Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/264

 boundaries of his native land. Many previous treacherous acts of Sigismund, particularly those that were connected with his brother Venceslas, were in the memory of all. In consequence of the intense interest in the fate of Hus that was general among the citizens of Prague, theological reflection and discussion became their constant and all-absorbing occupation. Only a few weeks after the departure of Hus a religious innovation was introduced, which, though only a return to a very ancient tradition, yet greatly irritated the opponents of church-reform. Lawrence of Brezova writes, “In the year of the incarnation 1414, the reverend and noble Magister Jacobellus of Stribro (Mies), bachelor of holy theology, with the support of other priests, began to administer the venerable and divine sacrament of eucharistic communion in the two kinds, that is to say, in the species of bread and of wine, in the famed and magnificent city of Prague.” The new custom was first adopted in the churches of St. Adalbertus in the new town and St. Martin-in-the-Wall, St. Michael, and the Bethlehem chapel in the old town. The influence of this step on the fate of Hus, and yet more on the subsequent Hussite movement, was very great. It has long and often been discussed why the question of communion in the two kinds, or utraquism as it soon began to be called, acquired such great importance in Bohemia. The formerly general supposition that the tradition of communion in the two kinds continued from the time when Bohemia and Moravia first received Christianity from the East has, in consequence of the recent works of Bohemian scholars, particularly of Professor Kalousek, become very improbable. It is also certain that Jacobellus—in many respects a pupil of Matthew of Janov—did not derive from Matthew his utraquistic teaching. Matthew indeed wrote and spoke in favour of frequent communion but did not mention communion in the two kinds.