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 @lt;i@gt;Prague, Jan Hus and Prague University@lt;/i@gt; 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..
Sources of Chapters ...7 // Introductory Thoughts ...10 // I. Bohemian Reformation ...15 // The Hussites and the Bohemian Reformation ...17 // Hussite Reformation Between the Emergence of New Piety, The (Un)Reformability of the Old Faith and "Dechristianization" ...48 // Confessionalization and Religious (In)Tolerance in Prague of the Second Half of the 15th Century ...73 // Between Authority and Obedience: Ecclesiology Versus Practical Religion ...102 // II. Prague University ...119 // Corporative Interests Versus Nationalism. Prague University at the Turn of the 15th Century ...121 // Praga mater atrium. Translatio studii and the University of Prague ...155 // Puri bohemi of Jerome of Prague. On the Faces of Czech National Consciousness and Nationalism ...178 // Jan Hus and Prague University ...194 // III. Prague ...209 // The Old Town Hall as the Site of Election of Czech Kings and the Symbol of the Country’s Majesty ...211 // Ritual and Politics: The Conflicts of Vladislav Jagiello and the Appointment of Councilors in the Old and New Towns of Prague in the Early 16th Century ...250 // Index ...271