Second Period (1410-1620).—The Golden Age of Czech literature.
The reformer Jan Huss, who, by the religious movement which he inaugurated, contributed so powerfully toward the assertion of nationality by the Czechs, gave an immense impulse to the development of Czech literature, and 1410—the year of his open breach with Rome—is commonly considered the beginning of a new era. Though a master of the Latin tongue, Huss preferred Czech for works which were designed for the people as a whole, and the language received at his hands a perfection which it had never before attained. Since his time the Czech has undergone comparatively little change from a linguistic point of view. Huss adopted as the basis the speech in actual use around Prague. He contributed, moreover, to the development of the language by grammatical works like his Czech Orthography (published in 1857 by Šembera). After the death of Huss the Moravian Brethren assiduously cultivated the spirit of nationalism, and directed their energies to developing their native idiom. Among these champions of the people, the following names are the most noteworthy: Petr Chelčický (1390-1460), a pupil of Huss, was the theoretical expounder of his master's doctrines. In his works, such as The Net of Faith and Book of Expositions of Sunday Lessons, various religious and political questions are treated in a surprisingly liberal manner. Other writers of distinction of this period are Victorin Cornelius Všehrd (1460-1520), the author of Nine Books of Laws . . . in Bohemia, and Ctibor Cimburg (1437-94), who wrote the famous Tovačov Book—only two out of a long line of famous jurists, who devoted their time and labors to the scientific exposition and systematization of Bohemian law. Their works are written in masterly style, and contributed much to the progress of the Czech juridical language. These two, with several others, constituted the Hussite minority among the humanists who made their appearance in Bohemia with the Renaissance. The other, more numerous faction of the humanists, was, strange as it may seem, solidly opposed to the doctrines of Huss. Among these were Bohuslav of Lobkovic (1462-1510) and Řehoř Hrubý of Jelení (1450-1514). Lobkovic collected the most remarkable library of his time, wherein he was greatly helped by the introduction of printing in Bohemia in 1468, when the Trojan Chronicle, the first book to be printed in the Czech language, appeared at Pilsen. Lobkovic and his contemporaries laid all subsequent Bohemian literature under deep obligations. They translated Greek and Latin classics, as Cicero, Seneca, Isocrates; wrote Latin poems; compiled lexicographical works, like the Lexicon Symphonum, of the Czech, Greek, Latin, and German languages, by Siegmund Hrubý (1497-1554), son of Řehoř Hrubý. Grammatical studies of the Czech language were embodied in Jan Blahoslav's (1523-71) Czech Grammar (1571). It contains disquisitions on the subject of how to translate idiomatically various words, phrases, constructions, etc. Literary and scientific activity was at its height, and men of science, like Tycho de Brahe and Kepler, made Bohemia their home. The Bohemian historians of this period combined with their patriotic zeal a scientific preparation and seriousness of purpose which made their work especially valuable and reliable. They found their prototype in the anonymous Old Bohemian Annals, embracing the period of 1378-1527. Adam Veleslavin (1545-99), whose Historical Calendar is his best-known work, represents the highest type among these historians. Vaclav Hájek (?—1553) is the author of a Chronicle more interesting than accurate. Jan Blahoslav, who has been mentioned above, wrote an excellent history of the Moravian Brethren, of whom he was a bishop. He is also famous for his supervision of the Czech translation of the Bible from the original tongues, which is for the Czech what the King James Version of the Bible is for the English. Blahoslav did not live to see his work printed; it was published in six volumes in 1579-93, at the expense of Jan of Žerotin, a Moravian patron of letters, and is known as the Kralitz Bible. The unusual vigor displayed in the domain of prose and the widening of the intellectual horizon were naturally communicated to the field of poetry. Prince Hynek Poděbrad (1452-92) wrote his May Dream and other poems which won favor. Nicholas Dačicky (1555-1626) composed a satirical poem, Prostopravda, and many works of an historical character. Among the religious poets Jan (1500-72), a Moravian bishop, deserves special mention. The greatest poet of the latter part of this period, which is known as the ‘Golden Age,’ was Simon Lomnický (1552- after 1622). His works include didactic and satirical poems and sacred dramas. Chief among them are the satire Cupid's Arrow, for which the King, Rudolph II., ennobled him and granted him an annuity; and the didactic Short Precept for a Young Householder, which is full of valuable allusions to the manners and customs of the time.
Third Period (1620-1774).—In the battle at the White Mountain in 1620, the Bohemians lost their political independence, and Ferdinand I. of Austria, seven years later, made Catholicism the State religion of Bohemia. The works of the Protestant writers that had made the ‘Golden Age’ so brilliant were now seized everywhere and destroyed. Nevertheless, it was during the opening years of this period that Czech literature reached its highest stage of purity and finish in the works of Karl Žerotin and Jan Komenský. Karl Žerotin (1564-1636), great as are his polemical and historical writings, acquired a lasting fame through his enormous correspondence, in which he stands in the very first rank with the few famous letter-writers of the world. Jan Amos Komenský (see Comenius) (1592-1670), who became one of the greatest authorities on questions of pedagogy, spent his life in exile, like Karl Žerotin. His Magna Didactica; Janua Linguarum Reserata Aurea; and Informatorium, form his permanent contributions to the domain of pedagogy, philosophy, and religious controversy, and they advanced materially the stylistic standard of Czech literature. His purely literary work. Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart, is more important as a product of pure literature. All the other writers of this period are of little importance. The systematic efforts of the Hapsburgs to crush the Czechs were successful. Higher society became Germanized, the Czech language was heard only in out-of-the-way hamlets, and Czech books became a great rarity. The works of the Jesuit writers of the period, who employed the Czech language for religious propaganda among the
