William of Alnwick. Questions on science and theology. Edited by Francesco Fiorentino (trans. John Scott). (Archa Verbi, 18.) Pp. viii + 784. Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2020. €78. 978 3 02 10240 4

Abstract

less space. In particular, the launch and process of Hus’ trial at the papal curia between \uf644\uf647\uf644\uf643 and \uf644\uf647\uf644\uf645 do not receive as much space as they deserve. The purpose of Machilek’s book is obviously not to analyse sources and reveal new facts, or place them in new contexts. The essence of the work, and therefore its greatest benefit, lies elsewhere. Since it excels in its inventory and accurate reproduction of modern research on Jan Hus, the book can also be seen as a valuable Forschungsbericht. The bibliographic focus of the work is not only evident from the footnotes, but the author often explicitly refers to the statements of his colleagues in the main text and directly quotes them. This can be seen, for example, in the evaluation of the significance of Hus’ commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard (pp. \uf64c\uf644–\uf647), or even more markedly in the evaluation of the legitimacy of Hus’ Constance trial, where the author greatly relies on the work of the Czech legal historian Jirí̌ Kejr ̌ (pp. \uf644\uf64c\uf64c–\uf645\uf643\uf643). One can only regret, however, that the author himself is thus lost in the shadows of other historians, and his own assessment of the controversial Czech preacher remains relatively vague. At the same time, the author registers some recent titles without commenting on their contribution. This is the case with the book by the Czech Catholic theologian Ctirad Václav Pospíšil, Husovská dilemata [The dilemmas of Hus] (published in \uf645\uf643\uf644\uf648 with a revised edition in \uf645\uf643\uf645\uf643), in which he tries with some difficulty to ‘rediscover’ Hus and his epoch for modern Czechs of all confessions. Since Machilek emphasises the change in the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church and its theologians to the Czech reformer, it is a pity that the content of Pospíšil’s book has shrunk to a mere bibliographic reference. Considered within the spectrum of important works on Jan Hus which were published in the context of the \uf645\uf643\uf644\uf648 jubilee,\uf645 Machilek’s book turns out to be a traditional monograph which mainly builds on the chronology of Hus’ turbulent life. However, the author’s bibliographic knowledge, along with his perception of Jan Hus not only as an object of professional historiography but also as a ‘living’ figure of Christian ecumenism, make it unique. Franz Machilek writes not only as a historian, but also as a Roman Catholic Christian, as well as an eyewitness to the turbulent development of modern historiographical and ecclesiastical reflections on Jan Hus over the last fifty years.