Jan Hus aka
Jan Huss, John Hus, John Huss ' onMouseout='HidePop("44800")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Husinec_(Prachatice_District)">Husinec
Husinec is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 1,350 inhabitants.It is said to be the birth place of Czech philosopher, reformer Jan Hus.-External links:*...
,
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
– 6 July 1415
Konstanz, GermanyKonstanz is a university town of around 80,000 inhabitants at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland.-Location:...
), often referred to in English as
John Huss or variations thereof, was a
CzechCzechs are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
Catholic priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
.
He is famed for having been burned at the stake for what the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
considered to be his heretical views on
ecclesiologyEcclesiology is the study of the theological understanding of the Christian church. Specific areas of concern include the church's role in salvation, its origin, its relationship to the historical Christ, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership...
. Hus was a key contributor to the Protestant movement whose teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe, most immediately in the approval for the existence of a reformist Bohemian Church, and, more than a century later, on
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
himself.
Background
Jan Hus was influenced by the teachings of
John WycliffeJohn Wycliffe was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century...
. After the King of England,
Richard IIRichard II was the eighth King of England of the House of Plantagenet. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
, married
Anne of BohemiaAnne of Bohemia , also known as Good Queen Anne, was a daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, and Elizabeth of Pomerania...
, they traveled back to Bohemia where they carried Wycliffe's ideas with them. Once Hus adopted Wycliffe's ideas, he proposed to reform the church in Bohemia just as Wycliffe had in England. While some of his followers became known as
HussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Huss , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
s, his more radical followers were called Taborites. The Taborites rejected all teachings that were not Biblically founded. Around 1450, some of the Taborites founded a group known as the Bohemian Brethren. The Moravian church further developed this group in Germany. The Moravians (so-called because they fled from
MoraviaMoravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region.-Geography:...
in Czech lands) were one of the first Protestant charismatic communities, who sent more missionaries per head than any other Protestant denomination in history. The
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
considered Hus's teachings heretical. He was excommunicated in 1411, condemned by the
Council of ConstanceThe Council of Constance is the 16th ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Western Schism, by deposing the remaining Papal claimants and electing Pope Martin V....
, and burned at the stake in 1415.
Hus was a key contributor to
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
, whose teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe and on
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
himself. The
Hussite WarsThe Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were arguably the first European war in which hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons made a decisive...
resulted in the Basel Compacts which allowed for a reformed church in the Kingdom of Bohemia—almost a century before such developments would take place in the Lutheran Reformation. Hus' extensive writings earn him a prominent place in Czech literary history. He is also responsible for introducing the use of
diacriticA diacritic is an ancillary glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective...
s (especially the háček) into Czech spelling in order to represent each
soundIn a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
by a single
symbolA grapheme is a fundamental unit in a written language. Examples of graphemes include alphabetic letters, Chinese characters, numerical digits, punctuation marks, and the individual symbols of any of the world's writing systems, although arguably a diacritical mark or ancillary glyph does not...
. Today, the
Jan Hus MemorialThe Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square, Prague in the Czech Republic. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus and a young mother which symbolizes national rebirth. It was unveiled in 1915 to...
can be seen at the Prague Old Town Square (
CzechCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. Czech is similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak and, to a lesser extent, to Polish and Sorbian. - Official status :Czech is widely...
Staroměstské náměstí).
Jan Hus Day
Jan Hus Day (
Den upálení mistra Jana Husa) on 6 July, the anniversary of the
martyrdom of Jan HusCapital punishment or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences....
, is a public holiday in the
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
, although most Czechs describe themselves as non-religious, and among Christians, Roman Catholics comprise a plurality, if not an outright majority. Hus is also commemorated as a martyr in the
Calendar of SaintsThe Lutheran Calendar of Saints is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by the Lutheran Church. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod are from the 1978 Lutheran Book of...
of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in AmericaThe Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches and currently has about 4,633,887 baptized members...
on that day.
Early years
John or Jan Hus was born in
HusinecHusinec is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 1,350 inhabitants.It is said to be the birth place of Czech philosopher, reformer Jan Hus.-External links:*...
in southern
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
. His date of birth has been thought to be between 1369 and 1373. Working backward from the year of his ordination, the best estimate is the year 1372. Very little is known of his parents and family.
Papal schism
The
University of PragueCharles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1347, it was the first university in the Holy Roman Empire and in Central Europe in general...
around 1408 was being torn apart by the ongoing
papal schismThe Great Schism of Western Christianity or Papal Schism was a split within the Roman Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. By its end, three men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any real theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of...
, in which
Pope Gregory XIIPope Gregory XII , born Angelo Correr or Corraro, Pope from 1406 to 1415, succeeded Pope Innocent VII on November 30, 1406....
and Avignon Pope Benedict XIII both laid claim to the papacy. King
WenceslausWenceslaus , was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the House of Luxembourg...
felt Pope Gregory XII might interfere with his plans to be crowned
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
; thus, he renounced Gregory and ordered his
prelateA prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who either is an ordinary or ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, literally, "carry before," or "to be set above, or over," or "to prefer," hence a prelate is one set over...
s to observe a strict neutrality toward both
popeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
s, and said he expected the same of the university.
Archbishop ZajícZbyněk Zajíc of Hasenburg was a Czech nobleman, and an important representative of the Roman Catholic Church...
remained faithful to Gregory. At the university, only the "Bohemian nation" (one of four voting blocs), with Hus as its leader and spokesman, avowed neutrality.
Kutná Hora
At the instigation of Hus and other Bohemian leaders,
WenceslausWenceslaus , was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the House of Luxembourg...
issued a decree (while in the city of
Kutná HoraKutná Hora is a city in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic in the Central Bohemian Region.-History:The town began in 1142 with the settlement of the first Cistercian Monastery in Bohemia, Kloster Sedlitz, brought from the reichsunmittelbar Cistercian Imperial Waldsassen Abbey...
) that the Bohemian nation should now have three votes (instead of one) in all affairs of the university, while the foreign
nationA nation is a body of people who share a real or imagined common history, culture, language or ethnic origin. The development and conceptualization of the nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries,...
s (Bavarian, Saxon, and Polish) should have only one vote. As a consequence, somewhere between five thousand and twenty thousand foreign doctors, masters, and students left the university in 1409. This exodus resulted in the founding of the
University of LeipzigThe University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, among others. Thus, Prague university lost its international importance and became a Czech school. The emigrants also spread news of the Bohemian "heresies" throughout the rest of Europe. Archbishop Zajíc became isolated and Hus was at the height of his fame. He became a rector of the Czech university, and enjoyed the favor of the
courtA court is a body, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes and dispense civil, criminal, or administrative justice in accordance with rules of law....
. At around this time, the doctrinal views of the English theologian,
John WycliffeJohn Wycliffe was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century...
(1320s-1384), were becoming increasingly influential.
Alexander V becomes Pope
In 1409, in an attempt to end the papal schism, the
Council of PisaThe Council of Pisa was an unrecognized ecumenical conference of the Roman Catholic Church held in 1409 that attempted to end the Western Schism by deposing Benedict XIII and Gregory XII...
met to elect a new pope. This did not succeed, and the pope they elected, Alexander V, did not end loyalty to the other two popes. The Roman Catholic Church now considers Alexander V an
antipopeAn antipope is a person who, in opposition to a sitting Bishop of Rome, makes a widely accepted claim to be the Pope. In the past, antipopes were typically those supported by a fairly significant faction of cardinals and kingdoms...
. Hus, his followers, and
WenceslausWenceslaus , was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the House of Luxembourg...
transferred their allegiance to Alexander V. Under pressure from
WenceslausWenceslaus , was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the House of Luxembourg...
,
Archbishop ZajícZbyněk Zajíc of Hasenburg was a Czech nobleman, and an important representative of the Roman Catholic Church...
did the same. Zajíc then brought his complaints before Alexander V's
Papal SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic...
, accusing the
WycliffitesJohn Wycliffe was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century...
of ecclesiastical disturbances.
Excommunication of Hus
Alexander V issued his
papal bullA Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a pope. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it....
of 20 December 1409, which empowered the Archbishop to proceed against
WycliffismJohn Wycliffe was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century...
. All books of Wycliffe were to be given up, his doctrines revoked, and free preaching discontinued. After the publication of the bull in 1410, Hus appealed before Alexander V, but in vain. All books and valuable manuscripts of Wycliffe were burned, and Alexander V excommunicated Hus and his adherents. Riots ensued in parts of Bohemia. The government took the side of Hus, and the power of his adherents increased from day to day. Hus continued to preach in the
Bethlehem ChapelThe Bethlehem Chapel is a medieval religious building in Prague, Czech Republic notable for its connection with the famous Czech reformer Jan Hus. It was opened for sermons in 1394, and taught solely in the Czech vernacular, thus breaking with German domination of the Medieval Bohemian church...
. The churches of the city were put under the ban, and the
interdictIn the Roman Catholic Church, the word interdict usually refers to an ecclesiastical penalty. Interdicts may be real, local or personal. A personal interdict pertains to one or more persons. A real or local interdict, which is no longer a part of canon law, suspends all public worship and...
was pronounced against
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
, but without result.
Indulgences
Archbishop Zajíc died in 1411, and with his death the religious movement in Bohemia entered a new phase, where the disputes concerning indulgences assumed great importance.
Crusade against Naples
Antipope John XXIIIBaldassarre Cossa , was Antipope John XXIII during the Western Schism .-Biography:Baldassarre Cardinal Cossa was born in Procida ....
succeeded Pope Alexander V after his death in 1410. In 1411,
JohnBaldassarre Cossa , was Antipope John XXIII during the Western Schism .-Biography:Baldassarre Cardinal Cossa was born in Procida ....
issued a crusade against King Ladislaus of Naples, the protector of Gregory XII. This crusade was preached in Prague as well, and preachers of
indulgenceAn indulgence, in Catholic Theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw on the storehouse of merit...
s urged people to crowd the churches and give their offerings. This developed a traffic in indulgences that to some were a sign of the corruption of the church.
Condemnation of indulgences and Crusade
Hus spoke out against indulgences, but he could not carry with him the men of the university. In 1412, a dispute took place, on which occasion Hus delivered his address
Quaestio magistri Johannis Hus de indulgentiis. It was taken literally from the last chapter of Wycliffe's book,
De ecclesia, and his treatise,
De absolutione a pena et culpa. The pamphlet stated that no
popeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
or
bishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
had the right to take up the
swordA sword is a long, edged piece of metal, used in many civilizations throughout the world, primarily as a cutting or thrusting weapon and occasionally for clubbing...
in the name of the Church; he should pray for his enemies and bless those that curse him; man obtains forgiveness of sins by true repentance, not money. The doctors of the theological faculty replied, but without success. A few days afterward, some of Hus' followers, led by Vok Voksa z Valdštejna, burnt the
Papal bullA Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a pope. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it....
s. Hus, they said, should be obeyed rather than the Church, which they considered a fraudulent mob of adulterers and
SimonistsSimony is the ecclesiastical crime of paying for holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:18-24. Simon Magus offers the disciples of Jesus, Peter and John payment so that anyone he would place his hands on would...
.
Response
In response, three men from the lower classes who openly called the indulgences a fraud were beheaded. They were later considered the first martyrs of the
HussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Huss , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
Church. In the meantime, the faculty had condemned the forty-five articles and added several other heretical
thesesA dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for a degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
which had originated with Hus. The king forbade the teaching of these articles, but neither Hus nor the university complied with the ruling, requesting that the articles should be first proven to be un-scriptural. The tumults at Prague had stirred up a sensation; papal legates and Archbishop Albik tried to persuade Hus to give up his opposition to the papal bulls, and the king made an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the two parties.
Call for arrest of Hus
In the meantime, the clergy of Prague, through Michael de Causis, had brought their complaints before the Pope, and he ordered the Cardinal of St. Angelo to proceed against Hus without mercy. The cardinal put Hus under the great church ban. He was to be seized and delivered to the archbishop, and his chapel was to be destroyed. This was followed by stricter measures against Hus and his adherents, and, in turn, counter-measures of the Hussites, including an appeal by Hus that Jesus Christ, and not the Pope, was the supreme judge. This intensified the excitement among the people, and
WenceslausWenceslaus , was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the House of Luxembourg...
forced Hus to leave Prague, but his departure did little to quell the ongoing excitement.
Attempts at reconciliation
The king made efforts to harmonize the opposing parties. In 1412, he convoked the heads of his kingdom for a consultation and, at their suggestion, ordered a
synodA synod is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application...
to be held at
Český BrodČeský Brod is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It is located 35 km east of Prague and had a population of 6,637 in 2005.Rock for People, an annual summer music festival was held in Český Brod from 1995 to 2006...
on 2 February 1412. It did not take place there, but in the palace of the archbishops at Prague, in order to exclude Hus from participation. Propositions were made to restore peace in the Church, with Hus requiring that Bohemia should have the same
freedomPolitical freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression.The opposite of a free society is a totalitarian state, which highly restricts political freedom in order to regulate almost every aspect of behavior...
in regard to ecclesiastical affairs as other countries and that approbation and condemnation should therefore be announced only with the permission of the state power. This is wholly the doctrine of Wycliffe (
Sermones, iii. 519, etc).
There followed treatises from both parties, but no harmony was obtained.
"Even if I should stand before the stake which has been prepared for me", Hus wrote at the time,
"I would never accept the recommendation of the theological faculty." The synod did not produce any results, but the King ordered a commission to continue the work of reconciliation. The doctors of the university demanded approval of their conception of the Church, according to which the Pope is the head, the
CardinalsA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available...
are the body of the Church from Hus and his followers. Hus protested vigorously. The Hussite party seems to have made a great effort toward reconciliation. To the article that the Roman Church must be obeyed, they added only
"so far as every pious Christian is bound". Stanislav ze Znojma and Štěpán Páleč protested against this addition and left the convention; they were exiled by the king, with two others.
Writings of Hus and Wycliffe
Of the writings occasioned by these controversies, those of Hus on the Church, entitled
De Ecclesia, were written in 1413 and have been most frequently quoted and admired or criticized, and yet their first ten chapters are but an epitome of Wycliffe's work of the same title, and the following chapters are but an abstract of another of Wycliffe's works (
De potentate papae) on the power of the pope. Wycliffe had written his book to oppose the common view that the Church consisted only of the clergy, and Hus now found himself making the same point. He wrote his work at the castle of one of his protectors in Kozí Hrádek, and sent it to Prague, where it was publicly read in the Bethlehem chapel. It was answered by Stanislav ze Znojma and Páleč with treatises of the same title.
After the most vehement opponents of Hus had left Prague, his adherents occupied the whole ground. Hus wrote his treatises and preached in the neighborhood of Kozí Hrádek. Bohemian Wyclifism was carried into
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
,
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
,
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
, and
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
. In January 1413, a general council assembled in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
which condemned the writings of Wycliffe and ordered them to be burned.
Council of Constance
To put an end to the papal schism and to take up the long desired
reformReform means beneficial change, or sometimes, more specifically, reversion to a pure original state.to reform somethingReform is generally distinguished from revolution. The latter means basic or radical change; whereas reform may be no more than fine tuning, or at most redressing serious wrongs...
of the Church, a general council was convened for 1 November 1414, at
KonstanzKonstanz is a university town of around 80,000 inhabitants at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland.-Location:...
(Constance).
Sigismund, Holy Roman EmperorSigismund was one of the longest ruling Kings of Hungary, reigning for fifty years from 1387 to 1437, and was also Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, and the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Bohemia from 1419, of Lombardia from 1431, and of Germany...
, brother of Wenceslaus, and heir to the Bohemian crown, was anxious to put an end to religious dissension within the church; Hus likewise was willing to make an end of all dissensions and agreed to go to Constance, under Sigismund's promise of safe passage.
Imprisonment and preparations for trial
It is unknown whether Hus knew what his fate would be, but he made his will before setting out. He started on his journey on 11 October 1414; on 3 November 1414, he arrived at Constance, and on the following day, the bulletins on the church doors announced that Michal z Německého Brodu would be opposing Hus. In the beginning, Hus was at liberty, living at the house of a widow, but, after a few weeks, his opponents succeeded in imprisoning him, on the strength of a rumor — more than likely spread by themselves — that he intended to flee. He was first brought into the residence of a canon and then, on 8 December 1414, into the
dungeonA dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette is a form of dungeon which was accessible only from a hatch...
of the Dominican monastery. Sigismund was greatly angered, as the guarantor of Hus' safety, and threatened the prelates with dismissal, however the prelates convinced him that he could not be bound by promises to a heretic.
On 4 December 1414,
Antipope John XXIIIBaldassarre Cossa , was Antipope John XXIII during the Western Schism .-Biography:Baldassarre Cardinal Cossa was born in Procida ....
had entrusted a committee of three bishops with a preliminary investigation against Hus. As was common practice, witnesses for the prosecution were heard, but Hus was not allowed an advocate for his
defenseIn civil proceedings and criminal prosecutions under the common law, a defendant may raise a defense in an attempt to avoid criminal or civil liability...
. His situation became worse after the downfall of the antipope, who had left Constance to avoid abdicating. Hus had been the captive of John XXIII and in constant communication with his friends, but now he was delivered to the Archbishop of Constance and brought to his castle,
Gottlieben on the Rhine. Here he remained for 73 days, separated from his friends, chained day and night, poorly fed, and ill.
Trial
On 5 June 1415, he was tried for the first time, and for that purpose was transferred to a
FranciscanThe term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders, also known as the Orders of Friars Minor, that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis", or a member of one of these orders. As well as Roman Catholic there are also small Old Catholic and...
monasteryMonastery , a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer Monastery (plural: monasteries), a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios...
, where he spent the last weeks of his life. He declared himself willing to recant
if his errors should be proven to him from the Bible. Hus conceded his veneration of Wycliffe, and said that he could only wish his soul might some time attain unto that place where Wycliffe's was. On the other hand, he denied having defended Wycliffe's doctrine of The Lord's Supper or the forty-five articles; he had only opposed their summary condemnation.
King WenceslausWenceslaus , was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the House of Luxembourg...
admonished him to deliver himself up to the mercy of the Council, as he did not desire to protect a heretic.
At the last trial, on 8 June 1415, there were read to him thirty-nine sentences, twenty-six of which had been excerpted from his book on the Church, seven from his treatise against Páleč, and six from that against Stanislav ze Znojma. The danger of some of these doctrines to worldly power was explained to the
emperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right...
to incite him against Hus. Hus again declared himself willing to submit if he could be convinced of errors. He desired only a fair trial and more time to explain the reasons for his views. If his reasons and
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
texts did not suffice, he would be glad to be instructed. This declaration was considered an unconditional surrender, and he was asked to confess:
- that he had erred in the theses which he had hitherto maintained;
- that he renounced them for the future;
- that he recanted them; and
- that he declared the opposite of these sentences.
He asked to be exempted from recanting doctrines which he had never taught; others, which the assembly considered erroneous, he was willing to revoke; to act differently would be against his
conscienceConscience is an ability or a faculty that distinguishes whether one's actions are right or wrong. It leads to feelings of remorse when a human does things that go against his/her moral values, and to feelings of rectitude or integrity when actions conform to moral values. It is also often viewed...
. These words found no favorable reception. After the trial on 8 June, several other attempts were made to induce him to recant, which he resisted.
Condemnation and execution
The condemnation took place on 6 July 1415, in the presence of the assembly of the Council in the Cathedral. After the performance of
High MassHigh Mass may mean:*Solemn Mass, a Tridentine Mass celebrated with deacon and subdeacon *Missa Cantata, a sung Tridentine Mass without deacon and subdeacon...
and
LiturgyA liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish services...
, Hus was led into the church. The Bishop of Lodi delivered an oration on the duty of eradicating heresy; then some theses of Hus and Wycliffe and a report of his trial were read.
Refusals to recant
An Italian prelate pronounced the sentence of condemnation upon Hus and his writings. Hus protested, saying that even at this hour he did not wish anything, but to be convinced from Holy Scripture. He fell upon his knees and asked God with a low voice to forgive all his enemies. Then followed his degradation — he was enrobed in priestly vestments and again asked to recant; again he refused. With curses his ornaments were taken from him, his priestly
tonsureTonsure is the practice of some Christian churches, mystics, Buddhist novices and monks, and some Hindu temples of cutting the hair from the scalp of clerics, devotees, or holy people as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem.-History:...
was destroyed, and the sentence was pronounced that the Church had deprived him of all rights and delivered him to the secular powers. Then a high paper hat was put upon his head, with the inscription "Haeresiarcha" (meaning the leader of a heretical movement). Hus was led away to the stake under a strong guard of armed men. At the place of execution he knelt down, spread out his hands, and prayed aloud. Some of the people asked that a
confessor-Confessor of the Faith:Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death. The term is still used in this way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint, as well as those who have been declared...
should be given to him, but one priest exclaimed that a heretic should neither be heard nor given a confessor.
Execution
The executioners undressed Hus and tied his hands behind his back with ropes, and his neck with a chain to a stake around which wood and straw had been piled up so that it covered him to the neck. At the last moment, the imperial marshal, Von Pappenheim, in the presence of the
Count PalatineCount palatine is a noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...
, asked him to recant and thus save his own life, but Hus declined with the words
"God is my witness that I have never taught that of which I have by false witnesses been accused. In the truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, I will die today with gladness". He was then burned at the stake.
Anecdotally, it has been claimed that the executors had some problems scaling up the fire. An old woman came closer to the bonfire and threw a relatively small amount of brushwood on it. Hus, seeing it, then said, "Sancta Simplicitas!" (Holy Simplicity!) This sentence's Czech equivalent ("svatá prostota!", or, in vocative form "svatá prostoto!") is still used to comment upon a stupid action.
Dying prophecy
Hus' last words as he was being tied to the stake were that,
"in a hundred years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform can not be suppressed." Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
nailed his 95 Theses of Contention to a church door in
WittenbergWittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe River. It has a population of about 50,000....
102 years later.
Hus' scholarship and teachings
Hus left only a few reformatory writings in the proper sense of the word, most of his works being polemical treatises against Stanislav ze Znojma and Štěpán Páleč. He translated the
Trialogus, and was very familiar with his works on the body of the Lord, on the Church, on the power of the pope, and especially with his sermons. There are reasons to suppose that Wycliffe's doctrine of the Lord's Supper had spread to Prague as early as 1399, with strong evidence that students returning from England had brought the work back with them. It gained an even wider circulation after it had been prohibited in 1403, and Hus preached and taught it, although it is possible that he simply repeated it without advocating it. But the doctrine was seized eagerly by the radical party, the Taborites, who made it the central point of their system. According to their book, the Church is not that hierarchy which is generally designated as Church; the Church is the entire body of those who from eternity have been predestined for salvation. Christ, not the pope, is its head. It is no article of faith that one must obey the pope to be saved. Neither internal membership in the Church nor churchly offices and dignities are a surety that the persons in question are members of the true Church.
To some, Hus' efforts were predominantly designed to rid the Church of its ethical abuses, rather than a campaign of sweeping theological change. To others, the seeds of the reformation are clear in Hus' and Wycliffe's writings. In explaining the plight of the average Christian in Bohemia, Hus wrote, “One pays for confession, for mass, for the sacrament, for indulgences, for churching a woman, for a blessing, for burials, for funeral services and prayers. The very last penny which an old woman has hidden in her bundle for fear of thieves or robbery will not be saved. The villainous priest will grab it.” (Macek, 16) After Hus' death, his followers, then known as
HussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Huss , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
s, split off into several groups including the Utraquists,
TaboriteThe Taborites were members of a religious community considered heretical by the Catholic Church. The Taborites were centered on the Bohemian city of Tábor during the Hussite Wars in the 15th century. The religious reform movement in Bohemia splintered into various religious sects...
s and Orphans. Nearly six centuries later in 1999, Pope John Paul II expressed "deep regret for the cruel death inflicted" on Hus.
Legacy in New York
A church and a theatre in Manhattan, located at 351 East 74th Street, are named for Hus: respectively the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church and the Jan Hus Playhouse. Although the church and theatre share a single building and management, the Playhouse's productions are usually non-religious or non-denominational. A statue to Jan Hus was erected in the Union Cemetery in
Bohemia, New YorkBohemia is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 9,871 at the 2000 census.Bohemia is in the Town of Islip.The main school district in the town is the Connetquot School District...
(on
Long IslandLong Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban...
) by Czech immigrants to the New York area in 1893. The statue was the first memorial in the United States to honor a foreign-born person.
Famous followers of Jan Hus
- Jerome of Prague
Jerome of Prague was one of the chief followers and most devoted friends of John Hus. He was born in Prague to a wealthy family; after taking his bachelor's degree at the University of Prague in 1398, he secured in 1399 permission to travel...
, Hus' friend and devoted follower shared his fate on 23 May 1416, also at KonstanzKonstanz is a university town of around 80,000 inhabitants at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland.-Location:...
- Jan Kardinál z Rejnštejna (1375–1428)
- Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha
Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha , Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus, was born at Trocnov in Bohemia, into a gentried family. He took part in the civil wars in Bohemia in the reign of Wenceslaus IV...
(c. 1360 - 1424), Czech general and Hussite leader
- Matěj z Knína (died 26 March 1410) (in German: Matthäus von Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split...
)
- Mikuláš Biskupec z Pelhřimova (1385 Poděbrady – 1460 Poděbrady) (in Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
: Nicolaus Pilgramensis, in German: Nikolaus von Pelgrims)
Further reading
- Matthew Spinka: 'John Hus at the Council of Constance' Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
, 1965 (Includes the eye-witness account by Peter of Mladonovice)
- Count Lützow: Life & Times of Master John Hus, E.P. Dutton & Co. London, 1909
- Josef Macek: The Hussite Movement in Bohemia, Orbis, Prague, 1958
- Philip Schaff-Herzog: Encyclopedia of Religion
- Richard Friedenthal: Jan Hus. Der Ketzer und das Jahrhundert der Revolutionskriege. 2. Auflage 1987, ISBN 3-492-10331-6
- Fudge, Thomas A. The Magnificent Ride: The First Reformation in Hussite Bohemia, St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Aldershot, Hampshire
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about 60 km southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
/Brookfield, VermontBrookfield is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. It was created by Vermont charter on August 5, 1781. The population was 1,222 at the 2000 census. Brookfield is best known for its floating bridge which spans Sunset Lake buoyed by pontoons...
: Ashgate, 2008
External links
- Hussitism and the heritage of Jan Hus - Official Website of the Czech Republic
- Final Declaration written on 1 July 1415 - Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University
Fordham University is a private university in the United States, with three campuses located in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
- Letters of John Huss Written During His Exile and Imprisonment, with a preface by Martin Luther
Martin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
, by Jan Hus, François Paul Émile Boisnormand de Bonnechose, tr. Campbell Mackenzie, Edinburgh, William Whyte & Co., 1846
- The life and tims of John Huss "btm" format
- Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice - online translation of a Czech academic journal