Ep. 174: Council of Constance (1414-1418) - The Trial of Jan Hus
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2024
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“They will roast a goose now, but after one hundred years they will hear a swan sing, and him they will have to endure.” These were allegedly the last words of a certain Jan Hus whose surname meant goose and who was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415.
Almost exactly one hundred years later a spiritually tormented monk, frightened by a vengeful God who sought to damn him, was assigned to teach the book of Romans at the new university of Wittenberg. And 2 years later this monk by the name of Martin Luther did (or probably did not) nail his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church of that same town.
As far as prophecies go, this must be one of the most accurate, assuming it was indeed true. But it wasn’t just the foretelling of the next reformer that makes the trial of Jan Hus such a fascinating account. So much is foreshadowed in this tale, it is almost uncanny. The railing against indulgences, the wealth of the clergy, the pope, a promise of safe conduct, a trial, villains and archvillains, accusations upon accusations, defiance in the face of certain death and then the big difference to the diet of Worms, actual death. Have a listen, it is fun.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans. |
| 0:10.0 | Episode 174, The Trial of Jan Hus. |
| 0:13.0 | And it's also episode 11 of season 9, the Reformation before the Reformation. |
| 0:18.0 | They will roast a goose now, but after 100 years they will hear a swan sing, and him they will have to endure. |
| 0:26.6 | These were allegedly the last words of a certain Janhus, whose surname meant goose, and who was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415 in the city of Constance. |
| 0:39.3 | Almost exactly 100 years later, a spiritually tormented monk frightened by a vengeful |
| 0:45.3 | god who sought to damn him was assigned to teach the book of Romans at the new University of Wittenberg. |
| 0:52.3 | And two years later, this monk by the name of Martin Luther did, or probably did not, nail |
| 0:58.4 | his 95 Theses on the door of the castle church of that same town. |
| 1:04.4 | As far as prophecies go, this must be one of the most accurate ones, assuming it had indeed |
| 1:09.2 | been true. But it wasn't just the foretelling of |
| 1:12.9 | the next reformer that makes the trial of Yanhu's such a fascinating account. So much is |
| 1:18.3 | foreshadowed in this tale, it's almost uncanny. There's derailing against indulgences, the wealth of |
| 1:24.4 | the clergy, the Pope, then there is a promise of safe conduct, a trial. |
| 1:29.3 | Villains and out-villains, accusations upon accusations, defiance in the face of certain death, |
| 1:35.3 | and then the big difference to the Diet of Worms, actual death. |
| 1:40.3 | Have a listen. It's fun. But before we start, the usual passing round of the begging |
| 1:47.2 | bowl. Just to give you an idea what this stuff we are doing here entails. It's now Wednesday |
| 1:53.1 | evening, and with editing I will be here until 9 or 10 tonight. I started the writing process |
| 1:59.9 | with some light research on Thursday. On Friday, |
| 2:03.0 | I discussed the structure of the episode with my script editor. Then I started writing and doing |
| 2:08.3 | some research. All of Saturday I was in the London Library, mostly reading. Sunday and Monday, |
... |
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