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John Huss (Jan Hus)
Huss was well educated, having reeived his masters degree from Charles University in Prague in 1396. Two years later he was made a professor of theology at the same university. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1400 and then made rector of the University in 1402.
Huss’ problems with the Church began when he started to denounce various church abuses in his sermons. His early concerns were not necessarily theological issues, but rather matters of church discipline and practice. For example, Huss rejected the practice of withholding the chalice from the laity during Holy Communion and reserving it only for the priest. Huss argued this was contrary to Scripture and to the ancient tradition of the Church. Hus also embraced the worship of the mass in the Czech language, rather than in Latin, and on some occasions energetically defended the practice. One way he accomplished this was through the practice of having the congregation, not just the clergy, sing hymns in the vernacular, or Czech language, rather than Latin.
Huss also argued that the Church was not simply the hierarchy and religious orders, but that the laity too had an important part to play in the administration and leadership of the Church. He emphasized that Christ was the true head of the Church, rather than the Pope, and argued for the priesthood of all believers as opposed to the traditional distinctions made between the clergy and the laity. Huss also argued that Church officials ought to exercise spiritual authority only, and not be earthly governors. He made such claims at a time when there were no less than three claimants to the papal throne and churchmen became partisans for one claimant or another. Huss entered this political fray when he denounced one claimant’s proposed sale of indulgences to raise money for a war against his two rivals. This issue certainly contributed to the cause of his excommunication for insubordination in 1412.
Finally, Huss was accused of support for the teachings of John Wycliffe (d. 1384), an English reformer who also expressed dissenting views on the extent of the authority of the Church and was posthumously condemned as a heretic at the Council of Constance in 1415. Huss later argued that he had not expressed explicit support for Wycliffe’s positions and instead had only argued for more consideration of his arguments.
The best account of Huss’ trial and execution is the eyewitness account of his devoted follower Peter of Mladonovice. Peter remained a faithful companion to his master throughout this ordeal and took notes during the trial from which he later constructed his account. According to this account, Huss protested his innocence until he was burned at the stake. Huss argued that he had either not made the claims that were attributed to him, or, if the charges were drawn from his writings, that he had been misinterpreted. During his trial he asked repeatedly that someone demonstrate his errors, apparently without any response from his persecutors.
Peter’s account of Huss’ trial and death promoted him as martyr. Such a view of Huss’ death was embraced by his followers (Hussites) who then elevated Huss to sainthood. After his death, his followers, many of whom would become much more militant than Huss, continued to insist on the importance of administering the Holy Communion in both kinds (the host and the chalice). The papacy, unhappy with the growing dissent among Huss’ followers, launched no less than five unsuccessful crusades against the Hussites, until finally in 1436 a pact was signed authorizing the Church in Bohemia to administer Chalice as well as Host to all communicants. Huss has also been seen as a forerunner of the Protestant Reformation. The followers of Huss became known as the Czech Brethren and later as the Moravians. The Moravian Church survives to this day, and has had a considerable influence on the Lutheran movement. When Luther became famous after the publication of his 95 Theses, he was considered by some as the spiritual heir of Huss.
Additional Links
Transcript of the Council of Constance (1414-1418) (including the case against John Huss)- Website of the Hungarian Piarist Fathers.
Jan Hus: Final Declaration, July 1, 1415- Internet History Sourcebooks
Peter Mladonovic- The Execution of Jan Hus- Newyorske listy- Columbia University
Hussite Crusades- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Hussite Crusades-Primary Sources- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Select Primary Source Bibliography:
Hus, Jan. De Ecclesia. New York: Scribner's, 1915.
______ Documenta Magistri Joannis Hus. Ed. F. Palacky. Prague, 1869.
_______Historia et monumenta Joannis Hus atque Hieronymi Pragensis, confessorum
Christi. Nuremburg, 1715.
_______Ioannis Hus, et Hieronymi Pragensis confessorum Christi Historia et
monumenta. Nuremburg, 1558.
_______The Letters of John Hus. Trans. M. Spinka. Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1972.
_______Magisti Johannus Hus Opera Omnia. Ed. Vaclav Flajîhans and Marie
Komínková. 4 vols. Prague: Vilmek, 1903-27.
_______Magistri Johannis Hus Tractatus Responsivus, ed. with a critical introduction and notes from the unique ms. cod. C. 116, Metropolitan Chapter Library, Prague. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1927. Rpr. New York: AMS P, 1980.
_______Tractatus de Ecclesia. Ed. S. Harrison Thomson. Boulder: University of
Colorado Press, 1956.
_______Tractatus Responsivus. Ed. S. Harrison Thomson. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1927.
Peter Mladonovice. John Hus at the Council of Constance. Trans. Matthew Spinka. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1965.
Select Secondary Source Bibliography:
Betts, R.R. “Social and Constitutional Development in Bohemia in the Hussite Period.”
Past and Present, No. 7 (1955), 37-54.
Cook, William R. “John Wyclif and Hussite Theology, 1415-1436.” Church History,
42:3 (1973), 335-349.
Fudge, Thomas A. “The ‘Crown’ and the ‘Red Gown’: Hussite Popular Religion.”
Popular Religion in Germany and Central Europe, 1400-1800. Ed. Bob Scribner
and Trevor Johnson. New York: St. Martin’s 1996.
________The Crusade against Heretics in Bohemia, 1418-1437. Hampshire, UK:
Ashgate, 2002.
Kaminsky, Howard. “Chiliasm and the Hussite Revolution.” Church History, 26:1
(1957), 43-71.
Macek, Joseph. The Hussite Movement in Bohemia. Prague: Orbis, 1958.
Molnar, Enrico C.S. “The Liturgical Reforms of John Hus.” Speculum, 41:2 (1966), 297-
303.
Nemec, Ludvik. “The Czech Reform Movement: ‘Devotio Moderna” in The Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Centuries.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,
124:5 (1980), 386-397.
Thornson, S. Harrison. “Pre-Hussite Heresy in Bohemia.” The English Historical Review,
48:189 (1933), 23-42.
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