Our hussite figures:
Link to the page devoted to the construction of our Hussite trolleys. (WIP)Link to the page devoted to our Hussite artillery figurines
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| Hussite Knights. In yellow, in the center: General Hyneck Krusina von Lichtenburg |
Sources of texts below: Protestant museum and page wikipedia devoted to the Hussite crusades:
Born in Southern Bohemia, Jean Hus is a poor student at the University of Prague. He was ordained a priest in 1400 and became a confessor of the Queen of Bohemia and dean of the Faculty of Theology in Prague. He decides to preach in the Czech language and his sermons regularly gather more than 3,000 people. He undertakes to translate the Gospel into Czech, which helps to fix the Czech literary language.
At the same time, he is fighting for the Czechs to be masters in their country (against the emperor, king of Bohemia) and to use their national language in public life. It thus embodies the aspirations of the Czechs.
In 1414 he was summoned before the Council of Constantius and went there with a safe-conduct from the Emperor Sigismund. He was however condemned for heresy and burned alive in 1415 and his writings were burned.
The martyrdom of Jan Hus leads to 18 years of war in Bohemia
The "defenestration" in Prague on July 30, 1419 of notable Catholics was the beginning of an insurrection of the Hussites (defenders of the ideas of Jan Hus) who resisted with fierceness five crusades that Europe sends to the call of the pope and Of the king of Bohemia against the "heretics".
The Four Articles of Prague (1420) set out the program of the Hussites:
The communion under the two species,
The free preaching of the Gospel,
The confiscation of the property of the clergy,
The punishment of mortal sins.
Some Hussite radicals advocate the community of goods, absolute equality and the universal priesthood.
The first anti-Hussite crusade (1420-1421)
Sigismund became king of Bohemia on the death of his brother Wenceslas; But it was not clear whether the succession was hereditary or elective. As support of the Church of Rome, he obtained the help of Pope Martin V, who promulgated on 14 March 1420 a crusade for the destruction of heretics. A vast crossed army gathering together numerous German princes and adventurers attracted by pillage from all over Europe besieged Prague on 30 June. The Hussite army led by Jan Žižka won the victory over the Crusaders at the battle of Vitkov, and Žižka entered Prague as a liberator. The hill of Vitkov will now bear the name of Žižkov. Negotiations were undertaken to try to resolve religious differences.
Sigismund guarded the castles of Vysehrad and Prague, which, if they dominated Prague, were isolated from each other. Trying to refuel Sigismund was defeated on 1 November near Pankrác, a suburb of Prague. Almost all Bohemia was under the control of the rebels.
Sigismund guarded the castles of Vysehrad and Prague, which, if they dominated Prague, were isolated from each other. Trying to refuel Sigismund was defeated on 1 November near Pankrác, a suburb of Prague. Almost all Bohemia was under the control of the rebels.
The Second Crusade (1421-1422)
Internal disorders did not allow the new teachers to organize themselves effectively. In Prague, priest Jan Želivský became dictator and in Tabor, the egalitarian movement (pronouncing the absolute equality of all before God and on earth, pronouncing the division of material goods) was repressed by Žižka. Shortly afterwards, a new crusade was begun. A large German army invaded and laid siege, in August 1421, of the city of Žatec. The Crusaders hoped to have the support of Sigismund but he was a prisoner in Hungary. At the announcement of the arrival of the Hussite army the Crusaders fled. Sigismund did not arrive in Bohemia until the end of the year when he took possession of the town of Kutná Hora and suffered a decisive defeat at the battle of Německý Brod (Deutschbrod) on 6 January 1422. The strength of the Hussite peasant troops rests In their alliance with the artisans of the towns: the peasants resisted the assaults of knights armed with simple lances by walls (Vozová hradba in Czech) or forts with wagons (Wagenburg in German), using modern firearms (rifles and guns ) Made by craftsmen. These artisans are even inventors of the ancestor of the gun.
Civil War, third, fourth and fifth crusades
Jan Želivský was arrested on 9 March 1422 by the communal council of Prague and beheaded. Žižka had to put down troubles in Tabor. Prince Sigismond Korybutovic of Poland became for a short time the governor of the country. But after his departure the civil war broke out again between the Uraquists of Prague and the Taborites. These led by Žižka beat the Uraquist army led by Cenek de Wartemberg; Shortly after an armistice was concluded at Konopilt. The rebels invaded Catholic Moravia, where part of the population favored their belief.
It was around this troubled time that part of the Roma decided to leave the Czech Republic. A group of Roma obtained from Sigismund a safe-conduct, signed on 17 April 1423 at the castle of Spis. It is with this document that the Roma go through the Holy Roman Empire and arrive in France where they were (badly) welcomed under the name of "Bohemians", for coming from Bohemia, the Latin name of the country.
Two other crusades, with no great consequences, followed (1422 and 1426-1427) as well as a final crusade, the fifth which was also the largest, culminating in a resounding fiasco (1433-1434)
Peace agreement
On May 30, 1434, the Hussite fratricidal conflict between the extremists and the moderates resumed. The army of the Taborites was crushed at the battle of Lipany, which saw the death of the Hejtman of the utraquists, Procopius the Great.
The moderates having gained the upper hand, they submitted their demands, which were accepted on July 15th, 1436, by the Holy See after a small amendment, which mainly concerned the possessions of the Catholic orders at Jihlava. The Compactata were also endorsed in 1436 by the Emperor Sigismund whose only chance was to be recognized as king of Bohemia by the States General of the Bohemian crown. The Compactata recognize the confiscation of the property of the Church during the Hussite uprisings, which confiscated the Czech nobility and the cities. The "democratic" expectations of the less privileged sections of the population were, for the most part, disappointed.
The moderates having gained the upper hand, they submitted their demands, which were accepted on July 15th, 1436, by the Holy See after a small amendment, which mainly concerned the possessions of the Catholic orders at Jihlava. The Compactata were also endorsed in 1436 by the Emperor Sigismund whose only chance was to be recognized as king of Bohemia by the States General of the Bohemian crown. The Compactata recognize the confiscation of the property of the Church during the Hussite uprisings, which confiscated the Czech nobility and the cities. The "democratic" expectations of the less privileged sections of the population were, for the most part, disappointed.
