Strategies of Social Persuasion Against Hussitism

This contribution investigates the different strategies and methods of cultural and social persuasion against the Hussite reformation employed by an important member of the University of Vienna, Peter of Pirchenwart (d. 1436). During his career he used various oral and written means against the “new” heresy: sermons to the people, university lectures, theological commentaries, and short treatise. Different types of audiences were targeted in two cultural centres and key sites of anti-Hussite propaganda in the city of Vienna: the Faculty of Theology and St Stephen’s Church, both connected to the Ducal Court. Here I am going to discuss five unedited texts produced by him: the commentary on the Book IV of the Sentences; the biblical commentary on the Gospel of John, containing two anti-heretic sections, one of which is known to the catalogues under the eloquent title of De religione militari contra Hussitas; the short treatise Determinatio contra Hussitas; and two sermons delivered in 1423 and 1431. In these texts, the dimension of violence (both verbal and physical) is present as a recurring motif and substantial theme; one of Pirchenwart’s primary aims, in fact, is precisely to justify the extermination of heretics, without any form of negotiation or dialogue. Through these case studies I will highlight some of the ways in which the heresy was addressed locally (the city of Vienna), at the intersection of intellectual production and the construction of the collective imaginary.