Hussites
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The Hussites (
After the execution of Hus at the
Catholics and Utraquists were given legal equality in Bohemia after the
The Hussite tradition continues in the Moravian Church, Unity of the Brethren and the refounded Czechoslovak Hussite churches.[2]
History
The Hussite movement began in the
Major Hussite theologians included
Hus's death
The Council of Constance lured Jan Hus in with a letter of indemnity, then tried him for heresy and put him to death at the stake on 6 July 1415.[1]
The arrest of Hus in 1414 caused considerable resentment in Czech lands. The authorities of both countries appealed urgently and repeatedly to King Sigismund to release Jan Hus.
When news of his death at the Council of Constance arrived, disturbances broke out, directed primarily against the clergy and especially against the monks. Even the Archbishop narrowly escaped from the effects of this popular anger. The treatment of Hus was felt to be a disgrace inflicted upon the whole country and his death was seen as a criminal act. King Wenceslaus IV., prompted by his grudge against Sigismund, at first gave free vent to his indignation at the course of events in Constance. His wife openly favoured the friends of Hus. Avowed Hussites stood at the head of the government.
A league was formed by certain lords,[
Prior to becoming pope,
Hussite Wars (1419–1434)
The news of the death of King Wenceslaus in 1419 produced a great commotion among the people of Prague. A revolution swept over the country: churches and monasteries were destroyed, and church property was seized by the Hussite nobility. It was then, and remained till much later, in question whether Bohemia was a hereditary or an elective monarchy, especially as the line through which Sigismund claimed the throne had accepted that the Kingdom of Bohemia was an elective monarchy elected by the nobles, and thus the regent of the kingdom (Čeněk of Wartenberg) also explicitly stated that Sigismund had not been elected as reason for Sigismund's claim to not be accepted. Sigismund could get possession of "his" kingdom only by force of arms. Pope Martin V called upon Catholics of the West to take up arms against the Hussites, declaring a crusade, and twelve years of warfare followed.
The Hussites initially campaigned defensively, but after 1427 they assumed the offensive. Apart from their religious aims, they fought for the national interests of the Czechs. The moderate and radical parties were united, and they not only repelled the attacks of the army of
Council of Basel and Compacta of Prague
Eventually, the opponents of the Hussites found themselves forced to consider an amicable settlement. The Hussites were sent an invitation to attend the
The Taborites refused to conform. The Calixtines united with the Roman Catholics and destroyed the Taborites at the
Hussite Bohemia, Luther and the Reformation (1434–1618)
In 1462,
Bohemian Revolt and harsh persecution under the Habsburgs (1618–1918)
Under Emperor
Leaders and members of
Post-Habsburg era and modern times (1918–present)
In 1918, as a result of World War I, the Czech lands regained independence from Austria-Hungary controlled by the Habsburg monarchy as Czechoslovakia (due to Masaryk and Czechoslovak legions with Hussite tradition, in the name of the troops).[11]
Today, the Hussite tradition is represented in the Moravian Church, Unity of the Brethren, and Czechoslovak Hussite Church.[2][12]
Factions
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Hussitism organised itself during the years 1415–1419. Hussites were not a unitary movement, but a diverse one with multiple factions that held different views and opposed each other in the
- Moderate Hussites
- Prague Hussites
- Bohemian Hussite nobility
- Hussites of Žatec and Louny
- Other Calixtines
- Radical Hussites
Moderates
The more conservative Hussites (the moderate party, or
Their programme is contained in the Four Articles of Prague, which were written by Jacob of Mies and agreed upon in July 1420, promulgated in the Latin, Czech, and German languages.[14] The full text is about two pages long, but they are often summarized as:[14]
- Freedom to preach the word of God
- Celebration of the communion under both kinds (bread and wine to priests and laity alike)
- Poverty of the clergy and expropriation of church property;
- Punishment for mortal sinsregardless of stature.
The views of the moderate Hussites were widely represented at the university and among the citizens of Prague; they were therefore called the Prague Party, but also Calixtines (Latin calix chalice) or
Radicals
The more radical parties, the
The radicals preached the "sufficientia legis Christi"—the divine law (i.e. the
The radicals had their gathering-places all around the country. Their first armed assault fell on the small town of Ústí, on the river Lužnice, south of Prague (today's
Their aim was to destroy the enemies of the law of God, and to defend his kingdom (which had been expected to come in a short time) by the sword. Their end-of-world visions did not come true. In order to preserve their settlement and spread their ideology, they waged bloody wars; in the beginning they observed a strict regime, inflicting the severest punishment equally for murder, as for less severe faults as adultery, perjury and usury, and also tried to apply rigid Biblical standards to the social order of the time. The Taborites usually had the support of the Orebites (later called Orphans), an eastern Bohemian sect of Hussitism based in Hradec Králové.
See also
- Arnoldists
- Hussite Bible
- Lollards
- Pavel Kravař
- Restorationism
- Jistebnice hymn book
- Waldensians
- War wagon
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article "Constance, Council of"
- ^ ISBN 0-87169-651-7
- ^ Spiesz et al. 2006, p. 52.
- ^ Bartl 2002, p. 45.
- ^ Kirschbaum 2005, p. 48.
- ^ Spiesz et al. 2006, p. 53.
- ^ John Klassen, "The Nobility and the Making of the Hussite Revolution" (East European Quarterly/Columbia University Press, 1978)
- ^ "Joan of Arc's Letter to the Hussites (March 23, 1430)". archive.joan-of-arc.org.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85928-372-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-631-17431-8.
- ISBN 978-80-87173-47-3, pp. 17–25, 33–45, 70–76, 159–184, 187–199
- ^ Sheldon, Addison Erwin; Sellers, James Lee; Olson, James C. (1993). Nebraska History, Volume 74. Nebraska State Historical Society. p. 151.
- Roman rite…(was) an intentional symbol of Utraquism’s self-understanding as a continuing part of the Western Catholic Church." Holeton, David R.; Vlhová-Wörner, Hana; Bílková, Milena (2007). "The Trope Gregorius presul meritis in Bohemian Tradition: Its Origins, Development, Liturgical Function and Illustration"(PDF). Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice. 6: 215–246. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ^ a b Four Articles of Prague at global.britannica.com
- JSTOR 3164390.
- ^ Profous, Antonín (1957). Místní jména v Čechách: Jejich vznik, původní význam a změny; part 4, S-Ž. Prague, Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Bibliography
- Michael Van Dussen and Pavel Soukup (eds.). 2020. A Companion to the Hussites. Brill.
- Kaminsky, H. (1967) A History of the Hussite Revolution University of California Press: Los Angeles.
- Fudge, Thomas A. (1998) The Magnificent Ride: The First Reformation in Hussite Bohemia, Ashgate.
- Fudge, Thomas A. (2002) The Crusade against Heretics in Bohemia, Ashgate.
- Ondřej, Brodu, "Traktát mistra Ondřeje z Brodu o původu husitů" (OCLC 28333729in (in Latin) with introduction in (in Czech)
- Mathies, Christiane, "Kurfürstenbund und Königtum in der Zeit der Hussitenkriege: die kurfürstliche Reichspolitik gegen Sigmund im Kraftzentrum Mittelrhein," Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, Mainz, 1978, OCLC 05410832in (in German)
- Bezold, Friedrich von, "König Sigmund und die Reichskriege gegen die Husiten," G. Olms, Hildesheim, 1978, ISBN 3-487-05967-3in (in German)
- ISBN 0-404-16126-Xin (in French)
- Klassen, John (1998) "Hus, the Hussites, and Bohemia" in New Cambridge Medieval History Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
- Macek, Josef, "Jean Huss et les Traditions Hussites: XVe–XIXe siècles," Plon, Paris, 1973, OCLC 905875in (in French)