Theo-politics of the Hussite Movement

This intellectual history of the dissident Hussite reform movement in early 15th century Bohemia explains the process of Hussite radicalization, which led to their overthrow of secular and religious structures in the so-called "first European revolution". It does this by discovering the political relevance of diverse heterodox leaders and the discourses they adapted into mobilizing calls to conflict. As such, the work represents a reimagining of the Hussite revolution which emphasizes the symbolic worldview of its agents. This includes an appreciation of the Hussite debt to unexpected traditions of thought, and of the movement's participation in innovative visions of theo-political order.

Martin Pjecha, Ph.D. (2022), Central European University, is a researcher and project-member at the Centre for Medieval Studies (Prague). He has published on Hussites radicalism, apocalypticism, and heterodox thought, including the co-edited Radical Religious Communities around the Close of the Middle Ages (Brill, forthcoming).