Jan Hus aka Jan Huss, John Hus, John Huss (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈɦus]  (listen); ca. 1369 Husinec, Bohemia – 6 July 1415 Konstanz, Germany), often referred to in English as John Huss or variations thereof, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague.

He is famed for having been burned at the stake by civil authorities for the propagation of what the Catholic Church considered to be his heretical views of ecclesiology (the branch of theology concerned with the nature and the constitution and the functions of a church), the Eucharist (a Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper by consecrating bread and wine), and other points of theology, as the civil authorities of that time generally saw heresy as a criminal offense. Hus was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the 16th century, and his teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe, most immediately in the approval for the existence of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself.^[1]

(... from Wikipedia on 2010-07-25 12:26:45 )