The Latin Works of Jan Hus

The Latin works of Jan Hus have not yet been made accessible to researchers or wider audiences in the form of critical editions. Some works remain only in the form of manuscripts, while others were published uncritically, mostly in a 16th century print. These texts are important for researchers in the fields of Czech and world history, cultural history, language, literary history, and literary theory, but also for those who deal with the history of thought (philosophy and theology), the history of law, and the history of visual and musical arts.

The book series Magistri Iohannis Hus Opera omnia

The popularization of the Latin works of Jan Hus is, within the international scientific community, highly valued. International interest in the works of Hus is evident from the inclusion of the book series Magistri Iohannis Hus Opera omnia, in which the critical edition of Hus’s works are prepared, in the publishing plan of Brepols Publishers, which is the most prestigious academic platform for ancient, medieval, and early modern works in the humanities. Reviewers received the previous volumes of Hus’s texts very positively. Interest in the works of Jan Hus began to grow in 2015 in connection with the occasion of the 600-year anniversary of his death by burning at the stake. In addition to a number of Czech and foreign conferences, the editorial outputs were also presented at major international academic fora (e.g. within the roundtable discussion at the International Medieval Congressin Leeds, UK). All of the European universities that are continuously occupied with Latin medieval philology,and with which the research team from the Faculty of Arts MU collaborates (Vienna, Erlangen, Heidelberg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Oxford, and others), have shown interest in the works of Hus.

A prestigious project in Latin Medieval Studies

Research into Hus’s literary activity primarily affects the Czech environment, therefore, individual grants to support the critical edition of his texts have been aimed mainly here. A primary professional body for publishing the works of Hus, the Board for Publishing the Works of M. Jan Hus, has, among its members, several of the staff from the Faculty of Arts MU, including the Board Chairperson. Research into the works of Hus is part of several notable projects in Latin Medieval Studies, including Origins of the Vernacular Mode, Regional Identities and European Network in Late Medieval Europe, an ERC project at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Cultural Codes and Their Transformations in the Hussite Period, through the Centre of Excellence at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

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