What did John Huss do to reform the church?

Answer 1

John Hus (a.k.a. Jan Huss) was a religious thinker and reformer, born in Southern Bohemia in 1369. He initiated a reform movement based on the ideas of John Wycliffe. His followers became known as Hussites. The Catholic Church did not condone such uprisings, and Hus was excommunicated in 1411 and burned at the stake in Constance on July 6, 1415, having been condemned by the Council of Constance, in an unfair trial.

Hus became the first rector of the Czech university, and enjoyed the favor of the court. In the mean time, the doctrinal views of Wycliffe had spread over the whole country. He asked to be exempted from recanting doctrines which he had never taught; others, which the assembly considered erroneous, he was willing to revoke; to act differently would be against his conscience. These words found no favorable reception.

The executioners undressed Hus and tied his hands behind his back with ropes, and his neck with a chain to a stake around which wood and straw had been piled up so that it covered him to the neck. Still at the last moment, the imperial marshal, Von Pappenheim, in the presence of the Count Palatine, asked him to save his life by a recantation, but Hus declined with the words "God is my witness that I have never taught that of which I have been accused by false witnesses. In the truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached I will die to-day with gladness."

Answer 2

John Huss was a Czech religious reformer who criticized the corruption and wealth of the Catholic Church during the 15th century. He advocated for the translation of The Bible into the vernacular language, criticized the selling of indulgences and challenged the authority of the Pope. His teachings and reforms were influential in the later Protestant Reformation movement led by Martin Luther.