Provincial affairs are managed by the landtag, consisting of the Roman Catholic archbishop and bishop, 30 representatives of the landed gentry, 37 representatives of the towns and chambers of commerce, and 31 representatives of the country districts. There are six courts of justice of the first instance in Moravia, and one of the second instance (at Brünn), whence appeal lies to the supreme court at Vienna. For military and judicial purposes Moravia is united with Austrian Silesia.
Moravia belongs to the group of old Slavonic states which have preserved their nationality while losing their political independence. Upwards of 70 per cent, of the inhabitants are Slavs, who are scarcely distinguishable from their Bohemian neighbours. The differences in dialect between the two countries are very slight, and are being gradually lost in a common literary language. The name of Czech, however, is usually reserved for the Bohemians, while the Slavs of Moravia and West Hungary are called Moravians and Slovaks. The Czechs have lost sight of their ancient tribal names, but the Moravians are still divided into numerous secondary groups (Hovaks, Hanaks, &c.), differing slightly in costume and dialect. The peasants usually wear a national costume. In the south of Moravia are a few thousand Croats, still reserving their manners and language after three centuries separation from their kinsmen in Croatia; and in the north-east are numerous Poles. The Germans form about 26 per cent. of the population, and are found mostly in the towns and in the border districts. The Jews are the best educated of the inhabitants, and in a few small towns form a full half of the population. Their sympathies generally lie with the Germans. In 1880 the population was 2,153,407, showing an increase of 136,133 since 1869. Moravia is one of the most densely-populated parts of Austria-Hungary, the proportion being 252 persons per square mile. About 12 per cent. of the births are illegitimate. The chief towns are Brünn, the capital and industrial centre (82,660 inhabitants), Olmütz, a strong fortress defending the "Moravian Gate" (20,176 inhabitants), Znaim, and Iglau.
History.—At the earliest period of which we have any record Moravia was occupied by the Boii, the Celtic race which has perpetuated its name in Bohemia. Afterwards it was inhabited by the Germanic Quadi, who accompanied the Vandals in their westward migration; and they were replaced in the 5th century by the Rugii and Heruli. The latter tribes were succeeded about the year 550 A.D. by the Lombards, and these in their turn were soon forced to retire before an overwhelming invasion of Slavs, who, on their settlement there, took the name of Moravians (German, Mehranen or Mahren) from the river Morava. These new colonists became the permanent inhabitants of this district, and in spite of the hostility of the Avars on the east founded the kingdom of Great Moravia, which was considerably more extensive than the province now bearing the name. Towards the end of the 8th century they aided Charlemagne in putting an end to the Avar kingdom, and were rewarded by receiving part of it, corresponding to North Hungary, as a fief of the German emperor, whose supremacy they also acknowledged more or less for their other possessions. After the death of Charlemagne the Moravian princes took advantage of the dissensions of his successors to enlarge their territories and assert their independence, and Rastislaus (circa 850) even formed an alliance with the Bulgarians and the Byzantine emperor. The chief result of the alliance with the latter was the conversion of the Moravians to Christianity by two Greek monks, Cyril and Methodius, despatched from Constantinople. Rastislaus finally fell into the hands of Louis the German, who blinded him, and forced him to end his days as a monk; but his successor, Suatopluk ( ob. 890), was equally vigorous, and extended the kingdom of Great Moravia to the Oder on the west and the Gran on the east. At this period there seemed a strong probability of the junction of the north-western and south-eastern Slavs, and the formation of a great Slavonic power to the east of the German empire. This prospect, however, was dissipated by the invasions of the Magyar hordes in the 10th century, the brunt of which was borne by Moravia. The invaders were encouraged by the German monarchs and aided by the dissensions and mismanagement of the successors of Suatopluk, and in a short time completely subdued the eastern part of Great Moravia. The name of Moravia was henceforth confined to the district to which it now applies. For about a century the possession of this marchland was disputed by Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia, but in 1029 it was finally incorporated with Bohemia, and so became an integral part of the German empire. Towards the close of the 12th century Moravia was raised to the dignity of a margraviate, but with the proviso that it should be held as a fief of the crown of Bohemia. It henceforth shared the fortunes of this country, and was usually assigned as an apanage to younger members of the Bohemian royal house. In 1410 Jobst, margrave of Moravia, was made emperor of Germany, but died a few months after his election. In 1526, on the death of Louis II. of Hungary, Moravia came with the rest of that prince's possessions into the hands of the Austrian house. During the Thirty Year' War the depopulation of Moravia was so great that after the peace of Westphalia the states-general published an edict giving every man permission to take two wives, in order to "repeople the country." After the Seven Years' War Moravia was united in one province with the remnant of Silesia, but in 1849 it was made a separate and independent crownland. The most noticeable feature of recent Moravian history has been the active sympathy of its inhabitants with the anti-Teutonic home-rule agitation of the Bohemian Czechs (see Bohemia).
Authorities.—Dudik, Mährens allgemeine Geschichte (Brünn, 1860-76); Wolny, Die Markgrafschaft Mähren, topographisch, statistisch, und historisch geschildert (Brünn, 1835-40); D'Elvert, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Neugestaltung Mährens im 17ten Jahrhundert (1867); Trampler, Heimatskunde der Mark Mähren (Vienna, 1877); Statistische Jahrbücher of the Imperial Statistical Commission (Vienna). (J. F. M.)
MORAVIAN BRETHREN, The, are a society of Christians whose history can be traced back to the year 1457 and their origin found among the religious movements in Bohemia which followed the martyrdom of John Huss by the council of Constance. The beginnings of the Bohemian Brethren (for that was their earlier name) are somewhat obscure. The followers of Huss broke up into two factions, one of which, the Calixtines, was willing to acknowledge allegiance to Rome, provided the "compacts" of the council of Basel permitting the Lord's Supper sub utraque specie were maintained, and in the end it became the national church of Bohemia; the other, the Taborites, refused all terms of reconciliation, and appealed to arms. Separate from both these were many pious people who were content to worship God in simple fashion, in quiet meetings for prayer and Scripture-reading, like the Gottesfreunde of Germany, and who called themselves Brethren. Bohemian historians have conclusively shown that the Brethren represent the religious kernel of the Hussite movement, and do not come either from the German Waldenses or from the Taborites. Before 1457 many of these quiet Christians were known as the Brethren of Chelcic, and were the followers of Peter Chelcicky, a Bohemian, whose religious influence, strongly Puritan in its character, seems to have been inferior only to that of Huss. In that year the Calixtine leader, Rokyzana, wishing to protect them, permitted his nephew Gregory to gather them together at Kunewald near Senftenberg, and form them into a community. This meeting was really the foundation of the Brethren or Unitas Fratrum, and its founder Gregory announced that he and his companions received and taught the rejection of oaths, of the military profession, of all official rank, titles, and endowments, and of a hierarchy. They did not profess communism, but they held that the rich should give of their riches to the poor, and that all Christians should live as nearly as possible in the fashion of the apostolic community at Jerusalem. At the synod of Lhota near Reichenau, in 1467, they constituted themselves into a church separate from the Calixtine or national church of Bohemia. They appointed ministers of their own election and with the guidance of the "lot," and had an organization and discipline of their own; at their head was a bishop, who, it is said, received ordination from the Austrian Waldenses, but apostolic succession among the Brethren is one of the most obscure parts of their history.
