Review of Constantiensia (CCCM 274)

2015

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2013

Ota Pavlíček, The Chronology of the Life and Work of Jan Hus, in A Companion to Jan Hus, eds. F. Šmahel - O. Pavlíček, Leiden - Boston: Brill 2015, pp. 9-68.

The study deals with the life and work of Jan Hus, the leader of the Bohemian Reformation in the late middle ages, who was burned at the stake at the Council of Constance in 1415. The aim of the study is not only to contribute to our knowledge about Hus's life and work on the basis of an extensive research, but also to provide international researchers interested in the topic, who do not have sufficient command of the Czech language, with information on research outcomes available only in Czech.

The Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice, 2011

Eleventh Annual RefoRC Conference 2022

How much can I beware my body, in order not to lose my soul? Is the attempt to beware my body a sign that I have already lost my soul? Finally, are there reliable signs that I am among the elected? And on the base of which metaphysical background? The process which lead to the condemnation and the execution of the Bohemian Preacher Jan Hus (and, after some months, of his fellow Jerome of Prague) in the context of the Council of Constance (1414–1415) provides us a privileged insight on the issues which might emerge while analysing such topic. Even more, if we consider that the lack of official acts regarding his condemnation forces us to follow the very subjective path of the reconstruction of the events through the eyes of Hus himself, as well as of some of his closest fellows.Two elements seem to be particularly clear: on the one hand, Hus’ absolute inability to understand the political background behind the reasons of the three great actors of the council (d’Ailly, Gerson, Zabarella), on the other hand, the role of Hus’ implicit metaphysical assumption in the logical consequences which allowed his condemnation — although he never stated, actually, the thesis he was condemned for. Having recently curated an edition of Jan Hus’ letters, I would take the opportunity offered by the conceptual pair body/soul as main topic of the RefoRC Conference of this year to present the issues in Hus’ ecclesiology, in his very much questioned adherence to Wyclif’s standpoint and his ‘radical’ realism, as well as in his idea of a congregatio praedestinatorum and the role of the adherence to the ’truth’ as sign of the divine election as framework to his repeated refusal to abjure in order to preserve his soul. “Leve est loqui et illud exponere, sed grave implere“, as he stated to his patron, the Baron Jan of Chlum: that is easier said than done. Nonetheless, done.

Golden Leaves and Burned Books. Religious Reform and Conflict in the Long European Reformation, edited by Teemu Immonen and Gabriele Müller-Oberhäuser, 155–86. Cultural History - Kulttuurihistoria 16. Turku: Finnish Society for Cultural History, 2020

Journal of Religious History, 2019

Reformation is confined neither chronologically nor geographically but is best understood as a series of efforts to recover particular visions of Christian faith and practice. These endeavours always have potential for religious and social change. The martyred Bohemian priest Jan Hus (1372–1415) has often been characterised as a forerunner of the European Reformations and Martin Luther frequently referred to him. Past scholarship has evaluated the relation between Hussite history and the Reformation, Hus and Luther, in a variety of ways arguing either for organic connections or dismissing the possibility of causal connections. I argue that what Hus and Luther shared was not theology, common principles of reform, or visions of religious practice as much as a particular ethos. That ethos can best be understood within the idea of heresy. This article examines what Hus and Luther were striving to achieve, assesses the assumptions about Hus current in the sixteenth century, evaluates the...

The Crusades Against the Hussites in Bohemia (1419–1436), in: Crusading Against Christians in the Middle Ages, ed. Mike Carr, Nikolaos Chrissis and Gianluca Raccagni , 2024

In this book chapter I give an overview of the history of the crusades against the Hussites, with particular focus on the interaction between the crusaders and the Hussites, as well as the religious, political, and social dynamics of the wider region. Between 1420 and 1431, the papacy in collaboration with the lay powers of the Holy Roman Empire undertook five large-scale crusades against the allegedly heretic followers of the Czech reformer Jan Hus. Despite the international scale and remarkable mobilizing power of these campaigns they failed ingloriously, as did the so-called “daily war” on the alleged heretics. Indeed, from the mid-1420s onwards the Hussites themselves went on the offensive and raided the neighbouring kingdoms in a series of penetrating incursions. The military conflict was only settled in 1436, when the Council of Basle and the Emperor officially acknowledged Hussite religious practice. With this agreement, an allegedly heretical movement had for the first time successfully held its ground against the crusading efforts of the church. As well as providing an overview of events, this chapter also includes a historiographical survey that gives Anglophone readers a synoptic view of the extensive non-English-language literature on the topic. Finally, the chapter discusses why the crusades against the Hussites were highly significant for contemporaries, regardless of their evident military failure.