Patron Saint and Prophet

Patron Saint and Prophet analyzes the commemoration of Jan Hus from the time of his death in 1415 until the middle of the following century, tracing the ways in which both Hus's supporters and his most outspoken opponents sought to determine whether he would be remembered as a heretic or saint. Phillip Haberkern examines how specific historical conflicts and exigencies affected the evolution of Hus's memory within the militant Hussite movement that flourished until the mid-1430s, within the Czech Utraquist church that succeeded it, and among sixteenth-century Lutherans who viewed Hus as a forerunner and even prophet of their reform. Through close readings of written sources such as sermons, polemical treatises, manifestoes, plays, and church histories; visual media including manuscript illuminations, woodcuts, and monumental art; and oral forms of discourse such as vernacular songs and liturgical prayers, Patron Saint and Prophet offers a fascinating account of how changes in media technology complemented the shifting theology of the cult of saints in order to shape early modern commemorative practices.
By focusing on the ways in which the invocation of Hus catalyzed religious dissent within two distinct historical contexts, this book further aims to compare the role of memory in late medieval Bohemia with the emergence of history as a constitutive religious discourse in the early modern German lands.