Page:A history of Bohemian literature.pdf/170

Rh went far beyond the teaching of the Calixtines, and even of the Taborites. They were frequently influenced by chiliastic ideas, which not unnaturally lead to socialism. Of such fanatics the one who attracted most attention was the priest Martin Huska, also known under the name of "Loquis." He obtained a considerable following among the people of Bohemia, who called him "the Lion of Daniel" and "the Angel of God's Legion." His influence soon became prejudicial to the strict military discipline which Zižka maintained at Tabor. He was arrested by order of that general, and, after he had repeatedly broken his promise to discontinue his preaching, was burnt on August 21, 1421. It is stated that Huska was the author of numerous theological treatises, but none of them have been preserved. The little we know of his opinions is derived from the writings of Přibram, who frequently quotes his works.

I shall next refer to one of the most independent and original of Bohemian writers,. Though only recently well known in Bohemia, and still almost unknown elsewhere, Chelčicky is well worthy of a far more extensive study than limited space will here permit me to devote to him. Though a contemporary of the theologians whom I have mentioned in this chapter, and on terms of acquaintance with some of them, Chelčicky everywhere impresses us as an independent thinker. As Professor Jagič has recently written in his Russian preface to the Petersburg edition of the Net of Faith, it is difficult to calculate how great would have been the influence of Chelčicky's works had they been written in English, German, or French instead of in Bohemian. Chelčicky may be described as a socialist, but his socialism was rather that of the primitive Church or of Count