Against the backdrop of the Western Schism and an intense rivalry between the German and the Czech masters at the University of Prague, Jan Hus, the dean of the philosophy faculty, embraced the philosophical writings of John Wycliffe. After taking control of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, which had become the centre of the growing national reform movement in Bohemia, Hus became increasingly absorbed in public preaching and eventually emerged as the popular leader of the religious reform movement in Czechoslovakia. Found to be a dangerous heretic by the Council of Constance, he was burned at the stake on this day.
| 1964: | | | Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) broke from British rule and became an independent country under the Commonwealth of Nations. |
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| 1957: | | Tennis player Althea Gibson became the first black to win the Wimbledon singles championship with her defeat of Darlene Hard. |
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| 1928: | | The first full-length sound motion picture, Lights of New York, premiered in New York City. |
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| 1885: | | Louis Pasteur successfully tested an antirabies vaccine. |
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| 1777: | | | British General John Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga from the Americans during the American Revolution. |
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