John Hus, the Czech church reformer and national hero, was born at Husinec in southern Bohemia. He made his way through the University of Prague, receiving his A.B. in 1393, his M.A. in 1396, and his B.D. in 1404. Some of the logical works of John Wyclyf were known in Prague in the early 1390s, and there is still extant a copy of a half dozen of Wyclyf's philosophical works in Hus's hand, made in 1398. Wyclyf's realism (universalia ante rem) found a warm welcome among Czech professors and students, not least because the German community at the university was strongly Ockhamist and Wyclyf's vigorous defense of universals (prior to individuals) fortified the Czechs' position. He was deeply influenced by the Augustinianism of the Victorine school of the twelfth century.

Hus became well known and popular, partly for his teaching and partly for...