With Jan Hus’s execution at the Council of Constance in 1415, the Church and Holy Roman Emperor believed that the issues of Bohemian heresy had been successfully resolved. However, Bohemia erupted into protest and revolt in response to the death of Jan Hus. Expelling the Catholic priests and throwing the city council members from the New Town Hall windows, the Hussites of Bohemia refused to accept the authority of the Church or their king. To quell this revolution, Holy Emperor Sigismund and Pope Martin V launched an invasion and five crusades against Hussite Bohemia, calling upon the Christian world to lend them aid. However, led by a man named Jan Žižka and later Prokop the Great, the Hussites would not be so easily defeated.
History of Karlštejn
Karlštejn Castle was built by Bohemian King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to house holy relics and the crowns of the kingdom and empire. Karlštejn Castle consists of three different levels, those being the Imperial Palace, the Marian Tower, and the Great Tower. Throughout the castle, Karlštejn housed many jewels and precious stones, symbols of royal authority and legitimate monarchy. Karlštejn Castle remains a cultural, historical, and architectural icon in central Europe and the Czech Republic.
The Hussite Reformation: The Council and Trial of Jan Hus
Following his continued preachings of reform and his various excommunications, Jan Hus was called by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund to come to the Council of Constance as part of his plan to resolve the issue centered around Czech heresy. The Council of Constance, which was convened in 1414 to solve the Western Schism, succeeded in its goal of doing just that. However, the council’s handling of Jan Hus and his growing Hussite following would prove far from successful. Imprisoned and put on trial, Jan Hus’s fate was in the hands of those who were to make a disastrous mistake in the long run and unleash war in Bohemia.
The Hussite Reformation: Life of Jan Hus and the Church
In 1414, a Czech theologian named Jan Hus was called before the Council of Constance for heresy against the Catholic Church and Pope. Jan Hus had preached about the need to reform the corruption within the Church, desiring to adhere more to a more communal Christianity that he believed the New Testament spoke of, and for that he had been excommunicated numerous times. His life up to this point set the groundwork for the eventual history of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire to change forever.
Jan Žižka
Jan Hus: Czech Reform Theologian
Only a few years before Jan Hus was born, the Middle Ages came to a close. The term "Middle Ages" is used by modern scholars to reference a specific period in history. It began roughly with the collapse of Roman civilization around the 5th Century CE to the Renaissance. There are a few conflicting starting points for the Renaissance period. Depending on the location in Europe, the Renaissance started around the 13th, 14th, or 15th Centuries.
