The greater part of the polemical religious literature was written in Latin, but some of the Protestant publications were written in the vernacular. This controversial literature had a salutary influence on Hungarian prose.
But the Reformation did not only develop prose, it also created a new epoch in the history of hymns. There had been hymns written in the native tongue long before the Reformation, but Luther placed new emphasis on the principle that everything relating to religion should be made as simple as possible for all believers. Protestants began the work, and the Catholics soon found how right they were.
At the end of the sixteenth century, the Catholics also began to use the new all-powerful weapon which had given such tremendous assistance to the Protestants—the art of printing. We have seen that printing was introduced into Hungary in the reign of Matthias, earlier than it was adopted by most European countries, but after the death of Matthias that progressive movement, together with many others, was checked. Printing almost ceased, and it was not until the time of the Reformation that the printing-press commenced to play an important part.
Controversy introduced a dogmatic style and a harsh tone into literature. Writers were carried away by their heat in affirmation or denial, and we find ourselves, at that period, far removed from the oratorical elegance of the previous century. The most cultured of the scholars had not been educated in smiling Ferrara or Padua, but in gloomy Wittenberg, the town where the melancholy Prince Hamlet studied.
The century which saw the Reformation was, above all things, sober and practical. These qualities have always
