Utraquists

The more moderate group within the Hussite movement. Their name derives from the Latin sub utraque specie (“under both kinds”) and refers to the bread and wine of the Communion. They believed that laymen should receive both elements, not merely the bread as the church decreed, and that certain clerical abuses should be eliminated. Their membership centered in Prague and consisted of many of the nobility and university professors of that city. They defeated the rival Hussite faction, the Taborites,* in the Battle of Lipany. Then they formulated a more moderate position and at the Council of Basle* were given an official status in the Roman Church. They remained the established church of Bohemia until the Thirty Years' War* (1620) resulted in the restoration of Catholicism.