IV.
The Royal Charter of 1609, granted by the Emperor Rudolph for governing the ecclesiastical relations in Bohemia, was not the only law respecting these affairs. Contemporaneously with this Charter, an “Adjustment” was concluded between the Catholic and Protestant Estates, and acknowledged by the Emperor. This contained provisions of much broader import than the Royal Charter itself. The latter provided simply that each inhabitant of Bohemia, without distinction of rank, that is, the peasant as well as the nobleman, might give up the old Utraquism of the Compacts,[1] and receive the Bohemian Confession, which was, indeed, prepared in 1575, but not at that time recognized as a Bohemian Confession, and was of decidedly Protestant tone. They should, indeed, retain the name of Utraquist, but it should have henceforth another meaning. The right to build churches was, in the Royal Charter, granted only to the three higher Estates, that is, to the nobility, the knighthood, and the royal cities. On the contrary, the Adjustment provided (1) that the proprietary rights, as between Utraquists and Catholics to churches and other
- ↑ The followers of Huss claimed that the laity should receive the communion “sub utraque specie,” that is, under the two forms of bread and wine. They were therefore called Utraquists. They were also called Calixtines, from the Latin calix, a cup. The “Compacta” were articles of agreement settled at Prague, November 30, 1433, between the Papal legate, Cardinal Cesarini and the Utraquist bishop, John Rokyczana (Rokitzana). These articles embraced four points of concession to the Hussites; the first related to the free preaching of the word of God; the second to the dispensation of the cup to the laity; the third conceded the demands of the Hussites that the management of ecclesiastical finances should be by the laity, and not by the clergy; the fourth related to the deadly sins, such as lewdness, simony, etc.—Tr.
