The great leader of the movement in Bohemia was John Huss, who was born in 1369, studied at the University of Prague, became a teacher there, and at the same time a defender of Wickliffe's doctrines, in 1398, and four years afterwards, in spite of the fierce opposition of the clergy, was made Rector of the University. With him was associated Jerome (Hieronymus), a young Bohemian nobleman, who had studied at Oxford, and was also inspired by Wickliffe's writings. The learning and lofty personal character of both gave them an influence in Prague, which gradually extended over all Bohemia. Huss preached with the greatest earnestness and eloquence against the Roman doctrine of absolution, the worship of saints and images, the Papal trade in offices and indulgences, and the idea of a purgatory from which souls could be freed by masses celebrated on their behalf. He advocated a return to the simplicity of the early Christian Church, especially in the use of the sacrament (communion). The Popes had changed the form of administering the sacrament, giving only bread to the laymen, while the priests partook of both bread and wine: Huss, and the sect which took his name, demanded that it should be administered to all "in both forms." Thus the cup or sacramental chalice, became the symbol of the latter, in the struggle which followed. [Sidenote: 1409.] The first consequence of the preaching of Huss was a division between the Bohemians and Germans, in the University of Prague. The Germans took the part of Rome, but the Bohemians secured the support of king Wenzel through his queen, who was a follower of Huss, and maintained their ascendency. Thereupon the German professors and students, numbering 5,000, left Prague in a body, in 1409, and migrated to Leipzig, where they founded a new University. These matters were reported to the Roman Pope, who immediately excommunicated Huss and his followers. Soon afterwards, the Pope (John XXIII.), desiring to subdue the king of Naples, offered pardons and indulgences for crimes to all who would take up arms on his side. Huss and Jerome preached against this as an abomination, and the latter publicly burned the Pope's bull in the streets of Prague. The conflict now became so fierce that Wenzel banished both from the city, many of Huss's friends among the clergy fell away from him, and he offered to submit his doctrines to a general Council of the Church.