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TheBohemian Reformation (also known as theCzech Reformation^[1] orHussite Reformation), preceding theReformation of the 16th century, was a Christian movement in the late medieval and early modernKingdom andCrown of Bohemia (mostly what is now present-dayCzech Republic,Silesia, andLusatia) striving for a reform of theCatholic Church. Lasting for more than 200 years, it had a significant impact on the historical development ofCentral Europe and is considered one of the most important religious, social, intellectual and political movements of theearly modern period. The Bohemian Reformation produced the firstnational church separate from Roman authority in the history ofWestern Christianity, the firstapocalyptic religious movement of the early modern period, and the firstpacifist Protestant church.^[1]

The Bohemian Reformation included several theological strains that developed over time.^[2] Although it split into many groups, some characteristics were shared by all of them –communion under both kinds, distaste for the wealth and power of the church, emphasis on theBible preached in avernacular language and on an immediate relationship between man andGod.^[3][4] The Bohemian Reformation included particularly the efforts to reform the church beforeHus, theHussite movement (including e.g.Taborites andOrebites), theUnity of the Brethren andUtraquists or Calixtines.

Together with theWaldensians,Arnoldists and theLollards (led byJohn Wycliffe), the Bohemian Reformation'sHussite movement is considered to be the precursor to the Protestant Reformation. These movements are sometimes referred to as theFirst Reformation in the Czech historiography.^[5]

The Bohemian Reformation remained distinct from the German andSwiss Reformations despite their influence, although many Czech Utraquists grew closer and closer to theLutherans. The Bohemian Reformation kept its own development until the suppression of theBohemian Revolt in 1620. The victorious restored KingFerdinand II decided to force every inhabitant ofBohemia andMoravia to become Catholic in accordance with the principlecuius regio, eius religio of thePeace of Augsburg (1555). The Bohemian Reformation ended up being diffused in the Protestant world and gradually lost its distinctiveness.^[6] ThePatent of Toleration issued in 1781 by EmperorJoseph II made Lutheran, Calvinist and Eastern Orthodox faiths legal in his realm but did not go so far as general religious toleration.^[2] Despite the eradication of the Bohemian Reformation as a distinctiveChristian movement, its tradition survived. Many churches (not only in the Czech Republic) remember their legacy, refer to the Bohemian Reformation and try to continue its tradition,^[6] e.g., theMoravian Church (the continuator of the scattered Unity of the Brethren),Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren,Czechoslovak Hussite Church,Church of Brethren,Unity of Brethren Baptists and other denominations.^[7]

The Bohemian Reformation started inPrague in the second half of the 14th century. In that time Prague was not only the seat of the King of Bohemia but also that of theHoly Roman Emperor (andKing of the Romans). Prague was one ofEurope's largest cities and afterAvignon,Rome andParis was the city with the highest concentration ofclergy inWestern Christendom.^[8] The beginnings of the Bohemian Reformation were closely related to the criticism of the lavish lifestyle of many priests. In the late 1370s and early 1380s thePrague university theologians and intellectuals called for the reform of the decadent priesthood in the spirit of emergingconciliarism, for education of unsatisfactorily educated priests, and for more frequent accepting of theEucharist in the spirit ofDevotio Moderna. The most significant representatives of the university reform movement wereHenry of Bitterfeld (Heinrich von Bitterfeld) andMatthew of Cracow.^[9]

Apart from the university theologians there were also reform preachers, such asConrad Waldhauser (died in 1369), an AustrianAugustinian from a monastery inWaldhausen who preached in theOld Town of Prague inGerman andLatin especially againstsimony and low morals.^[10] Another influential preacher wasMilíč of Kroměříž who preached in Latin, Czech, and German. He helped many prostitutes to begin a new life. He served the Eucharist daily which was very uncommon because thelaymen took communion usually only once a year. This practice of frequent communion became very popular. Although it was unique elsewhere in Europe, it became usual in Bohemia until the end of the 14th century. The matter of the Eucharist became crucial for the nascent Bohemian Reformation and in the 1410s communion under both kinds andinfant communion were introduced into Bohemian liturgical practice.^[11]

Matthias of Janov (died in 1394) who studied at the University of Prague and at theUniversity of Paris wroteRegulae Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Principles of the Old and the New Testaments) which is an essential book of the early Bohemian Reformation movement. The Bible was the only reliable authority in all matters of faith for him and only sincere followers ofChrist were true Christians in his opinion.^[12]

The completetranslation of the Bible into Czech in the mid-14th century also contributed to the origin of the Bohemian Reformation. AfterFrench andItalian,Czech became the third modern European language in which the whole Bible was translated.^[13]

The best-known representative of the Bohemian Reformation isJan Hus. He was an influential university teacher and a popular preacher inBethlehem Chapel in the Old Town of Prague. The chapel was founded already in 1391 in the spirit of the nascent Bohemian Reformation. It was intended solely for sermons in Czech and it could admit 3,000 people. Jan Hus and his friends (e. g.Jacob of Mies) were skeptical about the idea of conciliarism which called for a church reform from above viacardinals and theologians. For them the cardinals and theologians were bearers of the same corruption as thepapacy itself. Hus believed that the head of the Church was Jesus Christ rather than thepope. In some issues they were inspired by the ideas of anOxford theologian and philosopherJohn Wycliffe. It can be seen in their cooperation with the secular power which supported them.^[9] Together with Wycliffe they thought that aristocracy could help the church to become poor and focused only on spiritual issues by confiscation of its property. In 1412, Jan Hus criticized sellingindulgences which led to an unrest in Prague suppressed by the city council.

When Hus, as a result of aninterdict, left Prague for the country, he realized what a gulf there was between university education and theological speculation on one hand, and the life of uneducated country priests and the laymen entrusted to their care on the other.^[6] Therefore, he started to write many texts in Czech, such as basics of the Christian faith or preachings, intended mainly for the priests whose knowledge of Latin was poor.^[14]

Before Hus left Prague, he decided to take a step which gave a new dimension to his endeavors. He no longer put his trust in an indecisive King, a hostile Pope or an ineffective Council. On 18 October 1412, he appealed to Jesus Christ as the supreme judge. By appealing directly to the highest Christian authority, Christ himself, he bypassed the laws and structures of the medieval Church.^[15] For the Bohemian Reformation, this step was as significant as the95 theses nailed to the door of the Wittenberg church by Martin Luther in 1517.

The execution of Jan Hus at theCouncil of Constance in 1415 led only to a radicalization of Hus's followers.^[9] In 1414, Jacob of Mies first served the holy communion under both kinds to laymen (which was forbidden by theFourth Council of the Lateran in 1215) by the approval of Hus who already dwelt inConstance. Communion under both kinds represented bychalice became the main symbol of the Bohemian Reformation. Up to the present time the chalice is a symbol of non-Catholic Christians in the Czech Republic.^[16]

After Jan Hus was burnt at the stake, the Bohemian Reformation started to oppose the Council of Constance and later the Pope, and became a distinctive religious movement with its own symbols (chalice), rituals (frequent communionunder both kinds even forchildren), andmartyrs (Jan Hus,Jerome of Prague). In the 1420s it constituted a consciously independent church.^[6]

Because of the political situation the Hussites were not only a religious group but became also a political and military faction.^[17] The ideological and political program shared by the Hussites at the beginning of theHussite Wars was contained in the Four Articles of Prague, which can be summarized as:

1. Freedom to preach the Word of God.
2. Freedom of the communion of the chalice (under both kinds also to laity).
3. Exclusion of the clergy from large temporal possessions or civil authority.
4. Strict repression and punishment of amortal sin, whether in clergy or in laity.^[18]

In the summer of 1419, tens of thousands of people gathered for a massive outdoor religious service on a hill christenedMount Tabor, where the townTábor was founded. The so-calledTaborites practiced a form of communal economy that has been of great interest toMarxist historians.^[1]

After thebattle of Lipany in 1434, in which the moderate Hussites united with Catholics defeated the radical Hussites, a compromise with the Roman Church and the Emperor and crowned Bohemian KingSigismund could have been realized. The compromise led to reconciliation of the Bohemian reformed mainstream with the Roman Church.^[19] The text ofCompactata based on the Four Articles of Prague was accepted by the Czech (Bohemian and Moravian) political representation as well as by theCouncil of Basel, but the Pope refused to recognize it.

The Utraquist Church of Bohemia was an autonomous ecclesial body which emerged in Bohemia and Moravia, that viewed itself as a part of the one, holy,catholic Church, but that remained in a merely formal communion with the Roman pope. During all of the fifteenth century it maintained an ambition to serve as a vanguard of reform for all Western Christendom. For a long time, this church – schismatic from the Roman point of view – remained a unique phenomenon in Europe. Until 1471, the church was led by the elected Archbishop of Prague,Jan Rokycana, who was never confirmed by theHoly See. After his death it was led by the Utraquist Consistory headed by the administrator. The Utraquist Consistory had its seat in theOld Town of Prague. The church continued to recognize theapostolic succession in the Roman Church, and insisted on the ordination of its clergy by "proper" Catholic bishops.^[20] With its intermediate position between Rome and theRadical and Protestant Reformations, the Utraquist Church of Bohemia resembled the futureChurch of England.^[21]

The church was largely Czech-speaking, although it included some German-speaking parish communities as well. With the emergence of the Protestant Reformation the Utraquist Church found it necessary to define its identity not only in relation to Rome, but also to the reformed churches. During the entire sixteenth century Bohemia and Moravia enjoyed a considerable religious tolerance that was not limited by the principlecuius regio, eius religio. Defense of its own identity was a major problem of the Utraquist Church for the remaining period of its existence – roughly until 1622. The joining of the Utraquists with the Brethren and theLutherans in support of theBohemian Confession (Confessio Bohemica, 1575) could not but antagonize Rome further. In consequence ofLetter of Majesty, issued in 1609 byRudolf II, an illusory unified church organization emerged that further complicated the ecclesiological issue for the Utraquists, as well as for the Lutherans and, especially the Brethren.^[20]

The main expression of its confessional distinctiveness was a reformed liturgy that combinedLatin and Czech, and practicedcommunion under both kinds for the laity of all ages, including little children as well asinfants. Jan Hus was considered a saint and venerated as a martyr in the cause of a renewal of Christ's Church. However better knowledge of Utraquist theology belongs among the major desiderata of historical scholarship.^[20]

TheUnity of the Brethren (Latin:Unitas fratrum,Czech:Jednota bratrská) was founded in 1457 by Bohemian followers ofJan Hus who were disappointed by the religious development in their country, especially by thewars which were led in the name of God. They were strongly impacted by the teaching ofPetr Chelčický and the early Unity was also in touch with theWaldensians. The Bohemian Brethren were known for their radicalbiblicism. After a certain amount of hesitation they decided to deny theapostolic succession and to establish a distinct church.^[6] Considered to beheretics and persecuted by both Catholics and Utraquists (Hussites, Calixtines) they became tolerant to other Christiandenominations. They did not believe themselves to be the only true church. They even did not want to be called achurch but used the termunity to describe their denomination, for they believed there was only one Church of Christ which was invisible.

The Unity of the Brethren executed the first Czech Bible translation from the original languages. This work was initiated by Brethren's bishopJan Blahoslav who translated theNew Testament fromGreek in 1564. The complete Bible was published in six volumes between 1579 and 1593 with extensive annotations. It was printed in a Moravianfortified house inKralice nad Oslavou, therefore it is called theKralice Bible. It was the first Czech Bible in which the verses were numbered.

The Brethren introduced the sacred song in the vernacular language as a basic element of the church service. Although the Unity of the Brethren was just a small religious group, its contribution for the development of the Czechmonophonic sacred song is indisputable. Their firsthymnal (in Czech) was printed in 1501 as the first printed hymnal in the whole Christian world (containing 89 hymns without tunes). During the 16th and early 17th century, the Unity became the foremost producer of hymns in Czech lands. The Unity printed some eleven different hymnals (in 28 publications) in Czech, German, and Polish, most including tunes as well as words. The first German-language Unity hymnal edited in 1531 byMichael Weisse had 157 hymns with tunes. In 1541Jan Roh edited a new Czech hymnal containing 482 hymns with tunes, and in 1544, he issued a new revised edition of the German hymnal of 1531. Unity's best known Czech-language hymnbooks were printed inIvančice (1561) andSzamotuły (1564) under the supervision of Jan Blahoslav.^[22] The hymnal of 1561 contained 735 hymn texts and over 450 melodies. That makes the importance of hymn singing in the Unity very clear.^[23] The Bohemian Brethren later also used theGenevan Psalter translated into Czech byJiří Strejc in 1587.

Apart from Jan Blahoslav, other famous theologians of the Unity wereLuke of Prague,Jan Augusta orJohn Amos Comenius. During the time of the intransigentCounter-Reformation in Bohemia and Moravia after 1620, the leaders of the Unity were forced to leave the country. Comenius tried to lead the Unity in exile but after his death it was in decline. In 1722 the Unity of the Brethren was renewed inSaxony by emigrants from Moravia with support of a local countNikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf. Since that time the Unity has also been known as theMoravian Church.

• Betts, R. R. (April 1947)."The place of the Czech reform movement in the history of Europe".The Slavonic and East European Review.25 (65).
• Brown, M. T. (2013).John Blahoslav – Sixteenth-Century Moravian Reformer Transforming the Czech Nation by the Word of God. Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft.ISBN 978-3-86269-063-3.
• David, Zdeněk V. (2003).Finding the middle way : the Utraquists' liberal challenge to Rome and Luther. Baltimore (Md.): the J. Hopkins university press.ISBN 978-0-8018-7382-9.
• Fudge, Thomas A. (1998).The magnificent ride : the first reformation in Hussite Bohemia. Aldershot: Ashgate.ISBN 978-1-85928-372-1.
• Fudge, Thomas A. (2010).Jan Hus Religious Reform and Social Revolution in Bohemia. London: I.B. Tauris & Co.ISBN 978-0-85771-855-6.
• Fudge, Thomas A. (2016).Jerome of Prague and the Foundations of the Hussite Movement. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 9780190631550.
• Gillett, E. H. (1863).The life and times of John Huss: or, The Bohemian reformation of the fifteenth century. Volume 1. Boston: Gould and Lincoln.
• Gillett, E. H. (1864).The life and times of John Huss: or, The Bohemian reformation of the fifteenth century. Volume 2. Boston: Gould and Lincoln.
• Grant, Jeanne (2014).For the Common Good : The Bohemian Land Law and the Beginning of the Hussite Revolution. Leiden: Brill.ISBN 9789004283268.
• Haberkern, Phillip N. (2016).Patron Saint and Prophet: Jan Hus in the Bohemian and German Reformations. Oxford University Press.ISBN 9780190613976.
• Kaminsky, Howard (2004).A history of the Hussite revolution. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock Publishers.ISBN 978-1-59244-631-5.
• McBride, Stephen Turnbull ; illustrated by Angus (2004).The Hussite Wars 1419–36. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd.ISBN 978-1-84176-665-2. Archived fromthe original on 2016-04-24. Retrieved2015-01-26.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Zeman, J. K. (1973). "The Rise of Religious Liberty in the Czech Reformation".Central European History.6 (2):128–147.doi:10.1017/S0008938900015922.S2CID 145651918.

• Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice – a series of biennial conferences dedicated to the study of the Bohemian Reformation and its publications.
• Bohemia and Moravia during Reformation (video on Youtube)

• Hussite history
• Protestant Reformation

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