Skip to content

Hussites and Unity of the Brethren

Year
1415
Kind
Precursor

What it was

After Jan Hus was executed at Constance (1415), Bohemia saw a reform movement that demanded, among other things, communion in both kinds for the laity. Its more radical wing produced the Unity of the Brethren (Unitas Fratrum) in 1457, forerunner of the Moravian Church.

Little known

The chalice became the emblem of the Utraquist Hussites, and the Council of Basel actually granted them communion in both kinds in 1436, almost a century before Luther.

Key figures

  • John Wycliffec. 1328–1384
  • Jan Husc. 1370–1415
  • Petr Chelčickýc. 1390–c. 1460

Key documents

  • Four Articles of Prague1420
  • Compacts of Basel1436