- Pavel Kravař
Pavel Kravař [Paul Crawar, Paul Craw] (d.
July 23 ,1433 ) was aHussite emissary fromBohemia who was burned at the stake for heresy atSt Andrews inScotland on 23 July 1433. He was the first of a succession of religious reformers who were martyred in the town during the course of the subsequentProtestant Reformation . (The others being:Patrick Hamilton in 1528,Henry Forrest in 1533,George Wishart in 1546, andWalter Myln in 1558).Pavel Kravař was probably a native of
Kravaře , nearOpava inSilesia , now part of theCzech Republic . After studying medicine at theUniversity of Montpellier , he graduated as Master of Arts from theUniversity of Paris in 1415. The following year, he entered the Faculty of Arts at theUniversity of Prague , then a hotbed of Hussite activity. Around 1421, with the University now in decline, Pavel Kravař leftPrague to become a physician in the service of the Polish King, Władisław II Jagiełło (Jogaila ). He probably returned to the Bohemian capital in 1432 prior to undertaking his ill-fated mission to Scotland.His journey to St Andrews, at the time the ecclesiastical centre of Scotland and the location of its only university, was most likely made in a vain attempt to gain allies, hopefully amongst
Lollard sympathisers, for the Hussite cause at theCouncil of Basel , at which reconciliation was sought between the Hussites and theCatholic Church . Pavel Kravař’s activities in St Andrews evidently met with the displeasure of the authorities there, particularlyHenry Wardlaw ,Bishop of St Andrews , who accused him of spreading the heretical ideas ofJan Hus andJohn Wyclif . At his trial he defended himself with skill and courage, but was nevertheless condemned and died, according toJohn Knox , with a brass ball stuffed in his mouth to prevent him addressing the people.Pavel Kravař’s execution is believed to have taken place at the centre of the market square in St Andrews, close to the former location of the
Mercat Cross which is now marked with a cross of red stones set into the cobbled surface of the roadway.References
* Vyšný, Paul, “A Hussite in Scotland: The Mission of Pavel Kravař to St Andrews in 1433”, "The Scottish Historical Review", vol. lxxxii, April 2003, pp. 1-19.
Further reading
* Spinka, Matthew, “Paul Kravař and the Lollard-Hussite Relations”, in "Church History", Vol. 25, No. 1. (Mar., 1956), pp. 16-26.
External links
* [http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/crscees/history.html St Andrews and Central and Eastern Europe]
* [http://calvin.st-andrews.ac.uk/external_relations/news_article.cfm?reference=273 Czech Ambassador's Tribute to Fellow Countryman]
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