(properly pronounced, his name rhymes with goose, which is also what his name happens to mean in Czech)- a 15th-century priest born in what was then called Bohemia, who was burned at the stake July 6, 1415 for heresy. He was the namesake of the Hussite reform movement, and was strongly influenced by Wyclif. Although often accused of heresy, King Sigismund liked him and did what he could to protect him. What finally got him killed was his 'view' that the pope did not exist by divine ordinance, but rather had been established by the Church for organizational and governing purposes (oh, really?). This royally pissed off the Council of Constance, which had only recently succeeded in uniting all of Western Christendom under the current pope by the skin of his skullcap. Thus, in order to keep the Church's hard won victory from being undone, poor Jan had to sizzle.