Description

Jan Hus was a Bohemian priest active in Prague who lived at the very end of the European Middle Ages. He tried to reform the medieval church but instead was condemned as a heretic and then burned alive at the stake on 6 July 1415 during the Council of Constance. Hus inspired a social revolution, facilitated a vibrant and lasting movement aimed at church reform, and as a result became a Czech national hero. Often associated with John Wyclif and Martin Luther, Hus is a figure in his own right. Partly biographical and partly autobiographical, concerned with the medieval world but presented by means of a modern perspective, Living with Jan Hus is a personal memoir. This is a narrative which seeks to recognize, remember, and reflect on several levels. How, and in what ways, does one focus on a specific historical topic and develop into a protracted preoccupation? Living with Jan Hus chronicles a very long personal journey of intellectual development, as well as an intimate interaction with history, while delineating how the past can inform the present. Thomas A. Fudge is the Professor of Medieval History at the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia. He holds the PhD in history from the University of Cambridge along with the PhD in theology from Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand.