Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/264

* BOHEMIA. 232 BOHEMIA. permanently recognized as such by the German sovereigns, their State forming part of the Holy Roman Empire of the Ciermans. Under Ottokar II. (125.3-78) Bohemia was for a brief period one of the most powerful realms in Europe. His sway extended from the region of the Ell)e to the shores of the Adriatic. Ottokar succumbed to the arms of the Emperor Rudolph of Ilapsburg, and his realm was dismembered. His son, Wen- ceslas II. ( 12781305), who succeeded him in Bohemia and iloravia, was also King of Poland. Ottokar II. and Wenceslas II. did much for the civilization and economic development of Bohe- mia by encouraging the immigration of German artisans and colonists. With the death of Wen- ceslas III., in 1306, the djTiasty of Premysl be- came extinct. From 1310 to 1437 Bohemia was ruled bv a line of kings of the House of Luxem- burg—John (1310-46), Charles (1346-78), Wen- ceslas (1378-1410), Sigismund (1419-37). The last three were emperors of Germany. Charles of Luxemburg, who was German Emperor as Charles IV., e.xerted himself in every way to pro- mote the welfare and greatness of Bohemia. In 1348 he founded the University of Prague, the first established within the bounds of the old German Empire. The good work of Charles was to a great extent undone by the incompetence of his son, Wenceslas. His reign witnessed the great religious movement inaugurated by John Huss and Jerome of Prague. This was one of the most significant anticipations of the Refor- mation of the Sixteenth Century. The Hussite Wars broke out in the year in which Wenceslas died and lasted at most to the end of the reign of his successor, Sigismund, who, in ad- dition to being German Emperor, was King of Hungary. The Bohemians heroically repulsed the crusading forces of the Catholic Church, and then engaged in a bloody internecine religious strife. The Hussite movement quickened the spirit of nationality among the Czechs, and arrested the process of Germanization which had made such progress under Charles of Luxemburg. Endless internal dissensions and the extraordinary com- plexity of the political fabric, with its maze of jurisdiction, stood, however, in the way of the erection of a pemianent Slavic' monarchy. From 1458 to 1471 the throne of Bohemia was occu- pied by the shrewd and able George Podiebrad. His successor, Ladislas II., of the Polish House of Jazellon (1471-1516), was chosen to succeed Matthias Corvinus on the throne of Hungary. Louis, the son and successor of Ladislas II., was likewise King of Hungary. He lost his life in 1526 on the field of MohScs, where Sultan Soly- nian the Magnificent overwhelmed the Hungari- ans. The Estates of Bohemia now bestowed the crown upon Louis's brother-in-law, Ferdinand of Ilapsburg. the brother of the Emperor Cluirles V. Ferdinand ruled over the old hereditary domin- ions of the House of Austria, and sinuiltaneously with his election in Bohemia was chosen King by a portion of the Hungarians. Thus were laid tiie foundations of the Slav-German-Magyar State of Austria-Hungary. The Bohemian realm, or the lands belonging to the crown of .Saint Wen- ceslas, at this time included Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia. The crown of Bohemia soon became virtually hereditary in the House of Ilapsburg. The Hussite movement had j)aved the way for the introduction of the Reformation into Bohemia. The Hapsburgs directed their energies toward the suppression of Protestant- ism, and in the struggle that ensued Bohemia lost alike her political freedom and her religious liberties. Ferdinand I. was imable to stem the progress of the Reformation, which continued to spread rapidly under his successors. Bohemia had arrived at a high state of culture at this time. The University of Prague was one of the greatest seats of learning in Europe. The na- tional literature of the Czechs witnessed its Golden Age in the First Century after the Refor- mation. In 1618 the Protestiints of Bohemia rose against the Hapsburgs and precipitated the struggle of the Thirty Years' War. In 161!) the Bohemian estates placed the crown upon the head of the Elector Palatine, Frederick V. (son-in- law of James I. of England), who had to take up the struggle against the Catholic League of Germany, in arms for the newly elected Emperor of Germany, the bigoted Ferdinand II. of Aus- tria. The Catholic forces triumphed at Prague (battle of the White Mountains) in November, 1620. Bohemia lay prostrate at the feet of Ferdi- nand, who wreaked his vengeance in a merciless way, crushed out Protestantism, and turned the country over to the Jesuits. Bohemia was a bloody battle-ground in the Thirty Years' War, which ended where it had begim, at Prague. It is estimated that the popu- lation of about 2,000.000 was reduced to 700,000, and the civilization of the country suilered a blow from which it never recovered. The people bore meekly the rule of the Hapsburgs, no con- siderable portion of the population being any longer estranged from them by differences of religion. In the latter part of the Eighteenth Century, however, there was a vigorous reawak- ening of the national feeling among the Czechs, which, under the stimulus of patriotic w-riters, gradually developed into an active yearning for national independence. An emphatic utterance was given to this sentiment in 1848, when a Pan-Slavic Congress was convened in Prague. At this time the capital was the scene of an insurrection, which was suppressed by the guns of Windischgriitz. Since then the efforts of the Czechs to regain their autonomj' hiw?. played an important part in the history of the Empire. The reorganization of Austria-Hungary on the present dualistic basis only intensified the an- tagonism between the Germans and the Slavs of Bohemia. The Czechs refused to enter the Vi- enna Reichsrat of 1867; their leaders, Palacky and Rieger, ostentatiou.sly attended the Pan- Slavic Congress at Moscow in 1868, and the demands for natioiuil autonomy grew more em- phatic with each concession, made by the Taaffe and Badeni ministries, as to the establishment of a Czech university at Prague and the status of the Czech language in the courts and the admin- istration. United as the Czechs arc as against the Germans on national issues, they arc sharply divided within themselves on other points, the Old Czechs representing the feudal and clerical party, and the Young Czechs the radical and irreconcilable element. It is the latter that has within recent years placed itself into such vio- lent antagonism to. German pretensions in the Vienna Reichsrat. The apparent impossibility of reconciling the Czechs to the existing order of things in Austria-Hungary constitutes the chief danger that threatens the stability of the Empire.