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148, after the battle of Lipan (in 1434), and the capture of the city of Tabor by King Georg (in 1452), almost all these works were destroyed. The customs and constitution of that strange military-religious community, that in many ways recalls the later Puritans, will therefore probably never be exactly known. We gather indeed some information from the writings of the enemies of the Taborites, such as Ænæas Sylvius. His account of his visit to the city of Tabor is very interesting. It appears particularly to have surprised the Italian humanist how general in the town the knowledge of the Bible was. "The Italian priests," he writes, "should be ashamed, they of whom it is doubtful whether they have even once read the New Testament; among the Taborites you would hardly find a poor woman who could not answer any question referring to the Old or to the New Testament." With regard to the doctrines of the Taborites, we are also obliged to rely mainly on the statements of their enemies, particularly of Magister Přibram, who has already been mentioned.

The leader of the Taborite party was Nicholas of Pelhřimov (Pilgram), surnamed "Biskupec," the only bishop of the short-lived community of Tabor. Little is known both of his life and of his writings. He was, like most Bohemian divines of his time, engaged in incessant theological controversies. Chelčicky's Reply to Nicholas has been preserved, but the letter of Nicholas in answer to which it was written is no longer in existence; a polemical work of Nicholas addressed to Rokycan has also been lost. The principal work of Biskupec, however, his Latin Chronicon Continens causam sacerdotum Taboriensium, has been preserved, and was