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Secondary sourcePainting1483 (chronicle); depicts events of 1415

Woodcut of Hus's Arrest and Burning

Ulrich Reichenthal (chronicler); Columna-Meister (woodcut) · 1483 (chronicle); depicts events of 1415

A coloured woodcut from Ulrich Reichenthal's chronicle of the Council of Constance, showing Hus's arrest, imprisonment and burning.

Illustrates Hus's arrest, imprisonment and burning as told in the chronicle of the Council of Constance.

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Open book showing a hand-colored woodcut spread from a chronicle. Left page: top panel shows clergy and figures in robes and hats near a cart; bottom panel shows a man on horseback with armed figures. Right page: top panel shows a figure on a throne-like seat with flames rising behind, surrounded by onlookers; bottom panel shows a man pushing a wheelbarrow of ash toward a figure in a cloak. Caption text in German runs across the top and bottom of the pages. Green background with a Deutsche Fotothek watermark at the bottom.
Columna-Meister, woodcut from Ulrich Reichenthal's chronicle of the Council of Constance, printed Augsburg, 1483. Deutsche Fotothek.

About this source

What it is

This hand-coloured woodcut comes from Ulrich Reichenthal's chronicle of the Council of Constance, printed in Augsburg in 1483. It shows a sequence of scenes: Hus's capture, his imprisonment in chains, his burning at the stake, and his ashes being tipped into the Rhine.

Why it matters

The Council of Constance, where church leaders tried and condemned Hus, is the subject of Reichenthal's chronicle. This woodcut, made decades after the event, shows how the story of Hus's trial and execution was retold and illustrated for later readers, shaping how people pictured the Council's actions.

Look closer

  • Why does the chronicle show multiple scenes together, from arrest to the disposal of ashes?
  • What does showing the ashes being tipped into the river suggest about how his enemies wanted his memory treated?
  • How might a printed chronicle made decades later differ from an eyewitness account?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jan Hus on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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