November 5, 1414 - Council of Constance

In the late 1300s, three men claimed to be Pope at the same time (known as the Avignon Papacy). This sparked a great deal of controversy that ultimately ended on November 5, 1414, when the Roman Catholic Church's Council of Constance convened in modern-day Austria. In addition to selecting the new pope, they condemned John Wycliffe of Oxford for his translation of the Bible into English and sentenced Jan Hus to death for his beliefs that were contrary to the Church’s teachings on Scripture. Both Hus and Wycliffe believed that every believer had the right to read the Bible in their own language, yet they were punished for this belief that was not shared by many at the time.