late as 1472 and 1479. About the Slavic origin of Mezilesi- Mittelwalde itself: M. Tschischke, Geschichte der Stadt und Pfarrei Mittelwalde, 1. Cf. also P. Klemenz, Die Ortsnamen, 41; Griinhagen-Markgraf, LBS. II, 186. 31 LBS, II, 248: "Heinczik Muschin uff Hoensteyne gesessin". Bishop Konrad's confiscations naturally deprived him only of that which he owned in Silesia, especially the office of prefect at Freiwaldau (Fryvaldov) not what he owned in Kladsko, which was not a part of the diocese of Breslau. His wife, Zofie of Stenovice (Sophie von Steynwicz) had owned a house in the city of Kladsko Czech Rejormation in the District of Kladsko 1195 other hand, another member of the same family, Niclas Mosch of Arnsdorf, whose Germanization is clearly indicated by his considerably distorted name, fought actively against the Hussites in 1427. Thus, within the noble families, too, the religious split occurred along the national lines.32

3. THE HUSSITE UNDERGROUND IN THE CITY OF KLADSKO. THE MARTYRDOM OF JOHANNES TRUTVIN

It is clear that in the first years of the Hussite wars, pro-Hussite feelings could manifest themselves only in the marginal areas of the district along the present Bohemian border; the main body of the district, including its capital, was firmly in German-Catholic hands, and, as such, it repre- sented a dangerous offensive wedge cutting deeply into Czech territory. As long as this offensive wedge was not eliminated, northeastern Bohemia was not safe from the threat of invasion, as the history of the first crusade, and, to a lesser degree, the second and fourth showed. Different circumstances prevented the Czechs from "closing" the gap of Kladsko for some time: enemy attacks on other sections of the Bohemian frontier, and the resistance of the imperial garrisons and the Germanized towns inside Bohemia naturally diverted attention from the situation in the northeastern border district, especially when the lack of unity among different revolutionary parties led to internal strife and even to occasional civil war. An important advantage was won by the Hussites when, after a long siege, they finally conquered the castle of Opocno on the Bohemian side of the Eagle Mountains (Adlergebirge), whose owner remained loyal to Emperor Sigismund. Only after clearing since 1416. In 1435, she was already called "widow". Cf. GQGG, II, 7, 542, 175; GQGG, IV, 177. "Stenovice" - called "Stynowicz" in 1416 - is clearly a Czech name. 32 The names "Heinczik" and "Hanuschko" indicate an interesting overlapping of Czech and German linguistic influences: while the roots, Heinrich and Hans are clearly German, the endings are equally clearly Slavic. The family of Mu§in (called also Muschin, Mosch, Moschaw, and Mosche, according to the degree of Germanization of individual members) was of Slavic, more specifically Lusatian (Wendish), origin. Its presence in Kladsko is recorded as early as 1346: "Henricus et Jerco Muschin", LBS, II, 42. The family gave its name to the settlement of Moschenhof near Grafenort; cf. Klemenz, op. cit., 42. About Niclas Mosch and his anti-Hussitism: von Wiese, loc. cit., 403. Alena Kopalova in her article, "Spoluprace Cechu a Polaku za husitskych valek", in Cesko-polsky sbornik vedeckych praci (Praha, 1955), mentions briefly the Hussitism of Hyniik of MuSin, without, however, knowing his origin in and his relations with Kladsko. 1196 Milic Capek the outer slopes of the Kladsko salient of the disloyal elements were the Hussites finally ready for the systematic liquidation of the offensive salient itself. Yet, the action against Radkov and Wartha at the end of 1425 had the character of a mere retaliatory raid rather than of syste- matic counter-offensive; the burning of the Catholic priest at Radkov then showed that intolerance and fanaticism were not confined to the German-Catholic crusaders. No matter how repulsive this individual act of cruelty appears to our modern sensibilities, it was dwarfed by the barbarous masstrocities committed by the Silesian Germans when they invaded the region of Nachod from Kladsko in August 1427, in the operation conceived as a part of the .33 We are probably not far from the truth if we regard the indignation over the atrocities then committed as one of the motives which strengthened the decision of the Hussite leaders to undertake a major operation soon against the launching platform of invasions at Kladsko, especially since the decisive defeat of the fourth crusade had freed the Western boundary of Bohemia from any diversionary threat. The operation against the salient of Kladsko had to wait until the spring of 1428, when it was a part of the larger operation against the whole of Silesia. While the main Hussite army invaded from Moravia through the gate, the smaller force from Eastern Bohemia advanced through the Kladsko region. This smaller force itself consisted of two parts: one, the Hussite troops from the district of Chrudim, moved from the South, through the Mezilesi pass, while the second part, consisting mainly of the Horebites (i.e., the Hussites of the district of Hradec Kralove) arrived through the Nachod pass. The task of the Horebites was especially easy, since both the castles controlling the Nachod pass, Nachod and Homole, were already in Hussite hands; furthermore, there are some indications that the sympathies of the population in the Western corner of Kladsko were on their side. The task of the first force advancing from the South along the Nisa River was probably more arduous, since its way was partly blocked by the enemy garrisons at the castle of Schnellenstein and in the towns of Mezilesi and Bystrice (Habelschwert); nevertheless, both forces made their junction in mid-March at the center of the Upper Nisa basin, in

•rl Griinhagen, Hussitenkampje der Schlesier, pp. 100-2, about the Hussite con- quest of Radkov; pp. 126-7, about the Silesian massacres in Nachod, where even sick people in the hospital were not spared. It was also Griinhagen who conceded that the Silesians were guilty of initiating this kind of warfare (Geschichte Schle- siens, I, 242). Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1197 front of the city of Kladsko. The subsequent siege of the city, which lasted for about two weeks, was unsuccessful, since its defense was ably organized by the Catholic Czech lord Puta of Castolovice, and en- couraged by the fanatical exhortations of the prior of the Augustinian monastery, Heinrich Vogtsdorf. The besieging Hussite force thus de- cided to lift the siege and join the main Hussite army beyond the northern rim of the Kladsko region. This took place in the first days of April, before the town of Reichenbach.34 We know of one document which was written only a few weeks later, May 16-23, at Breslau; it is highly revealing, and, for the purpose of our study, especially important. In this document, an account was given of numerous peasants who joined the Hussite forces then operating in Silesia.35 Since the document is dated after the junction of the Hussite forces at Reichenbach, it clearly implies that at least a part of the total number of the peasants who swelled the Hussite army came from the region of Kladsko. In truth, their number was probably far from negligible, if we keep in mind that the main part of the Hussite forces came through Upper Silesia, where the peasant population was then still solidly Polish. Now if we concede the influence of the Hussite movement among the Polish peasants, who generally tended to remain loyal to the Catholic Church, and who were geographically further away from the main foci of the heretical move- ment, we have one more reason to concede a similar if not greater in- fluence of Hussitism on the Czech peasants of Kladsko. In any case, nothing would be more preposterous than to claim that all peasants who joined the Hussites were from Upper Silesia. The afore-mentioned German document differs from the majority of Catholic sources dealing with this period in acknowledging the unusual discipline of these peasant troops, who neither plundered nor murdered in the villages, but acted only against churches, monasteries, big land- owners - and inns! The strange character of the Hussite movement, socially radical as well as puritan, is well-illustrated by this document; it refutes the widespread propaganda of some German-Catholic histo- rians, later accepted by the Nazis, about "the Hussite (or Hussite- bolshevik!) bands of robbers and killers"; but it equally refutes the

34 Griinhagen, Hussitenkampfe, 141-144; Max Perlbach, "Reinerz und die Burg Landsfried bis zum Jahre 1477", ZGAS, IX (1868), 183-5; V. V. Tomek, Dejiny valek husitskych (Praha 1898), 399-400. All these works make the same mistake in claiming that the castle of Homole was conquered at the same time (1428), although it had been in the hands of the Hussite captain MikulaS Trika of Lipa a year before. 35 F. Palacky, Dejiny, III, 394, note 365; SRS, VI, 64-66. 1198 Milic Capek present claims of officially appointed historians in Communist Czechoslovakia about the exclusively "economic character" of the Hussite reformation. According to some Communist pseudo-historians, Hussite indignation over the moral abuses of the rich clergy was merely ideo- logically dressed economic discontent or envy caused by the wealth of the upper social class. The very opposite was true: Hussite social con- cern was a consequence of their general ethical and religious concern. In this respect, Palacky was right when he stressed the significance of the document referred to above. But no matter how probable the participation of the peasants of Kladsko in the Hussite expedition to Silesia, it still remains a conjecture. Our general conclusion, however, does not depend on it alone; there are other documents whose testimony is explicit and un- ambiguous. They refer to the end of the same year, when Kladsko was invaded again by a Hussite force coming via Nachod and Homole from Bohemia. This force established its camp west of the city of Kladsko, around Stivnice (Schwedelsdorf), in December 1428. It was at that time that the Hussite underground began to stir in the city itself. We know about this from a letter of the Silesian captain, Albert of Kolditz, dated December 21, 1428 which mentions the following facts: the arrest of forty "traitors" in Kladsko, who conspired to take over the city; the presence of the special hangman there from Schweidnitz who, for two weeks, was "daily busy" in exterminating them. The letter ends with a warning against treason, since "they [Hussites] continue to incite more and more people". Although nothing specific is said about the nationality of the conspirators, except that they were in part the messengers and servants of the lords, it can hardly be questioned that the majority of them were Czechs.36 Even more specific is another document, which tells us about the priest, Johannes Trutvin of Bystfice (Habelschwedt) who, because of his contacts with the Hussites, was thrown into the icy waters of the Nisa River at the beginning of 1429. His story can be reconstructed in the following way: In 1423, a burgher of his native town of Bystfice, (Habelschwerdt) ordered in his testament that his fortune be used to establish a new altar. Two artisans of Bystfice, who were designated to carry out the provisions of the will, gave the money to their - citizen, Trutvin, at that time rector of the church altar at Chrudim, "trusting his integrity and virtue" ("probitate et virtutum meritis

35 SRS, VI, 77; GQGG, II, 151; von Wiese, op. cit., 418. I see no evidence in Kolditz' letter of any Hussite arson, as Wiese claims. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1199 confidentes"); at the same time, they designated him rector of the future altar. Trutvin decided that a new altar would be erected in the parish church of Kladsko. This was approved by the archepiscopal vicars, Jan of Kralovice and Jan of Duba, who were then in exile at Zitava, (March 29, 1423).37 It is clear that at that time, Trutvin was not yet suspected of pro-Hussite sympathies, although the fact that he remained at Chrudim even after the Hussite conquest and the expulsion of the Germans was significant enough. His sympathies with the heretics were obviously not discovered before the second Hussite invasion of Kladsko; everything indicates that his death took place shortly after the decisive Hussite victory at Alt-Wilmsdorf (December 27, 1428), when hatred and suspicion of heretics was increased by bitterness over the recent defeat.38 His murder, as well as the previous daily executions of which

37 GQGG, II, 135; "Nachtrage zur Geschichtsquellen der Graffschaft Glatz", VHGG, X, 270-71. The nationality of Trutvin was very probably Czech. His name "Trutwyn", has a Czech sound from which other recorded forms, "Treut- wyn", "Treutwein" and "Treuchwein", originated through misspelling or, rather, mispronunciation. His place of origin, Bystfice (Habelschwerdt), was at that time an ethnically mixed town. More decisive is the fact that he stayed at the town of Chrudim in Eastern Bohemia until 1423. It may be objected that Chrudim at that time was partially German (cf. Novotny-Simak, Ceske dejiny, V, 1243-44) and that Trutvin might have been there preaching to the local Germans. This view is hardly compatible with the fact that Chrudim was conquered by the Hussites in 1421 (Klik, Narodnostni pomery v Cechach az do bitvy belohorske, 15; Pamatky archeologicke, III, 125) while Trutvin stayed there two more years; furthermore, it was Nicolaus Schick who was apparently the preacher for the Germans in the church of St. Michael and St. Catherine at Chrudim, and who, in July 1428, was a refugee in Kladsko (GQGG II, 150). 38 According to GQGG II, 146, Trutvin was murdered at the beginning of the year 1429, that is, shortly after the battle of Alt Wilmsdorf. By a strange coin- cidence which is hardly accidental, on January 17, 1429, Jan of Jiiin, obviously a Catholic priest refugee from Bohemia, was appointed at Rengersdorf in the neighbourhood of Kladsko to replace the priest who had died. The name of this priest was Johannes Treutwin who administered the parsonage there since Au- gust 1426. There are definite indications that this priest and the murdered Trutvin were one and the same; there are too many coincidences that cannot be ac- cidental. Not only is the name the same; not only was the place of origin the same (Bystfice - Habelschwerdt); not only is the time of death the same; but we know that Treutwin of Rengersdorf was present as a witness at the Hussite castle of Homole in July 1428, where its Hussite burgrave acted as an arbiter in a dispute. It means that Treutwin of Rengersdorf at that time recognized the Hussite authority at Homole or, in any case, was in contact with the Hussite garrison there. This might have been an aggravating circumstance when, half a year later, he faced his accusers. There is nothing strange in the fact that Trutvin administered the parsonage at Rengersdorf while being a rector of the altar in Kladsko; there was a considerable shortage of priests in the whole area during the Hussite period. Furthermore, the distance from Kladsko to Rengersdorf is hardly four miles. GQGG, II, 138, 144. VGHGG, X, 273. 1200 Milic Capek Kolditz's letter speaks, show clearly the uneasiness and fear of the imperial party in the city of Kladsko when the approach of the Czech troops from Bohemia increased the courage of those who secretly sympathized with the Hussite cause.

4. HUSSITE ADMINISTRATION IN KLADSKO AND ITS EFFECTS

With the Hussite victory at Alt-Wilmsdorf, the Kladsko invasion gate was finally closed and the northeastern border of Bohemia was made secure practically until the days of Frederic the Great. Within the district itself the power of the Imperial (i.e., German-Catholic) party was confined to the capital city and its northern approaches; the country, especially its western and southern parts, was controlled by the Hussites. The center of Hussite administration was the castle of Homole, occupied by the garrison of Mikulas Trcka of Lipa, who belonged to the radical wing of the Hussites, the so-called ;39 its burgrave was Peter Polak of Wolsina, one of the few Polish Hussites, who later became a commander of the Czech garrison at Nemci (Nimptsch) in Silesia. Janko Holy Berka is also mentioned several times; he was a cousin of the father of the later king George, Viktorin of Podebrady, from whom he bought the castle of Nachod in 1427. The Czech garrison at Homole cooperated with other Czech garrisons in the adjacent region of Bohemia: at Nachod, at Skaly (Katzenstein), and at Adersbach in the region of (Braunau); the last two castles were held by Mathew Salava of Lipa and Janko Krusina of Lichtenburk. The castle of Homole, besides having its defensive role in covering the pass of Nachod, was also an important connecting link between Bohemia and the Hussite garrisons in the conquered castles in the Silesian lowland, such as Sobotka (Zobten), Nemci (Nimptsch), and Otmachov (Otmachau).40 In several documents of this time the names of the commanders of the garrisons at Homole appear side by side with the names of the most outstanding

39 Balbin, misled by the notoriously unreliable Hajek, mistakenly regarded Trika as an enemy of the Hussites (Misocellanea, lib. Ill, caput V, 4). The same error was repeated by Griinhagen (Hussitenkampfe, 142), Max Perlbach (loc. cit., 283) and, as late as 1929, by Richard Wagner ("Reinerz und Lewin in der Hussitenzeit", Glatzer Heimatsblatter, XVII, 4), although it was corrected by H. von Wiese (loc. cit., 400 f.). To any attentive reader of Palacky's third volume of his Dejiny or of ZGAS, such an error is impossible. Cf. note 40. 40 C. Griinhagen, op. cit., 143, 228; Max Perlbach, loc. cit., 284-88; F. Albert, op. cit., 158-160; V. V. Tomek, Dgjiny vdlek husitskych, 526, 590, 605. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1201 Hussite military leaders like Jan Capek of Sany, Badfich of Straznice from Moravia, and Jan Kolda of Zampach. They apparently imposed a healthy respect even on their most intolerant and persistent enemy, Konrad, bishop of Breslau, who, when referring to the armistice signed between the Hussites and Silesians in July 1432, spoke of them in considerably more polite terms than he had, ten years before, of Hyncik of Musin.41 But besides its military value, the castle of Homole was, at least to some degree, the administrative center of that area of Kladsko which was controlled by the Hussites, especially since the city of Kladsko, virtually always under siege, was isolated from the surrounding villages. The influence of the Homole garrison was felt immediately in the western angle of Kladsko, which, because of its geographical location, was from the very beginning exposed to Hussite influences. The fact that the town of Dusniky (Reinerz) escaped devastation is explained by a German author hypothetically by the collaboration of its inhabitants with the Hussites.42 But it is interesting that the authority of the garrison of Homole was recognized also in the central part of the district, in the close neighbourhood of the city of Kladsko, in the villages Rengersdorf and Schwedelsdorf. This is indicated by the fact that on July 19, 1428, the burgrave Peter Polak acted as arbiter in the dispute between two Germans from Wernersdorf; among the witnesses who came to Homole to testify were the German nobleman, Glaubitz; the Mayor of Stivnice (Schwedelsdorf); the minister from Rengersdorf Johannes Treutwin, probably identical with the afore-mentioned Jan Trutvin, and a burgher from Radkov (Wunschelburg).43 In February 1436, one person was arrested as far off as Wiesenthal, deep in Silesia, because of his connec- tion with the Hussite garrisons at Homole.44 Those are a few, but precious documents which shed at least a dim

41 The text of the armistice signed by the Bishop Konrad on June 24, 1432, "with noble and famous Otik of Losa and Jan Capek of Sany" (cum nobilibus et famosis Ottikone de Loza thaboritarum et Janone Czapka de Saan orphanorum communitatum capitaneis); cf. ZGAS, XI (1871), 225-31. This is considerably dif- ferent language from that which the same bishop used when he called Hyncik of MuSin "possessed by an evil spirit". (Cf. note 30.) In the same document, Mikulas Tr£ka is mentioned as residing at Homole ("in Homoly commorans"); ibidim, 228. 42 R. Wagner, loc. cit,, 6. It is also hardly accidental that the church at Levin was spared throughhout the whole Hussite period. Cf. Joseph Kogler, Chronicken, 429; F. Albert, op. cit., 159. 43 GQGG, II, 144. Cf. note 38. 44 GQGG, II, 182. 1202 Milic Capek light on the generally obscure history of the Hussite influence in Kladsko. In most instances, the documents are not explicit enough and it is necessary to draw conclusions from their inadvertent admissions and omissions. It is certainly significant that the Libri confirmationum do not mention a single minister through the period of fifteen years (1421— 1436) in the following towns and villages: Dusniky, Levin, Cermna, Mezilesi, and Lauterbach. In these places there were probably Hussite priests not recognized by the Church. We have one documentary evi- dence about the expulsion of the Catholic priest from the village of Horni Stivnice (Ober-Schwedelsdorf) who was also a member of the noble family of Panvic. Such a situation was probably fairly representa- tive of a number of other communities in Kladsko. On January 17, 1429, Jan of Jicin - obviously a Czech priest who remained loyal to the emperor and the Church and had to flee from Bohemia - was appointed as minister at Rengersdorf; but this appointment was purely symbolic, and it had to be announced in the church at Kladsko, "since there was at that time no safe access to the church at Rengersdorf" ("quia ad ecclesiam in Rengersdorf non patet securus accessus"). This clearly indicated that Rengersdorf was then in the hands of the heretics; whether they were the Horebite troops or their local adherents is of secondary importance.45 Since there were very few, if any, Hussites among the German population, it is natural that the penetration of the Hussite influence into the region of Kladsko brought about a considerable strengthening of the Czech nationality there. It has already been pointed out that since the time of Ernest of Pardubice, the Czech population in the Western corner of Kladsko slowly began to regain its social status and gradually ceased to be a mass of despised outcasts who previously had not been even admitted to holy communion. The Hussite conquest speeded up this development with the arrival of a large number of Czech soldiers ac- companied by their families and by the priests who introduced the use of the national language alongside the communion of both kinds ("sub

45 GQGG, II, 202-3: "Quamquidem ecclesiam prefatam possedimus, tenuimus et reximus possessione pacifica et quieta, quousque per hereticos et hussitas de ipsa expulsi eandem fecimus per quendam vicarium seu capellanum regi per annos vel duos sperantes an deus omnipotens vellet nos ad praemissam ecclesiam ali- quando concedere remeatum". It appears that the chaplain administering the church in the absence of the refugee priest was acceptable to the Hussites. About Rengersdorf: VGHGG, X, 275. The situation was fluid in Albrechtice (later called Albendorf in German, Vambefice in Czech), from which Wenceslaus, the parson, was forced to flee several times ("fugit sepius"). Cf. SRS, VI, 91. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1203 utraque specie"). This, of course, was not acknowledged by the contem- porary German-Catholic sources, which, in agreement with the official view of the Church, considered any parochial church vacant as long as a "heretic" priest preached there.46 (A similar phenomenon - the strengthening of the local Slavic element by the presence of the Czech Hussite garrisons - can be traced about two decades later in .) Of twenty-nine new settlements recorded in Kladsko in the fifteenth century, at least twenty-one were clearly of Czech origin; and only one new German settlement is recorded between 1424 and the end of the century.47 The Protestant inhabitants of the village of Strouzne remem- bered their Hussite origins as late as the nineteenth century.48 A sure sign of the increasing national awareness was a passport signed by Mikulas Trcka of Lipa, the commander of the Czech garrison at Homole, on September 20, 1433. Although this passport was issued to the German delegation from Breslau, it was written in Czech - the first document concerning the region of Kladsko and signed by a lord from the same area.49 Aside from this, another factor contributed in no small degree to the re-Slavization of the district and, in particular, the city of Kladsko. After the outbreak of the Hussite revolution, the city was crowded by a considerable number of Catholic refugees from Bohemia. In addition to the German priests forced out by the Hussites, there were also some Czech clergymen who preferred exile to ; the Czech legitimists and Catholic lords who remained loyal to the emperor and who, though waging war against Prague and Tabor, by their simple presence strengthened the Czech element there. Their leader, Puta of Castolovice, commander of the imperial garrison in the city, was one of 452 Czech lords who signed a solemn protest against the execution of John Hus in 1415; but later, undoubtedly frightened by the radical religious and social trends in the Hussite movement, he joined the imperial party and remained one of the most resolute and fanatical enemies of the Hussites. It was mainly because of his energy that Kladsko withstood the Hussite siege in 1428; it was he who ruthlessly suppressed the Hussite under- ground there in the same year and who, in 1431, was present at the

46 For instance, no Hussite priest is recorded in the notoriously heretical town of Nachod until 1447. Cf. Hrase, Dejiny Nachoda, 118. 47 P. Klemenz, op. cit. 72. 48 J. A. Bergman, Letopisy pamatnych udalosti evang. krestanske obce ve Strouznem, 1. 48 Czech original, SRS VI, 133-34; Cf. also GQGG, II, 165. 1204 Milic Capek imperial at Nürnberg where the against Bohemia was planned.50 It was mainly thanks to him that the city of Kladsko played with respect to Bohemia, a role similar to that which Koblentz played after 1791 with respect to revolutionary France; beside the city of 2itava () in Lusatia, Kladsko was the main center of the royalist Catholic exiles. But we have to keep in mind that Püta, like other exiled Czech Catholic lords, defended Kladsko for Bohemia rather than for the German emperor; their Bohemia was, of course, different from the Bohemia of Hussites; it was the old kingdom of St. Wenceslaus and King Charles, the rigidly stratified society loyal to the Pope, and to the Empire. Sigismund, Charles's son, was for them the living symbol of the kingdom as well as their legitimate king. Not realizing that this old Bohemia was a thing of the past, they were unwittingly fighting for the German cause. But although we must agree with the historian, Hugo von Wiese, who correctly characterized Püta as "the protector of the Ger- man element in Glatz",51 we must not forget that he never surrendered his native language and that his presence strengthened the Czech element in the city of Kladsko. Under his administration, not only were there a number of Czech refugee priests in the city, but some of them were also appointed to those nearby villages which were beyond Hussite control. This was the case of Pavel, the priest from Nächod, who was placed by the brothers Haugvic ("Hugovic") in their own residence at Biskupice (Pischkowitz) in September 1422; or Wenceslaus, the rector of the altar at Chradim, who became the parson at Holohlavy (Hollenau) in April 1423. A Czech named Matüs (Mathew) was Püta's own personal chap- lain.52 It is significant that the charter dated July 1431, in which Sigismund entrusted Püta with the rule of the region of Kladsko, Münster- berg, and Frankenstein, was written in Czech; this was no small conces- sion from the emperor whom the moderate wing of Hussites - the so-called "Prague party" - accused of using "all the means by which he could destroy the Czech nation, which to him is most despicable and stained by heresy." 53

50 Cf. note 36. There is little doubt that it was Püta who asked his brother-in- law, Albrecht of Kolditz, to send a special executioner to Kladsko to destroy the Hussite conspiracy there. 51 H. von Wiese, loc. cit., All. 52 VGHGG, X, 269 f. SRS, VI, 90-92; Libri conformationum, VIII. 53 Sigismund's charter of July 13, 1431 at Norimberg in Archiv Cesky, I, 533. about the complaint of the citizens of Prague about Sigismund's Czechophobia: J. Klik, op. cit., 11. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1205

5. END OF RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC STRIFE IN KLADSKO AND ITS RETURN TO BOHEMIA

Another fact should not be overlooked: among the anti-Hussites (or, rather, anti-Taborites) then residing at the city of Kladsko, there were various shades of religious and political opinions; the implacable Puta represented only the extreme. There were also the former members of the Horeb brotherhood, Alexius (Ales) of Riesenburk and Hynek Krusina of Lichtenburk, who, despite their later royalist stand, never entirely forgot their Hussite origins.54 This showed clearly in the year 1434, when the virtually ended the civil war in Bohemia, and when shortly afterwards the death of Puta removed one of the main psychological obstacles to the reconciliation of the rival parties. Although the military power of the radical wing of the Hussite party - the so-called Taborites and Orphans or Horebites - was decisively broken on the battlefield at Lipany, their garrisons still held the castles Homole in Kladsko, and, in Silesia, Nemci. Otmachov, and Vrbno. In December 1434, the following compromise was reached: the Taborite garrisons evacuated the three Silesian castles mentioned above in ex- change for the release from Silesian captivity of Bedrich of Straznice and Peter Polak, the former burgrave of the castle of Homole. It is highly significant that the Taborite garrison remained in the castle of Homole - so obvious was it that its territory was not a part of Silesia. This agreement was mediated by Alexius of Riesenberk, referred to above; among its signatories was Markvard Trhlik of Mezilesi who became the captain of Kladsko. He later shared this function with Hasek of Waldstein, a member of the moderate Prague wing of Hussites. Markvard Trhlik regularly signed himself "of Mezilesi" never "of Mittelwalde"; another little, but significant, fact indicating the ascend- ancy of the Czech element in Kladsko.55 The victory of religious tolerance closely followed the end of the hostilities. On July 20, 1435 at Basel, the papal legate Julian, at the entreaties of the Czech Catholic lords at Kladsko, Hynek of Duba, Peter of Michalovice, and even Puta himself, granted the Augustinian monas-

54 Max Perlbach (op. cit. 287) admits that KruSina never completely forgot his Hussite origin; according to F. Volkmer, his conversion to Catholicism was of later date ("Hynek, Krussina von Lichtenburg, Pfandherr des Glatzer Landes 1440-54", VGHGG, VII, 159); Urbanek, Ceske dejiny, III, 2, 827 even doubts that there is any conclusive evidence for it. 55 Archiv Cesky, VI, 432; SRS, VI, 140-1; GQGG, II, 175; On Markvart Trhlik of Mezilesi, Archiv Cesky, VI, 499; GQGG, II, 175, 182, 197, 199. 1206 Milic Capek tery in the city permission to pardon the heretics. Two important facts are disclosed by this document: first, the tolerant attitude of the Czech Catholic lords at Kladsko, which was certainly strengthened by the presence of some former Hussite leaders there and to which ap- parently even Puta himself yielded.56 Second, it showed the presence of the Hussite element in the population of the city as late as 1435, the element which obviously survived fifteen years of royalist-Catholic oc- cupation and the hostility of the bulk of German burghers, as well as the savage reprisals against the Hussite underground in 1428-29." This atmosphere of tolerance and reconciliation did not affect religious matters only; it influenced relations between the two nationalities. It is certain that the German preponderance in the capital of the district was not seriously challenged. Even the German historian, A. Bach, conceded the impartial and tolerant character of the administration of Hynek Krusina of Lichtenburk, who eventually became the successor of Puta. The Augustinian monastery, though predominantly German after the departure of the Czech "rebel" monks before the Hussite wars, was favored by him. In 1435, as well as in 1450, the list of aldermen in the city contained only one Czech name, thus indicating that the Czechs hardly had proportionate representation in the city council.58 The picture was quite different in the country, outside the capital city. But if the Czech element regained so much ground there, it was due to the lifting of discriminating and oppressive measures previously applied to the still-numerous Czech population in the towns and villages. The Hussite colonization mentioned above was another contributing factor, especially in the southern and western approaches to Bohemia. But the administration of Hynek Krusina as well as the subsequent administration by the family of Podebrad belongs to another chapter of the history of Kladsko, one beyond the scope of this study. Let us only say that the spirit of tolerance and the atmosphere of internal peace which reappeared in Kladsko in the middle thirties continued through the remaining part of the fifteenth century. It explains the apparently surprising fact that the majority of Germans and Catholics in this region

56 GQGG, II, 178-9. Puta's name is then mentioned for the last time, not on February 19, 1435 as Sedla£ek thinks; he died at Pressburg (Bratislava) the same year. Cf. A. Sedlacek, op. cit., II, 169. 57 A. Bach, Urkundliche Kirchengeschichte der Graffschaft Glatz (Breslau, 1841), 60-61, tries to belittle the significance of this document. 58 GQGG, II, 178, 221. In 1435, it was "Mikolasch Ratzko", in 1450, "Wanko Wuoitiech". The tolerant character of Krusina's administration was conceded even by the generally biased A. Bach, op. cit., 63-64. Czech Reformation in the District of Kladsko 1207 remained firmly on the Czech side even after the administration of Krusina had been superseded by that of an utraquist, George of Podébrady, who later became the "Hussite king". Had the population of Kladsko remained absolutely hostile - "absolut feindlich" - to Hussitism, had the Hussite wars really increased the hatred of the German population toward Czechs, as one historian has claimed,59 then this fact remains unexplainable, especially since the major powers of Europe - Empire, the Pope and Hungary - were again unified against Bohemia. Why did the inhabitants of Kladsko not follow the example of the city of Breslau, whose attitude was the same as in 1420? Why did they risk the devastation brought by the Silesian and Hungarian inva- sions, and even excommunication by Rome? It is impossible to answer these questions without keeping in mind the liberal and tolerant character of the Czech administration which from the mid-thirties had been patiently building the bridges over the chasms deepened by pre- vious religious and ethnical struggles.

ABBREVIATIONS

GQGG = Geschichtsquellen der Graffschaft Glatz. ZG AS = Zeitschrift des Vereins für die Geschichte und Alterthum des Schlesiens. VGHGG = Vierteljahrschrift für die Geschichte und Heimatskunde der Graff- schaft Glatz. SRS = Scriptores rerum Silesiacarum. LBS — Lehns- und Betitzurkunden Schlesiens und seiner Fürstenthumer im Mittelalter by C. Grünhagne-H. Markgraf (Leipzig, 1881). FRB = Fontes rerum Bohemiacarum by J. Palacky.

59 H. von Wiese, op. cit., 371, 431-2. The author is naturally embarrassed by the subsequent loyalty of the population of Kladsko to George of Podebrady and calls it "the strangest case" ("eigenthiimlichste Fall").