Prokop in the Bath: Some Observations on the Liber diurnus de gestis Bohemorum in Concilio Basileensi

Abstract

On Wednesday, 21 January 1433 Prokop Holý took a bath. There was nothing unusual about this. Medieval men did occasionally bathe and Prokop had been in the field for some years directing the Hussite armies. Still, the author of a medieval chronicle went to the bother of recording this otherwise mundane exercise of personal hygiene. The bath is certainly unremarkable but the occasion for the bath compels our attention. Prokop had recently undertaken a long journey from Prague to Basel, a distance of some 571 kilometres (355 miles). But he had arrived in Basel on Sunday 4 January - two-and-a-half weeks or a full eighteen days earlier - and certainly had time to bathe before the 21st. One might argue that only now did Prokop have the opportunity to enjoy a bath. Indeed, Prokop and his contingent of delegates to the Council of Basel faced a rather gruelling schedule but a glance at the "day book of the deeds of the Czechs at the Council of Basel" reveal no formal activities on either Tuesday the 6th or Sunday the 11th of the month. Moreover, the 'Liber diurnus' (diary) reveals that on Monday the 5th, Prokop had the day free until about four in the afternoon. On the 7th there were no scheduled conferences with the conciliar fathers. On Friday the 16th, business sessions appear to have recessed by lunch time for the remainder of the day. Even on days when the delegates were in session with the council they were not in continuous meetings from sunrise to sundown. In other words, Prokop surely had plenty of opportunity to bath before Wednesday, 21 January. It seems unavoidable that Prokop's bath was an excuse, albeit a feeble one, for not attending the council session on that day. This raises the question of why Prokop might wish to absent himself on that occasion.