WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.080 Imagine the heat. It's July 6, 1415. We're in 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.240 the city of Konstanz, Germany, right on the edge 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:08.539 of the Swiss border. And the summer air is, you 00:00:08.539 --> 00:00:10.519 know, it's heavy, but the atmosphere in the city 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:13.339 square is something else. It's suffocating. It 00:00:13.339 --> 00:00:15.859 really is. You've got this massive crowd gathered, 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.800 thousands of people. We're talking princes, cardinals, 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.800 commoners, everyone. And right in the middle 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:25.640 of it all, this piece of grim theater, a man 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.679 is being chained to a wooden stake. And they 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:30.440 haven't just tied him up, have they? The descriptions 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:33.420 are brutal. Oh, they're horrifying. They've piled 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:36.539 straw and wood, all of it mixed with pitch, right 00:00:36.539 --> 00:00:38.579 up to his chin. It's like they're burying him 00:00:38.579 --> 00:00:40.619 in his own pyre before they even light it. He's 00:00:40.619 --> 00:00:42.479 been stripped of his clothes, stripped of his 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:44.200 priesthood, and then there's the final insult. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.240 The hat. The hat. It's this tall, ridiculous 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:49.979 paper hat, almost two feet high. And they've 00:00:49.979 --> 00:00:52.100 painted three devils on it, sort of dancing around. 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:55.030 It's pure humiliation. It's such a visceral image 00:00:55.030 --> 00:00:56.950 to start with, but I think we really have to 00:00:56.950 --> 00:00:58.689 begin at the end to understand why we're even 00:00:58.689 --> 00:01:01.390 talking about this man today. The man at the 00:01:01.390 --> 00:01:04.750 stake, his name is Janhos. He's a Czech theologian, 00:01:04.750 --> 00:01:09.040 a philosopher, a... A celebrity preacher, really. 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:11.439 Yeah, a rock star in Prague. And he spent the 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:14.200 last several months chained in a dungeon, starving, 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:17.819 sick. And yet in this final moment when the imperial 00:01:17.819 --> 00:01:20.019 marshal rides up and gives him one last out. 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:22.700 The final chance. Just recant. Just say the words, 00:01:22.739 --> 00:01:25.000 admit you were wrong, and you get to live. And 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.219 Host just looks at him and refuses. That refusal 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:30.340 is, I mean, it's one of the great pivot points 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:33.239 of the late Middle Ages. He says, God is my witness 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:36.260 that the things charged against me I never preached 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:38.480 in the truth of the gospel, which I have written, 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:41.319 taught and preached. I am ready to die today. 00:01:41.540 --> 00:01:43.599 And that refusal is exactly what we're here to 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:45.959 unpack today. Jan Host is often called a proto 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:48.099 -Protestant, you know, living a full century 00:01:48.099 --> 00:01:50.400 before Martin Luther. But before we get into 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:52.379 all the heavy theology and the politics, there's 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:54.939 this little linguistic quirk that I just. I find 00:01:54.939 --> 00:01:57.319 fascinating. It adds this layer of destiny to 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:00.060 the whole story. The name itself. The name. In 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:03.340 Czech, Hus literally means goose. That's right. 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:05.659 And he loved it. He leaned right into it. He's 00:02:05.659 --> 00:02:07.859 from a village called Husinek, which is basically 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:10.840 goose town. And he used the pun all the time 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:13.139 in his letters. He'd write to his friends, the 00:02:13.139 --> 00:02:15.180 goose is not yet cooked or the goose is flying 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:18.009 the coop. It's incredible. But the legend really 00:02:18.009 --> 00:02:20.569 takes off right there at the stake. There's this 00:02:20.569 --> 00:02:22.909 story, and we should be clear, it was probably 00:02:22.909 --> 00:02:26.129 polished a bit by later historians, maybe even 00:02:26.129 --> 00:02:28.810 by Luther himself. But the story goes that as 00:02:28.810 --> 00:02:32.069 the flames were being lit, Hus made a prophecy. 00:02:32.449 --> 00:02:34.370 This is a famous one, the Swan Prophecy. This 00:02:34.370 --> 00:02:37.110 is where history gets that cinematic flair, you 00:02:37.110 --> 00:02:39.969 know. Exactly. He supposedly said, you may roast 00:02:39.969 --> 00:02:43.210 a weak goose today, but a swan will come after 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:45.460 me whom you will not be able to burn. And then 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:48.000 100 years later, Martin Luther shows up in Germany. 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.460 He's got his hammer, his list of grievances, 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:52.780 a very loud voice, and his followers just go. 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:56.060 Uh -huh. There's the swan. There it is. And that's 00:02:56.060 --> 00:02:58.560 why, you know, if you walk into a Lutheran church 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.800 today, anywhere from Minnesota to Berlin, and 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:03.840 you look at the lectern or the stained glass, 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.180 you will very often see a swan. It's a direct 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:09.680 callback to the goose of Prague. So whether he 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:11.659 said those exact words or not, the sentiment 00:03:11.659 --> 00:03:14.099 is, I mean, it's historically undeniable, right? 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:16.939 The church in 1415, they thought they were solving 00:03:16.939 --> 00:03:18.879 a problem. They thought they were scrubbing a 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.639 stain out of the fabric of Christendom by burning 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:24.280 this man. They did. Instead, they lit a fuse. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.400 A fuse that would, in many ways, blow the roof 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:29.419 right off the Middle Ages. So that's our mission 00:03:29.419 --> 00:03:31.680 today. We're going to do a proper deep dive on 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:33.919 that explosion. We're looking at the letters, 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:36.259 the trial transcripts, the contemporary chronicles 00:03:36.259 --> 00:03:39.639 to really get who Jan Hus was. And what I found 00:03:39.639 --> 00:03:41.620 so fascinating reading the source materials, 00:03:41.699 --> 00:03:44.060 that this isn't just some dusty church story. 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.699 It feels incredibly modern. It really does. It's 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:50.180 not just about, you know, transubstantiation 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:52.879 or some obscure point of theology. It's a story 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:55.800 about national identity. The Czechs versus the 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:58.340 Germans. A huge part of it. It's also about freedom 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:01.159 of speech and, you know, cancel culture in its 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:03.699 most lethal medieval form. It's about institutional 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:07.120 corruption. And at its core, it's a case study 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.639 on the price of integrity. Yeah. It asks that 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:12.159 terrifying question. What is your conscience 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.300 actually worth? Is it worth your career? Is it 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:17.000 worth your reputation? Is it worth your life? 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:20.079 And unlike most of us who might face that question 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:23.399 in small ways, Huss faced it in the most absolute 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.160 way possible. He did. Okay, so let's set the 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:29.939 board. To understand why burning a popular priest 00:04:29.939 --> 00:04:32.680 was seen as the solution, we have to get the 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:35.540 problem. And the problem in the year 1400 wasn't 00:04:35.540 --> 00:04:37.139 just that the church was corrupt. It was that 00:04:37.139 --> 00:04:39.860 the church was barely functioning. We are talking 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:42.279 about the papal schism. The Western schism. Yeah. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:44.800 If you think modern politics is polarized, do 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:46.579 you think having a divided government is bad? 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.459 It has absolutely nothing on the Catholic Church 00:04:49.459 --> 00:04:52.579 in the late 14th century. For nearly 40 years, 00:04:52.740 --> 00:04:54.540 you had a situation where the church had two 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:56.610 heads. Which, just biologically speaking, Speaking 00:04:56.610 --> 00:05:00.050 is a monster. Exactly. And theologically, it 00:05:00.050 --> 00:05:02.810 was a complete nightmare. You had a pope in Rome. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.300 Gregory XII, claiming to be the vicar of Christ, 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.420 the sole representative of God on earth, holding 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:11.620 the keys to heaven and hell. And at the exact 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:14.259 same time? At the exact same time, you had a 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:17.779 pope in Avignon, France, Benedict XIII, claiming 00:05:17.779 --> 00:05:20.139 the exact same thing. And this wasn't just a 00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:22.220 policy disagreement. It wasn't like one was a 00:05:22.220 --> 00:05:24.379 moderate and one was a progressive. No, no. This 00:05:24.379 --> 00:05:27.279 was total war. They excommunicated each other. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.959 They called each other the Antichrist. They literally 00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:32.819 organized crusades against one another's father. 00:05:32.810 --> 00:05:35.430 followers. You have to imagine the spiritual 00:05:35.430 --> 00:05:39.149 anxiety this caused for the average person. I 00:05:39.149 --> 00:05:41.029 want to pause on that for a second, because for 00:05:41.029 --> 00:05:43.329 us, looking back, it's just, you know, dates 00:05:43.329 --> 00:05:46.069 in a history book. But for a peasant or a merchant 00:05:46.069 --> 00:05:48.790 in 1400, it must have been psychologically devastating. 00:05:49.230 --> 00:05:51.709 You believe that the pope holds the keys to the 00:05:51.709 --> 00:05:53.709 kingdom. If you're not in communion with the 00:05:53.709 --> 00:05:55.750 true pope, you're going to hell. But there are 00:05:55.750 --> 00:05:58.629 two of them. How do you possibly choose? That's 00:05:58.629 --> 00:06:01.550 the thing. You don't. Your king chooses for you. 00:06:02.649 --> 00:06:04.970 Europe was basically carved up along political 00:06:04.970 --> 00:06:07.350 lines. If you were French, you followed the Avignon 00:06:07.350 --> 00:06:10.209 Pope. If you were English or German or in Bohemia, 00:06:10.310 --> 00:06:13.629 you generally followed the Roman Pope. So salvation 00:06:13.629 --> 00:06:15.949 becomes a matter of geography. It completely 00:06:15.949 --> 00:06:19.100 delegitimized the institution. If the vessel 00:06:19.100 --> 00:06:22.360 of absolute truth is at war with itself, is it 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:24.779 still the vessel of truth? And all of that corruption 00:06:24.779 --> 00:06:27.220 was, well, it was trickling down. The sources 00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:29.759 are constantly mentioning simony in this period. 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:31.980 Can we just define that? Because it sounds like 00:06:31.980 --> 00:06:34.019 a character from a nursery rhyme, but it's actually... 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:36.860 Pretty serious. Simony is the buying and selling 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:39.819 of church offices. It's named after Simon Magus 00:06:39.819 --> 00:06:42.500 from the New Testament, who tried to buy the 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:44.300 power of the Holy Spirit from the apostles. Right. 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:47.019 By the 1400s, it was systemic. It was just how 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:49.379 things were done. Imagine you wanted to be the 00:06:49.379 --> 00:06:52.019 bishop of Prague. You wouldn't get the job because 00:06:52.019 --> 00:06:54.000 you were the holiest man in Bohemia. You would 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:56.899 get it because you paid the pope a massive bribe. 00:06:56.899 --> 00:06:58.680 And where would you get that money? You'd probably 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:01.560 borrow it from wealthy banking families. And 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:03.980 once you have the job, you have to pay back that 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:06.459 loan. So you have to start making money. Exactly. 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:09.000 So how do you make money as a bishop? You charge 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.459 your priests for their parishes. And how do the 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:13.600 priests pay you? They charge the peasants for 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.300 baptisms, for confessions, for last rites, for 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:19.720 burials. It was a pyramid scheme of spiritual 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:23.209 extortion. Everyone was squeezing the person 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:25.889 below them to pay off the person above them. 00:07:25.990 --> 00:07:27.850 It's just rotten from top to bottom. So everyone 00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:30.209 knows this is broken. The average person knows 00:07:30.209 --> 00:07:32.189 it. The kings know it. Even a lot of the clergy 00:07:32.189 --> 00:07:35.250 knows it. And the powers that be, they decide 00:07:35.250 --> 00:07:38.230 to fix it. This is where it gets. Well, it's 00:07:38.230 --> 00:07:41.209 almost comical in a very dark way. Yes. They 00:07:41.209 --> 00:07:43.709 call it council. The Council of Pisa in 1409. 00:07:44.470 --> 00:07:46.550 The logic seems sound right. Let's just fire 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:48.509 both popes and hire a new one. A clean slate. 00:07:48.750 --> 00:07:52.079 Simple. Sound logic, but terrible execution. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.060 The cardinals from both sides met up. They declared 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:58.680 both existing popes to be heretics and schismatics. 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:01.480 And they elected a new guy, Alexander V. They 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:03.439 thought, great, problem solved. And everyone 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:07.199 goes home happy. If only. The other two popes, 00:08:07.220 --> 00:08:11.040 Gregory in Rome and Benedict in Avignon, they 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.399 just refused to resign. They said, you can't 00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:15.439 fire me. I'm God's chosen. You're the heretics. 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:19.399 So the result of this grand plan. To fix the 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:22.560 two pope problem. Was three popes. Was that Christendom 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:24.779 now had three popes. It's a hydra. You cut off 00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:27.199 two heads and a third one just sprouts up. Exactly. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:30.680 And this is the chaotic, cynical, broken world 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.779 that Jan Hus is living in. He's in Prague. He's 00:08:33.779 --> 00:08:35.840 watching the moral authority of the entire world 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.179 just crumble. And he isn't the only one noticing 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:41.259 this. Which brings us to the intellectual godfather 00:08:41.259 --> 00:08:43.340 of this whole story. We have to talk about the 00:08:43.340 --> 00:08:45.379 English connection. John Wycliffe. We've touched 00:08:45.379 --> 00:08:47.340 on him before in other deep dives, but he is 00:08:47.340 --> 00:08:50.299 absolutely central here. He's the seed. John 00:08:50.299 --> 00:08:52.259 Wycliffe was a theologian at Oxford University 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:55.379 a generation before Huss. And Wycliffe was, I 00:08:55.379 --> 00:08:57.779 mean, he was the flamethrower of his day. He 00:08:57.779 --> 00:08:59.720 looked at the church in the late 1300s and just 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:01.820 said, this is all wrong. He attacked the wealth 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:03.740 of the clergy. He attacked the authority of the 00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:05.779 Pope, saying a bad Pope has no authority at all. 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:08.539 He even questioned the Eucharist. He was radical. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:11.620 Now, usually ideas in the Middle Ages travel 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:14.740 pretty slowly. England is a long way from Bohemia. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:16.659 There's no Twitter. There's no printing press 00:09:16.659 --> 00:09:19.460 yet. But you found this really fascinating connection 00:09:19.460 --> 00:09:23.139 that acted as a sort of information superhighway. 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:26.320 The internet of the 14th century. It was a royal 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:29.659 wedding. In 1382, King Richard II of England 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:32.500 married Anna Bohemia. She was the sister of the 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:34.990 Czech king. And suddenly you have this massive 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:37.330 cultural exchange between London and Prague. 00:09:37.570 --> 00:09:40.429 Okay, so that opens a door. A huge door. Czech 00:09:40.429 --> 00:09:42.250 students started going to Oxford on scholarships. 00:09:42.509 --> 00:09:44.590 They'd go there, they'd study, and they would 00:09:44.590 --> 00:09:46.509 pick up Wycliffe's books. Which were probably 00:09:46.509 --> 00:09:48.610 buzzing with controversy at Oxford at the time. 00:09:48.690 --> 00:09:50.309 Oh, absolutely. These were the banned books, 00:09:50.450 --> 00:09:52.049 the edgy books that everyone wanted to read. 00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:54.330 And these Czech students, they carried them back 00:09:54.330 --> 00:09:56.470 to Prague in their luggage. We even have records 00:09:56.470 --> 00:09:59.610 from 1406 of two students bringing a document 00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:01.809 with the seal of Oxford University to Prague. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.879 explicitly praising Wycliffe's work. So Jan Hus 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:08.240 is a young scholar in Prague. He's rising through 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.960 the ranks, and he gets his hands on this imported 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:14.059 literature. Specifically, a book called The Triologus. 00:10:14.299 --> 00:10:17.820 And Hus is just captivated. Now, we do have to 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:20.740 be a little nuanced here. Hus didn't agree with 00:10:20.740 --> 00:10:23.250 everything Wycliffe wrote. Wycliffe was very 00:10:23.250 --> 00:10:26.169 radical on the Eucharist, for example. He basically 00:10:26.169 --> 00:10:28.649 denied transubstantiation. The idea that the 00:10:28.649 --> 00:10:30.730 bread and wine literally become the body and 00:10:30.730 --> 00:10:32.870 blood of Christ. Right. Hus was more conservative 00:10:32.870 --> 00:10:34.909 there. He stayed pretty orthodox on that point. 00:10:34.990 --> 00:10:39.029 But on the corruption, on the idea that the Bible 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:42.049 is superior to the pope, on the idea that the 00:10:42.049 --> 00:10:44.889 true church is the community of believers, not 00:10:44.889 --> 00:10:47.429 just the clerical hierarchy. He was all in. All 00:10:47.429 --> 00:10:50.250 in. He starts translating Wycliffe's works into 00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:53.080 Czech. He's basically distributing the underground 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:55.220 literature of the Middle Ages. He's taking these 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:58.000 high -level academic Latin critiques and making 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:59.960 them available to everyone. And he's doing this 00:10:59.960 --> 00:11:01.919 from a very powerful platform. This is where 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.799 we need to look at who Hus actually was. I mean, 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:05.659 he wasn't some grumpy hermit living in a cave, 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:08.200 right? Not at all. By 1402, he's the rector of 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:10.620 the University of Prague. But even more importantly, 00:11:10.820 --> 00:11:13.019 he was the appointed preacher at a place called 00:11:13.019 --> 00:11:16.220 the Bethlehem Chapel. The Bethlehem Chapel. This 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:19.360 place comes up in every single source as a critical 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:21.950 location. What made it so special? It wasn't 00:11:21.950 --> 00:11:24.029 a cathedral, was it? No, not at all. It was more 00:11:24.029 --> 00:11:26.649 of a preaching hall. But it was massive. It could 00:11:26.649 --> 00:11:28.789 hold 3 ,000 people. I mean, that is a megachurch 00:11:28.789 --> 00:11:31.370 by medieval standards. But the key thing, the 00:11:31.370 --> 00:11:34.129 revolutionary thing, was its charter. It was 00:11:34.129 --> 00:11:36.769 founded specifically for preaching in the vernacular. 00:11:36.970 --> 00:11:40.649 In Czech. In Czech. And that is the game changer. 00:11:40.909 --> 00:11:43.629 In a normal church, the liturgy is in Latin. 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:46.470 The Bible reading is in Latin. The mystery of 00:11:46.470 --> 00:11:49.049 faith is literally hidden behind a language barrier. 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:51.879 The common people, they watch the show, they 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.059 smell the incense, they see the gold vestments, 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:55.899 but they don't really know the script. It's a 00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:58.899 passive experience. Very. But at the Bethlehem 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:01.399 Chapel, his is taking these high -level academic 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.100 debates about corruption, about the three popes, 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:06.500 about simony, and he's explaining them to the 00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:08.440 shopkeepers and the blacksmiths and the farmers 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:11.320 in their own language, their own slang. It's 00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:13.360 that feeling when you finally have a complex 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.259 topic explained simply. It's empowering. It makes 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:18.500 you feel smart. It makes you feel involved. He's 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:20.820 democratizing theology. He's telling them, your 00:12:20.820 --> 00:12:23.100 priests are lying to you. They're stealing from 00:12:23.100 --> 00:12:25.159 you. And the Bible, which I'm now reading to 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:27.399 you in your own language, says they are wrong. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:30.299 He's weaponizing the vernacular. And because 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:32.860 of that, he becomes a folk hero almost overnight. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.500 But this popularity, it starts to get tangled 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:37.860 up with something else. We can't ignore the nationalism 00:12:37.860 --> 00:12:40.139 aspect here. The sources just keep bringing up 00:12:40.139 --> 00:12:43.500 Czech versus German. Yes. You absolutely cannot 00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:45.919 understand the Hus story without understanding 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:48.720 the ethnic tension in Prague at the time. Prague 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:52.000 was this big cosmopolitan city. It was the capital 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:54.320 of the Holy Roman Empire for a while. But the 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:56.960 native Czech population often felt like second 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.220 -class citizens in their own home. In what way? 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:02.669 Well, the upper clergy. Mostly German. The wealthy 00:13:02.669 --> 00:13:04.610 merchants who owned the big townhouses on the 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:08.090 square, mostly German. The city council, dominated 00:13:08.090 --> 00:13:12.090 by Germans. The Czechs felt squeezed, both economically 00:13:12.090 --> 00:13:14.610 and culturally. And this tension played out very 00:13:14.610 --> 00:13:16.970 aggressively at the university. The Kutna Hora 00:13:16.970 --> 00:13:19.850 decree. This sounds like campus politics gone 00:13:19.850 --> 00:13:23.049 completely off the rails, but with, like, geopolitical 00:13:23.049 --> 00:13:26.240 stakes. That is exactly what it is. The University 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.440 of Prague was modeled on Paris, so it was divided 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.299 into four nations for voting purposes. The Czech 00:13:31.299 --> 00:13:34.179 nation, the Bavarian nation, the Saxon nation, 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:37.440 and the Polish nation. And I'm guessing the Bavarian, 00:13:37.460 --> 00:13:40.220 Saxon, and Polish nations tended to vote together. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:42.440 They were the German bloc. Yeah. Even the Polish 00:13:42.440 --> 00:13:46.320 nation at the university was, at the time, mostly 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.960 staffed by German -speaking Salatians. So on 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:53.080 any issue... Hiring a professor, university policy, 00:13:53.419 --> 00:13:56.259 theological debates. The Germans had three votes 00:13:56.259 --> 00:13:58.840 and the Czechs had one. So the Czechs were permanently 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:01.659 outvoted in their own university. Always. It 00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:03.460 was incredibly frustrating for Czech scholars 00:14:03.460 --> 00:14:05.940 like Hus. It meant that university always leaned 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:07.639 toward the German and Roman perspective. But 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:09.960 then the people's schism breaks everything open. 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:12.519 How so? King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia, who was 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:14.840 a character in his own right, often drunk, very 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:17.440 volatile. Not the most stable guy. He wants the 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:19.419 university to support the Pisa Pope, Alexander 00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:22.059 V. It helps his own political alliances in Europe. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.639 So the king says, university, you need to vote 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:27.179 for Alexander. And the German nations at the 00:14:27.179 --> 00:14:30.700 university say, no, they refuse. They want to 00:14:30.700 --> 00:14:33.460 stick with the Roman Pope, Gregory XII. They 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:36.080 openly defy the king. So Hus and the Czechs see 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.639 an opportunity. A huge one. They go to the king 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.159 and say, we'll support you, your majesty. We 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:44.480 will back your pope. And the king rewards their 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:48.120 loyalty. He flips the entire table. In 1409, 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:51.460 at a place called Kutna Hora, he issues a decree 00:14:51.460 --> 00:14:55.039 that changes the university's constitution. Overnight, 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:57.620 the Czech nation gets three votes and the three 00:14:57.620 --> 00:15:01.190 foreign nations combined get only one. Wow. Talk 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:02.970 about a power shift. It's a complete reversal. 00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:06.190 It was a total humiliation for the Germans. And 00:15:06.190 --> 00:15:07.730 they didn't just grumble about it. They walked 00:15:07.730 --> 00:15:10.029 out. It was a mass exodus. The estimates vary, 00:15:10.190 --> 00:15:12.490 but we're talking somewhere between 800 and 2 00:15:12.490 --> 00:15:14.929 ,000 German masters and students just packed 00:15:14.929 --> 00:15:17.549 up and left Prague. Where did they go? Many of 00:15:17.549 --> 00:15:19.190 them went on to found the University of Leipzig 00:15:19.190 --> 00:15:21.570 in Germany. But the bigger problem for Huss is 00:15:21.570 --> 00:15:23.669 that they left angry. Yeah. They went out into 00:15:23.669 --> 00:15:25.549 the rest of Europe, to Vienna, to Heidelberg, 00:15:25.649 --> 00:15:27.809 to Cologne, and they were spreading a narrative. 00:15:27.929 --> 00:15:29.990 Is that narrative? Prague is a nest of heretics. 00:15:30.190 --> 00:15:32.629 They hate the church. They follow that crazy 00:15:32.629 --> 00:15:34.909 Englishman Wycliffe. They're dangerous rebels. 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:38.460 So Hus wins the battle for Prague. He becomes 00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:40.559 the first Czech rector under the new system. 00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:43.759 But he loses the public relations war in Europe. 00:15:43.980 --> 00:15:46.500 Completely. He basically painted a giant target 00:15:46.500 --> 00:15:48.580 on his own back. Yeah. To the rest of the world, 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:51.759 he was now the ringleader of this rebellious, 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:54.460 heretical city. He was isolated. Okay, so we 00:15:54.460 --> 00:15:56.600 have the schism, we have the nationalism, the 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.279 vernacular preaching. But the spark that really 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.759 lights the fire, the thing that moves this whole 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.980 thing from an academic dispute to a death sentence 00:16:03.980 --> 00:16:06.980 is... His indulgences. We usually associate this 00:16:06.980 --> 00:16:10.399 with Luther and the 95 BCs, but Hus was there 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:12.460 a century earlier. It's almost the exact same 00:16:12.460 --> 00:16:14.899 story. History rhyming perfectly. It's 1411. 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:17.200 We have a new piece of Pope, John XXIII. And 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.679 we should be very clear, this is not the beloved 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.940 modern Pope, John XXIII, who called Vatican II. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:25.399 This guy was a piece of work. He was a gangster 00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:28.580 in robes. Before he was Pope, Baldassare Cosa 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:31.620 was a military man, possibly a pirate in his 00:16:31.620 --> 00:16:34.940 youth. I mean, a total warlord. And in 1411, 00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:37.940 he wants to wage a war against the king of Naples, 00:16:38.100 --> 00:16:39.879 who's protecting one of his rival popes. And 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:43.080 wars are expensive. Very. Mercenaries need to 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.500 be paid. So to fund it, he issues a massive sale 00:16:46.500 --> 00:16:49.340 of indulgences across Europe. For the listener 00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:51.259 who might be a little rusty on medieval theology, 00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:54.039 an indulgence is basically a certificate that 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:56.820 reduces your time in purgatory after you die. 00:16:57.019 --> 00:16:59.039 Correct. The idea is that the church controls 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:01.860 this treasury of merit, the surplus goodness 00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:04.480 of Christ and the saints. You pay money to the 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.710 church. And the pope draws on that treasury to 00:17:06.710 --> 00:17:09.329 pay off your debt of sin. But in this case, it 00:17:09.329 --> 00:17:11.970 was explicitly for war. The sales pitch was basically, 00:17:12.170 --> 00:17:14.210 give me money so I can hire soldiers to kill 00:17:14.210 --> 00:17:15.930 my enemies and I'll get you into heaven faster. 00:17:16.130 --> 00:17:18.490 It's so transactional. You're funding bloodshed 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:21.269 with spiritual promises. And Hus looked at this 00:17:21.269 --> 00:17:23.569 and was just appalled. He couldn't reconcile 00:17:23.569 --> 00:17:26.009 with the Bible at all. He stands up in the Bethlehem 00:17:26.009 --> 00:17:28.490 Chapel and he thunders against it. He says, the 00:17:28.490 --> 00:17:31.250 pope cannot buy forgiveness. Only God forgives. 00:17:31.569 --> 00:17:34.029 He argued that no pope has the right to take 00:17:34.029 --> 00:17:36.619 up the sword. He said, man obtains forgiveness 00:17:36.619 --> 00:17:40.319 of sins by true repentance, not by money. That's 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.680 a direct challenge to the Pope's wallet and his 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:45.619 power. And the city just exploded. You have to 00:17:45.619 --> 00:17:48.119 remember, the Czechs were already fired up. They 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:50.619 saw this foreign Pope trying to fleece them to 00:17:50.619 --> 00:17:52.299 fight a war in Italy they couldn't care less 00:17:52.299 --> 00:17:55.480 about. There were protests and then tragedy. 00:17:55.940 --> 00:17:58.920 The three students? Yes, three young men. Their 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:02.819 names were Martin, Jan, and Steikak. They interrupted 00:18:02.819 --> 00:18:05.119 a priest who was selling indulgences in a church. 00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:06.759 They called it a lie. They shouted, the Pope 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:08.960 is lying to us. And they were arrested by the 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:10.819 city authorities. And who's pleaded for them? 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.319 He did. He begged for leniency. But the authorities, 00:18:14.539 --> 00:18:16.400 probably under pressure from the German faction 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.640 on the council, had them beheaded in the street. 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:22.109 The first martyrs. The first blood. And the reaction 00:18:22.109 --> 00:18:24.109 from the Hussite movement was so telling. They 00:18:24.109 --> 00:18:25.990 didn't back down. Huss didn't say, OK, guys, 00:18:26.029 --> 00:18:28.150 let's cool it. They took the bodies of those 00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:30.930 three boys, carried them in a solemn procession, 00:18:30.930 --> 00:18:33.650 and buried them in the Beslehem Chapel with reverence 00:18:33.650 --> 00:18:35.829 as if they were saints. This was the point of 00:18:35.829 --> 00:18:38.210 no return. The church realized we can't just 00:18:38.210 --> 00:18:40.569 debate this guy. We have to crush him. So the 00:18:40.569 --> 00:18:43.890 pope strikes back, excommunicates. Aggravated 00:18:43.890 --> 00:18:46.650 excommunication, yes. But they went even further. 00:18:46.789 --> 00:18:49.509 They placed the entire city of Prague under an 00:18:49.509 --> 00:18:51.859 interdict. Can you explain what an interdict 00:18:51.859 --> 00:18:54.400 actually felt like for a city? Because it sounds 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:57.259 like this sort of dry legal term, but it was 00:18:57.259 --> 00:18:59.660 much more visceral than that. Oh, it was the 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:02.720 ultimate collective punishment, a spiritual blockade. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.359 It means that as long as Jan Hus is present in 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:07.680 the city of Prague, the church goes on strike, 00:19:07.859 --> 00:19:10.839 no masses can be said, no babies can be baptized, 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:14.880 no couples can be married, and most terrifyingly 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.160 of all, no Christian burials. So if your mother 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.579 dies while the interdict is in effect? She's 00:19:20.579 --> 00:19:23.660 thrown in a ditch in unconsecrated ground. For 00:19:23.660 --> 00:19:26.119 a medieval person, that means her soul is in 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:28.779 mortal peril. It puts the spiritual safety of 00:19:28.779 --> 00:19:31.539 every single citizen at risk. It's designed to 00:19:31.539 --> 00:19:33.339 turn the population against the troublemaker. 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:35.599 The neighbors start looking at Hus and saying, 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:38.500 get out. You are hurting us. It's weaponizing 00:19:38.500 --> 00:19:40.799 the people against him. Get rid of Hus or your 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:43.680 grandmother goes to hell. Exactly. And Hus, to 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.180 his credit, he didn't want the city to suffer. 00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:49.789 He realized his presence was the problem. So 00:19:49.789 --> 00:19:52.289 he leaves Prague. He goes into a self -imposed 00:19:52.289 --> 00:19:54.849 exile in the countryside, staying at the castles 00:19:54.849 --> 00:19:56.950 of sympathetic nobles who protect him. But he 00:19:56.950 --> 00:19:58.549 doesn't stay quiet out there in the countryside. 00:19:58.869 --> 00:20:01.710 Not at all. In fact, this exile period is incredibly 00:20:01.710 --> 00:20:04.369 productive for him. He realizes that while the 00:20:04.369 --> 00:20:06.509 university scholars can read his dense Latin 00:20:06.509 --> 00:20:10.130 treatises, the common people need guidance. So 00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:12.730 he starts writing furiously in Czech. This is 00:20:12.730 --> 00:20:15.150 when he writes his most famous work. the ecclesia 00:20:15.150 --> 00:20:17.670 the church and in the ecclesia he makes a claim 00:20:17.670 --> 00:20:20.529 that just it really undermines the whole catholic 00:20:20.529 --> 00:20:23.089 structure he redefines what the church actually 00:20:23.089 --> 00:20:25.930 is right he argues that the pope is only the 00:20:25.930 --> 00:20:27.670 head of the church if he lives according to the 00:20:27.670 --> 00:20:31.769 bible if he doesn't he's just another man hust 00:20:31.769 --> 00:20:35.559 defines the true church as the body of the predestined, 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.940 the invisible community of true believers, regardless 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:41.660 of their rank or status. So it's not the institution. 00:20:42.019 --> 00:20:44.000 It's not the institution. The institution is 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.819 not the same as the spiritual reality. You can 00:20:46.819 --> 00:20:48.700 be a bishop and not be part of the true church 00:20:48.700 --> 00:20:51.180 if you're wicked. You can be a peasant and be 00:20:51.180 --> 00:20:53.759 a key member of the true church. It's radical 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.119 stuff. And during this time, he does something 00:20:56.119 --> 00:20:58.940 seemingly small, but with this huge impact on 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:01.259 the Czech language itself, he literally changes 00:21:01.259 --> 00:21:03.599 the alphabet. He does. He was a teacher at heart. 00:21:03.700 --> 00:21:06.279 He looked at Czech spelling, which was a mess, 00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:08.559 and he wanted to make it easier for people to 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.880 read and write. So he introduced the hot check, 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.099 that little hook or checkmark you see above letters 00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:16.420 like shish and shis in Czech today. What did 00:21:16.420 --> 00:21:18.869 that do? It standardized the spelling. It replaced 00:21:18.869 --> 00:21:20.829 the need to write multiple letters to make a 00:21:20.829 --> 00:21:23.609 single sound. It's a legacy that every single 00:21:23.609 --> 00:21:26.130 Czech speaker uses every single day 600 years 00:21:26.130 --> 00:21:28.509 later. That's wild. It's like if Shakespeare 00:21:28.509 --> 00:21:31.009 had also invented a few new letters for the alphabet 00:21:31.009 --> 00:21:33.430 while writing Hamlet. It shows his commitment 00:21:33.430 --> 00:21:36.069 to the people. He wanted the Bible and religious 00:21:36.069 --> 00:21:38.990 texts to be accessible. He wanted literacy to 00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:41.109 spread. But while he's writing in the countryside, 00:21:41.589 --> 00:21:44.430 he makes a move that the sources all call revolutionary. 00:21:45.579 --> 00:21:49.099 On October 18th, 1412, he makes a formal legal 00:21:49.099 --> 00:21:52.319 appeal. But he doesn't appeal to the pope. No. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.279 He's given up on the popes by this point. He 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:57.359 realizes the whole system is rigged against him. 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.220 So he formally appeals his case directly to Jesus 00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:03.339 Christ. Which sounds very pious to us, but legally 00:22:03.339 --> 00:22:06.640 in that time. Legally, it was anarchy. The entire 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:08.759 medieval structure was built on the idea that 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:11.019 the church is the sole mediator between man and 00:22:11.019 --> 00:22:13.339 God. You can't just go over their heads to the 00:22:13.339 --> 00:22:16.019 CEO. By appealing to Christ, Host was effectively 00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:19.180 saying, your entire hierarchy is irrelevant if 00:22:19.180 --> 00:22:21.619 it acts against scripture. I am bypassing your 00:22:21.619 --> 00:22:23.559 earthly courts and going straight to the supreme 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:26.160 judge. It was a total rejection of their jurisdiction. 00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:29.579 So now he's a complete rogue agent. He has bypassed 00:22:29.579 --> 00:22:32.160 the entire system. And now the powers that be 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:34.380 decide they need to settle this once and for 00:22:34.380 --> 00:22:37.440 all. This is where King Sigismund of Hungary 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.039 enters the picture. Sigismund is the brother 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:42.950 of the Bohemian king Wenceslaus. He's also the 00:22:42.950 --> 00:22:44.730 king of the Romans, the head of the Holy Roman 00:22:44.730 --> 00:22:47.130 Empire, effectively. He's the most powerful secular 00:22:47.130 --> 00:22:50.170 ruler in Europe. And he has two big problems 00:22:50.170 --> 00:22:53.450 he wants to solve. The three popes and the Bohemian 00:22:53.450 --> 00:22:55.970 heresy. So he calls a massive general council 00:22:55.970 --> 00:22:58.710 in the city of Constance in 1414. The Council 00:22:58.710 --> 00:23:00.970 of Constance. This is the Super Bowl of medieval 00:23:00.970 --> 00:23:03.990 church politics. And they invite Hus. They do. 00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:06.740 Sigismund sends a message to Hus. Come to Constance. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:09.240 Explain your views to the assembled fathers of 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:11.359 the church. We will hear you out. And Hus agrees 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.740 to go. Why? I mean, did he really think he could 00:23:13.740 --> 00:23:16.279 convince them? He did. Hus was a true academic 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:18.839 and a true believer at heart. He thought, if 00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:20.700 I can just show them the Bible, if I can just 00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:23.240 explain my logic clearly, they will see that 00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:25.680 I am right. He didn't see himself as a heretic. 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:27.859 He saw himself as a faithful Catholic reformer. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:29.980 He thought, once they hear the truth, they'll 00:23:29.980 --> 00:23:32.720 have to agree. It seems tragically naive looking 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.759 back. It does. But he wasn't completely naive. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:39.180 He knew it was dangerous. He wrote his will before 00:23:39.180 --> 00:23:41.940 he left. He wrote letters to his followers saying, 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.660 if I die. But he thought he had an ace in the 00:23:44.660 --> 00:23:47.559 hole. The safe conduct pass. The Savo Conductus. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:50.980 A formal document issued by the king of the Romans 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:54.079 himself. It guaranteed that Hus should be allowed 00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:57.619 to pass to Constance, stay there, and... This 00:23:57.619 --> 00:24:00.339 is the crucial part. Return to Bohemia freely 00:24:00.339 --> 00:24:03.099 and securely. Return securely. That's the promise. 00:24:03.339 --> 00:24:05.619 That's the promise. So Hus arrives in Constance 00:24:05.619 --> 00:24:08.579 in November 1414. And at first he's free. He's 00:24:08.579 --> 00:24:11.019 staying with a widow in town. But, and this is 00:24:11.019 --> 00:24:12.940 classic Hus, he can't stop himself. He keeps 00:24:12.940 --> 00:24:14.960 preaching. He says mass in his private room. 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:17.460 People start gathering to hear him. And the local 00:24:17.460 --> 00:24:19.700 clergy are furious. They're saying the heretic 00:24:19.700 --> 00:24:21.619 is here and he's still spreading his poison. 00:24:21.819 --> 00:24:24.359 So the trap springs. Rumors start flying that 00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:26.890 Hus is planning to flee. Which was completely 00:24:26.890 --> 00:24:29.569 untrue. And the church authorities have him arrested 00:24:29.569 --> 00:24:31.890 on November 28th. They drag him away from his 00:24:31.890 --> 00:24:33.369 dinner table. But wait a minute, what about the 00:24:33.369 --> 00:24:36.269 safe conduct? The king's personal promise? Sigismund 00:24:36.269 --> 00:24:38.869 was reportedly furious at first. He felt his 00:24:38.869 --> 00:24:41.170 honor was being violated. He stormed out of the 00:24:41.170 --> 00:24:43.309 council chamber. He threatened to leave Constance. 00:24:43.589 --> 00:24:45.410 But the prelates, the high church officials, 00:24:45.609 --> 00:24:48.670 they took him aside. And they used this very 00:24:48.670 --> 00:24:52.000 dangerous... Very chilly piece of medieval logic 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:54.039 on him. What did they tell him? They told him 00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:57.920 promises made to heretics are not binding. They 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.180 argued that his duty to God and the unity of 00:25:00.180 --> 00:25:02.400 the church outweighed his promise to a single 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.059 man accused of heresy. They effectively said, 00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:07.539 if you protect him, you're hindering the work 00:25:07.539 --> 00:25:10.480 of the Holy Spirit. Wow. No faith need be kept 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:13.119 with heretics. That's the phrase. And Sigismund 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:15.880 cased. He withdrew his protection. He chose the 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:17.940 political unity of the council over his personal 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:20.680 honor. And from that moment, Jan Hus was doomed. 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:22.579 And he's thrown into a dungeon. And we're not 00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:25.519 talking about a modern jail cell here. No. He 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:28.140 was moved to Gottlieb and Castle. He was held 00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:31.420 in a tower, often chained day and night. One 00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:33.160 source says his arm was chained to the wall. 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:35.880 His feet were in irons. The food was terrible 00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:38.420 and scarce. The cell was right next to the castle 00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:41.180 latrines, so the smell was unbearable. He became 00:25:41.180 --> 00:25:43.359 severely ill. He had hemorrhoids. He was vomiting 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:46.960 blood. He had raging fevers. He spent 73 days 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:49.220 in these conditions, completely isolated. It 00:25:49.220 --> 00:25:51.299 sounds like they were trying to break him psychologically 00:25:51.299 --> 00:25:54.079 before the trial even began. Absolutely. They 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:56.319 wanted a broken, defeated man to walk into that 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:59.349 trial and just say, I give up. I recant. But 00:25:59.349 --> 00:26:02.289 when the trial finally happens in June of 1415, 00:26:02.470 --> 00:26:05.450 he isn't broken. He's physically weak, but his 00:26:05.450 --> 00:26:07.769 mind is sharp as a tack. He's brought before 00:26:07.769 --> 00:26:10.029 the council this huge assembly of cardinals in 00:26:10.029 --> 00:26:12.329 their red robes, bishops, theologians, and they 00:26:12.329 --> 00:26:14.329 refuse to give him a defense lawyer. That was 00:26:14.329 --> 00:26:16.430 forbidden in heresy trials. He's still alone. 00:26:16.670 --> 00:26:19.349 And how did the trial actually work? It wasn't 00:26:19.349 --> 00:26:21.910 a trial in our sense of finding out the truth. 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:25.039 It was a verification of guilt. They read out 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:27.480 39 sentences that they had extracted from his 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:30.160 writings. Some of them were accurate, quotes, 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:32.880 things he actually believed, like, a pope who 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.160 sins is not the true head of the church. Which 00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:37.960 he would admit to. Yes. He would say, I wrote 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:39.940 that, and here's the Bible verse that supports 00:26:39.940 --> 00:26:42.299 my position. But then they read things he never 00:26:42.299 --> 00:26:44.759 said. They accused him of claiming he was the 00:26:44.759 --> 00:26:47.539 fourth person of the Trinity. Complete fabrications. 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:50.200 And when he tried to defend himself. to explain 00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:53.240 the context they just shouted him down the records 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:55.299 say the noise was so loud at times that he couldn't 00:26:55.299 --> 00:26:57.660 even be heard they screamed burn him burn him 00:26:57.660 --> 00:26:59.779 whenever he tried to explain the nuance of his 00:26:59.779 --> 00:27:02.099 position and his defense strategy just remained 00:27:02.099 --> 00:27:04.980 the same through it all show me in the bible 00:27:04.980 --> 00:27:07.839 that was his constant refrain convinced me from 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:10.240 scripture he said i am willing to recant if my 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:12.559 errors should be proven to me from the bible 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:15.319 but the council wasn't interested in a bible 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:17.839 study they were interested in submission their 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.500 position was The authority of the church says 00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:23.920 you are wrong, therefore you are wrong. Recant. 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:26.759 It's a clash of two different operating systems, 00:27:26.819 --> 00:27:29.559 isn't it? Hus is running on sola scriptura, scripture 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:32.200 alone, before that was even a term. The council 00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:34.880 is running on authority of the institution. They 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:37.640 literally can't communicate. Right. And then 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:40.359 they tried to trap him with a blanket recantation. 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:43.500 They asked him to sign a single document recanting 00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:47.660 all 39 articles. So if he signs it, he's recanting 00:27:47.660 --> 00:27:49.859 the things he actually believes. Yes. But he 00:27:49.859 --> 00:27:51.720 is also admitting that he taught the crazy things 00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:54.059 he never taught. Exactly. It is the classic, 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:56.579 when did you stop beating your wife trap? Yeah. 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:59.980 If he says, I recant, he is confessing to being 00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:02.819 a heretic on points where he was actually orthodox. 00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:05.259 He would be lying. And he said, how can I recant 00:28:05.259 --> 00:28:07.160 what I never held? I would be bearing false witness 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:09.299 against myself. So it came down to conscience. 00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:12.609 It did. He refused to lie to save his own skin. 00:28:12.769 --> 00:28:15.210 He wrote a letter from prison saying, I write 00:28:15.210 --> 00:28:17.630 this in chains expecting my death. I would not, 00:28:17.630 --> 00:28:20.049 for a chapel full of gold, recant from the truth. 00:28:20.650 --> 00:28:24.589 So we arrive at July 6th, 1415, the final day. 00:28:25.009 --> 00:28:27.230 And it starts with this ceremony of degradation. 00:28:27.849 --> 00:28:30.369 This is a highly ritualized process, isn't it? 00:28:30.410 --> 00:28:32.150 They don't just kill him. They have to unmake 00:28:32.150 --> 00:28:34.740 him as a priest first. It's chillingly theatrical. 00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:37.440 They bring him to the cathedral. They dress him 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:39.839 in his full priestly vestments, the owl, the 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:42.220 stole, the chasuble. They put a chalice in his 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:43.819 hand. It's like they're getting him ready to 00:28:43.819 --> 00:28:45.880 perform mass one last time. And then they just 00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:48.779 reverse it? Step by step. A bishop takes the 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:51.039 chalice from his hand and says, We take from 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.500 thee the cup of redemption thou accursed Judas. 00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:56.700 Hus just replies, But I trust in God that I shall 00:28:56.700 --> 00:28:59.319 drink it this day in his kingdom. They rip the 00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:01.420 robes off him one by one. And then they go for 00:29:01.420 --> 00:29:04.619 his haircut? The taunter, that shaved spot on 00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:07.160 a priest's head. They took shears and just hacked 00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:09.299 at his hair to destroy it, to erase the mark 00:29:09.299 --> 00:29:11.660 of his ordination. They even argued amongst themselves 00:29:11.660 --> 00:29:14.180 over whether to shave it or cut it, just to mock 00:29:14.180 --> 00:29:17.920 him. And finally, the paper hat. The caputium, 00:29:18.059 --> 00:29:21.359 that tall paper miter painted with devils fighting 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:24.119 for his soul and inscribed with the single Latin 00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:27.619 word heresiarcha. Ringleader of heretics. Exactly. 00:29:27.859 --> 00:29:30.160 They were literally demonizing him before they 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:32.980 killed him. The church then says, We have nothing 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:35.279 more to do with you. And hands him over to the 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:38.519 secular arm, the soldiers, for execution. Because 00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:40.599 technically, the church doesn't spill blood. 00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:43.960 A very convenient legal fiction. We're not killing 00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:47.400 you. The state is. They handed him over to Sigismund's 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:49.359 men. And they lead him out of the city to a place 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:51.599 called the Brule, a meadow outside the walls. 00:29:51.819 --> 00:29:55.240 The stake is waiting. He walked calmly. The sources 00:29:55.240 --> 00:29:58.079 say he prayed and sang hymns on the way. When 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:00.220 he saw the stake, he knelt down and prayed again. 00:30:00.670 --> 00:30:02.769 The executioner stripped him of his remaining 00:30:02.769 --> 00:30:05.430 clothes, tied his hands behind his back, and 00:30:05.430 --> 00:30:07.930 chained his neck to the post. They piled the 00:30:07.930 --> 00:30:10.210 wood and straw mixed with pitch all around him. 00:30:10.369 --> 00:30:12.650 And then there's that one last moment, the final 00:30:12.650 --> 00:30:15.670 chance. The imperial marshal, a man named von 00:30:15.670 --> 00:30:18.390 Pappenheim, rides up on his horse. The fire hasn't 00:30:18.390 --> 00:30:20.950 been lit yet. And he looks at Hus and asks him 00:30:20.950 --> 00:30:25.769 one last time, recant, save yourself. And Hus 00:30:25.769 --> 00:30:28.250 looks out over the crowd, over the wood that 00:30:28.250 --> 00:30:30.930 is about to consume him, and he says it. God 00:30:30.930 --> 00:30:33.170 is my witness that the things charged against 00:30:33.170 --> 00:30:35.930 me I never preached. In the truth of the gospel 00:30:35.930 --> 00:30:38.529 which I have written, taught, and preached, I 00:30:38.529 --> 00:30:41.130 am ready to die today. He didn't waver, not for 00:30:41.130 --> 00:30:43.609 a second. I didn't. He chose the truth over his 00:30:43.609 --> 00:30:46.589 life. And then the fire was lit. And there's 00:30:46.589 --> 00:30:48.630 that incredible, heartbreaking anecdote about 00:30:48.630 --> 00:30:51.690 the old woman, Sanctus Simplicitus. Yes. So the 00:30:51.690 --> 00:30:53.690 fire is either struggling to catch, or maybe 00:30:53.690 --> 00:30:56.109 it's not burning hot enough at first. And this 00:30:56.109 --> 00:30:58.430 old peasant woman... Probably very pious, probably 00:30:58.430 --> 00:31:00.029 believing every single thing the priest had ever 00:31:00.029 --> 00:31:01.890 told her. She thinks she's doing a good deed 00:31:01.890 --> 00:31:04.130 for God. She comes shuffling up and throws a 00:31:04.130 --> 00:31:06.470 little bundle of brushwood onto the fire to help 00:31:06.470 --> 00:31:08.690 burn the heretic. She thinks she is helping God 00:31:08.690 --> 00:31:11.750 by killing him. Precisely. And Hus sees her. 00:31:11.950 --> 00:31:14.430 He's already in agony. The heat is rising. And 00:31:14.430 --> 00:31:16.009 he doesn't curse her. He doesn't scream at her. 00:31:16.069 --> 00:31:18.529 He looks at her and says, Oh, sanctus simplicitas. 00:31:18.609 --> 00:31:21.809 Oh, holy simplicity. That's just, it's heartbreaking. 00:31:22.230 --> 00:31:25.819 It is. He pitied her. He saw her as another victim 00:31:25.819 --> 00:31:28.380 of the same system that was killing him. A system 00:31:28.380 --> 00:31:30.920 that had taught her that hate was an act of piety. 00:31:31.220 --> 00:31:33.579 He forgave her ignorance in his dying breath. 00:31:33.799 --> 00:31:35.940 And as the flames rose, he didn't scream in agony. 00:31:36.140 --> 00:31:39.019 He sang. He chanted the carolation, Lord have 00:31:39.019 --> 00:31:42.039 mercy. He sang, Christ, son of the living God, 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:44.819 have mercy on us. He sang until the smoke choked 00:31:44.819 --> 00:31:46.640 him and finally silenced his voice. And they 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:48.599 didn't just leave his body there. They were incredibly 00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:50.859 thorough. They were terrified of him becoming 00:31:50.859 --> 00:31:53.680 a martyr with relics. They knew that if they 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:56.059 left a single bone, his followers would take 00:31:56.059 --> 00:31:58.019 it back to Prague and build a shrine around it. 00:31:58.200 --> 00:32:00.740 So they waited until the body was consumed. Then 00:32:00.740 --> 00:32:03.279 they smashed his skull and bones with clubs to 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.400 break them into the smallest possible pieces. 00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:08.599 They found his heart, which hadn't burned completely, 00:32:08.839 --> 00:32:12.039 and threw it back into the fire. Then they shoveled 00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:14.160 up all the ashes, the dirt around the stake, 00:32:14.339 --> 00:32:16.900 everything, and threw it all into the Rhine River. 00:32:17.180 --> 00:32:21.259 To erase him. No grave, no bones, no trace. They 00:32:21.259 --> 00:32:22.940 wanted to wash him out of history completely. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:25.539 But you can't drown an idea in a river, can you? 00:32:25.619 --> 00:32:28.339 You cannot. In fact, the execution had the exact 00:32:28.339 --> 00:32:30.440 opposite effect. The council thought, okay, the 00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:32.559 goose is cooked, problem solved, the Czechs will 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:34.980 be scared now and they'll get back in line. But 00:32:34.980 --> 00:32:36.779 when the news of the execution reached Prague, 00:32:37.019 --> 00:32:40.000 it wasn't fear that took over. It was pure rage. 00:32:40.539 --> 00:32:43.839 Which brings us to the aftermath. The swan sings. 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:48.589 Or... More accurately, the swan's followers start 00:32:48.589 --> 00:32:51.730 swinging swords. The Bohemian protest. In September 00:32:51.730 --> 00:32:54.430 of 1415, just a couple of months after the execution, 00:32:54.809 --> 00:32:58.809 452 Bohemian nobles signed a document. They put 00:32:58.809 --> 00:33:01.289 their formal wax seals on it. And they sent it 00:33:01.289 --> 00:33:02.809 to the Council of Constance. What did it say? 00:33:03.029 --> 00:33:06.210 It basically said, John Hus was a good and righteous 00:33:06.210 --> 00:33:09.609 man. He was a faithful Catholic. You who executed 00:33:09.609 --> 00:33:12.450 him are the traitors. You are the murderers. 00:33:12.609 --> 00:33:14.710 And we will defend the law of God and the freedom 00:33:14.710 --> 00:33:16.490 to preach it with our blood if we have to. That 00:33:16.490 --> 00:33:19.190 is a declaration of war. It was. And the church 00:33:19.190 --> 00:33:21.190 responded in kind to the new Pope, Martin V. 00:33:22.059 --> 00:33:24.140 Because they did finally elect a single pope 00:33:24.140 --> 00:33:26.799 at Constance, he issued a bull authorizing a 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:29.420 crusade against the Hussites. He called on all 00:33:29.420 --> 00:33:31.240 of Christendom to march on Bohemia and crush 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:34.079 them. A crusade against fellow Christians in 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:36.740 the heart of Europe. Yes, the Hussite Wars. They 00:33:36.740 --> 00:33:40.339 lasted from 1419 to 1434. And this is where the 00:33:40.339 --> 00:33:42.660 story just becomes a military miracle. The Catholic 00:33:42.660 --> 00:33:44.619 Church and the Holy Roman Empire launched five 00:33:44.619 --> 00:33:46.960 consecutive crusades against tiny Bohemia. The 00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:48.980 Teutonic Knights, the Knights of Germany, Austria, 00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:51.980 Hungary, mercenaries from all over Europe. They 00:33:51.980 --> 00:33:54.700 all marched on Prague. And Bohemia won. Bohemia 00:33:54.700 --> 00:33:58.279 won. They didn't just survive. They utterly crushed 00:33:58.279 --> 00:34:01.619 the Crusader armies time after time. How? I mean, 00:34:01.660 --> 00:34:03.359 they were peasants and minor nobles against the 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:05.440 armored might of all of Europe. They had a secret 00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:08.820 weapon, a general named Jan Hiszke. Tell us about 00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:11.739 Hiszke. He is one of the greatest military geniuses 00:34:11.739 --> 00:34:14.679 in history. and he is almost unknown outside 00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:17.519 of this specific context. He was a one -eyed 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:20.099 veteran, and later in the wars, he went completely 00:34:20.099 --> 00:34:23.000 blind, but continued to command the armies to 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:25.699 victory from a wagon. He realized his peasant 00:34:25.699 --> 00:34:27.579 army couldn't fight armored knights in an open 00:34:27.579 --> 00:34:31.360 field, so he invented the wagon burg. The wagon 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:34.309 fort. Exactly. He took ordinary farm wagons, 00:34:34.389 --> 00:34:36.510 armored them with thick wooden planks and iron 00:34:36.510 --> 00:34:38.869 chains. He would circle them up on a hilltop 00:34:38.869 --> 00:34:40.730 or chain them together in a line to create a 00:34:40.730 --> 00:34:43.110 mobile fortress. And he loaded them with men 00:34:43.110 --> 00:34:45.929 carrying early firearms, hand cannons, and crossbows. 00:34:46.090 --> 00:34:49.010 So he invented medieval tanks. Effectively, yes. 00:34:49.650 --> 00:34:52.170 The knights would charge, expecting to just run 00:34:52.170 --> 00:34:54.670 down these peasants. But they would smash into 00:34:54.670 --> 00:34:57.449 this wall of wood. The Hussites would then blast 00:34:57.449 --> 00:35:00.070 them with gunpowder and crossbow bolts from behind 00:35:00.070 --> 00:35:02.940 cover. The horses would panic. The knights would 00:35:02.940 --> 00:35:05.219 get bogged down. And then once the charge was 00:35:05.219 --> 00:35:07.840 broken, the Hussites would pour out from between 00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:11.639 the wagons with these terrifying flails -modified 00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:14.639 grain threshers with spikes on the end and just 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:18.400 finish them off. That's incredible. It was psychological 00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:21.199 warfare, too. The Hussites would march into battle 00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:24.079 singing these defiant hymns like, Ye who are 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:27.019 warriors of God. By the time of the Fourth Crusade, 00:35:27.059 --> 00:35:29.500 the massive Crusader army heard the Hussites 00:35:29.500 --> 00:35:31.619 singing in the distance, and they literally turned 00:35:31.619 --> 00:35:33.480 and ran away before the battle even started. 00:35:33.639 --> 00:35:36.059 They were terrified of the heretics. So the church, 00:35:36.260 --> 00:35:38.639 this mighty institution that burned Huss, eventually 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:40.840 has to basically surrender. They were forced 00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:42.800 to the negotiating table. They realized they 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:44.820 could not kill the Hussite movement. I am. So 00:35:44.820 --> 00:35:47.960 in 1436, they agreed to the Basel Compacts. What 00:35:47.960 --> 00:35:49.860 was that? It was a compromise, but a historic 00:35:49.860 --> 00:35:53.150 one. The church officially allowed the Bohemians 00:35:53.150 --> 00:35:55.030 to practice their own version of Christianity. 00:35:55.730 --> 00:35:57.909 They could give the cup of wine to the laity 00:35:57.909 --> 00:36:01.230 during communion, which was a huge Hussite demand, 00:36:01.550 --> 00:36:05.510 a symbol of spiritual equality. It was essentially 00:36:05.510 --> 00:36:07.909 the first time a group had successfully broken 00:36:07.909 --> 00:36:09.829 away from the uniformity of Rome and survived. 00:36:10.110 --> 00:36:12.469 So as Huss didn't live to see it, but his ideas 00:36:12.469 --> 00:36:15.869 won. In a huge way, yes. A century later, something 00:36:15.869 --> 00:36:18.349 like 90 % of the Czech lands were Hussite in 00:36:18.349 --> 00:36:20.610 one form or another. And the legacy continues. 00:36:20.789 --> 00:36:23.170 We mentioned the connection to Luther. Oh, it's 00:36:23.170 --> 00:36:26.389 direct. Luther found a copy of Hus' sermons in 00:36:26.389 --> 00:36:29.050 a library when he was a young monk. And he was 00:36:29.050 --> 00:36:32.090 shocked. He wrote to a friend, I have been teaching 00:36:32.090 --> 00:36:34.829 all of Hus' ideas without knowing it. We are 00:36:34.829 --> 00:36:37.869 all Hussites. Hus paved the road that Luther 00:36:37.869 --> 00:36:39.809 would eventually walk on. And what about today? 00:36:40.190 --> 00:36:42.530 Well, there's the Meridian Church, the Unitas 00:36:42.530 --> 00:36:44.889 Fraterum, which traces its roots directly back 00:36:44.889 --> 00:36:47.449 to Hus' followers. They're still active all over 00:36:47.449 --> 00:36:49.940 the world today. known for their focus on simplicity 00:36:49.940 --> 00:36:52.500 and service. And the Catholic Church itself finally 00:36:52.500 --> 00:36:54.000 addressed this, didn't they? It took a little 00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:57.500 while. It took nearly 600 years. But in 1999, 00:36:57.980 --> 00:37:02.119 Pope John Paul II issued an apology. He expressed 00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:04.820 deep regret for the cruel death inflicted on 00:37:04.820 --> 00:37:08.099 Hus, and he praised his moral courage. The goose 00:37:08.099 --> 00:37:10.179 finally got his apology from the swan's successors. 00:37:10.300 --> 00:37:12.340 And in the Czech Republic today, July 6th is 00:37:12.340 --> 00:37:15.639 a national holiday, Jan Hus Day. He's consistently 00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:17.960 voted the greatest Czech hero in national surveys. 00:37:18.199 --> 00:37:20.380 If you go to the Old Town Square in Prague today, 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:23.619 there's this massive brooding statue of him right 00:37:23.619 --> 00:37:26.159 in the center, dominating the square. And the 00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:28.940 motto of the Czech president is, Truth prevails, 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:31.980 Pravda VTZ. That is a direct Hussite slogan. 00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:35.099 It's a staggering story. From a poor boy in a 00:37:35.099 --> 00:37:37.199 village called Goosetown to a man who changed 00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:39.800 the course of history simply by saying no. It's 00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:42.340 the power of the individual conscience. Hus wasn't 00:37:42.340 --> 00:37:44.260 some radical anarchist who wanted to burn the 00:37:44.260 --> 00:37:46.519 world down. He was a man who believed that truth 00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:49.099 was objective and that authority, no matter how 00:37:49.099 --> 00:37:51.780 powerful, was not absolute. He believed that 00:37:51.780 --> 00:37:53.519 if the king or the pope contradicts the truth, 00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:56.000 you follow the truth. Which brings us to our 00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:59.150 final thought for you, the listener. This story, 00:37:59.269 --> 00:38:02.090 for all its medieval context, feels incredibly 00:38:02.090 --> 00:38:04.590 relevant to the world we live in now. It really 00:38:04.590 --> 00:38:07.170 does. Yeah. Jan Hus died because he refused to 00:38:07.170 --> 00:38:09.090 admit to errors he didn't commit. He could have 00:38:09.090 --> 00:38:11.010 walked away. He could have just nodded, said, 00:38:11.170 --> 00:38:14.750 I recant, signed the paper, and gone back to 00:38:14.750 --> 00:38:16.769 a quiet life. I mean, no one would have really 00:38:16.769 --> 00:38:20.139 blamed him. In our age, we are just flooded with 00:38:20.139 --> 00:38:23.079 information. Truth can feel so flexible. Spin 00:38:23.079 --> 00:38:25.699 is everything. And we are so often pressured 00:38:25.699 --> 00:38:28.119 to just go along to get along in our jobs, our 00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:30.699 social circles, our politics. Exactly. So the 00:38:30.699 --> 00:38:33.579 question Hutz leaves us with is, what is the 00:38:33.579 --> 00:38:36.639 price of your personal integrity? If you were 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:38.639 bound to that stake and all you had to do was 00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:40.380 say a few words you didn't believe in order to 00:38:40.380 --> 00:38:43.079 save your own life, would you do it? Or would 00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:45.639 you have the courage to be the goose that refuses 00:38:45.639 --> 00:38:47.699 to be cooked? That's a heavy question to end 00:38:47.699 --> 00:38:49.599 on. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive into 00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:51.619 the fire. Thank you. We'll see you next time.