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Jan Hus
c. 1372–1415; burned at Constance 1415· Person· People
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Czech priest and Prague university rector who preached church reform, was burned for heresy in 1415, and inspired the Hussite movement.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Hus preached in Czech at Prague's Bethlehem Chapel and drew on Wycliffe's writings, which Czech students had brought home from Oxford. He attacked indulgences and clerical corruption and taught that Christ, not the pope, heads the church. Summoned to the Council of Constance under a safe-conduct from King Sigismund (later emperor), he was arrested anyway, refused to recant, and was burned on July 6, 1415. Bohemia rose in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434).
Why it matters
His followers formed a reform church a century before Luther; their heirs include the Moravian Church. July 6 is a Czech national holiday.
Life, legacy and sources
His letters, sermons and treatise On the Church survive, along with the council's records. In 1999 Pope John Paul II expressed 'deep regret' for his cruel death.
Questions and debates
How fully Hus shared Wycliffe's views is debated; unlike Wycliffe he seems to have accepted transubstantiation, yet he was condemned largely as a Wycliffite.
Connections (3)
▸John Wycliffe and the first English Bible inspired Jan HusHistorical record
The connection
After Richard II of England married Anne of Bohemia in 1382, Czech students went to Oxford and brought Wycliffe's writings home. Hus read and defended them in Prague, adopting Wycliffe's ideas on church corruption and the true church, though not all his teaching.
When and where
Prague, about 1398–1415; Archbishop Zbyněk had Wycliffe's books burned there in 1410.
Historical evidence
Copies of Wycliffe's works made in Hus's own hand in 1398 survive, and his On the Church borrows heavily from Wycliffe's text.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate whether Hus was essentially Wycliffe's disciple, as the Council of Constance judged, or an independent Czech reformer who borrowed selectively.
▸Jan Hus was hailed as a forerunner by Martin LutherHistorical record
The connection
Debating Johann Eck at Leipzig in 1519, Luther said some of Hus's condemned teachings were 'most Christian'. In 1520 he wrote, 'We are all Hussites without knowing it.' Hus's fate was also a warning: Luther went to Worms in 1521 under a safe-conduct, and his prince had him hidden afterward.
When and where
Leipzig Disputation, July 1519; Luther's letter to Georg Spalatin, February 1520; Diet of Worms, April 1521.
Historical evidence
Luther's letters and the Leipzig record contain his statements; he later published Hus's letters with a preface of his own.
Questions and debates
A legend has Hus (Czech for 'goose') predicting 'you roast a goose now, but a swan will come'; it was probably shaped later to point to Luther.
▸Avignon papacy and the Western Schism was ended by the council that condemned Jan HusHistorical record
The connection
To end the Western Schism, King Sigismund (later emperor) pressed for the Council of Constance (1414–1418), which removed the rival popes and elected Martin V. The same council tried Hus for heresy despite his safe-conduct and had him burned in July 1415, showing it could restore orthodoxy as well as unity.
When and where
Constance, on Lake Constance in southern Germany; Hus burned July 6, 1415; Martin V elected November 11, 1417.
Historical evidence
The council's acts, the eyewitness account of Peter of Mladoňovice, and Hus's own letters from prison survive.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether Sigismund betrayed Hus or was outmaneuvered; a later council decree held that a ruler's safe-conduct could not shield a suspected heretic from church judgment.