Brill's Companion to the Hussites, edited by Michael Van Dussen and Pavel Soukup, offers an introduction to the Hussite movement, the most vocal reform movement of the late Middle Ages. This collection summarizes the traditional emphases of Hussite studies, including theology, ecclesiology, and religious practice. The Companion is divided into five thematic sections, following a chronological narrative of the rise, fragmentation, and afterlife of the movement. The stated aim of the volume is to provide “reliable statements on the development of the Hussite movement in its European context” (14). The editors view the present state of research on the Hussites, much of which is published in English, as “misleading to newcomers to the field” (14), and this volume is meant to address that fact.
In the first section, Olivier Marin analyzes the early reform thinking in Prague in the 1390s and argues that Hussitism was not its only possible outlet. This view contradicts the accepted narrative, much entrenched even in this volume. Stephen Lahey's study of “Wyclif in Bohemia” complements the picture of Hussitism's early influencers, explaining Wyclif's appeal to Bohemian Reformers and tracing his thought in their writings. The second section introduces the movement's major figures. Petra Mutlová discusses “Major Hussite Theologians before the Compactata,” and Jindřich Marek takes on “Major Figures of Later Hussitism.” These figures are organized based on chronology and ideology, with both authors following a worn-out classification of Hussite thinkers (conservative, moderate, radical). In spite of their efforts, it is not a neat picture. For example, Marek notes that a leading Utraquist, Prokop of Plzeň, imparted a conservative view of the church to the laity (in his sermons) but disseminated a more radical notion of the church to a more “educated” public (in his writings) (151). This kind of observation, if developed, could offer a fresh way to understand what animated Hussite theologians. Here, however, it is not allowed to upset the traditional categories.
In the third section, Pavlína Cermanová explores “The Apocalyptic Background of Hussite Radicalism.” With the radical commune at Tábor as her focus, she discusses the role of apocalyptic imagery in the creation and fragmentation of the Hussite movement. Blanka Zilynská rounds up the section in her piece on “The Utraquist Church after the Compactata.” It shows how the ideology of the Hussite movement shaped the institutions of the Utraquist church, the very notion of which can, according to Zilynská, be challenged, “since it both was and was not an independent church” (221)—another insight that could open up new avenues of reflection but here is left uninterrogated. Section 4 deals with theology and religious practice. Dušan Coufal writes on “Key Issues in Hussite Theology,” focusing on three concepts: God's law, Christ's precepts, and the primitive church, and their use by different theologians. It becomes clear that “Hussite thought was never a uniform system” (285) and should, therefore, not be treated as such. Pavlína Rychterová tackles the “Preaching, the Vernacular, and the Laity,” and chronicles the use of the vernacular among the Hussite leaders. Following the traditional view, she argues that the vernacular was a sign of a growing “ideological construct of Czech identity” (297). The final contribution here explores “Liturgy, Sacramental Theology, and Music.” David Holeton, Pavel Kolář, and Eliška Batová explore the liturgical aspects of the Hussite movement focusing on the Eucharist, which served as the ritual and ideological center of the movement.
The final, fifth section analyzes later developments. Ota Halama writes a history of “The Unity of Brethren (1458–96),” focusing on the shifting relationship with the Utraquist and Taborite communities, and shows that they drew inspiration from both sets of theologies. Phillip Haberkern closes the section and the book by looking to the sixteenth-century Reformation. His article, “The Bohemian Reformation and ‘The’ Reformation” analyzes the nature of the sixteenth-century appropriation of Hussite reform thinking. Haberkern shows that Luther and other Reformers oscillated between ignorance and idealization of their Hussite predecessors, an insight that derails the traditional narrative of Hussites either as premature or the first Reformers.
Brill's Companion to the Hussites is accessible to both students and scholars. Each article contains a bibliography and an overview of the historiography, which provide a helpful context, as most of the works cited were published in Czech. The collection's dangers lie elsewhere: many of the articles fail to even acknowledge some of the recent English-speaking scholarship that goes against the traditional narrative adopted here. This volume illumines the main figures, ideologies, and concerns of the Hussite movement. It also illumines the ideologies and concerns of the movement's traditional interpreters. The volume's refusal to reckon with dissenting scholarly trends is why I can recommend it to newcomers in the field only with reservation.
