Dissertation project - Abstract
Mag. theol. Christina Traxler

Firmiter velitis resistere. Die Auseinandersetzung der Wiener Universität mit dem Hussitismus vom Konstanzer Konzil (1414–1418) bis zum Beginn des Basler Konzils (1431–1449)

My dissertation project examines the efforts of the University of Vienna to fight Hussitism in the years between the Councils of Constance (1414-1418) and Basel (1431-1449). These councils mark, on the one hand, the condemnation of the hussite doctrine (Constance) and, on the other hand, the theological agreement between the Bohemian and the Latin Church (Basel). Because of the immediate vicinity to Bohemia and the intensive cultural exchange between Austria and Bohemia, the University of Vienna was in the middle of an enhanced opposition against the revolution following the execution of Jan Hus. My interest aims both at the theological treatises authored by professors from the University of Vienna (such as Peter of Pulkau, Nicolas of Dinkelsbühl or Franz of Retz) and at the measures the University took as an institution to confine Hussitism, obliging students to adhere to the Catholic faith, instructing the public about the Bohemian heresies, and supporting the Duke of Austria in his diplomatic moves. Thus the University did not only express her support of the policy of the Austrian Duke, but also her loyality to the Roman Church and the papacy. A major focus of the project will be on the unpublished treatise Contra quattuor articulos Hussitarum of 1424, which was compiled by a group of theologians around Peter of Pulkau. This treatise, which was widely copied, with more than 50 copies still extant, served as a model for the disputations with the Hussites far into the 1430s. The text will be analyzed and critically edited.