Jan Hus in Medieval Czech Hagiography

Abstract

The 'Relatio' of Petr of Mladoňovice quickly became the 'textus receptus' of accounts of Jan Hus's life, and especially his death, among Hus's followers in the Czech lands. Petr's narrative has been subjected to considerable scholarly investigation and has played an enormous role in the construction of the memory of Hus. The importance of the 'Relatio' noted, there are several other fifteenth-century "lives" which merit careful consideration for the way in which they present Hus, the role they play in the formation of his memory, and their value in terms of understanding the religious world of late medieval Bohemia. This essay examines two of these "lives" in an effort to learn more aboutHus's evolution into a saint and also to rescue these sources from continued obscurity.