On July 6, 1415, the Czech reformer Johannes (Jan) Hus was burned at the stake for criticizing the earthly power of the Church for social justice. Before the Council of Constance, he refused to deny his doctrine. Preaching divine glory as preordained by God and rejecting the deduction of the earthly power of the Church was heresy in the 15th century, punishable by death. The reformer Jan Hus thus attacked the essence of medieval Christianity.
He preached the ideal of poverty and condemned the earthly patrimony of the princes of the Church. He defended the authority of conscience and tried to bring the Church closer to the people through preaching. His sermons were in the Czech language and not in Latin, as determined by the official Church at the time.
Jan Hus only recognized the authority of the Bible in matters of faith, he repudiated Inquisition courts and earthly judges. In the eyes of the Church at that time, he was a true heretic, who aroused the anger and hatred of the ecclesiastical authorities.
Dissatisfaction with ecclesiastical authorities
The doctrine of Jan Hus found fertile soil in Bohemia. It was based on social justice and expressed the dissatisfaction of all Czech citizens. At the time, the unrest involved all social strata.
Most of the population was dissatisfied with the financial and power policy of the ecclesiastical authorities: merchants and master craftsmen disputed the riches from silver mining, peasants wanted to free themselves from feudal servitude and the nobles tried to secure their privileges.
Social tensions were further aggravated by the rapid rise in prices, which mainly benefited wealthy citizens, impoverishing peasants and landless nobles.
Conflicts between Germans and Czechs
And the deep social barriers between the German and Czech populations gave rise to nationalist sentiments. The wealthy Germans were seen by the Czechs as exploiters and competitors. For their part, the Germans were interested in maintaining the current situation and, especially, in using the power of the Church to their own advantage.
By 1400, both the newly founded University of Prague and the high hierarchy of the Church were entirely dominated by the Germans.
With Jan Hus the agitation began. When the dispute between the Germans and the Czechs escalated in 1409, the Germans were thrown out of the University of Prague and Hus was chosen as its rector. The reformer’s teaching activity further increased tensions with the Church and culminated in Prague, three years later, with the confrontation between Czech Protestants and German Catholics.
In order to keep the situation under control, King Wenceslas banished the rebellious rector from the university. But Jan Hus insisted that his doctrine was the correct one: he continued to preach the indispensability of the Church’s poverty and humility.
The consequences came soon. In 1414, Hus was summoned to appear at the Council of Constance and to deny its doctrine. The reformer refused to comply with the demand. On July 6, 1415, Hus was burned at the stake.
However, the purpose of the Inquisition, to liquidate the Protestant movement of Hus through the death of its leader, was not achieved. The scattered uprisings turned into a general rebellion by Protestants in Bohemia, which lasted 20 years. It was not until 1434 that the movement was annihilated, as a result of betrayals and intrigues within its own ranks.
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