Page:The future of Bohemia by Seton-Watson (1915).pdf/15

 as a whole. In addition to revising and correcting the existing Czech translations of the Bible, he wrote at least as much in Czech as in Latin, then still the usual medium for works of a theological nature. In yet another respect he was a linguistic pioneer; he was the first to attempt a reform of Slavonic orthography according to a logical system.

A further interesting parallel to Luther is the stress laid by Hus upon church music, and especially upon congregational singing. This was natural enough among a nation of musicians, the Czechs and the Welsh being perhaps the two most musical nations in Europe. The Hussite songs, the hymns of the reformer’s own lifetime and the religious battle songs of his more warlike successors, occupy a unique place of their own alike in musical and in political history.

Hus, then, was equally great as reformer and as patriot, as the inspirer of an intellectual movement and as the political leader of a nation. For five hundred years he has stood as the foremost champion of Czech nationality and the Czech language, and he also deserves some credit as one of the earliest advocates of Slav unity. The letter of congratulation which he addressed to King Vladislaw of Poland after his great victory over the Teutonic Knights at Tannenberg (1410) is not without interest at a moment when the Germans claim to have wiped out that national disaster, but when we still confidently hope that a final Russian victory will seal the reconciliation