Relations between Lollards and Hussites have been studied from diverse angles. However, the author of this study addresses an issue that has so far been largely neglected: the way in which ideas and texts were transmitted from one group to another in the context of international politics during the Great Schism. The author shows that, contrary to the accepted view, heterodox relations between England and Bohemia were by no means the only ones. Relations existed between the orthodox as well, and an alliance emerged aiming at resolving the schism. Van Dussen covers developments from the accession of Queen Anne of Bohemia (1381) to the Council of Constance, showing that heretical exchange became dominant not during her reign, but only a short time before the council (1414–18). ‘In addition to heterodox correspondence there was an exchange of secular literature, mainstream devotional tourism, and other forms of material exchange’ (p. 16). The Lollards themselves did not only transmit Wycliffite texts. Chapter ii deals with the acceptance in Bohemia of the orthodox writings of the English hermit Richard Rolle via Rome. Chapter iii deals with the popular appeal of Wycliff in Bohemia through an examination of the relevant communications and the works of the various couriers. Chapter iv analyses the intersection of the prosecution of Wycliffism with international reformist trends. Chapter v deals with the period between the Council of Constance and the Henrician Reformation (1530). It took both the Church and the secular authorities some time to put an end to Wycliffite propaganda. Finally they prevailed. However, there existed a ‘Lollard-Hussite fellowship, one whose participants saw themselves as mutually supportive of each other, if only for a short time’. This book is a contribution to the study of contacts between two heretical groups, no less than to the history of manuscript culture.
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