A PREACHER’S PRIORITIES: JAN HUS AND LATE MEDIEVAL HOMILETICS By REID S. WEBER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2014 © 2014 Reid S. Weber To Katrina ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are numerous people whom I must acknowledge and thank for their roles in the creation of this document. I could not have reached this point without the assistance and input from many people and organizations in the United States and the Czech Republic. Initial financial assistance for language study and early research came through a Foreign Language and Area Studies Grant through the University of Florida Center for European Studies. The bulk of the research was conducted in Prague through a Fulbright Grant in 2011/2012. I need especially to thank the Czech Fulbright Commission for their invaluable assistance in making my family’s stay in Prague so successful and enjoyable. I am also thankful for support from the University of Florida Graduate School in the form of a dissertation completion grant for spring 2014 to relieve me from teaching responsibilities in order to bring the writing of this dissertation to a conclusion. Finally, thank you to Melanie Davis and her interlibrary loan staff at the University of Florida George A. Smathers Library. It is not easy locating books in Czech that can be over a century old, but their willingness to try and high success rate allowed this work to progress far more smoothly. Trying to add to a cultural history that one is not born into requires the welcome and guidance of those who have already entered and established themselves in the field. I am in significant debt to numerous scholars from Prague. Dr. David Holeton, my Fulbright host, supplied not only numerous cups of tea but also suggestions, advice, and an introduction to the wider field of Bohemian Reformation studies. Dr. Peter Morée generously provided me a place to research and write in Prague, as well as guidance navigating the Bartoš Library and the Evangelická teolgická fakulta. I am also in debt to the staff and scholars of the Center for Medieval Studies at the Philosophical Institute in 4 Prague, who graciously welcomed me into their library and offices, accommodated me with unfettered access to their resources, advice, encouragement, and when it became apparent I was confused, directed me to the men’s room. In particular, Dr. Pavel Soukup was extremely generous of his time and ideas, and aided me with his remarkable mastery of the source material and the particulars of fifteenth-century Bohemian Latin and Czech. Within the United States, I would like to thank Lydia Ingram, who proofread and edited many of the early drafts of chapters and was instrumental in helping me translate my own often scattered observations into recognizable arguments. I must also thank Deb Ensz for her proof reading and editing the early chapter drafts as well. I would like to thank Dr. David Mengel and Dr. Philip Haberkern for their willingness to discuss and advise me on several topics within the dissertation both while at conferences and through emails. Their expertise and encouragement has been invaluable. I would like thank my undergraduate advisers Dr. Linda Taber and Dr. Doug Taber from Wayne State College. It was through their teaching that I first encountered Jan Hus as they set me on my path through Bohemian History. I would like to thank Dr. Carol Lily who supervised my semester abroad in Olomouc, Czech Republic and for whom I wrote my first paper on the Hussites. I must also offer my thanks for the continued encouragement and support of my MA adviser at Northern Illinois University, Dr. Valerie Garver. Even though when she inherited me in the fall of 2005 she did not know who I was or why I was in her office, she has since become one of my greatest allies. At the University of Florida I have had the joy of being a member of a remarkable group of young scholars who have provided seven years of inspiration, assistance, and 5 community. In particular, I need to acknowledge the friendship, advice, and editing skills of Robert Mceachnie and Anna Lankina, who have been my stalwart companions at the University of Florida. I must also thank Miller Krause and Daniel Conigliaro for their willingness to share their remarkable talent with Latin by assisting me with some of my more unwieldy translations. I need to thank the doctoral candidates of the history graduate students’ “dissertation support group,” who provided critique on chapters one and three, as well as a place to commiserate and share ideas concerning the dissertation process. I must also thank Jan Volek, who despite the short time we shared at the University of Florida, has provided significant assistance in navigating ancillary Czech sources and has aided me in correcting my sometimes unfortunate use of Czech diacritical marks. Of the professors at the University of Florida, I must acknowledge the remarkably unselfish gift of time and assistance provided by Dr. Nina Caputo and Dr. Andrea Sterk who were absolutely critical in determining the direction and content of this work. Both played significant roles in shaping my understanding of preaching through their seminars and as members of my committee. I must thank Dr. Will Hasty and Dr. Alice Freifeld for being willing to serve on the dissertation committee and for their insightful and challenging comments since the outset of this project. I would like to thank Dr. Stuart Finkel for his willingness to listen and offer advice as well as for the use of his office during my final year of writing. I also need to acknowledge Dr. Florin Curta, who despite his repeated proclamations that I am not his student, has encouraged me and shown interest in my work throughout my time at the University of Florida. His honest 6 and correct first semester critique of, “Reid, you are too good of a historian to turn in #*@! like this” has stayed with me and driven me to improve as a scholar and writer. None of this project would have been possible without the tireless assistance of my adviser and mentor Dr. Howard Louthan. I am indebted to Dr. Louthan for his generous gift of time and effort over the last seven years on my behalf. He has been unceasingly optimistic while offering challenging and valuable critique in pushing me not to settle for “good enough.” He has also shown remarkable patience in guiding me and helping me work through many of my own shortcomings. I believe this dissertation reflects his expertise, patience, and guidance as much as my own research and writing. Finally, I must thank my family who has sacrificed so much that I could pursue my ambitions. I am eternally grateful to my parents who have provided years of support both emotionally and financially while encouraging me to pursue the doctoral degree. I would like to thank my two daughters, Nina and Adela, who although not quite able to read this dissertation, need to know how much joy and love they have provided me over the course of this project. In the research and writing of this project I have missed one birth, several vacations, and countless bed time stories. Yet when I read this dissertation it is not just the story of Jan Hus’s preaching. To me there is a story in between the lines that tells of the shared adventures of a father and his daughters in pursuit of that “man on the statue in the square.” Finally, this work is dedicated to my wife Katrina, who has sacrificed so many of her own goals to accompany me through this process. When we married, I naively believed I could achieve the PhD in five or six years. Ten years later, I owe her more than a meager dedication can ever repay. Without her love and support, this document would have simply been impossible. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 10 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 13 Prague 1370-1415 .................................................................................................. 24 The Life of Jan Hus ................................................................................................. 36 Chapter Synopses .................................................................................................. 54 2 ESTABLISHING AUTHORITY: HUS ON PREACHERS AND PREACHING .............. 60 Hus and the Medieval Sermon ................................................................................ 61 Hus on Preaching and Preachers ........................................................................... 77 An Alternative Path to Martyrdom ......................................................................... 101 3 PRIESTS AND PHARISEES .................................................................................... 107 A Stern but Empathetic Warning: 1404-1407 ........................................................ 116 Hus and the Clerical Audience .............................................................................. 130 A Growing Vitriol: 1410-1412 ...............................................................................