The Compacts of Basel – Jihlava, Commemorative Plaque at the Town Hall

Fact of the Czech figure „Steps towards religious tolerance”

Part of the „Religious tolerance and intolerance” topic

Masaryk Square in Jihlava is decorated with a commemorative plaque marking the proclamation of the Basel Compacts on July 6, 1436, the greatest international achievement of the Czech Hussites. After twenty years of Hussite wars, it was recognized that lay believers could receive communion in both kinds during the Holy Mass, meaning both the consecrated bread and wine – a privilege previously reserved for priests in the Catholic Church.

The fact that the equality of Czech Utraquists was discussed at the Council of Basel underlines the importance of the situation, both for the Pope, who sought to reintegrate them into the universal church, and for Sigismund of Luxembourg, as this conciliatory political step paved the way for the acknowledgment of his earlier coronation as King of Bohemia (1420). The Compacts replaced the original Four Articles of Prague (1419) as the law of the land, with only the practice of communion in both kinds being fully adopted.

Sigismund’s successors were obliged by the nobility to uphold this dual faith, even though Pope Pius II officially revoked the Compacts in 1462. Although this was a fragile and temporary success, the willingness to negotiate stands as an important milestone of religious tolerance on a European scale.