ZINZENDORF, COUNT VON. 



ZISKA. 



040 



being afterwards obliged to continue his travels, wrote to Herrnhut, 

 and caused one of the preachers there to proceed to America at his 

 own expense, and to take his place as minister at Germantown. He 

 also ordered a church to be built there at his own expense, for the use 

 of the Moravian congregation, who had hitherto assembled in a barn. 

 At Philadelphia Zinzendorf delivered a Latin speech in presence of a 

 numerous auditory, to whom he declared that he considered his title 

 of count to be inconsistent with his holy functions, and that he would 

 henceforth be called Von Thumstein, which was the name of one of 

 his estates. The Quakers in Philadelphia acted very kindly towards 

 him, and defended him warmly against his detractors; they used to call 

 him 'friend Louis.' After having visited the Indians in the interior of 

 the country, and founded tho celebrated colony of Bethlehem, he 

 returned to Europe (1743). 



During his absence the Moravian brothers in Livonia had endeavoured 

 to establish their faith in an arbitrary manner in all the Lutheran 

 churches of thai country, arid Zinzendorf was accused of having en- 

 couraged them to such proceedings. However, so far was he from 

 having had the slightest idea of propagating his creed by other means 

 than those of reasonable persuasion, that he immediately proceeded to 

 Russia in order to justify himself. On arriving at Riga ho received an 

 order from the Empress Elizabeth to leave the empire immediately, and 

 he was put under a military escort, which accompanied him on his return 

 as far as the Prussian frontier, and prevented him from holding any 

 communications with the inhabitants. A few years after this he was 

 allowed to return to Saxony (1747). During his exile the brethren 

 had increased in number and in wealth, and their good conduct and 

 industry had made them many friends among people of rank, so that 

 the government gradually treated them with less severity. Zinzen- 

 dorf's numerous and powerful friends also pleaded in his favour, and 

 the government was finally fully persuaded of the reformer's honesty 

 by an offer of the brethren to buy the castle of Barby and its territory, 

 which belong to the crown, but were of no use, as the castle was half 

 in ruins and, the soil barren, and for which the brethren offered to give 

 one hundred and fifty thousand thalers (25,000?.), if they might be 

 allowed to establish there a school of divinity. The Saxon govern- 

 ment assented, full liberty of religion was granted to the brethren, 

 and Zinzendorf returned to Herrnhut. 



In 1749 he went to England, and through the protection of Arch- 

 bishop Potter, General Oglethorpe, and several other men of influence 

 whose attachment to the Church could not be doubted, he obtained an 

 act of parliament for the establishment of Moravian colonies and 

 missions thoughout the British possessions in North America. He 

 now set out for America to carry his plan into execution, and after an 

 absence of some years returned to Herrnhut. His last great tour was 

 in 1757, when he visited his friend Von "VYatteville at Montmirail, in 

 the canton of Bern in Switzerland, whence he proceeded to Holland. 

 He finally returned to his flock, and the Countess of Reuss, his wife, 

 being then dead, he married Anne. Nitschroann, the daughter of one of 

 the iirst Moravians who had settled at Herrnhut, and who had for 

 many years been superintendent of the spinsters at Herrnhut. Zin- 

 zendorf passed the last years of his active life in perfect quiet and 

 retirement at Herrnhut, and when he died, after a short illness, on the 

 9th of May 1760, he was buried in the cemetery of that place ; thirty- 

 two Moravian preachers from all the countries in the world, some 

 even from Greenland, bore his coffin, which was followed by two 

 thousand brethren and a crowd of people of all ranks and confessions. 



Zinzendorf 's activity was unbounded, but he had excellent health. 

 He wrote more than one hundred pamphlets, all directed to the pro- 

 pagation of his creed, or to the defence of himself or his brethren. 

 The following are some of them : 'Attici Wallfahrt durch die Welt' 

 (Atticus 1 Travels through the World), a description of his first tour to 

 Holland and France; 'Das gute Wort des Herrn' (The Good Word 

 of the Lord), a kind of catechism; 'Die wahre Milch der Lehre 

 Jesus' (The true Milk of the Doctrine of Jesus); 'Der Deutsche 

 Socrates' (The German Socrates), a periodical, &c. Many of them are 

 anonymous. He also wrote a great number of hymns, which are in 

 the song-books of the Moravians ; they are of a remarkable mystical 

 tendency; the versification is often harsh and the style broken, but 

 they are well adapted to the organ and to singing in chorus. His 

 writings may generally be characterised as a compound of beauty and 

 tastelessness, of clearness and mystical dimness, of deep thoughts and 

 common-places wrapt up in grand words. There is another defect, 

 but only in the earlier writings of Zinzendorf, which deserves censure, 

 although the author made apology for it, and regretted his aberrations 

 in his later and cooler years. This is the pious obscenity which 

 poisons many of his hymns and sermons, and is particularly con- 

 spicuous in such as treat of the mystical marriage of Christ with his 

 bride the Church, and the unctions of the Holy Ghost as a spiritual 

 mother. Most of [his sermons were not published, nor even written 

 by him, but by others who took short-hand notes of them which they 

 afterwards caused to be printed. Zinzenddrf as a poet is the founder 

 of a particular school of hymn-writers. 



(Varnhagen von Ense, Leben des Graf en N. von Zinzendorf, in the 

 fifth volume of his ' Denkmale ; ' this is the best biography of Zinzen- 

 dorf; the author is considered to hold the first rank among German 

 biographers ; Spangenberg, Leben des Graf en N. v. Zinzendorf t from 

 which extracts have been published by Reichel and Duvernois ', Span- j 



gcnberg was one of the earliest friends and disciples of Zinzendorf, 

 and his work is not impartial ; an English abridgment of it was pub- 

 lished under the title of ' Memoirs of the Life of Count Zinzendorf, 

 Bishop of the Moravian Brethren," by Spangenberg, translated by 

 Samuel Jackson, with an Introductory Essay by Latrobe, 8vo, London, 

 1838 ; Miiller, Das Leben des Orafen N. von Zinzendorf, in the third 

 volume of his ' Bekenntuisse beriihmter Manner.') 



ZISKA, or more correctly ZIZKA, OF TROCZNOW, JOHN, the 

 celebrated leader of the Hussites, was born under an oak-tree in tho 

 open fields, near the castle of Trocznow, in the circle of Budwei.s, in 

 Bohemia, about 1360, or, as some say, about 1380. His father, the 

 lord of Trocznow, was a Bohemian noble of more credit than wealth. 

 John Zizka lost one eye at an early age, and hence it was said that ho 

 was called Zizka, which would signify ' one-eyed ' in the Bohemian 

 language. But this is a fiction ; Zizka was the name of his family, 

 and it does not signify one-eyed either in Bohemian or in Polish. At 

 the age of twelve John Zizka was received among the pages of Wen- 

 ceslaus, king of Bohemia and emperor of Germany, and he became 

 distinguished among his fellow-pages by his gloomy temper and his 

 love of solitude. Disgusted with the trifling and capricious character 

 of Wenceslaus, Zizka left the court, and sought his fortune abroad. 

 For some time he served as a volunteer in the English army, and 

 distinguished himself against the French. He afterwards went to 

 Poland, and commanded a body of the Bohemian and Moravian aux- 

 iliaries of King Wladislaw II., Jagiello, in his war against the Knights 

 of the Teutonic Order. Tho dreadful battle of Tannenberg (15th of 

 July 1410), in which the grand-master Ulrich von Jungingen was slain, 

 with 40,000 knights and soldiers, was decided in favour of the Poles 

 by those auxiliaries, and John Zizka distinguished himself so much 

 that King Wladislaw rewarded him with a ; chain of honour and other 

 rich presents. The war being terminated by that battle, Zizka fought 

 against the Turks in Hungary, and having again entered the Euglish 

 army, won fresh laurels at the battle of Azincourt (1415). After this 

 ho returned to Bohetuia, and accepted a place as chamberlain at the 

 court of King Wenceslaus, against his own inclination, and for reasons 

 unknown. 



Zizka was an adherent of the doctrines of John Huss, and the fate 

 of this reformer and his friend Jerome of Prague, who were burnt at 

 Constance in 1415, was considered by him as an insult to his faith and 

 his country. His hatred of the Roman Catholic clergy was increased 

 when his favourite sister was seduced by a monk. He became con- 

 spicuous among those Bohemian nobles who urged King Wenceslaus 

 to revenge the insult, and to protect the followers of Hugs against the 

 decisions of the synod of Constance. The king, seeing him one day 

 from the window of his palace walking in a thoughtful mood, asked 

 him what he was meditating about. " Upon the bloody affront," 

 answered Zizka, " which the Bohemians have suffered at Constance." 

 " It is true," replied the king, " that we have been insulted, but I fear 

 it is neither in my nor in your power to revenge it. If you can do so, 

 I give you my royal permission." It is said that this circumstance 

 first inspired Zizka with the resolution of defending with his sword 

 the religious liberties of his country. But Weuceslaus was a man of 

 so little steadiness and energy, that he was alarmed at his own resolves, 

 and his perplexity was augmented when he was informed that the 

 Bohemian nobles had resolved to take up arms in defence of the 

 dignity of his own person. Their leader was Nicholas of Hussynecz, 

 and Zizka was among them. They did not venture to appear before 

 the king though they acted with his permission. Zizka however 

 persuaded them to follow him, and having been received by the king, 

 spoke to this effect : " Sire, behold a body of your majesty's faithful 

 subjects. We have brought our arms, as you commanded. Show us 

 your enemies, and you shall acknowledge that our weapons can be in 

 no hands more useful to you than in those which hold them." " Take 

 your arms," replied the king, after a moment's hesitation, " and use 

 them properly." Zizka's conduct on this occasion recommended him 

 to the confidence of his party. But the king's energy was not real ; 

 he did not protect the followers of Huss; and the Roman Catholic 

 party became still more insolent. On the 30th of July 1419, there 

 was a public "procession at Prague, and some quarrel having broken 

 out between the Roman Catholics and the Hussites, a Hussite priest 

 was wounded by a stone thrown by a Roman Catholic. The dis- 

 content of the Hussites now burst out, and, as the government of the 

 town was in the hands of the Roman Catholics, they proceeded to 

 the town-hall, where the magistrates were assembled, and, led by 

 Zizka, stormed it, and threw thirteen aldermen from the windows into 

 the court-yard, where they were torn in pieces by the mob. When 

 Wenceslaus was informed of it, he fell into a fit of passion and died. 

 [WENCESLAUS.] This was the beginning of the Hussite war, the first 

 great religious contest that desolated Germany. Zizka was proclaimed 

 commander-in-chief by tho Hussites, and he found no opposition to 

 his authority. 



Siegmund, king of Hungary and emperor of Germany, considered 

 himself as the lawful successor of his brother Wenceslaus in Bohemia; 

 but the Hussites, who knew the emperor's character, and had not for- 

 given him his faithless conduct towards Huss, did not acknowledge his 

 title. They resolved to exclude him from the throne, they prepared 

 for resistance, and protected the doctrines of Huss throughout the 

 kingdom. la 1420 Siegmund entered Bohemia at the head of 40,000 





