Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/79

24(b) for quite some time the cradle of many men outstanding in religious thought of the fourteenth century, such as Matthew of Janov, Thomas of S̄ti̍tny̍, Adalbert Ran̄kov, and others. It was a region "infested with Waldensian heresies," which found open doors of hospitality in the homes of humble peasants and small yeomen.

As to the physical aspect of the region, even today the voice of Southern Bohemia is rather on the quiet side; inarticulate, low-pitched, prone to the expression of humorous doubts and biting skepticism, rolling like the hills and meadows of the unpretentious countryside. There is nothing grandiose about this landscape: no snowcapped mountains but only furrowed fields; no broad rivers but only quiet brooks and placid lakes reflecting the skies.

Such is the region where – perhaps – Chelc̄icky̍ was born and where he certainly spent the latter part of his life. He seems never to have quitted Bohemia for a day during his seventy (or ninety) years of life; he went several times to Prague (where he may have heard John Hus), to Pi̍sek, and probably once to Kutna̍ Hora. The excited social and political activities of these cities left him unmoved, and he gave greater preference to the contemplative solitude of Chelc̄ice.

Among the earliest sources of Peter's knowledge were