Swan Song for the Goose Quote
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 4:00AM
rebecca in church history

Back in October I posted a piece on the doubtful authenticity of the oft-quoted last words of Jan Hus.

You, this day, burn a goose, but a hundred years hence a swan will arise, whom you will not be able to roast or boil.

These words, some say, were a prophesy of the coming of Martin Luther roughly one hundred years after Hus was martyred. I looked at things from the Hus side of history and came to the conclusion that the quote was probably not genuine.

James Swan has posted a bit from an article by Robert Scribner that traces the quote back to a fusing of two quotes—one from Hus and one from  Jerome of Prague—perhaps by Luther himself.

The upshot is that this goose quote is dead.

Article originally appeared on Rebecca Writes (http://rebecca-writes.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.