Lecture 35: Corruption and the Beginnings of Reform
• John Huss (Jan Hus, c. 1372–1415) was born of a Czech peasant
family in Bohemia, was ordained a priest, and became dean of
the philosophical faculty at the University of Prague, as well as a
popular preacher.
o Huss became aware of Wyclif’s works, especially his political
doctrines concerning the elimination of private property and
hierarchy within society, and his teaching on the spiritual as
opposed to the material church.o His violent sermons on the immorality of the clergy stimulated
resistance, and under Innocent VII, Huss was forbidden to
preach in 1407. When the Czech state took over the University
of Prague and made Huss rector, papal resistance was even
greater. Huss was excommunicated in 1411, and his followers
were interdicted.o After writing his On the Church (substantially borrowed from
Wyclif), Huss was granted safe passage to the Council of
Constance, but on his arrival, he was imprisoned, and he died
at the stake in 1415.• Lorenzo Valla (c. 1406–1457) was an Italian Humanist and a
professor at Pavia, but his controversial writings led him to seek
refuge with King Alfonso of Aragon.
o In 1440, his use of historical-critical methods established that
the Donation of Constantine was a forgery; this eliminated a
cornerstone of the papal claims to temporal power in Europe.o In 1442, he undertook a critical comparison of the Greek New
Testament and the Vulgate, which had the effect of diminishing
the assumed authority of the version of Scripture used
in churches.• Finally, Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) was a Dominican
priest who studied philosophy; as a professor at San Marco and the
University of Bologna, he emphasized the knowledge of Scripture
in the original languages.