that of the Realists, who were
defended by Huss, and the Nominalists, to which nearly all the Germans
adhered. This contest became very soon a national affair; or, more
probably, had its principal origin in the unjust privileges of the
Germans and the jealousy of the Bohemians. The preference given to the
former at the foundation of the university, viz. the possession of
three out of the four suffrages in all matters determined by vote,
became anew the subject of debate, and was more especially assailed by
Huss, then rector of the university. After a whole year of resistance,
the king at length yielded. A decree of A.D. 1409 ordained that in
future the proportion should be reversed, so that the Germans should
possess only one suffrage, and the Bohemians three. For this victory
of their national pride, the university, the city, nay the whole
country, had to suffer severely. Immediately after this decision, the
famous literary emigration took place. All the German professors and
students left Prague at once. The immediate consequences of this step
were, the foundation of the universities of Leipzig, Rostock, and
Ingolstadt; and the building up of those of Heidelberg, Erfurt, and
Cracow. Prague never again became what it had been; although it
obtained a transient lustre through the victory itself, and the
eminence and martyrdom of some of its national teachers.
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