The Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Hus or John Huss (circa 1369–1415), who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Jan Hus ( (ˈjan ˈɦus alternative spellings John Hus, Jan Huss, John Huss) (c Jan Hus ( (ˈjan ˈɦus alternative spellings John Hus, Jan Huss, John Huss) (c The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time This predominantly religious movement was propelled by social issues and strengthened Czech national awareness. Czechs (Češi ˈt͡ʃɛʃɪ archaic Čechové) are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic

After the Council of Constance put their leader, Hus, to death on 6 July 1415, the same year in which the Council had declared itself superior to the Pope,^[1] the Hussites fought a series of wars (1420-1434) for their religious and political cause. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Council of Constance is the 16th Ecumenical council. Events 1044 - The Battle of Ménfő takes place 1189 - Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England

Among present-day Christians, its traditions are represented in churches which call themselves Moravian or Unity of the Brethren churches, and in the refounded Czechoslovak Hussite Church. This page is about the Moravian Church globally For information about the church in a particular geographic area use the links at Organisation below The Unity of the Brethren ( Czech: Jednota bratrská, Latin: Unitas Fratrum, also known as Czech or Bohemian Brothers The Czechoslovak Hussite Church ( Czech: Církev československá husitská CČSH) is a Christian Church which separated from the Roman Catholic ^[2]

Effect in Bohemia of the Death of Hus

Recreation of Hussite shield from an original in the Museum of Prague

Hussite theologians disputes in the presence of King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland

The arrest of Hus in 1414 caused considerable resentment in Czech lands. Jogaila, later Władysław II Jagiełło (b about 1362 d 1 June 1434 was Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland. The " Czech lands " (České země is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. The authorities of both countries appealed urgently and repeatedly to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, to release Hus. For other nobles of the same name please see Sigismund. Sigismund ( February 14, 1368 – December 9,

When news of his death at the Council of Constance in 1415 arrived, disturbances broke out, directed primarily against the clergy, and especially against the monks. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Council of Constance is the 16th Ecumenical council. Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given Religion. 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, prompted by his grudge against Sigismund, at first gave free vent to his indignation at the course of events in Constance; and his wife openly favored the friends of Hus. Wenceslaus (also Wenceslas, Wenzel Václav Venceslao February 26, 1361 – August 16 1419) called the Drunkard, was Pronounced Hussites stood at the head of the government.

A league was formed by certain lords, who pledged themselves to protect the free preaching of the Gospel upon all their possessions and estates, and to obey the power of the bishops only where their orders accorded with the injunctions of the Bible, with the university as arbiter of any disputed points. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin The entire Hussite nobility joined the league. If the king had joined, its resolutions would have received the sanction of the law; but he refused, and approached the newly formed Roman Catholic League of lords, whose members pledged themselves to support the king, the Roman Church, and the Council. The prospect of a civil war began to emerge.

Pope Martin V, who while still Cardinal Otto of Colonna, had attacked Hus with relentless severity, energetically resumed the battle against Hus's teaching after the enactments of the Council of Constance, seeking to eradicate completely the doctrine of Hus. Pope Martin V (c 1368 &ndash February 20, 1431) born Odo (or The Colonna family was a powerful noble family in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one Pope and many other leaders For this purpose, the co-operation of King Wenceslaus had to be obtained. In 1418, Sigismund succeeded in winning his brother over to the standpoint of the council by pointing out the inevitability of a religious war if the heretics in Bohemia found further protection. Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief especially a religion that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief Hussite statesmen and army leaders had to leave the country, and Roman Catholic priests were reinstituted. These measures caused a general commotion which hastened the death of Wenceslaus by a paralytic stroke in 1419. His heir was Sigismund.

The Parties of the Bohemian Hussites

Hussism organized itself during the years 1415-19. From the beginning, there formed two parties.

The moderate party, who followed Hus more closely, sought to conduct reform while leaving the whole hierarchical and liturgical order of the Church untouched.

The more radical party identified itself more boldly with the doctrines of John Wyclif, sharing his passionate hatred of the monastic clergy, and his desire to return the Church to its supposed condition during the time of the apostles. John Wycliffe (ˈwɪklɪf also spelled Wyclif, Wycliff, Wiclef, Wicliffe, or Wickliffe) (mid-1320s – 31 December Monasticism (from Greek μοναχός, monachos, derived from Greek monos, alone is the religious practice in which one This required the removal of the existing hierarchy and the secularization of ecclesiastical possessions. The radicals preached the sufficientia legis Christi—the divine law (i. e. the Bible) is the sole rule and canon for human society, not only in the church, but also in political and civil matters. They rejected therefore, as early as 1416, everything that they believed had no basis in the Bible, such as the veneration of saints and images, fasts, superfluous holidays, the oath, intercession for the dead, auricular confession, indulgences, the sacraments of Confirmation and the Anointing of the Sick; they admitted laymen and women to the preacher's office, and chose their own priests. Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all Food, Drink, or both for a period of time An indulgence, in Roman Catholic Theology, is the full or partial Remission of temporal punishment due for Sins which have already been forgiven Confirmation is a Rite of initiation in many Christian Churches normally in the form of Laying on of hands and/or Anointing for Anointing of the Sick is distinguished from other forms of religious Anointing or "unction" (an older term with the same meaning in that it is intended as its name But above all they clung to Wyclif's doctrine of the Lord's Supper, denying transubstantiation, and this is the principal point by which they are distinguished from the moderate party. The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names is a Christian Sacrament by which in a common interpretation those See also Eucharist (Catholic Church On the related belief that Christ is present in the Eucharist in body blood soul and divinity see Real Presence.

The Four Articles of Prague

The program of the more conservative Hussites is contained in the four articles of Prague, which were agreed upon in July, 1420, and promulgated in the Latin, Czech, and German languages. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. the full text is about two pages long, but they are often summarized as:

1. Freedom to preach the Word of God.
2. Celebration of the Lord's Supper in both kinds (bread and wine to priests and laity alike).
3. No secular power for the clergy.
4. Punishment for the mortal sins.

Calixtines (or Utraquists) and Taborites

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 Utraquists (Latin utraque both), because they emphasized the second article of Prague, and the chalice became their emblem. See " Utraquist school " for a kind of Bilingual schools Utraquism (from the Latin sub utraque specie, meaning

The radicals had their gathering-places all around the country. Their first armed assault fell on the small town of Ústí, on the river Luznice, south of Prague (today's Sezimovo Ústí). Ústí nad Labem ( pronounced; Aussig is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Ústí nad Labem Region. However, as the place did not prove to be defensible, they settled the remains of an older town upon a hill not far away and founded a new town, which they named Tábor (after the traditional name of the mountain on which Jesus was expected to return; see Mark 13); hence they were called Taborites. This is an article on the city of Tábor in the Czech Republic. Mark 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The Taborites (Czech Táborité, singular Táborita) were members of a religious community considered heretical by the Catholic Church They comprised the essential force of the radical Hussites. 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. Usury (ˈjuːʒəri comes from the Medieval Latin usuria, "interest" or "excessive interest" from the Latin usura "interest" The Taborites usually had the support of the Orebites (later called Orphans), an eastern Bohemian sect of Hussitism based in Hradec Králové. Hradec Králové ( pronounced, Königgrätz meaning Castle of the Queen) is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Hradec Králové Region

The Hussite Wars

Main article: Hussite Wars

The news of the death of King Wenceslaus in 1419 produced a great commotion among the people of Prague. The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 A revolution swept over the country: churches and monasteries were destroyed, and church property was seized by the Hussite nobility. Sigismund could get possession of his kingdom only by force of arms. Pope Martin V called upon all Christians of the West to take up arms against the Hussites, and there followed twelve years of warfare. The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420

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 crusaders, but crossed the borders into neighboring countries. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents On 23 March, 1430, Joan of Arc dictated a letter^[3] that threatened to lead a crusading army against the Hussites unless they returned to the Catholic faith, but her capture by English and Burgundian troops two months later would keep her from carrying out this threat. Joan of Arc (c 1412 Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years'

The Council of Basel and Compacta of Prague

Eventually, the opponents of the Hussites found themselves forced to consider an amicable settlement. They invited a Bohemian embassy to appear at the Council of Basel. The Council of Florence (originally Council of Basel) was an Ecumenical Council of Bishops and other ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic Church The discussions began on January 10, 1432, centering chiefly on the four articles of Prague. Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. No agreement emerged. After repeated negotiations between the Basel Council and Bohemia, a Bohemian-Moravian state assembly in Prague accepted the Compacta of Prague on November 30, 1433. Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats The agreement granted communion in both kinds to all who desired it, but with the understanding that Christ was entirely present in each kind. Free preaching was granted conditionally: the Church hierarchy had to approve and place priests, and the power of the bishop must be considered. The article which prohibited the secular power of the clergy was almost reversed.

The Taborites refused to conform. The Calixtines united with the Roman Catholics and destroyed the Taborites in the Battle of Lipany on (May 30, 1434). The Battle of Lipany or Lipan, also called the Battle of Česky Brod, was fought at Lipany 40 km east of Prague on May 30, 1434 Events 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund a supporter of Antipope John XXIII burns Jerome of Prague following From that time, the Taborites lost their importance, though the Hussite movement would continue in Poland for another five years, until the Royalist forces of Poland defeated the Polish Hussites at the Battle of Grotniki. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland The Battle of Grotniki took place on May 4, 1439 near the village of Grotniki Duże near Nowy Korczyn, currently in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship The state assembly of Jihlava in 1436 confirmed the Compacta and gave them the sanction of law. Jihlava ( pronounced; German Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. This accomplished the reconciliation of Bohemia with Rome and the Western Church, and at last Sigismund obtained possession of the Bohemian crown. His reactionary measures caused a ferment in the whole country, but he died in 1437. The state assembly in Prague rejected Wyclif's doctrine of the Lord's Supper, which was obnoxious to the Utraquists, as heresy in 1444. See " Utraquist school " for a kind of Bilingual schools Utraquism (from the Latin sub utraque specie, meaning Most of the Taborites now went over to the party of the Utraquists; the rest joined the "Brothers of the Law of Christ" (Unitas Fratrum in Latin) (see Unity of the Brethren; also Bohemian Brethren and Moravian Church). The Unity of the Brethren ( Czech: Jednota bratrská, Latin: Unitas Fratrum, also known as Czech or Bohemian Brothers This page is about the Moravian Church globally For information about the church in a particular geographic area use the links at Organisation below This page is about the Moravian Church globally For information about the church in a particular geographic area use the links at Organisation below

Disappearance of the Hussites

The Utraquists had retained hardly anything of the doctrines of Hus except communion in both kinds. In 1462, Pope Pius II declared the Compactata null and void, prohibited communion in both kinds, and acknowledged George of Podebrady as king on condition that he would promise an unconditional harmony with the Roman Church. Pope Pius II, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini ( Latin Aeneas Sylvius; October 18, 1405 &ndash August 14, 1464) George of Kunštát and Poděbrady ( April 23, 1420 - March 22, 1471) also known as Poděbrad or Podiebrad This he refused, but his successor, King Vladislaus II, favored the Roman Catholics and proceeded against some zealous clergymen of the Calixtines. The troubles of the Utraquists increased from year to year. In 1485, at the diet of Kutná Hora, an agreement between the Roman Catholics and Utraquists was obtained which lasted for thirty-one years. But it was considerably later, at the diet of 1512, that the equal rights of both religions were permanently established. Luther's appearance was hailed by the Utraquist clergy, and Martin Luther himself was astonished to find so many points of agreement between the doctrines of Hus and his own. Martin Luther (November 10 1483 February 18 1546 was a German Monk, theologian, university professor Father of Protestantism, and church reformer But not all Utraquists approved of the German Reformation; a schism arose among them, and many returned to the Roman doctrine, while other elements had long before joined the Unitas Fratrum. The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time This article is about the coordinating body of the Moravian Church worldwide Under Maximilian II, the Bohemian state assembly established the Confessio Bohemica, upon which Lutherans, Reformed, and Bohemian Brethren agreed. Maximilian II ( July 31, 1527 &ndash October 12, 1576) was king of Bohemia from 1562 king of Hungary and Croatia From that time Hussism began to die out; but it was—for a time—completely eradicated only after the battle of the White Mountain (November 8, 1620) and the Roman Catholic reaction which fundamentally changed religious conditions in Bohemia and Moravia. The Battle of White Mountain, November 8, 1620 ( Bílá hora is the name of White Mountain in Czech was an early Battle in the Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration

Today, the Czechoslovak Hussite Church claims to be the modern successor of the Hussite tradition. The Czechoslovak Hussite Church ( Czech: Církev československá husitská CČSH) is a Christian Church which separated from the Roman Catholic ^[2]

References

See also

The Hussite Bible, a Hungarian Bible translation named after the Czech-influenced orthography imported by Hungarian followers of Hus. The Hussite Bible ( Hungarian: Huszita Biblia; sometimes also "The Bible of the Franciscans ") is the oldest known Hungarian but also

Bibliography

English

• Kaminsky, Howard. A History of the Hussite Revolution. University of California Press, 1967.

Non-English

• Ondřej, Brodu (1980) Traktát mistra Ondřeje z Brodu o původu husitů = Visiones Ioannis, archiepiscopi Pragensis, et earundem explicaciones (alias Tractatus de origine Hussitarum) Muzem husitského revolučního hnutí, Tábor, OCLC 28333729 in Latin with introduction in Czech
• Mathies, Christiane (1978) Kurfürstenbund und Königtum in der Zeit der Hussitenkriege: die kurfürstliche Reichspolitik gegen Sigmund im Kraftzentrum Mittelrhein Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, Mainz, OCLC 05410832 in German
• Bezold, Friedrich von (1978) König Sigmund und die Reichskriege gegen die Husiten G. Olms, Hildesheim, ISBN 3-487-05967-3 in German
• Denis, Ernest (1978) Huss et la Guerre des Hussites AMS Press, New York, ISBN 0-404-16126-X in French
• Macek, Josef (1973) Jean Hus et les Traditions Hussites: XVe-XIXe siècles Plon, Paris, OCLC 905875 in French

This article includes content derived from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1914, which is in the public domain. The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge is a religious Encyclopedia (1st edition 1882-84 3rd edition 1891 new edition published in thirteen volumes The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

External links

• Hussite Museum, Tabor
• Hussites - God's warriors, in Czech
• Notes on the Hussite movement and links to primary sources, from Kenyon college
• The Hussite Era, from Radio Prague's History Online feature
• Article on the Hussites from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1917 edition)
• Hussite War-wagons, presenting detailed information about the Hussites' most characteristic tactic, by Matthew Haywood
• Letter to the Hussites dictated by Joan of Arc on 23 March 1430, translated by Allen Williamson. Events 1174 - Jocelin, Abbot of Melrose, is elected Bishop of Glasgow.
• Short article on the Hussites, from the University of Calgary's 'The End of Europe's Middle Ages'
• Article on the Tactics of the Hussites