The most valuable was made at the beginning of the fifteenth century, under the influence of Luther's great predecessor, John Huss. The doctrines of Huss began to spread throughout Hungary to such an extent that the Pope found it necessary to send an inquisitor. Two Franciscan monks, Thomas and Valentine, were banished for their heresy, and went to Moldavia, where a great number of Hussites were then living, and there, inspired by their master, they translated the Bible into Hungarian. It is the oldest translation in that language. One fragment of it found its way by chance into the Imperial library of Vienna, another to the library in Munich, and a third is preserved in Hungary.
The first complete translation of the Bible dates from the time of the Reformation. It was made by a Protestant, Jasper Károli (in 1589-90), and is widely used by the Protestants even now. It has recently been revised with the aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and that edition has the largest circulation.
The Catholics were not far behind the Protestants in making a translation. That which they had used for two centuries was the work of a Jesuit, George Káldi, but the new one dates from the seventeenth century. This Catholic translation was even patronised by Gabriel Bethlen, the Protestant ruler of Transylvania, who fought so heroically for the Protestant cause during the Thirty Years War.
The spread of the new faith was furthered as well as followed by controversy. The Protestants began a general attack, against which the Catholics at first offered scarcely any defence. The success of the Protestants was largely due to the fact that they used the new weapon which the printing-press had placed in their hands.
