Mikuláš z Husi a Pístného

Mikuláš z Husi a Pístného ( Nikolaus von Hus ) (* around 1375 , † December 24, 1420 in Prague ) was a Czech country nobleman, Hussite politician and military leader.

Life

Mikuláš z Pístného was first mentioned in 1389 as the owner of the Pístný fortress near Hřebečníky . He came from the simple landed gentry. At the end of the 14th century he entered royal service and was made burgrave of Hus Castle in the Bohemian Forest by King Wenceslaus IV in 1399 . After 1415 he changed his name to his new seat in z Husi a Čichtic . After 1417 he was appointed Burgrave of Prachatitz . In between he served as a mercenary in Austria .

During the religious disputes he stood on the side of the teaching of Jan Hus . When King Wenceslas IV visited the Church of St. Apollinus in 1419, he publicly asked him to allow communion in both forms. Mikuláš was then banished from Prague, but held outdoor worship services and considered armed resistance.

Shortly after the king's death on August 16, 1419, he returned to Prague. At the head of the Prague insurgents, he led the attack on Prague's Lesser Town . After the armistice between Sophie of Bavaria and the Hussite leader Vinzenz von Wartenberg on November 13, 1419 , he left Prague and occupied the Green Mountain near Nepomuk . He could not defend it for long, however; he was taken by Bohuslav von Schwanberg . Mikuláš joined the Taborites and was elected first of their four captains.

When the Hussites rushed to the Prague's aid before the Battle of Vitusberg, he led the Taborite unit together with Jan Žižka . After the siege of Tábor by Ulrich II von Rosenberg , he returned with 350 horsemen. On June 30, 1420 Ulrich's troops were massacred by his unit. He then returned to Prague with about forty horsemen and besieged Vyšehrad together with Žižka . He also occupied an island in the Vltava River in today's Prague district of Podolí , thus preventing Sigismund's planned attack across the water. He then settled with his entourage in what is now Prague's Pankrác district, from where he contributed to the defeat of the royal crusade army on November 1st .

After this victory, the Prague Hussites split. When it was decided on November 14, after mutual agreement, to offer the Bohemian crown to the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło , he was the strongest opponent of the agreement. He probably hoped to be proclaimed king himself. On November 17th he left Prague and fought in the conquest of Popovice and after its capture at Leštno Castle . On November 19, the followers of the Taborites were denied the office of lay judge in Prague's Old Town and then in Prague's New Town .

Mikuláš concluded an armistice with the occupiers in Leštno , besieged Říčany and called the Prague Hussites to help. He asked them, based on earlier contracts, to have the Prague gates guarded by both Taborites and Prague residents. The lay judges, who guessed his intention, did not respond to the proposal and, after the conquest of Říčany, called a meeting attended by the nobles and clergy from both camps. In this meeting the religious dispute should be settled. On December 10th, when everyone agreed to discuss the disputes in the seat of the aristocratic family Zmrzlík von Schweising , which at the time was administered by Peter Zmrzlík von Schweising , the lay judges held a meal in the Old Town Hall . Žižka and Mikuláš were also invited. He refused to come, pointing out that he was threatened with murder there.

On the same day he left the city with the vow never to return to Prague. When he and his entourage crossed a bridge over the Botič River, his horse ran away. Mikuláš fell and was seriously injured. He was brought to the house of Ulrich II von Rosenberg, which he had already conquered, and died a short time later.

person

Mikuláš z Husi was not one of the well-known representatives of the Hussites , although František Palacký wrote about him: "... to friends and enemies he was considered an outstanding head of the nation and his fellow classmates ..." Together with Jan Žižka he belonged to the radical wing of the Hussites. He soon recognized the power that emanated from a popular movement and knew how to use it.

biography

Miloslav Polívka: Mikuláš z Husi a nižší šlechta v počátcích husitské revoluce, Rozpravy Československé akademie věd 92/1, Prague 1982

Web links

• Literature and other media by and about Mikuláš z Husi a Pístného in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic