John Huss or Hus

HUSS or HUS, JOHN (c. 1373-1415), Bohemian reformer, was born of peasant parents at Hussinecz, near the Bavarian frontier. He was educated at the, University of Prague where he began to lecture in 1398. He was made dean of the philosophical faculty in Oct. 1401, and was rector (Oct. 1402–April 1403) of the university. His appointment in 1402 as rector of the Bethle hem chapel, which had been erected in 1391 by some zealous citizens of Prague to provide good popular preaching in the Bohemian tongue, greatly influenced his religious life, and led him to an appreciation of the philosophical and theological writings of Wycliffe, whose Trialogus he had translated into Czech in 1403.

In 1405, while still unconscious of any opposition to Catholi cism, Huss published his De Omni Sanguine Christi Glorificato, in which he declaimed against forged miracles and ecclesiastical greed, and urged Christians to desist from looking for sensible signs of Christ's presence, but rather to seek Him in His endur ing word. More than once, also, Huss was appointed to be synod preacher, and in this capacity he delivered at the provincial coun cils of Bohemia many admonitions. In 2408, however, the clergy laid before the archbishop a formal complaint against the strong expressions used by Huss with regard to clerical abuses. He was deprived of his appointment as synodal preacher, and forbidden the exercise of priestly functions. Simultaneously with these pro ceedings, negotiations had been going on for the removal of the long-continued papal schism. King Wenceslaus of Bohemia had requested that the clergy and the university observe a strict neu trality towards both popes. But the clergy remained supporters of Gregory XII., and of the university; only the Bohemian "na tion" under Huss avowed neutrality. There followed an expression of nationalist feeling, with the result that a royal edict (Jan. 18, 1409) was issued, by which the Bohemian "nation" received three votes, while only one was allotted to the Bavarians, Saxons and Poles combined; whereupon all the foreigners, to the number of several thousands, immediately withdrew from Prague.

His Teaching.---It

was a dangerous triumph for Huss; for his popularity at court and in the general community had been secured only at the price of clerical antipathy. Among the first results of the changed order of things were on the one hand the election of Huss (Oct. 1409) to be again rector of the university, but on the other hand the appointment by the archbishop of an inquisitor to inquire into charges of heretical teaching and in flammatory preaching brought against him. He had spoken dis respectfully of the church, it was said, had even hinted that Antichrist might be found to be in Rome, had fomented in his preaching the quarrel between Bohemians and Germans, and had, notwithstanding all that had passed, continued to speak of Wy cliffe as both a pious man and an orthodox teacher. The direct result of this investigation is not known, but it is probably con nected with the promulgation by Pope Alexander V., in 1409, of a bull which ordered the abjuration of all Wycliffite heresies and the surrender of all his books, while at the same time--a measure specially levelled at the pulpit of Bethlehem chapel—all preach ing was prohibited except in localities by long usage set apart for that use. The archbishop publicly burned some 200 volumes of the writings of Wycliffe, and excommunicated Huss and certain of his friends, who had in the meantime protested and appealed to the new pope (John XXIII.) . Again the populace rose on be half of their hero, who continued to preach in the Bethlehem chapel, and in the university began publicly to defend the so called heretical treatises of Wycliffe, while from king and queen, nobles and burghers, a petition was sent to Rome praying that the condemnation and prohibition in the bull of Alexander V. might be quashed. In March 1411 the ban was anew pronounced upon Huss, and ultimately the whole city was laid under inter dict; yet he went on preaching.

The struggle entered on a new phase with the proclamation of the papal bulls by which a religious war was decreed against the excommunicated King Ladislaus of Naples, and indulgence was promised to all who should take part in it. By his bold opposi tion to this procedure against Ladislaus, and still more by his doctrine that indulgence could never be sold without simony, and could not be lawfully granted except by genuine contrition and repentance, Huss at last isolated himself, not only from the archiepiscopal party but also from the theological faculty of the university. The excommunication against Huss was renewed, and the interdict again laid on all places which should give him shelter. In December Huss had to yield to the King's wish by temporarily withdrawing from Prague to Kozihradek, and to Krakowitz. There he carried on a copious correspondence, and composed the De Ecclesia, which subsequently furnished most of the material for the charges against him. This work was largely based on the doctrines of Wycliffe.

Trial and Death.--In

1413 his presence was requested at the council of Constance, and, having arrived there on Nov. 3, he received the famous imperial "safe conduct," the promise of which had been one of his inducements to quit the comparative security he had enjoyed in Bohemia. This safe conduct stated that, whatever judgment might be passed on him, Huss should be allowed to return freely to Bohemia. This by no means provided for his immunity from punishment. If faith to him had not been broken he would have been sent back to Bohemia to be punished by his sovereign, the king of Bohemia. The treachery of King Sigismund is undeniable and was indeed admitted by the king him self. The safe conduct was probably indeed given by him to entice Huss to Constance. On Dec. 4, the pope appointed a com mission of three bishops to investigate the case against the heretic, and to procure witnesses; but the flight of pope John XXIII. in the following March furnished a pretext for the removal of Huss from the Dominican convent to a more secure place of confine ment under the charge of the bishop of Constance at Gottlieben on the Rhine. On May 4, the temper of the council was revealed in its unanimous condemnation of Wycliffe, especially of the so called "forty-five articles" as erroneous, heretical, revolutionary. On June 5, when the case of Huss came up for hearing, he was unable to make his defence by reason of the violent outcries. The sitting of June 7 at which King Sigismund was present, was better disciplined. Propositions extracted from the De Ecclesia were brought up, and the relations between Wycliffe and Huss were discussed. The accused repudiated the charge of having abandoned the doctrine of transubstantiation, while expressing admiration for Wycliffe. On June 8, he declared that among the propositions he could abjure was that relating to transubstantia tion; among those he felt constrained to maintain was that which denied that Peter was the head of the church. The council finally demanded that Huss should declare that he had erred in all the articles cited against him; secondly, that he should promise on oath neither to hold nor teach them in the future; thirdly, that he should publicly recant them. He declined, and sentence of death was pronounced on July 6, in the presence of Sigismund and a full sitting of the council. Once again he attempted to remonstrate, but in vain, and finally he betook himself to silent prayer. He was handed over to the secular arm, and on the same day the fire was kindled, and his voice as it audibly prayed in the words of the "Kyrie Eleison" was soon stifled in the smoke. When the flames had done their office, the ashes that were left and even the soil on which they lay were carefully removed and thrown into the Rhine.

Not many words are needed to convey a tolerably adequate estimate of the character and work of the "pale thin man in mean attire," who in sickness and poverty thus completed the forty-sixth year of a busy life at the stake. The value of Huss as a scholar was formerly underrated. The publication of his Super IV. Sententiarum has proved that he was a man of real learning. Yet his principal glory will always be founded on his spiritual teaching. It is not easy to formulate precisely the be liefs for which he died, and certainly some of them, e.g., that regarding the church, were such as many Protestants would regard as unguarded and difficult to harmonize with the mainte nance of external church order. By propagating the reformatory doctrines of Wycliffe, Huss may be said to have handed on to Luther the torch which kindled the Reformation. His popularity in his own country was due both to his oratorical powers and to his pastoral activity.

The works of Huss were published at Nuremberg in 1558 (reprinted with new matter at Frankfort in 1715) ; by K. J. Erben at Prague (1865-68) , and by W. Flo j ihaus at Prague (19o4 fol.) In 1869 F. Palacky edited Documenta J. Hus vitam, doctrinam, causam in Constantiensi concilio. Among separate publications may be mentioned the Letters translated into Eng. by H. B. Workman ('9o4). See G. von Lechler's Wiclif and die V orgeschicht e der Reformation, trans. P. Lorimer (1878) ; H. Finke, Acta concilii Constantiensis (1896) ; J. A. von Helfert, Studien Tuber Hus send Hieronymus (1853), J. Loserth, Hus and Wiclif (1884, 2nd ed. 1925, Eng. trs. 1884) ; G. 'von Lechler, Johannes Hus (1889) ; Count Lutzow, The Life and Times of John Hus (19o9, 2nd ed. 1921) ; W. N. Schwarze, John Huss ('915) ; D. S. Schaff, John Huss (1915) ; P. Bracciolini, Todesgeschichte des Johannes Huss (Constance, 1926) and K. Kalpar, Hus and die Fruchte seiner Wirksamkeit (Warnsdorf, 1926) .