Hussite

Hussite

Member of a group of 15th-century Bohemian religious reformers, followers of Jan Hus. After Hus's death in 1415, the Hussites broke with Rome. In addition to giving communion in both bread and wine, they supported freedom of preaching, poverty of the clergy, civil punishment of notorious sinners, and expropriation of church property. Many were nobles and knights, and a papal crusade against them failed in 1431. During peace negotiations in 1433 the Hussites split into two factions, the moderate Utraquists and the radical Taborites. The Utraquists joined the Catholics and defeated the Taborites at the battle of Lipany in 1434; they survived schisms until 1620, when they were absorbed by the Catholics. Another segment of Hussites, Unitas Fratrum, set up an independent organization in 1467 and lasted until the Counter-Reformation. In 1722 a group of Hussites fled Moravia and settled on the estate of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700–1760) in Saxony, establishing the community of Herrnhut and founding the Moravian church.