Just realized, that there ought to be some tension between Catholic church and Jan Hus. Still, things shouldn’t be just black and white at all.
I hope they show both the good thing the church did as well the questionable things. I am not christian but I hope Warhorse rise above the modern anti-theistic fad to capture the full picture.
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Hus was born in Husinec, Bohemia, in 1369. At an early age he traveled to Prague, where he supported himself by singing and serving in churches. His conduct was positive and his commitment to his studies was remarkable.[4] In 1393, Hus earned the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the University of Prague, and he earned his master’s degree in 1396. In 1400, he was ordained as a priest. He served as rector of the university in 1402–03. He was appointed a preacher at the newly built Bethlehem chapel around the same time. Hus was a strong advocate for the Czechs, and therefore the Realists, and he was influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe. Although church authorities proscribed many works of Wycliffe in 1403, Hus translated Trialogus into Czech and helped to distribute it.[4]
Hus spoke out against indulgences, but he could not carry with him the men of the university. In 1412, a dispute took place, on which occasion Hus delivered his address Quaestio magistri Johannis Hus de indulgentiis. It was taken literally from the last chapter of Wycliffe’s book, De ecclesia, and his treatise, De absolutione a pena et culpa. Hus asserted that no Pope or bishop had the right to take up the sword in the name of the Church; he should pray for his enemies and bless those that curse him; man obtains forgiveness of sins by true repentance, not money. The doctors of the theological faculty replied, but without success. A few days afterward, some of Hus’s followers, led by Vok Voksa z Valdštejna, burnt the Papal bulls. Hus, they said, should be obeyed rather than the Church, which they considered a fraudulent mob of adulterers and Simonists.
He was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology, the Eucharist, and other theological topics. Hus was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century, and his teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe, most immediately in the approval of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself.
Wow incredible that I had not learned about this man sooner. He was the precursor to Martin Luther! This would be a great place to showcase him.
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I thing that in biger cities the things might have been black and white. Priests living rich lives. Selling of “indulgence tickets” (or how is it called in english). But that would be question for historian. But game (at least first act) will not take part in big city so there should not be too much of “big bad church”.
And to John Huss… I look on wiki and it might (or not) be coincidence but he started to preach in Betlehem chapel in 1402 on the 15th of October… which is also around the time Venceslus IV. was kiddnaped and imprisoned.
UPDATE: I see that in meantime i was putting together my post you have already post John Huss CV. So dont be mad for repeating some things.
No worries Proky! (I love that name 
)
I still belive that Hussite Wars will be the topic of Kingdome Come (later Acts of course). So Jan Hus has to be introduced (although not-in-person probably). For Czech people he is well known historical figure and his life si tied to theolgical books and preaching.
It would be great if Hussite war would be included in later acts and even more greater to have John Huss in the first one. But as story of the first act is not taking part in Prague (as i judge from the game map) I fear we might not meet him… bu he sill might be mentioned.
This is what they said on Kickstarter
"We want to show people how it worked, how the church behaved at the time (two popes, indulgencies, witch hunts). And we want to let the player to make his own opinion on all that. You may hunt the witch and bring her to "justice" or help her escape the inquisition."
"Our philosophy is "be authentic, depict, don’t comment". So there will be things even we don’t like but happened frequently. This applies also to religion. Mind that The Church was heavily criticized for its practices and there were also 2 popes (antipope in Avignon) in these times. Which lead to Hussite wars and a bit later to Lutheran reformation. So you will see all sorts of stuff connected to religion - positive and negative."
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There is something to discuss. There weren’t many witch hunts during this period. It is a matter of later centuries, together with systematic torture practice. Catholic church was more concerned with “heretics” like Jan Hus.
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To be perfectly honest this is something I am worried about. While it is true that the game is set in the early days of reformist thought as well as religious schisms and abuse of power, in general the Church and faith were not some harmful, destructive, negative powers as often portrayed by the popular rhetoric today, particularly in the US and by teenagers on the internet. They were indivisible, seamlessly integrated parts of society and everyday life. Securing a place in Heaven, leading a good Christian life were familiar and natural concepts for the folk of middle ages. Far removed from our ideas about religion, or rather a lack or even choice thereof, today.
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Yeah it will be there.
Later GAMES of the trilogy, I think, not the acts of Deliverance . Deliverance will be set in 1403, judging from the logo.
@TOUGHGUY Weren’t you a “Pope” before? I’m completely sure that I saw “Pope” as your badge, now it shows “Peasant”
Yikes, after reading this now I’m somewhat worried. I’m hoping that the developers won’t jump on the bandwagon of being anti theistic, or trying to prove a point that “religion is bad,” or “look at what evil things religion made these people do.” This attitude is pervasive in society just look at “The Simpsons.” However, I think this negative impression of religion is WAY overblown, it happened but it wasn’t endemic and generally speaking the peoples lives were more boring than anything else.
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I don’t think it’s anti-theist. All Christians know about the catholic days of indulgences (which Catholicism is actually a mixture of Christianity and a pagan religion I won’t name or get into here you can believe it or not) as well as their many other crimes against people. Though warhorse is saying they will portray these crimes of Catholicism, but they will also be showing the good people who happen to be catholic and especially the good catholic reformist Jan Hus.
This is kinda off topic but I wanted to share a little bit of history. Originally indulgences were pardons from physical punishment but some of the more corrupt popes began to allow their agents to sell them as means of salvation. Also the catholic church was perverted throughout the dark ages (c. 400-1000 a.d.) by converts (many forced) who held onto some of their pagan practices and ideas. As for religion in the game I think that it is essential in some form.
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As a lay-employee of the Catholic Church I’m glad to hear that the developers won’t be bowing to “political correctness.” The Catholic Church has indeed had quite a few dark periods in its history and it’s important that people understand the bad times so as not to repeat them. Indulgences, in and of themselves, were not necessarily a bad thing as @Paladin pointed out. It was when those greedy clergy began “selling to the highest bidder” so to speak, that it became such a problem. When the everyday person could not find the peace they craved because they couldn’t afford the price of salvation, they were the ones who were hurt. While definitely a horrible period and a great story to tell, I hope the developers also remember there were a lot of good Catholics too. As an institution, the Church has weathered many bad times and deservedly has a certain reputation among other religions or non-believers, but it has also done a lot of good that shouldn’t be forgotten either.
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I really, really hope the stereotypical witchcraft schlock gets left out. Whatever one thinks of the Inquisition, the popular notion of them being involved in witch hunts is without historical basis; their prerogative was against heresy, and charges of witchcraft were commonly viewed by Inquisitors as being little more than absurd peasant superstition. Indeed, as the historian Henry Kamen noted in his excellent study of the Spanish Inquisition, the punishment of witchcraft was almost exclusively enacted by secular authorities and in cases where the Inquisition was involved the death sentence was rare.
The inquisition is more known for their overly zealous persecution of “heritics” than witch hunts.
Joan d’arc was considered a heretic working for the devil and even some accused her of being a witch.
Joan d’arc was considered a heretic working for the devil and even some accused her of being a witch.
Joan of Arc was not tried by the Inquisition. The University of Paris (an institution that, it must be noted, was strongly pro-English in its sentiments) did request that she be tried by Jean Graverent, the Inquisitor of France, but the Burgundians preferred the more lucrative, politically advantageous and more reliable English offer of 10,000 livres in exchange for her. The subsequent trial was understood by just about everyone to be a politically expedient means of saving face after the embarrassing defeats Joan had inflicted on the English. Indeed, the presiding judge, the bishop Pierre Cauchon, was appointed solely because he was an English partisan and in fact had no legal jurisdiction to take the trial. She was most certainly not charged with witchcraft; rather, the prosecution focused on asking her obscure theological questions she would have no hope of answering in the hopes of easily finding her guilty of heresy as a flimsy pretext for executing her. Her trial and execution had nothing to do with witchcraft, very little to do with religion and everything to do with political expediency.
The simple fact is this: the belief in witchcraft that is commonly associated with the medieval period has been vastly exaggerated. In fact, at the Council of Frankfurt in 794 it was decreed that burning people as witches was a crime because witches did not exist, and as such killing them constituted nothing less than murder and those found guilty would be punished by death. This was fully in keeping with older Burgundian and Lombardic law codes that likewise condemned killing suspected “witches” as murder. This understanding of witchcraft as being a superstition remained the norm for both legal and ecclesiastical authorities until the 14th century, at which point we find secular authorities began taking a far more active interest in prosecuting such cases; the Catholic Church didn’t begin taking serious action until 1484 when Pope Innovent VIII released his bull Summis desiderantes (which is arguably closer to the Renaissance than it is to the medieval era), yet even with this act most Inquisitors (especially in Spain and Italy) were extremely skeptical, being convinced it was all popular hysteria with no bearing on reality. Such was the verdict of the Spanish Inquisitor Alonso de Salazar Frias at a trial for witchcraft in 1612 at Navarre. In his own words:
“I have not found the slightest evidence from which to infer that a single act of witchcraft has really occurred… in the diseased state of the public mind every agitation of the matter is harmful and increases the evil [witch-hunting hysteria]. I deduce the importance of silence and reserve from the experience that there were neither witches nor bewitched until they were talked and written about.”
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