Late Middle Ages · 1402-1436

Jan Hus and the Hussites

A Prague preacher criticizes the wealth of the Church and preaches in Czech. Burned at Constance in 1415, Jan Hus becomes the hero of a movement that beats five crusades. Students follow the Hussites and ask what makes people fight for their beliefs.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1400 to AD 1420
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A Prague preacher criticizes the wealth of the Church and preaches in Czech. Burned at Constance in 1415, Jan Hus becomes the hero of a movement that beats five crusades. Students follow the Hussites and ask what makes people fight for their beliefs.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe the ideas of Jan Hus and why they angered church leaders.
  • Explain how his execution in 1415 led to the Hussite wars.
  • Locate Prague, Tábor and Constance and describe how the Hussites defended Bohemia.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1400

Bohemia

Open the map in 1400 and zoom in on Prague. Bohemia lies inside the Holy Roman Empire. Which mountains and neighbors surround it?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1414

The road to Constance

Zoom out until you can see both Prague and Constance. In 1414 Hus traveled to the council with a promise of safe conduct from Sigismund, King of the Romans and later emperor. Estimate the distance.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1420

A town called Tábor

Find Tábor, south of Prague, on a hill above a river. Radical Hussites founded it in 1420 and named it after a mountain in the Bible. Why choose such a site?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Hus preached in Czech, not Latin. Why was that so important to ordinary people in Prague?
  2. Hus criticized the sale of indulgences. Why might paying money for the forgiveness of sins upset believers?
  3. Hus came to Constance with a promise of safety, but he was arrested and burned. How did that affect trust in Sigismund and the Church?
  4. Hussites gave communion with both bread and wine to everyone, not only to priests. Why would a cup become a symbol of a movement?
  5. About a hundred years later, Martin Luther said he agreed with many of Hus's ideas. Why do some reformers fail in their lifetime but win later?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Rule History as Sejong the Great, who created a new alphabet for Korean in 1443 so that ordinary people could read. Afterwards, compare with Hus, who preached in Czech so ordinary people could understand. Why does the language of power matter?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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