John Huss

Jan Hus
Jan Hus by an unknown author, 16th century
Born	c. 1369 Husinec, Kingdom of Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire (now Czech Republic)
Died	6 July 1415 Konstanz, Bishopric of Constance, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany)
Other names	John Hus, John Huss, Jan Huss, or Jan Hus
Alma mater	University of Prague
Era	Renaissance philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Hussite
Main interests	Theology
Influences John Wycliffe
Influenced John Wesley, Jerome of Prague, Martin Luther

Jan Hus (/hʊs/;Czech: [ˈjan ˈɦus]; c. 1369 – 6 July 1415), often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, Master, dean and rector at Charles University in Prague, church reformer, founder of Hussitism, a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation and a key predecessor to Protestantism.

After John Wycliffe, the theorist of ecclesiastical Reformation, Hus is considered the first Church reformer, as he lived before Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. His teachings had a strong influence on the states of Western Europe, most immediately in the approval of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself. He was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology, the Eucharist, and other theological topics.

After Hus was executed in 1415, the followers of his religious teachings (known as Hussites) rebelled against their Roman Catholic rulers and defeated five consecutive papal crusades between 1420 and 1431, in what became known as the Hussite Wars. A century later, as many as 90% of inhabitants of the Czech lands were Hussites. Although Bohemia was the site of one of the most significant pre-reformation movements, there are only few Protestant adherents remaining in modern times; mainly due to historical reasons such as persecution of Protestants by the Catholic Habsburgs, particularly after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620; restrictions during the Communist rule; and also the ongoing secularization.