Living with Jan Hus

Jan Hus was a Bohemian priest active in Prague who lived atthe very end of the European Middle Ages. He tried to reform the medieval church but instead was condemned as a heretic and then burned alive at the stake on 6 July 1415 during the Council of Constance. Hus inspired a social revolution, facilitated a vibrant and lasting movement aimed at church reform, and as a result became a Czech national hero. Often associated with John Wyclif and Martin Luther, Hus is a figure in his own right. Partly biographical and partly autobiographical, concerned with the medieval world but presented by means of a modern perspective, Living with Jan Hus is a personal memoir. This is a narrative which seeks to recognize, remember, and reflect on several levels. How, and in what ways, does one focus on a specific historical topic and develop into a protracted preoccupation? Living with Jan Hus chronicles a very long personal journey of intellectual development, as well as an intimate interaction with history, while delineating how the past can inform the present.