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WARRIOR OF GOD JAn ŽiŽKA And the hussite RevoLution
Victor Verney Foreword by
David Muhlena
Frontline Books, London
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
List of illustrations and Maps Foreword Preface
vii ix xiii
introduction hunter, highwayman, Mercenary, Courtier Preachers and Popes the emperor strikes Praguers and Pikharts Conferences and Crusaders entrances and exits discipline and discord death and defeat
1 11 32 60 86 119 147 177 205
Bibliography index
231 234
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Chapter 8
DEATH AND DEFEAT ‘there is no difference between the peasantry and the Castle’, said the teacher. ‘Maybe’, said K., ‘that doesn’t alter my position.’ Franz Kafka, The Castle
the utraquist or Calixtine faction of the hussites had always hoped they might ultimately reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church. however, they were overwhelmingly opposed to acknowledging sigismund as the king of Bohemia. the 1423 st Gall diet, however, undercut this resolve. When Městecký and Půta had corresponded with the emperor regarding the utraquists’ long-sought disputation, sigismund’s qualified response still represented a shift from his hard-line stance towards the Four Articles. it seems likely, given three unsuccessful attempts at military conquest, that sigismund had determined diplomacy to be a more fruitful path to formal recognition as king of the Bohemian Lands. the hussites, not sigismund, terminated negotiations on this matter, after which a crestfallen emperor decided it was time for a fourth crusade. the breakdown of discussions between the Bohemian estates and sigismund was due primarily to Prague, whose citizens still hated the emperor. After Korybut had ousted the Zelivists, Prague politics were less democratic, but popular sentiment was still noted by the new city council. Led by William Kostka, the government calmed the city and re-established the rule of law. Kostka was an able civic administrator, as 205
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Warrior of God well as a political centrist. this allowed him to bring together the conservative elements at the same time displaying moderation towards the radicals (as in september 1422, when he interceded with Korybut on their behalf ). he knew that entering into any agreement with sigismund would enflame passions and likely lead to widespread riots. Kostka had other reasons for keeping his distance from the st Gall diet. his ultimate political goal, re-establishing Korybut as Bohemia’s monarch, was directly opposed to that of the diet, which was implicitly aimed at sigismund’s accession to the throne. Korybut had never foresworn the idea of wearing the Bohemian crown and had remained in contact with his supporters in Prague and throughout Bohemia. in early March 1424, Kostka dispatched diplomats to Poland and sent a second delegation the following month. the first diplomatic initiative was led by the englishman Peter Payne, scarcely a conservative. the second embassy in April was led by valkoun of Adlary, a long-time Žižka supporter. Payne arrived in Poland just after emperor sigismund who had gone to Cracow to participate in the coronation of Władyslaw’s young bride, sofia. Payne’s diplomatic corps met with Władyslaw on 25 March at Wiślica and renewed their request for a public hearing on the Four Articles. they suggested it be held not in Brno but in one of two Moravian hussite towns, uničov or Kroměříž. the Polish King ran the idea by sigismund who promptly vetoed it. the Czech delegates then travelled to Lithuania and met Grand duke vytautas on 25 April at Przelom near Grodno. here, Payne submitted something completely different: if vytautas was unwilling to honour his pledge to accept the Bohemian crown it was suggested that he should give his permission for his nephew to do so. vytautas bluntly refused, stating that, if Korybut went to Bohemia and assumed the throne, he, vytautas, would regard him as an enemy. in somewhat gentler terms, Władyslaw gave the same answer to valkoun when the second diplomatic initiative made the same proposal to the Polish King. the King gave his answer unaware of a flurry of discussions that were taking place between the Bohemians and several of the highest-ranking nobles of his own court. these included a 206
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Death and Defeat meeting between valkoun and Korybut, supported by pro-hussite Poles, most notably Chancellor John szafraniec. As they became engrossed in these covert manoeuvres, the Bohemians appeared to lose interest in a public disputation of the Four Articles. this disputation had been strongly supported by Władyslaw, who misinterpreted their apparent indifference and angrily decided that he would join sigismund’s crusade after all. After sending a letter to that effect to the Bohemians on 17 June, he was flabbergasted two days later when his nephew Korybut defiantly gathered 500 cavalrymen and marched south through silesia to Moravia. on his arrival, Korybut learned of Žižka’s recent victory over the Prague forces and its ramifications. Bohemia suddenly looked less welcoming; however he had crossed the Rubicon, so to speak, and there was no going back to Poland. on 29 June he arrived in Prague. Władyslaw was embarrassed, furious, and very much concerned that sigismund – who saw treachery everywhere – would suspect him of complicity. the Polish King sent a stream of letters to the German princes collectively and individually, as well as to sigismund and Pope Martin, declaring his innocence and decrying the betrayal by his rebellious nephew, whom he had disowned and whose estates he had confiscated. sigismund was unconvinced, knowing the extreme measures he and other rulers often took to camouflage their true intentions,. in late June, 5,000 Polish troops marched across the Moravian border and moved to olomouc to join duke Albert’s antihussite army, but the duke refused to open the city gates to them. For two weeks, the Poles attempted to persuade Albert (and sigismund) of their good intentions but were unable to do so and returned home, much to the secret pleasure of Chancellor szafraniec and the prohussite Polish nobility. Whatever else might ensue, there would be no Polish war against the hussites. Korybut received a fairly warm welcome in Prague, which must have bolstered his confidence. he wrote a challenging letter, effectively a declaration of war, to sigismund and duke Albert referring to himself as the ‘postulated and elected King of Bohemia and Moravia’. it 207
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Alphonse Mucha, Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel: Truth Prevails, 1916. The chapel actually had a flat ceiling, but Mucha’s depiction of Hus as beardless is historically correct. Although difficult to discern at this reduced size, Mucha portrayed Žižka standing behind Queen Sofia, seated at far right Burning of Jan Hus at the stake at the Council of Constance
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Reconstruction of a Hussite war wagon manned by hand-gunners and crossbowmen being attacked by Hungarian cavalry. Hussite infantry armed with flails are ready to launch a counter-attack. The chalice and goose banner flying above the wagon belongs to the Taborites, the most radical group of the Hussite army. Painting by Richard Hook. (Courtesy of Military Illustrated)
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Above: Hussite battle flags: (1) cavalry banner; (2) infantry banner; (3) pennon; (4 & 5) signal banners carried by leading wagons on the outside columns. (Hussite Museum, Tábor) Below left: Žižka’s ancestral family coat of arms which he later changed to depict a chalice. The crab was most likely an astrological reference Below right: (Left) Fifteenth-century Czech pavise with the common Hussite motif of David fighting the heavily-armed Goliath. (Right) Fifteenth-century Prague pavise. (Hussite Museum, Tábor)
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The blind Zizka plans a battle at night in his camp while surrounded by his war wagons. (Peter Newark’s Military Pictures)
Mikoláš Aleš, Husitský Tábor, 1877. This painting depicts Žižka’s arrival at Tábor