Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/841

Rh Provincial affairs are managed by the landtag, consisting of the Roman Catholic archbishop and bishop, 30 representatives of the landed gentry, 37 representatives of the towns and chambers of commerce, and 31 representatives of the country districts. There are six courts of justice of the first instance in Moravia, and one of the second instance (at Brünn), whence appeal lies to the supreme court at Vienna. For military and judicial purposes Moravia is united with Austrian Silesia.

Moravia belongs to the group of old Slavonic states which have preserved their nationality while losing their political independence. Upwards of 70 per cent, of the inhabitants are Slavs, who are scarcely distinguishable from their Bohemian neighbours. The differences in dialect between the two countries are very slight, and are being gradually lost in a common literary language. The name of Czech, however, is usually reserved for the Bohemians, while the Slavs of Moravia and West Hungary are called Moravians and Slovaks. The Czechs have lost sight of their ancient tribal names, but the Moravians are still divided into numerous secondary groups (Hovaks, Hanaks, &c.), differing slightly in costume and dialect. The peasants usually wear a national costume. In the south of Moravia are a few thousand Croats, still reserving their manners and language after three centuries separation from their kinsmen in Croatia; and in the north-east are numerous Poles. The Germans form about 26 per cent. of the population, and are found mostly in the towns and in the border districts. The Jews are the best educated of the inhabitants, and in a few small towns form a full half of the population. Their sympathies generally lie with the Germans. In 1880 the population was 2,153,407, showing an increase of 136,133 since 1869. Moravia is one of the most densely-populated parts of Austria-Hungary, the proportion being 252 persons per square mile. About 12 per cent. of the births are illegitimate. The chief towns are Brünn, the capital and industrial centre (82,660 inhabitants), Olmütz, a strong fortress defending the "Moravian Gate" (20,176 inhabitants), Znaim, and Iglau.

1em

1em  MORAVIAN BRETHREN,, are a society of Christians whose history can be traced back to the year 1457 and their origin found among the religious movements in Bohemia which followed the martyrdom of John Huss by the council of Constance. The beginnings of the Bohemian Brethren (for that was their earlier name) are somewhat obscure. The followers of Huss broke up into two factions, one of which, the Calixtines, was willing to acknowledge allegiance to Rome, provided the "compacts" of the council of Basel permitting the Lord's Supper sub utraque specie were maintained, and in the end it became the national church of Bohemia; the other, the Taborites, refused all terms of reconciliation, and appealed to arms. Separate from both these were many pious people who were content to worship God in simple fashion, in quiet meetings for prayer and Scripture-reading, like the Gottesfreunde of Germany, and who called themselves Brethren. Bohemian historians have conclusively shown that the Brethren represent the religious kernel of the Hussite movement, and do not come either from the German Waldenses or from the Taborites. Before 1457 many of these quiet Christians were known as the Brethren of Chelcic, and were the followers of Peter Chelcicky, a Bohemian, whose religious influence, strongly Puritan in its character, seems to have been inferior only to that of Huss. In that year the Calixtine leader, Rokyzana, wishing to protect them, permitted his nephew Gregory to gather them together at Kunewald near Senftenberg, and form them into a community. This meeting was really the foundation of the Brethren or Unitas Fratrum, and its founder Gregory announced that he and his companions received and taught the rejection of oaths, of the military profession, of all official rank, titles, and endowments, and of a hierarchy. They did not profess communism, but they held that the rich should give of their riches to the poor, and that all Christians should live as nearly as possible in the fashion of the apostolic community at Jerusalem. At the synod of Lhota near Reichenau, in 1467, they constituted themselves into a church separate from the Calixtine or national church of Bohemia. They appointed ministers of their own election and with the guidance of the "lot," and had an organization and discipline of their own; at their head was a bishop, who, it is said, received ordination from the Austrian Waldenses, but apostolic succession among the Brethren is one of the most obscure parts of their history.

The constitution of the society was revised at a second synod held at Lhota under the direction of Luke of Prague, who may be regarded as their second founder. This 