before him, he received them very ungraciously. He accused them of fomenting disorders, and threatened them with death at the stake. Baltenhagen and the other Germans left Kutna Hora, assured that all their privileges at the university would be maintained.
The ever-vacillating king, in this instance, was again fated not to adhere to his first decision. Through the influence of those among his courtiers who favoured the national movement and the cause of reform, Venceslas was soon persuaded to accede to the wishes of the Bohemian party at the university, and to change the system of voting. He therefore published in January 1409 the famed "decree of Kutna Hora."[1] This decree ordained that the Bohemian "nation" should henceforth have three votes, and the combined foreign " nations " only one vote, both in the general deliberations of the university and in those of the separate faculties. The first result of this innovation was that the university, according to the wishes of the king, now decreed that Pope Gregory should no longer be recognized in Bohemia, and the clergy of the country should abide by the decision of the Council. Another more important consequence of the king's decision was that the German professors and students, considering themselves injured in their rights, left Prague to the number of about five thousand (1409).[2] Only the German members of the Polish "nation" joined in the emigration; those who were of the Slav race remained, and became part of the Bohemian "nation," with which their sympathies had been enlisted during the previous struggle. Hus, now the recognized leader of the national party, was elected Rector (1409), though he had served in that capacity only a few years before.
The reform movement naturally gathered increased strength from its success, and the university, formerly its opponent, now took the lead in furthering this movement, of which it henceforth became the centre. On the other hand, many of the patriotic nobles and other sympathizers with the claims of the Bohemian nationalists had little interest in theological details, or animosity against the
- ↑ A full account of the decree of Kutna Hora will be found in my Life and Times of Master J. Hus, p. 105.
- ↑ This seems to be the most probable number, though a contemporary Bohemian writer tells us that 20,000 German members of the university left Prague.
