In 15th century Bohemia, there was a large wealth gap between the landowning nobility, and the peasant class. The stark inequalities between the two groups were also exacerbated by the influence of the Catholic church in the region. At the start of the 15th century, Catholicism was the primary religion practiced in Bohemia, and with that, the church was granted much power and influence. The church itself had ownership of almost 30% of the land across Bohemia, and in many cases acted as a landlord to the peasants living on those lands, charging and collecting rents from them.^[1] They also had secular influence over some judicial or bureaucratic practices. In addition to the economic benefit the church derived from the large quantity of land they were in possession of, they were also exempt from taxation. This not only put a greater tax burden on the peasantry, but also allowed the Catholic church to amass greater wealth. This time period also marked an era of corruption occurring within the Catholic church, for example many priests were guilty of selling indulgences. As evidenced by the depiction of a priest as the devil in the Jena Codex, this form of corruption was viewed quite negatively by many outside of the nobility.^[2] There were also instances of the clergy selling ecclesiastical privileges and offices, further strengthening the nobility and burgher classes of the time.

The tensions with the church in relation to class was also illustrated through the form of communion that was taken in this era. Due to the increasingly hierarchical structure of the church, communion was taken under one kind, meaning that the laypeople were not allowed to take both the bread and wine during communion. However the priests, being more holy, were allowed to take the other sacraments. This perpetuated a religious separation between the two groups in addition to the socioeconomic divisions that were already present in Bohemia. With the Catholic church’s immense wealth, it contributed to overall increasing wealth inequality. The corruption within the clergy also further supported the development of an incredibly powerful noble class by granting them religious superiority with the remission of sin and other ecclesiastical acts. As the church grew in corruption and wealth, the peasant classes were at the expense, sowing seeds of unrest within the population in regards to how the Catholic church was being run.

[1] Klassen, J. (1990). THE DISADVANTAGED AND THE HUSSITE REVOLUTION. International Review of Social History, 35(2), 249–272. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44582087

[2] Packare, . (2019, June 20). The Devil Selling Indulgences. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/10952/the-devil-selling-indulgences/