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Why did German masters and students leave Prague for Leipzig in 1409?

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Jan Hus Jan Hus at the stake, colored woodcut from a Hussite prayer book, 1563.

In 1409, German masters and students left the University of Prague for Leipzig primarily due to a dispute over the Western Schism and a subsequent change in university governance.12

When cardinals sought to end the papal schism by convening the Council of Pisa in 1409, the Czech members of the university supported the council's reform efforts, while the German masters remained loyal to the existing pope, Gregory XII.12

At that time, the university was organized into four "nations"—Bohemian, Bavarian, Saxon, and Polish (which was largely German)—with each nation holding one vote. Because the three non-Bohemian nations were dominated by Germans, they held a voting majority that allowed them to block the Czech reform party. To break this deadlock and align the university with his support for the Council of Pisa, King Wenceslas issued a decree in January 1409 that reversed the voting power: the Czechs were granted three votes, while the three German-dominated nations were reduced to a single collective vote. In protest of this loss of influence, the German masters and students seceded and founded the University of Leipzig.1234