A famous divine and martyr, born in Bohemia, 1376, and educated at Prague, where he took his degrees, and entered into the ministry. The writings of Wickliffe converted him from the superstitions of Rome, and, with eloquent zeal, he began to preach against the power and influence of the pope. His efforts proved successful; the Papal authority began to be slighted in Bohemia; but the archbishop of Prague issued two mandates against the heresies of Wickliffe, and the labors of Huss and his followers; and this exertion of power was soon seconded by a bull from Rome, for the suppression of all tenets offensive to the holy see. Huss exclaimed against these proceedings, and, though summoned to Rome to answer for his conduct, he, supported by the favor of Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, disregarded the pope's authority, and was excommunicated; and, soon after, his friends and adherents were included in the same interdict. After causing, by his opposition to the Papal decrees, various tumults in Prague and Bohemia, Huss was prevailed upon to appear at the council of Constance, to give an account of his doctrines. The emperor Sigismund granted him his protection, and insured security to his person; but when, soon after, he reached Constance, 1414, he was seized as a heretic, and imprisoned, and, after a confinement of severe hardships for six months, he was condemned without a hearing; and, when he refused to recant his errors, he was tumultuously sentenced to be burnt. The emperor indeed complained of the contempt shown to his authority, and of the perfidy used towards the delinquent, but all in vain. Huss was inhumanly dragged to execution; he was stripped of his sacerdotal habit, deprived of his degrees, and, with a paper crown on his head, with pictures of devils round, and the inscription of "Heresiarch," he was burned alive, July, 1415. He endured his torments with uncommon fortitude and truly Christian resignation. His ashes were collected, and then sprinkled in the Rhine.