The emigration of Protestants was forced by Hapsburg Imperial Decree in 1624, expelling all non-Catholic clergy from Bohemia and Moravia. In 1627 a similar mandate was extended to all nobles. Thousands of aristocrats, as well as many serfs, who legally had no right to go, left the country.
These refugees and religious émigrés carried their ideas with them. Like dandelion seeds in the wind, they traveled to Slovakia, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Some later sailed to the New World. Their ideas spread and flourished.
A large group of Moravian Brethren found refuge in Germany, on the
estate of Baron Zinzendorf, where they were tolerated by the
Lutherans. Over the next hundred years they intermarried with local
population and transformed themselves into a missionary church.
Some traveled to Central, South America, Labrador
and the North
American midwest . Two large groups settled in Nicaragua, some went to
Ohio, others founded Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania , where the early community houses are still
preserved. The bible of Kralice, the first translation of the Bible into
Czech (1579-1593), later translated also to German, is to this day on
exhibit in the Moravian museum in Bethlehem. Many traditions of
the early Protestants, of the Amish, Quakers and Baptists, had common
roots which reach back to the Hussite era of Bohemia and Moravia.
During the Czech National renaissanceof the nineteen century, resistance to Hapsburg suppression of the Czech language and culture took heart from memories of the Hussite years.
A larger-than-life memorial to the martyred Hus and his followers stands today in the Prague's Old Town Square. It is inscribed with Hus's words "The Truth Shall Prevail".
One cannot imagine more poignant or
more hopeful words to speak to people in the grip of Nazi terror or
later communist propaganda.
They speak to us today, too. To understand Hus and the history
of that era is to understand an important aspect of the Czech character.
Will Durant, The story of Civilization, Vol 6: The reformation (Simon and Schuster, 1957).
Francis Dvornik, The Slavs in European History and civilisation (Ruther University press, 1962)
J.A. Garraty and Peter Gay: Columbia History of the World (Dorset Press, 1981)
Robert A. Kohn, A history of the Hapsburg Empire (1526-1618),(University of California 1974).
Walter Nigg, The Heretics Heresy through the Ages ( Dorset Press 1962).
J. R. Weinlick and A. H. Frank, The Moravian Church Through the Ages, The Moravian Church in America (Betlehem, PA, 1966).
Esmond Wright (ed), History of the World (Bonanza Books 1985).
Jan Hus monument
Click on the image for the full size close-up and credit
The inscription: "
O', lide cesky, Verim ze vlada vecich Tvych, k tobe zas se navrati"
which can be translated to English as "
Czech people, I believe, that government of your affairs, will
return to your hands again"
was seen by many Czechs
as fulfilled only after the Velvet
Revolution of 1989.
A recent survey shows following percentages of religious afiliation: 40:40:10:10 for atheist:catholic:protestant:other
The Hussite era is only one chapter, albeit an important epsisode, in the longer history of the Czech people.
"Hussites became the first western Christian heretical group to withstand both the Inquisition and Crusades ..."
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