Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/112

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BOHEMIA'S CASE FOR INDEPENDENCE

the other hand, the learned advocate of Protestantism in England, John Foxe (1516-1587), did all in his power to make the importance of John Hus better known in England, and it is through his "Acts and Monuments," published in 1563, that Bohemia became known in England as the "Country of John Hus."

For a long time no direct relations between the two countries were established, but during the stirring period of the religious revolt of the Bohemian Estates against Ferdinand II., when the Czechs rose in arms against the treacherous Habsburgs, and elected a new king in Frederick of the Palatinate, dynastic ties again drew Bohemia nearer to England, for Frederick married Elizabeth, the daughter of James I.

During the sad period in the history of Bohemia after the Battle of the White Mountain, many Czech Protestant exiles came to England, having been expelled by the Habsburgs. But this fact left few traces in the history of the relations of Bohemia with Great Britain.

Nevertheless, we may mention one of these isolated pilgrims, who was one of the most celebrated artists of his time, and who succeeded in making the Czech name famous in England. It was the engraver and painter Hollar (Venceslas Hollarius Bohemus), an artist of the first rank, who produced a quantity of engravings after