Bi-confessionalism in post-Hussite Bohemian Towns and its Legal Regulation 153 I recognition of the peace agreement. A much more radical step was taken by the leader of the Utraquist nobility, George of Poděbrady. In early September, he forcibly occupied Prague, and expelled the existing establishment of conservative Utraquists who were becoming too close to the Catholics.15 The consolidation of the Utraquist position in the capital was broken after 1453, when Ladislaus the Posthumous ascended the throne. Although the young ruler was forced to respect the balance of power, Utraquist Prague had to accept the existence of a Catholic court, which once again strengthened the position of the Roman Church. Ladislaus’s reign, however, lasted only four years. A similar rise of the Catholic Church occurred under another Catholic king, Vladislaus Jagiellon, who finally took over the rule of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1479. The strengthening of the Roman Church in the capital was one of the main political projects of the new monarch, accompanied by militant agitation from the Prague monasteries.16 These were on the rise again, as evidenced by the wave of monastic donations, as in the 1440s.17 The rivalry between the Utraquist and Catholic confessions thus was dynamic, with efforts to strengthen Catholic positions always followed by a reaction from the other side. In the case of Vladislaus’s restoration policy, an uprising in September 1483 swept away the Prague royalists. The Memorandum of the Unity of the Cities of Prague, which was to sanction the affair after this upheaval, again stereotypically declared the duty of Utraquism in the capital.18 In doing so, it referred to Sigismund’s priviledge from 1435, which saw the prevention of a “shameful mixture” as a condition for peaceful coexistence.19 Although it was probably clear to all that this was an illusory requirement given the nature of Prague, there was no actual need to enforce it unless the Catholics became too unruly. The city-wide regulation represented a larger effort to legislate the religious control of the two confessions. Another was expressed by ordinances relating to individual institutions. The university has already been mentioned. The interest of foreign students waned after the capture of Prague by George of Poděbrady in 1448. The struggle for the character of the university was then taken up by the native Catholics, but after 1462, when the vow to the chalice was introduced, the monopoly of Utraquism was enforced.20 The situation in the various guilds is also noteworthy. Some guilds had already introduced the obligation of Utraquism for their members during the Hussite Revolution: the knifemakers in 1427,21 and the leather workers in 1429.22 Interesting in this 15 Rudolf Urbánek, Věk poděbradský, vol. 2–4, České dějiny, III/2–4 (Prague, 1918, 1930, 1964), here vol. 2, 231–326. 16 Winfried Eberhard, Konfessionsbildung und Stände in Böhmen 1478–1530 (Munich, 1981), 46–55. 17 František Šmahel, Husitské Čechy. Struktury, procesy, ideje, Česká historie, 9 (Prague, 2001), 107. 18 František Šmahel, “Pražské povstání 1483,” Pražský sborník historický 19 (1986): 94–99. 19 Ibid., 96. 20 See the chapter of Blanka Zilynská in this volume. 21 Archiv český, vol. 4, no. 40, 383. 22 Jan Hücke, Sbírka historických památek řemesla kožešnického (Prague, 1900), 6. In the literature there are various dates for this document, most often following either Hücke’s proposal for 1419 (which does not correspond to the diction of the document), or 1428. I am indebted to Jiří Smrž for the correct dating, who deals systematically with Prague guilds.
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