Hus, John (1369?-1415), was a Bohemian religious reformer. His name is also spelled Huss. Hus’s teachings resembled some of those of the Protestant Reformation. He was burned at the stake on a charge of heresy.
Hus was born in Husinec, in southwestern Bohemia, and took his last name from the first letters of the town. Soon after he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1400, he began preaching fiery sermons in Prague. He attracted many followers, especially Czech nationalists. Hus attacked the morals of the clergy and called for reform in the church. He was influenced by John Wycliffe, an English religious reformer of the 1300’s. Unlike Wycliffe, Hus did not attack the sacrament of the Mass.
In 1409, the king of Bohemia turned the University of Prague over to the Czechs, and Hus became rector. This action angered the German teachers and students at the university. They left and established the University of Leipzig. The Germans spread the story that Hus was a notorious heretic. Because of this story, and his attack on the church practice of selling indulgences to finance crusades, Hus was excommunicated in 1412. In 1413, he completed On the Church, a highly spiritualized view of the church that borrowed heavily from Wycliffe’s writings. In 1414, Hus was called before the Council of Constance, a meeting of church leaders at Constance, Germany. There he was condemned, largely for the ideas expressed in On the Church and for supporting Wycliffe. He was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415, even though he had been promised safety if he attended the council to defend himself. Hus’s reform movement was carried on for several years after his death by followers known as Hussites.
