The Unity of the Brethren before The Thirty Years War

Through the efforts of my son I was able to read Peter Brock's The Political and Social Doctrines of the Unity of Czech Brethren in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries (The Hague, Mouton & Co., 1957).

Copies can be found but it's a somewhat rare and expensive book. This is one of Brock's early works and probably not his best known. Recognized as an authority on pacifism, he specialised by focusing on many of the groups in Eastern Europe such as the Unity of the Brethren or Unitas Fratrum.

The book is well written and filled with helpful details and insights, fleshing out many of the puzzles and blank spaces found in previous works. For those who wish to simply cover the early Unity's history in a broad sweep, this book is probably not the best choice – although some of the other available English works such as Rican's The History of the Unity of the Brethren are almost inaccessible to a general reader due to the somewhat obscure manner in which it is written. In both cases a general knowledge of historical events and geography is assumed.

In many respects the Unity's story is a sad one, as the separatist vision of the original group founded in the mid-fifteenth century on the ideas of Řehoř (or Gregory, c.1420-1473) who in turn has heavily influenced by the likes of Peter Chelčický (c.1380-c.1460), was modified and in many respects abandoned.

By the end of the fifteenth century the group underwent a transformation and abandoned its Kingdom ethos once dominated by the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount.

Under the leadership of Lukáš of Prague (c.1460-1528), the Unity would move closer to the Utraquist party in terms of its social ethics and Lukáš oriented the group toward something much closer to the Magisterial Reformation which would soon spread across Europe – a movement which Lukáš incidentally rejected. He had problems with sola fide as taught by the Lutherans and the practical problems associated with this doctrine were confirmed in the minds of the Unity leadership when some of their young men went to Germany to study at seminaries. Their reports of Lutheran antinomianism and worldliness were off-putting to say the least.

Lukáš retained a great deal of hostility vis-à-vis his predecessors in the movement and he spoke ill of both Řehoř and Chelčický – the latter of which he slandered in a narrative that most historians have come to doubt. Brock reveals other episodes concerning Lukáš and the way he used and misused people. A complicated figure, his character is certainly cast under something of a shadow.

Ultimately the story marks a shift and a lost vision, as the Unity which had under Řehoř emerged as a peasant-pilgrim separatist body was transformed into a Burgher movement as the new Lukáš-era ethos could easily accommodate townsmen, wealth, and those engaged on a civic level. Lukáš wanted a group that could have some standing and influence within society and thus his leadership marked a radical break with the group's founding.

Brock also covers the dissenting (anti-Lukáš) Old Brethren in some detail, which marks another sad tale. The tiny group attempted to retain the original vision but would splinter into factions – some of dubious quality and character, and after sundry persecutions (including executions and one of its leaders being branded on the face) the movement would eventually disappear from history.

Though there were some episodes of persecution, the Unitas would largely flourish in the sixteenth century, but it's most difficult episode was yet to come – The Thirty Years War. An Utraquist-nationalist scheme involving the Calvinist Elector of the Palatinate quickly ballooned into a larger continental conflict. The Bohemian Revolt sparked the Habsburg-led Counter-Reformation which would have devastating effects in Bohemia – in many respects exceeding the well-documented horrors which took place in Germany. The devastation is literally hard to describe as Bohemia was wasted and in no small part depopulated. The Unity survived in parts of Moravia but many fled and struggled to survive until they were reconstituted within the broad framework or spectrum of German Pietism in the eighteenth century.

But this ranges beyond Brock's work. He brings the movement up to the time of the Thirty Years War. At that point they were effectively part of the larger Magisterial Reformation movement – though an outlier and never wielding enough influence to shape or steer the course of events. They were left out of the settlement at Westphalia in 1648 and though the group survived, they were to undergo further transformation.

The book was very helpful and full of insight. In addition to the sad tale of the Unity and what is (from this author's perspective) their doctrinal decline, one is forced to wonder how many times this story took place in other circles. How many parallels might it have?

There's good reason to believe that some of the surviving Waldenses would in time become and join up with the Anabaptists who also spread across Europe in the sixteenth century. The Anabaptists were different at critical points from the Waldenses but there remains significant overlap in terms of what can be called Kingdom ethics. It's not hard to imagine that some individuals and groups in reaction to both the Magisterial Reformation and the Counter-Reformation were drawn to Anabaptism.

Other Waldenses undoubtedly joined with the ranks of Lutheranism and Calvinism, and we can point directly to some that became Hussites, specifically of the Unitas variety.

We read of Waldensian factions abandoning their old views of the state, separatism, and poverty and even Lukáš was among those who journeyed at the end of the fifteenth century to investigate other cells and groups and learn of their status. The Waldenses had endured great persecutions at the hand of the Inquisition and by the late fifteenth century their numbers had declined. The surviving elements had by the estimation of Lukáš (who journeyed through Italy in the late 1490's) fallen into worldliness. He happened to be in Florence with a Waldensian companion in 1498 where they witnessed the burning of Savonarola.

How many individuals and groups underwent similar struggles in terms of the Reformation and the changes it wrought? Undoubtedly after some struggle many caved in to the hard realities and practicalities of town life and the new order of the Magisterial Reformers and their Protestant states.

Brock reports how the Unity struggled in the towns under their old piety because they were constantly being called upon to serve on councils and as aldermen – very much akin to our jury system. The original Brethren refused such 'service' along with the oaths it required and the often tacit participation in the sword-function of the state. There were costs involved in this refusal – often fines and imprisonment. The end result was that the Brethren found it best to remain in the countryside engaged in farming and cottage industry. But this meant poverty.

The growing towns (this was during the early days of the Renaissance) were the cultural hubs and centers of wealth and activity. It was too tempting and the other road too lonely. Lukáš wanted men of standing, educated men who might even become masters in the university. Under the original vision of the movement such social standing was impossible.

But with the new Unity came a new set of ethics. Money and wealth were embraced (if in somewhat restrained fashion) and increasingly Unity members began to acquiesce not just to the dictates of the coin but to the sword of the state, participating in the judiciary, and eventually the taking up of arms.

Despite this the group largely retained a pacifist bent that would continue through the Thirty Years War and even (as Moravians) into the American colonies. They continued to struggle with these questions and though they abandoned the narrow position of their founding, they never quite fully embraced the alternative and as such were always of a very different character than the Lutherans and Calvinists.

The Unity continues to fascinate and Brock has made my reflections all the richer.