Everything about The Taborite totally explained
The
Taborites (Czech
Táborité, singular
Táborita) were members of a religious community considered heretical by the Catholic Church. The Taborites were centered on the
Bohemian city of
Tábor during the
Hussite Wars in the
15th century. The religious reform movement in Bohemia splintered into various religious sects. Beginning with the most radical, the various sects that existed were the:
Adamites, Taborites,
Orebites (Orphans),
Utraquists and
Praguers. Because the revolution's impetus came from the burning of Jan Hus, for the purpose of simplicity, many writers have put most of these sects under one umbrella term calling them the "Hussites".
Economically supported by Tabor's control of local
gold mines, the citizens joined local peasants to develop a
communist-like society. Taborites announced the
Millennium of
Christ and declared there would be no more servants and masters. They promised people would return to a state of pristine
innocence.
Taborite
theology represented one of the most radical departures from that of the hierarchical medieval church. They rejected the outer veneer of the corrupted church and insisted on the normativeness of biblical authority. Even though Taborite theologians were versed in
scholastic theology, they were among the first intellectuals to break free from centuries-old scholastic methods.
The Taborites were particularly zealous in their religious practices and, like other such sects, some believed it was their duty to slay all heretics,
for example, non-Taborites. This was in most part a response to the burning of Jan Hus and the crusades that were launched against Bohemia. Because Bohemia was declared heretical by Rome, the slaying of any Bohemian by the crusaders was considered a service to the church.
Some of the most outstanding Taborite theologians were Mikulas Biskupec of Pelhrimov and
Prokop Veliký (who died in the
Battle of Lipany). The early radical theological ideas of Taborites were represented by Petr Kanis and Martin Huska.
Tabor's army was led by
Jan Žižka, the blind
Bohemian general who commanded his rag-tag army in defense of Bohemia against the crusading Imperial Army under
Emperor Sigismund. Žižka didn't believe that all heretics should be slain and often showed clemency to those he defeated. After one battle when his army disobeyed him and killed many prisoners, Žižka ordered the army to pray for forgiveness. This experience partly inspired him to write a famous military code of conduct - "Žižkův vojenský řád" - a document partly inspired by the biblical book of Deuteronomy. Žižka eventually left Tabor because that community became too radical for his beliefs and took over the leadership of the more moderate Orebites in Hradec Kralove. Due to the numerous crusades, the Taborites and Orebites often set aside their religious differences and cooperated militarily to defeat all crusades launched against Bohemia.
Once the external threat was removed by Hussite victories, the various Hussite factions turned on each other. Finally, the power of the Taborites was broken, after twenty years, with the
Battle of Lipany on
May 30 1434. 13,000 of the 18,000-strong army were killed. In
1437 they signed a treaty with Czech king
Sigismund.
Even though the Taborites ceased to play an important political role, their theological thinking strongly influenced the foundation and rise of the
Unity of the Brethren (
Unitas Fratrum) in
1457 today in English called the
Moravian Church.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Taborite'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://taborite.totallyexplained.com">Taborite Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
