Produced by Shaun Pinder and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Transcriber’s Note: The Czech language uses the caron character above letters (e.g. č). This book, however, was printed with the breve character (c̆) which has been retained.
3. =GERMANY.= By Rev. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.
4. =CARTHAGE.= By Prof. ALFRED J. CHURCH.
5. =ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE.= By Prof. J. P. MAHAFFY.
6. =THE MOORS IN SPAIN.= By STANLEY LANE-POOLE.
7. =ANCIENT EGYPT.= By Prof. GEORGE RAWLINSON.
9. =THE SARACENS.= By ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A.
10. =IRELAND.= By the Hon. EMILY LAWLESS.
15. =HOLLAND.= By Prof. J. E. THOROLD ROGERS.
16. =MEDIÆVAL FRANCE.= By GUSTAVE MASSON.
21. =EARLY BRITAIN.= By Prof. ALFRED J. CHURCH.
22. =THE BARBARY CORSAIRS.= By STANLEY LANE-POOLE.
24. =THE JEWS UNDER THE ROMANS.= By W. D. MORRISON.
25. =SCOTLAND.= By JOHN MACKINTOSH, LL.D.
26. =SWITZERLAND.= By Mrs. LINA HUG and R. STEAD.
30. =THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.= By C. W. C. OMAN.
31. =SICILY: Phœnician, Greek and Roman.= By the late Prof. E. A. FREEMAN.
32. =THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS.= By BELLA DUFFY.
34. =PARTHIA.= By Prof. GEORGE RAWLINSON.
35. =AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH.= By GREVILLE TREGARTHEN.
40. =THE CRUSADES.= By T. A. ARCHER and C. L. KINGSFORD.
42. =WEST INDIES and the SPANISH MAIN.= By JAMES RODWAY.
43. =BOHEMIA.= By C. EDMUND MAURICE, M.A.
45. =CANADA.= By Sir J. G. BOURINOT, LL.D.
46. =BRITISH INDIA.= By R. W. FRAZER, LL.B.
50. =MODERN ENGLAND.= Before the Reform Bill. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
52. =MODERN ENGLAND.= From the Reform Bill to the Present Time. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
53. =MODERN SPAIN.= By MARTIN A. S. HUME.
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C.
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FALL OF NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE IN 1620; WITH A SHORT SUMMARY OF LATER EVENTS
AUTHOR OF THE “REVOLUTIONS OF 1848-9 IN ITALY, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, AND GERMANY,” “RICHARD DE LACY: A TALE OF THE LATER LOLLARDS,” &C.
_Corresponding Member of the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences_
COPYRIGHT BY T. FISHER UNWIN, 1896 (For Great Britain).
Few countries have been more strangely misunderstood by the average Englishman than Bohemia has been. The mischievous blunder of some fifteenth century Frenchman, who confused the gipsies who had just arrived in France with the nation which was just then startling Europe by its resistance to the forces of the Empire, has left a deeper mark on the imagination of most of our countrymen than the martyrdom of Hus or even the sufferings of our own Princess Elizabeth. The word “Bohemian” has passed into newspaper slang; and it has been so often quoted in its slang sense by people who ought to be more careful in their language, that it has really hindered the study of the real country which it misrepresents. The few who care to hear anything more of a people so strangely slandered, have often been yet further blinded by their readiness to accept as absolute truth the prejudices of the German and Magyar opponents of the Bohemian national feeling. From these sources they have derived an impression of a set of narrow Ultramontanes, who, oddly enough, combine their religious bigotries in favour of Roman Catholicism with a reliance on Russia in political affairs. These prejudices ought certainly to yield to an acquaintance with the people in their own country. A Roman Catholicism, tempered by an enthusiasm for Hus and Z̆iz̆ka and King George, can scarcely be a very obscurantist form of creed; and an intense feeling of national distinctness can hardly be compatible with an anxiety to be absorbed by the great North-eastern Empire, though undoubtedly it produces a stronger repulsion against the equally denationalising force of Pan-Germanism. Perhaps a careful study of the history of a country so much misunderstood will be the best preparation for a fairer appreciation of its present difficulties.