Hus, John

(1373–1415)

   Theologian and Martyr.

   Hus was born in humble circumstances in Husinec, South Bohemia. He was educated at the University of Prague and was ordained a priest in 1402. While he was still teaching at the university, he was appointed Rector of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague and was regarded as the leader of the Czech reform party. In 1409 he was excommunicated by Archbishop Zbynek for continuing to preach and for supporting Pope Alexander V over Pope Gregory XII. King Wenceslas agreed with Hus, however, and made him Rector of the Czech University. In 1411 he was exiled from Prague. He had opposed the papal sale of Indulgences and in retaliation, the Roman Curia had placed the city of Prague under interdict. He spent the next two years in South Bohemia preaching and writing his most important book De Ecclesia, which was influenced by the theology of John wycliffe. In 1414 he was lured to the Council of Constance. There he was summarily imprisoned in a Dominican monastery and put on trial for heresy. He refused to recant on the grounds that he did not hold the views that were ascribed to him – and thus recantation would amount to perjury. Consequently he was defrocked as a priest and burned at the stake outside the city.

   H. Kaminsky, A History of the Hussite Revolution (1967);

   M. Spinka, John Hus: A Biography (1968).