Basel Compacts

(1436) A new council was convened in the city of Constance to address the papal schism, among other issues. Once the Council of Constance had assembled, they requested that Jan Hus attend to present his views regarding the papal schism and dissension within the Church. At first, he refused to attend, but he later consented when he was promised safe passage. When he arrived, he was unjustly arrested and ordered to recant his views. On multiple occasions, he said that he would only recant if the council could convince him of his error with scripture. Shortly before his execution, he fell to his knees and softly prayed that God would forgive his executioners. He was burned at the stake for heresyComes from a Greek term meaning “sect,” and was used by the early Church theologians to identify doctrines that they rejected as not orthodox. The term does not refer to unbelief but ideas held by some baptized Christian that was... more on July 6, 1415, and his ashes were dumped into the river to avoid the possibility of his followers venerating his remains.

The leaders and populace of Bohemia were outraged by Hus’s death and rejected every attempt to install a Catholic ruler, even after popes issued a total of four crusadeswere a series of wars instigated or approved of by the pope in the Middle Ages principally directed against the Muslim empire that controlled the Holy Land. more against them. After repeatedly being defeated by Hus’s followers, the Catholic Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more finally agreed to end the Hussite wars in 1436 with the Basel Compacts, which allowed Bohemia to continue to practice their Hussite version of Christianity.

( See also Council of Basel )