"Fudge (Univ. of New England, Australia) painstakingly examines the case for and against Hus. Essential." --CHOICE "Professor Fudge has written an engaging analysis of the often bewildering judicial apparatus at play in the trial and condemnation of Jan Hus. Hus continues to engender strong feelings, six centuries after his death at Constance (a city still referred to in Czech as 'Kostnice,' or 'ossuary'). Fudge's thesis will contribute to the ongoing discussion about the notion of heresy and its historiography, while providing a useful introduction to its formal prosecution in the later middle ages."--Stephen E. Lahey, author of John Wyclif "Thomas Fudge casts new light on the trial of John Hus in 1415, examining its context in medieval law.

He makes an important contribution to scholarship, showing that Hus failed to understand the laws about heresy applied at the Council of Constance. Hus emerges from this study as brave and dedicated but fatally naïve."--Thomas Izbicki, co-editor of The Church, the Councils, & Reform: The Legacy of the Fifteenth Century "Thomas Fudge has written an exceptional reappraisal of one of medieval Europe's most notorious heresy trials. Without relinquishing any of his deep sympathy for Hus's sincerity and goals, Fudge concludes that he was indeed heretical and that his trial was legal. Meticulous scholarship is matched with a persuasive prose style, and this passionate but objective study has profound implications for future research into how the late medieval church responded to dissent."--Norman Housley, Professor of History, University of Leicester "The book should be read not only by those who work on Hussites (and indeed Wycliffites) but by anyone interested in the complex fortunes of the church in the fifteenth century."-- Speculum.