Heresy
Hus Under Attack
Hus was quickly becoming something of a national hero, but in 1412 he lost the support of the king. The pope had proclaimed a crusade against Ladislas of Naples, and King Wenceslaus happened to support this project. When Hus condemned the preaching of the crusade—not because of the target, but because of the sale of indulgences—Wenceslaus decided no longer to protect the preacher. He saw Hus as the cause of civil unrest, and indeed unrest was spreading. People smeared the indulgence chests with mud. Students interrupted priests during sermons preaching indulgences. Satirical songs and plays were performed ridiculing the entire process. After a riot in Prague, Wenceslaus had three of the leaders beheaded. They were instantly acclaimed martyrs and a large crowd followed the bodies to burial.
In response to the escalating violence, the conservatives likewise became active. They beat up protesters. They disrupted services at which reform preachers were speaking. In July of 1412, Cardinal Stefaneschi excommunicated Hus and again placed Prague under interdict. Hus remained safe in southern Bohemia, protected by sympathetic nobles.
The next twenty months saw the reformers become steadily more open and militant. Some Hussite priests began to refuse to accept benefices. Some destroyed images, and gave baptisms in streams or ponds. The touchstone for the reformers was Scripture: if the practice wasn't in the Bible, then it shouldn't be in the modern service, either. They did away with vestments and with most of the sacraments. Not all, certainly. But the acts of the extremists gave substance to the Catholic stance that Hus was unleashing social as well as religious chaos.