Patron Saint and Prophet: Jan Hus in the Bohemian and German Reformations by Phillip N. Haberkern (review)

Abstract

<p>A Reformation legend recounts a dream wherein a Saxon prince saw a German monk writing words on a church door with a quill that stretched from Wittenberg to Rome. The monk claimed that the quill came from a 100-year-old Czech goose. Visual depictions featured the quill dislodging the papal tiara while remaining impervious to all efforts to break it. While the ancient goose perished in a bonfire, the dream of Elector Frederick the Wise was about Luther and Jan Hus (after the stake). Though the text of the dream and its visual depictions reflect the thesis of Phillip Haberkern's book, this tale is curiously omitted from his study.</p>