Hussite

The Hussites comprised an early Protestant

Effect in Bohemia of the Death of Hus

The arrest of Hus had excited considerable resentment in Bohemia and Moravia. In both countries the estates appealed repeatedly and urgently to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor to release Hus.

Related Topics:
Bohemia - Moravia - Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

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On the arrival of the news of his death at the Council of Constance in 1415, disturbances broke out which were directed at first against the clergy, especially against the monks. Even the archbishop saved himself with

Related Topics:
Council of Constance - 1415 - Clergy

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difficulty from the rage of the populace. In the country conditions were not much better.

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Everywhere the treatment of Hus was felt as a disgrace inflicted upon the whole country, and his death was looked upon 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. 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 in case their orders accorded with the injunctions of the Bible.

Related Topics:
Wenceslaus - Bible

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In disputed points the decision of the university should be resorted to. The entire Hussite nobility

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joined the league, and if the king had entered it,

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its resolutions would have received the sanction of

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the law; but he refused, and approached the Roman

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Catholic League of lords, which was now formed, the members pledging themselves to cling to the king, the Roman Church, and the Council. Signs of the outbreak of a civil war began to show. 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. He intended to eradicate completely the doctrine of Hus. For this purpose the co-operation of King Wenceslaus had to be obtained. In

Related Topics:
Roman Church - Pope Martin V - Colonna

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1418 Sigismund succeeded in winning his brother

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over to the standpoint of the council by pointing

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out the inevitability of a religious war if the

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heretics in Bohemia found further protection.

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Hussite statesmen and army leaders had to leave

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the country, and Roman priests were reinstituted.

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These measures caused a general commotion which

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hastened the death of Wenceslaus by a paralytic

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stroke in 1419. His heir was Sigismund.

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