Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/376
University of Prague
By Ernest Denis.
The Czechoslovak nation owes a great debt of gratitude to Ernest Denis, a Frenchman who devoted his long life to the study of Bohemian history. His “End of Bohemian Independence” and “Bohemia after the Battle of White Mountain” are known to every educated Czech. From the outbreak of the great war Denis, the historian of Czech downfall, gave all his time to the fight for Czech resurrection and was instrumental in committing France early to the cause of Czechoslovak independence.
After the liberation of the nation the University of Prague conferred upon Denis the doctor’s degree, and when the diploma was tendered to him in Paris, Denis pronounced the following address which is an example of his great scholarship and philosophical spirit. The translation is from La Nation Tchéque, of which Denis formerly was editor.
The University of Prague! One can well say that its history is a summary of the history of the entire nation. It is like to the center of the nervous system on which all external phenomena are registered; its life reflects the life of the people.
It is not possible to trace the outlines of its tragic existence in a brief address; I will simply indicate its main periods. There are five of them, very sharply distinguished. First of all there is the Christian University, studium generale, founded by Charles IV; it sends out in the fourteenth century the shining ray of Catholic civilization upon all central and eastern Europe. This ecumenical, Christian University is succeeded by the Revolutionary University, from 1400 to 1434. From 1434 to 1622 there is the Militant University, disputing about confessions and parties. After the donwfall of Bohemia we see for two centuries Enchained University, which is finally succeeded by the Triumphant University which greets us today.
The rector has just recalled the fact that the University of Paris had a Czech master for its rector in 1355; but Adalbert Ranconis de Ericinio, this rector, was by no means the first of those who came to Paris from Bohemia to study. From a very early period the Czechs, menaced by German infiltration, looked instinctively for support elsewhere, and from the 12th century, even before Sorbonne existed, quite a number of Czech students made their appearance in Paris.
The feeling of the Czechs for the Germans was not very different then from what it is now. “The hatred between Germans and Czechs is ancient,” writes Ludolf de Sagan in the 14th century,” and deeply rooted, for as the Jews once would have nothing in common with the Samaritans, so is even the sight of a German hateful to the Czech.”
The struggle with the Germans became more bitter, and the number of students grew who, in order to get away from German influence, resorted to the University of Paris, which was then the uncontested center of science. Beside Master Adalbert we find at the Sorbonne John of Jenstein, who later became archbishop of Prague, Jerome of Prague, the colleague of Hus in his struggle and his death, and before him a master whose singular value has only recently been recognized, Matthew of Janov, the real precursor of Czech reform. Thanks to these travelers taste for philosophy grew and Bohemia prepared itself to become in its turn a great center of civilization, of progress and intellectual and moral life.
The first half of the 14th century was for the Czechs a period of anarchy, of troubles, of misery. The national dynasty of the House of Přemysl was extinguished, and Germans tried to profit thereby in order to get the country under their domination. Factions encouraged by strangers struggled for control; the nobility usurped public offices and lands, royal authority was discredited, the people were oppressed and miserable, commerce was ruined. As a consequence there was moral trouble and intellectual anarchy, famine, plague, heresies. The young King Charles I. of Bohemia understood the necessity of strengthening the ties that held together the various parts of the Crown of St. Václav, of restoring authority, of uniting the people through common ideas. He wanted to gather all his subjects under the law of Christ. He established the University in 1348.
This University was destined to become a source of light, an advance guard of