Prokop the Bald attends the Council of…

Prokop the Bald attends the Council of Basel, which unsuccessfully attempts to reconcile the Bohemian heretics with Rome in 1433.

Prokop the Bald, or Prokop Holý, also called also called Prokop, or Procopius, the Great, had initially been a conservative (Utraquist) priest, but had then joined the heretical religious movement that had sprung from the teachings of the martyred Bohemian Reformer Jan Hus.

As the foremost leader of the Hussite Reformation forces in the later period of the Hussite wars, Prokop had effectively defended Hussite Bohemia against Romanist crusaders (1426, 1427, 1431) and himself invaded Silesia, Saxony, Thuringia, and Hungary.

The spiritual descendants of Hus, the Utraquists, also called Calixtins, or Calixtines, believe that the laity, like the clergy, should receive the Eucharist under the forms of both bread and wine (Latin utraque, “each of two”; calix, “chalice”).

Unlike the militant Taborites (also followers of Hus), the Utraquists are moderates and maintain amicable relations with the Roman Catholic Church.

As a consequence, the Council of Basel in 1433 declares them to be true Christians.