Prague, Jan Hus and Prague University

The Bohemian Reformation — the reformation before the Reformation — offered a radical solution to the spiritual and institutional crisis of the late medieval church at the end of the fourteenth century. The beginnings of this reform are distinctly connected with Prague University, which drew many educated people to Prague from across Europe. Through Jan Hus — a former Prague University student who became its rector in 1409/1410 — the Bohemian Reformation gave rise to a new, radical ecclesiology. Not only did Hus challenge the hierarchical system of the church, but under his influence, the Bohemian Reformation acquired a specific national shape, and elements of Czech messianism emerged with the university.

The book Prague, Jan Hus and Prague University analyzes these processes within Prague University, as well as its limits and restrictive consequences for the Bohemian Reformation and Czech medieval society. Emphasis is placed on showing how Prague and the university became a world that successfully struggled for its own existence in late medieval Christian Europe.