Jan Hus, born in the tiny Bohemian village of Husinec in 1371,
came to Prague in his twenties.
A year after being ordained, in 1402, he became pastor of Bethlehem chapel, which had just been founded expressly for reformist preaching in Czech. With Hus, the current of reform running in Bohemia became a might torrent. His sermons electrified both clergy and populace by calling for radical reform of the Catholic Church.
The Church was in a sorry state at the time. There were three popes, who were mutually ex-communicating each other, each calling the others "the anti-Christ." Indulgences were being sold, promising forgiveness of sins, even those not yet committed, in return for large sums of money. Simony, the practice of selling offices, was rampant. Many in the priesthood has become fabulously wealthy, and at the same time debauched and morally corrupt.
Few dared to speak out against the corruption. John Wyclif (1320-1384), a professor of theology at Oxford University, had been one. He had written his scholarly tracts primarily in Latin, which muted the explosiveness of his ideas for the general populace. Nevertheless, his ideas were extremely radical challenges to the Church: The relation of man to God is direct and requires no intermediary (priest). Any church or priest owning property is in a state of sin and therefore cannot administer the sacraments.
Wyclif wrote, "Prelates deceive men by feigned indulgences or pardons, and rob them cursedly of their money . . Many priests . . defile wives, maidens, widows, and nuns in every manner of lechery." He challenged papal power and authority: "Christ was meek. . . the pope sits on his throne and makes lords to kiss his feet." He even suggested that the Pope was the Antichrist predicted in the First Epistle of the Apostle of John, the Beast of the Apocalypse heralding the second coming of Christ.
Because of the political situation in England during Wyclif's years, he had secular protection. The Pope's and bishops' demands that he be arrested for heresy were not carried out. Wyclif died a natural death in 1384, suffering a stroke while attending Mass.
Prague had been made the Imperial capital of the Holy Roman Empire when Charles IV become Holy Roman Emperor as well as King of Bohemia in 1346. It was he who founded Charles University, which soon became one of the great centers of learning in Europe. There naturally was an exchange with Oxford University in England. Jerome, a friend of Hus, had brought Wyclif's most radical tracts to Prague. Hus recognized a kindred spirit and embraced many, though not all, of Wyclif's ideas.
At Charles University in 1403, faculty's reaction to Wyclif's tracts split along ethnic line. The Czech faculty supported the ideas. The German faculty rejected the 24 articles already condemned by the London synod, and added 21 more of their own. At that time, the German faculty had three votes, the Czech faculty, one. Wenceslas, son of Charles, was provoked by this controversy and other political considerations into changing the constitution in 1409 in the famous decree of Kutna Hora, giving the Czech "nations" three votes and all other "nations" one vote. This action, in turn, caused German professors and students to leave Prague en masse for Germany, spreading the word that Bohemia was full of heretics. The University became less international and more Czech at this time.
Hus, who was confessor to Queen Sophia, King Wenceslas IV's wife, enjoyed the support of both the king and the local reformist clergy, including the archbishop. Twice, he was invited to speak on reform to synods of the clergy. After the departure of the Germans, he was elected rector of the University. He became the leader of the Wycliffites, as they were now called. However, his fortunes began to change.
He denounced actions of the archbishop and lost his support. At the same time, papal envoys came to Bohemia selling indulgences to fund the crusade against the King of Naples. Hus publicly attacked the public offering, riots broke out, sales plummeted, and Hus was excommunicated in March 1411. He lost the king's support as well. The archbishop, determined to break the power of the Wycliffites, laid Prague under an interdict, excluding the entire city from certain sacraments and privileges. The king ordered Hus, his followers, and his opponents to leave Prague.
Hus left for southern Bohemia where he continued writing, in both Czech and Latin, returning to Prague occasionally to preach.
King Sigismund of Germany won the approval of one of the three popes to call a general council of the Church to be held at Constance (situated on Lake Constance, on the present Swiss/German border). The council was expected to settle the Great Schism by electing an entirely new man as pope. It was also expected to deal with the issue of reform and end the controversy over the Wycliffite movement. Sigismund, later termed "The Red Fox" by the Czechs, because of his red hair and his duplicity, had promised safe passage to Hus. Political expediency caused him to renege when he sensed the mood of the council.
Hus, for his part, proceeded to the council naively believing he would be engaged in a reasoned theological discussion. He received a cordial reception in German towns along the way and by the population of Constance as well. Though excommunicated, he boldly continued to preach and say Mass. In Constance, he was seized and thrown in a dungeon, where he sat in fetters for half a year.
Confusion and chaos continued to plague the Council. Pope John XXIII fled Constance, refusing to resign. He was captured and interned in chains in the same dungeon as Hus. Some observers felt the Council was anxious to have Hus recant, rather than condemn him. Other writers describe how he was constantly interrupted, mocked, and shouted down. Hus refused even the mildest from or recantation. He was condemned as a heretic, and handed over to the secular authority, Sigismund, who ordered him burned at the stake.
He was stripped of his vestments, his tonsure shaved. His hands were tied behind his back and his neck chained to the stake. Faggots mixed with straw were heaped to his chin. Asked once more to recant, he refused, "Whatever I said and wrote was always for the truth, for the truth1" As the fire burnt around him, he sang a hymn: "Christ, thou Son of the Living God, have mercy upon us." Meanwhile, those watching the spectacle are said to have danced and sung, "We are burning your mortal body to save your immortal soul." Thus Jan Hus died July 6, 1415. His death had enormous consequences, sparking a movement which eventually brought down the monolith which was the Church.
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