PRAGUE
342
PRAGUE
Schrenk became Prince Archbishop of Prague. On 15
March, the emperor announced his intention of grant-
ing a constitution. Schrenk may have thought that
"freedom is a great good for those who know how to
use it". On 22 Marcli lie issued a censure, as some
priests, forgetting their sacred calling, turned the pul-
pit into a political platform. The freedom gained
should rather be the signal for greater activity. His
address at the Easter festival, posted on the streets in
Czech and German, sought to aDay the hostility to the
Jewish population. A meeting of thirty-five ecclesias-
tics, parish priests, members of orders, cathedral
canons, professors, and prelates, called together with-
out asking the consent of the archbishop by F. Nah-
lowsky, principal of the seminarj' for Wends, Upper
Lusatia, was held at the seminary on 18 and 22 May.
In his address Nahlowsky expressed his opinion con-
cerning the unsuitability of the unessential system of
celibacy; the monasteries should be thoroughly re-
formed. The proceedings of this assembly even ap-
peared in print. Naturally both the archbishop and
Bishop Hille of Leitmeritz, of which diocese Nahlow-
sky was a priest , expressed ' ' their deep sorrow " . Late
in August the pamphlet issued b}' the Bohemian epis-
copate appeared. The contents discussed the two
questions: What is the position of the Church towards
the State in general and what are the special rights of
the Church in dogma, liturgy, and administration.
The strain he had undergone shattered the health of
the archbishop and he died in March, 18-19, at the age
of forty-seven. His successor was Cardinal Schwarz-
enberg. The present prince archbishop is Leo Cardi-
nal von Skrbensky.
The Archdiocese of Prague (1911) has a population of 2,228,750 Catholics, 63,475 Protestants, 51,016 Jews. There are: 570 parishes; 13-48 secular, 258 regular priests; 1517 nuns in 76 orders. (See Bohe- mia; MOR.WIA.)
DoBNER, Mon. hist. B<Bmi<c (6 vols., Prague, 1764-83); Forties rcrum bohemicarum (4 vols., Prague, 1871-84); Gindelt, Mon. hist. Bohemica (5 vols., Prague, 1864-90); Mon. Vat. res bohe- micas ittuslrantia, 134£-1404 (5 vols., Prague, 1903-05); Pelzel AXD DoBBOWsKT, Scriplores rerum Bohemicarum (2 vols., Prague, 178.3-). Works on Bohemia: Bachmaxn, Gesch. BShmens, I (1899) to 1400, II (1905) to 1326; Fbixd, Die Kirchengesch. BMmens (4 vols., Prague, 1864-78); Die Gesch. d. Bischo/e u. Erzbischofe ron Prag (Prague, 1873); Palackt, Gesch. von B6h- men (9 vols., Prague, 1836-67); Schixdler, D. soziale Wirken d. Kath. Kirche in d. Prager Erzdiozese (Vienna. 1902); W.vrrE.N- BACH, Beitrage zur Gesch. d. Christ. Kirche in Mdhren u. Bdhmen (Vienna, 1S49); Vox LuTZOW (non-Catholic), Bohemia, A His- torical Sketch (London. 1S96); Denis, La Bohime depuis la Montagne Blanche (Paris, 1903).
C. WoLFSGRrBER.
University of Prague, founded by Charles IV with the consent of the Estates on the model of the universities of Paris and Bologna and confirmed at the emperor's request by Clement VI as a studium generale. It was established by the Golden Bull of 7 April, 1345, and received imperial sanction 14 September, 1349. Archbishop Ernst of P,ardubitz took an active part in the foundation by obliging the clergy to contribute. Its official title is "Imperial and Royal Franz Ferdinand University"; at the present time it is divided into two completely sep.a- rated universities, one German and the other Bohe- mian or Czech, each having four faculties (namely, theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, and medicine), each its own rector and four deans. Both universi- ties are national and are under the immediate control of the Imperial and Royal Ministrj- of Education at Vienna. All professors are appointed by the State, even the theological professors; these latter are ap- pointed in agreement with the .Archbishop of Prague, who is chancellor of both theological faculties.
I. History. — From the time of its founding the University of Prague was equipped with four faculties, of which each came gradually to elect its dean for one half-year, and jointly the rector, at first for a year, then later for a half-year. On account of a dispute
about an inheritance the faculty of law separated
from the rest of the universitj' in April, 1372, and
from that time on, with the consent of the king,
formed what might be called an independent uni-
versity under the direction of a dean of its own;
the chancellor was the only official whose authority
extended to all the faculties; this office was held
in perpetuity by the Archbishop of Prague. The
list of matriculations from 1372 to 1418 of the faculty
of law is still in existence. The lectures were held in
the colleges, of which the oldest was the Carohnum.
Tlie chapel of the Carolinum stUl stands and serves
as the chapel of the university for the ceremony of
giving degrees. Theological instruction was given
in the Carolinum and in the monasteries. For the
administration of its affairs the university was divided
into four "nations", according to the native land
of the teachers and students, namely: the Bohemian,
including Bohemians, Moravians, southern Slavs,
and Hungarians; the Bavarian, including Austrians,
Swabians, natives of Franconia and of the Rhine
provinces; the Polish, including Silesians, Poles,
Russians; the Saxon, including inhabitants of the
Margravate of Meissen, Thuringia, Upper and Lower
Saxony, Denmark, and Sweden. Each nation had
a vote in all deliberations regarding the affairs of the
university. This was changed in 1409.
Although in 1403 the university had forbidden ita members to follow the teachings of Wyclif, yet his doctrine constantly gained adherents in the Bohemian nation, the most conspicuous being the magister, Jerome of Prague, and John Hus. The latter had translated Wyclif's "Trialogus" into Czech. In 1401-02 Hus had been dean of the faculty of arts, in 1402-03 rector of the university; he had also been an exceedingly popular preacher at the Bethlehem chapel. The majority of the other three nations of the university had declared themselves, together with the Archbishop of Prague, on the side of Gregory XII, to whom King Weneeslaus IV was opposed, and Hus knew how to make use of the king's dis- pleasure at this to obtain from him what is called the "Kuttenberg Decree" of 18 Januarj', 1409. This gave the Bohemian nation three votes in all the alTairs of the university and only one vote to all the other nations together; the result of this decree was the emigration of the German professors and students to Leipzig in May, 1409. In 1408 the university had about 200 doctors and magisters, 500 bachelors, and 30,000 students; it now lo.st a large part of this number, accounts of the loss varj'ing from 5000 to 20,000 including 46 professors. This was the be- ginning of the decline of the university, from now on a national Bohemian institution, which sank to a very low status. For the faithfulness of Hus's op- ponents led to a far-reaching division between the theological and the secular faculties, as the latter held firmlv to his teachings even after he was burnt by the Council of Constance (1414). The faculty of arts became a centre of the Hussite movement, and the chief doctrinal authority of the L'traquists,
On account of the part taken by the university in ecclesiastico-political affairs, its position as a centre of learning suffered. No degrees were given in the years 1417-30; at times there were only eight or nine professors, as in 1419 the faculties of theology and law disappeared, and only the faculty of arts remained in existence. There were also very few students, for many were unwilling to study under the Calixtine faculties and therefore went into foreign countries. The holdings of the university were taken by the Eniijcror Sigismund as his personal property. Under the impulse of Humanism some progress was made by tlu' philosophical faculty when the Emperor Rudolf II (1612) took up his residence in Prague, but it did not last long. The only thing to the credit of the university was what it did in directing the school
