The Hussite Movement and its Reformation Legacy

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 10401

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia
Interests: medieval heresy; Hussites; reformation; popular religion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Much is changing about the study of the Hussites as a 15th century phenomenon to preclude comparisons to 16th century German reform movements. Problematically, the artificiality of Luther as a definite marker of Protestantism complicates investigating possible ties between Hussites and Protestantism. The European Reformations transcend agreeable resonance in the later Middle Ages and cannot be limited to, or defined by, its German manifestations. Reformation is not only evident along the fault lines that separate 16th century dissenters from the Roman Church. These limitations distort history. The Hussites are neither the antithesis of the medieval church and religious practice, nor simply forerunners of the Reformations. Change and continuity persist across the artificial divide that tends to separate Catholics from Protestants with the latter heralding the former and the former emphasizing the latter. Too often the Hussite movement is numbered among the cardinal sins of omission because they are excluded from the tightly-welded shut categories of historical inquiry and discourse.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to consider the fifteenth-century Hussite episode and endeavour to situate this history in the broader period after the outbreak of the European Reformations as a discrete topic of inquiry but one that can be explored in relation to the European Reformations. Heretofore, a principle assumption has been that the Hussite tradition forms a precursor to the more important religious events of the sixteenth century. The Special Issue aims to challenge that perspective by considering aspects of the Hussite legacy especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The collection of essays will form an important contribution to the historiography of European religious history.

Prof. Dr. Thomas A. Fudge
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Hussites
  • reform
  • heresy
  • religion

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 491 KiB  
Article
Theology, Martyrdom and Female Agency in Reformation Prague
by Thomas A. Fudge
Religions 2021, 12(9), 748; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090748 - 10 Sep 2021
Viewed by 2457
Abstract
The Hussite tradition historically has been excluded by the mainstream of Reformation historiography. Czech-language scholarship treating Hussite history have made few significant advances in the study of women and there has been limited attention given to the role women played in the Hussite [...] Read more.
The Hussite tradition historically has been excluded by the mainstream of Reformation historiography. Czech-language scholarship treating Hussite history have made few significant advances in the study of women and there has been limited attention given to the role women played in the Hussite tradition. The gap in Anglophone historiography is even more apparent. This essay considers Klára, a sixteenth-century Prague housekeeper, Marta, a learned figure contemporary with Klára who withstood civil and ecclesiastical officials, and Anna Marie Trejtlarová, an early seventeen-century educated laywoman. Their names are almost completely unknown outside Czech historiography. An examination of their lives and faith by means of the surviving primary sources and relevant historiography provides a window through which to observe the nature of religious reform in the Prague context in the world of Reformations. What is striking is the role of theology and the nature of female agency in the examination of these women. The essay endeavours to use these case studies to present a preliminary answer to the question: What do women tell us about Reformation? This study reveals the world of religious reform more fully by situating women and female agency in an active capacity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hussite Movement and its Reformation Legacy)
22 pages, 296 KiB  
Article
Utraquist Bohemia and the English Martyrs: An Uncommon Witness of Reform
by Zdenek Vaclav David
Religions 2021, 12(5), 365; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050365 - 20 May 2021
Viewed by 2231
Abstract
The relationship between the Bohemian reform movements of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the events associated with the traditionally-nominated Reformations of the sixteenth century has been a much understudied topic amongst historians and theologians. There are a number of points of entry [...] Read more.
The relationship between the Bohemian reform movements of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the events associated with the traditionally-nominated Reformations of the sixteenth century has been a much understudied topic amongst historians and theologians. There are a number of points of entry for comparison and analysis. One overlooked text is Pavel Bydžovský’s “Several Stories of English Martyrs (with Whom God Deigned to Decorate His Church Just Like the Heaven with Stars)” that was published in 1554. Bydžovský’s treatise, which has not been examined in modern times, offers a remarkable opportunity as an illustration of the little studied or understood Utraquist theological and ecclesiological position. This is displayed by Bydžovský’s sponsorship (especially that of Jan III, Popel z Lobkovic), his relationship to Catholicism and Lutheranism, and by his use of sources (especially, Venerable Bede, Reginald Pole, the Guildhall Report). Thus, the Bydžovský text is useful for the elaboration of the religious relationships that existed between Bohemia and England in the sixteenth century. The text further contributes an important witness to the theological and ecclesiastical via media represented by the Utraquist tradition between Rome on one hand and Wittenberg and Geneva on the other. This is most graphically displayed in what can only be characterized as a highly qualified allegiance to the papacy. This contribution to expanding knowledge around the definition and understanding of Reformation presents a full translation of Pavel Bydžovský’s treatise on the English Martyrs and this is preceded by a contextual commentary that endeavors to more meaningfully bring a forgotten text into the cutting edge of scholatship. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hussite Movement and its Reformation Legacy)
23 pages, 295 KiB  
Article
The Bohemian Brethren and the Protestant Reformation
by Craig Atwood
Religions 2021, 12(5), 360; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050360 - 19 May 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4551
Abstract
The smallest, but in some ways the most influential, church to emerge from the Hussite Reformation was the Unity of the Brethren founded by Gregory the Patriarch in 1457. The Unity was a voluntary church that separated entirely from the established churches, and [...] Read more.
The smallest, but in some ways the most influential, church to emerge from the Hussite Reformation was the Unity of the Brethren founded by Gregory the Patriarch in 1457. The Unity was a voluntary church that separated entirely from the established churches, and chose its own priests, published the first Protestant hymnal and catechism, and operated several schools. Soon after Martin Luther broke with Rome, the Brethren established cordial relations with Wittenberg and introduced their irenic and ecumenical theology to the Protestant Reformation. Over time, they gravitated more toward the Reformed tradition, and influenced Martin Bucer’s views on confirmation, church discipline, and the Eucharist. In many ways, the pacifist Brethren offered a middle way between the Magisterial Reformation and the Radical Reformation. Study of the Brethren complicates and enhances our understanding of the Protestant Reformation and the rise of religious toleration in Europe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hussite Movement and its Reformation Legacy)
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