A UNIQUE TESTAMENT OF BOHEMIAN UTRAQUISM:PAVEL BYDŽOVSKÝ'S 1554 TREATISE ON THE ENGLISH MARTYRS

In his Latin treatise Historiae aliquot Anglorum martyrum, quibus Deus suam eccle-siam exornare sicut syderibus coelum dignatus est (Several Stories of English Martyrs with Whom God Deigned to Decorate His Church Just Like the Heaven with Stars) (Prague: J. Cantor, 1554), Pavel Bydžovský deals with the execution of Bishop John Fisher, Thomas More, Richard Reynolds (a Bridgettine monk) and six Carthusian monks for refusing to endorse the religious reforms of Henry VIII in 1535. A copy of the book can be found in the Library of the National Museum in Prague (signature 45 D 29). Bydžovský's work, which has not yet been analysed in modern times, offers a remarkable opportunity as an illustration of the scarcely studied or under-stood Utraquist theological and ecclesiological position. This is evident in Byd-žovský's sponsorship (especially that of Jan III, Popel z Lobkovic), his relation-ship to Catholicism and Lutheranism, and his use of sources (especially Venerable Bede, Reginald Pole, the Guildhall Report). Bydžovský's treatise thus not only sheds light on the religious relationships between Bohemia and England in the mid-six-teenth century, it also provides a solid testimony to the Utraquist theological and ecclesiasticalvia media between the Scylla of Rome and the Charybdis of Witten-berg (and Geneva), and especially to Bydžovský's allegiance to the papacy. A TEMPLE IN A STRUCTURAL PANEL BUILDING: THE BŘEZINA EXPERT PETR HOLMAN (1951-2019)Urs Heftrich Petr Holman, a bohemistic philologian, sanskritist and musician, died last year. Notonly was Holman the most important editor of Czech symbolist poet OtokarBřezina, his life can serve as an outstanding example for the resilience of indepen-dent culture during the so-called "normalization" era in Czechoslovakia. He trans-formed his flat in the structural panel building (panelák) into a temple for his col-lecting mania.