Editing Hussites (section)

== Factions ==
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2017}}
{{See also|Utraquism|Taborites|Moravian Church#Jan Hus and the Bohemian Reformation}}
{{ multiple image|total_width=600
| image1   = Luther und Hus-Abendmahl.jpg
| caption1 = ''Luther and Hus serving [[communion under both kinds]] together'', an imaginary woodcut from [[Electorate of Saxony|16th century Saxony]] demonstrating the affinity of [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] and [[Moderate Hussites]]
| image2   = Jensky kodex Zizka.jpg
| caption2 = [[Jan Žižka]] leading troops of [[Radical Hussites]]
| image3   = Jagiełło dispute.JPG
| caption3 = Hussite theologians dispute in the presence of King [[Władysław II Jagiełło]] of Poland
}}

Hussitism organised itself during the years 1415–1419. Hussites were not a unitary movement, but a diverse one with multiple factions that held different views and opposed each other in the [[Hussite Wars]]. From the beginning, there formed two parties, with a smaller number of people withdrawing from both parties around the pacifist [[Petr Chelčický]], whose teachings would form the foundation of the [[Unitas Fratrum]]. Hussites can be divided into:

* [[Moderate Hussites]]
** [[Prague Hussites]]
** [[Bohemian nobility|Bohemian Hussite nobility]]
** [[Hussites of Žatec and Louny]]
** Other [[Utraquists]]/[[Calixtines]]
* [[Radical Hussites]]
** [[Taborites]]
** [[Orebites]]
** [[Adamites]]
** [[Sirotci|Orphans]]
** Other Radical Hussites

===Moderates {{Anchor|Four Articles of Prague}}===
The more conservative Hussites (the moderate party, or [[Utraquism|Utraquists]]), who followed Hus more closely, sought to conduct reform while leaving the whole hierarchical and liturgical order of the Church untouched.<ref>"Utraquism’s faithfulness to the Prague [[Use (liturgy)|Use]] of the [[Roman rite]]…(was) an intentional symbol of Utraquism’s self-understanding as a continuing part of the Western Catholic Church." {{cite journal |last1=Holeton |first1=David R. |last2=Vlhová-Wörner |first2=Hana |last3=Bílková |first3=Milena |title=The Trope Gregorius presul meritis in Bohemian Tradition: Its Origins, Development, Liturgical Function and Illustration |journal=Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice |date=2007 |volume=6 |pages=215–246 |url=http://www.brrp.org/proceedings/brrp6/holeton_et_al.pdf |access-date=18 November 2023}}</ref>

Their programme is contained in the Four Articles of [[Prague]], which were written by [[Jacob of Mies]] and agreed upon in July 1420, promulgated in the [[Latin]], [[Czech language|Czech]], and [[German language|German]] languages. They can be summarised as follows: <ref>{{cite web |title=The Four Articles of Prague |url=https://johnhus.org/content/the-four-articles-of-prague/ |website=John Hus: Apostle of Truth}}</ref>

* Free preaching of the Word of God throughout the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margravate of Moravia.
* Celebration of the [[communion under both kinds]] (bread and wine to priests and [[laity]] alike)
* The removal of secular power from the clergy.
* Secular punishment for [[mortal sins]] among clergy and laity alike.

The views of the moderate Hussites were widely represented at the university and among the citizens of Prague; they were therefore called the Prague Party, but also Calixtines (Latin ''calix'' chalice) or [[Utraquists]] (Latin ''utraque'' both), because they emphasized the second article of Prague, and the chalice became their emblem.

===Radicals===
The more radical parties, the [[Taborites]], [[Orebites]] and [[Sirotčí|Orphans]], identified itself more boldly with the doctrines of [[John Wycliffe]], sharing his passionate hatred of the [[monasticism|monastic]] clergy,   and his desire to return the Church to its supposed condition during the time of the apostles. This required the removal of the existing hierarchy and the secularisation of ecclesiastical possessions. Above all they clung to Wycliffe's doctrine of the [[Eucharist|Lord's Supper]], denying [[transubstantiation]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=William R. |title=John Wyclif and Hussite Theology 1415–1436 |journal=Church History |date=1973 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=335–349 |doi=10.2307/3164390 |jstor=3164390 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3164390 |issn=0009-6407}}</ref> and this is the principal point by which they are distinguished from the moderate party, the [[Utraquism|Utraquists]].

The radicals preached the ''"sufficientia legis Christi"''—the divine law (i.e. the [[Bible]]) is the sole rule and canon for human society, not only in the church, but also in political and civil matters. They rejected therefore, as early as 1416, everything that they believed had no basis in the Bible, such as the [[veneration]] of saints and images, [[fasting|fasts]], superfluous holidays, the oath, intercession for the dead, auricular [[Confession (religion)|Confession]], [[indulgence]]s, the sacraments of [[Confirmation]] and the [[Anointing of the Sick]], and chose their own priests.

The radicals had their gathering-places all around the country. Their first armed assault fell on the small town of Ústí, on the river Lužnice, south of Prague (today's [[Sezimovo Ústí]]). However, as the place did not prove to be defensible, they settled in the remains of an older town upon a hill not far away and founded a new town, which they named [[Tábor]] (a play on words, as "Tábor" not only meant "camp" or "encampment" in [[Czech language|Czech]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Antonín| last=Profous |year=1957 |title=Místní jména v Čechách: Jejich vznik, původní význam a změny; part 4, S–Ž |publisher=Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences |location=Prague, Czechoslovakia}}</ref> but is also the traditional name of the mountain on which Jesus was expected to return; see [[Mark 13]]); hence they were called Táborité ([[Taborite]]s). They comprised the essential force of the radical Hussites.

Their aim was to destroy the enemies of the law of God, and to defend his kingdom (which had been expected to come in a short time) by the sword. Their end-of-world visions did not come true. In order to preserve their settlement and spread their ideology, they waged bloody wars; in the beginning they observed a strict regime, inflicting the severest punishment equally for murder, as for less severe faults as adultery, perjury, and [[usury]], and also tried to apply rigid Biblical standards to the social order of the time. The Taborites usually had the support of the [[Orebites]] (later called Orphans), an eastern Bohemian sect of Hussitism based in [[Hradec Králové]].