Battle of Vitusberg
In the Battle of Vitusberg on July 14, 1420 , the Catholic crusaders suffered the first heavy defeat against the Hussites under the leadership of Jan Žižka . The Veitsberg ( Vítkov ) is located on the outskirts of Prague (now within the city limits), the battles were fought in a vineyard, the Emperor Charles IV. , The father of the Bohemian King Sigismund , had indicated to create.
Call to the crusade
From February 10, 1420 at the latest, after several secret negotiations with the papal nuncio and representatives of the Breslau Reichstag , King Sigismund came to the conclusion that a crusade against the Hussites was inevitable. On March 1st, at the request of Sigismund , Pope Martin V proclaimed a crusade against Hussite, Wyclifish and other " heretics " with the bull Omnium plasmatoris domini in Florence . On March 15, Sigismund ordered the execution of Jan Krasy, a Hussite and leader of the Breslau uprising of 1418, in Breslau. Two days later, the nuncio and papal legate Ferdinand de Palacios (Ferdinand of Lucca ) solemnly announced the execution in Breslau.
Reactions to the proclamation of the crusade, first battles
This news struck Prague like lightning. The Utraquists now also knew that they would not reach a compromise with Sigismund and joined forces with the Taborites for defense. Rich German and Catholic aristocrats moved their fortunes to surrounding castles, poorer Catholics fled. At the same time, the Hussites started digging the trenches to defend the New Town and Vyšehrad . The first real shaft of the Hussite Wars took place near Sudoměř in South Bohemia on March 25th. 400 Taborites under Jan Zizka withstood an attack by around 2,000 Imperial Catholic horsemen. The battle of Sudoměř established the reputation of Zizka's invincibility and gave rise to the development of the wagon castle tactics .
The Catholic army gathered near Schweidnitz in Silesia . On April 4, Taborite troops destroyed Catholic troops near Mlada Vozica . On April 7th, Taborites under Nikolaus von Hus conquered Sedlice , then Písek , the Rabi Castle near Schüttenhofen , Strakonitz and Prachatitz . The reason for the siege and storming of Rabi Castle was the support given by Jan von Ryzmburk to King Sigismund. Rabi was sacked and Žižka had seven monks who were hiding in the castle burned at the stake.
The monasteries of Mühlhausen , Nepomuk and Goldenkron are also destroyed by Taborites. Around the same time, in early April, the Kalixtines took power in Prague. The arrival of their commander Vinzenz von Wartenberg in Prague, who on April 17, 1420 took the Hradschin by ruse and chased away the Catholic prelate and refugees, further increased the resistance of the Hussites. On May 13th, the Postelberg Benedictine monastery and its library were burned down.
End of April / May 1420: The crusade army in Bohemia
At the end of April the crusade troops crossed the Bohemian border. Already on May 3rd, Königgrätz surrendered under the leadership of Ambrož Hradecký . On May 7, Vinzenz von Wartenberg - until then a commander of the Kalixtines (Utraquists) - surrounded the Hradschin, and Czech and German mercenaries occupied it on the same day. In Czech historiography, Wartenberg's behavior is considered treason. The Hussites then set fire to Lesser Town in Prague to prevent supplies to the royal family . The royals were then reinforced by a further 364 nobles, knights and cities who declared war on the Prague people. The conditions for a surrender negotiated between representatives of both parties in Kuttenberg , the Hussites regarded as unacceptable. They therefore decided to call on the rural population for help in defending Prague.
Fight at Beneschau in Central Bohemia
The call for help did not reach the Taborites until the early morning of May 17th. The next day a combat group moved towards Prague. A first encounter with the enemy took place at Beneschau . After an evasion maneuver, Peter von Sternberg and his comrades-in- arms beat 400 of the royalists who had tried to defend the city against the Taborites. After the battle the Catholic troops were destroyed and Beneschau burned down.
In the meantime, the Hussites were met by Hungarian horsemen from Kuttenberg in Eastern Bohemia. When the captains of the Taborites camped in Porschitz an der Sasau (Czech: Poříčí nad Sázavou ) not far from Beneschau heard of it, they gave the order to leave and built a wagon castle at a strategically more favorable point . Despite the falling darkness, the Catholics under Janek von Chtenic and Philippo Scolari attacked on the evening of May 20, a bloody battle broke out near the town, around 45 kilometers southeast of Prague. The more than two thousand horsemen were put to flight by the Hussites under the leadership of Jan Žižka .
The Taborites reach Prague, more fighting
During the further train to Prague there was no more fighting, and on May 20, 1420 (other source: May 22) the Hussites reached the city. In the following days they were reinforced by troops from Saaz , Laun and Schlan . Jan Žižka destroyed the train of the imperial family that was supposed to secure supplies for the garrisons at the Prague castles Hradschin and Vyšehrad. Meanwhile, Hungarian horsemen of the crusade army conquered the cities of Schlan, Laun and Melnik, which had been abandoned by the Hussites . Murders, rape and pillage followed again.
June: Beginning of the siege of Prague
On June 12, Sigismund moved from Wroclaw to Břevnov near Prague (now a district of Prague). He set up his command post and his main camp here and lured the Hussites out of their castle with a mock attack. One source names June 12th as the beginning of the siege of Prague, other sources name June 29th, the day on which Sigismund entered the Hradschin. According to information from chroniclers, the crusaders numbered 100,000 to 200,000 soldiers, modern historians assume 50,000 to 100,000.
A little earlier, Ulrich II von Rosenberg , who was only 17 years old, had offered his services to Sigismund. Ulrich had been brought up in the spirit of the Hussites, but now, in view of the atrocities of the Taborites, like his guardian Vinzenz von Wartenberg, he campaigned for the Catholic side by, together with Duke Albrecht of Austria and Duke Ernst of Bavaria, from 23 June Alttabor ( Czech Ústí, later Sezimovo Ústí ) besieged. When the Taborites found out, 350 Hussites, led by Nikolaus von Hus , came to the aid of the besieged city. On June 30th there was a counterattack, Albrecht and the Rosenbergs suffered a defeat and withdrew, their soldiers, if they could not escape, were massacred. The Hussites then withdrew to the castle. Ernst continued the siege and captured Alttabor on July 9th, the entire garrison of the city was slain or burned.
Before the battle
At the end of June the crusaders took up line-up to attack. Their camps stretched from Prague Castle to the village of Bubny (on today's Strossmayer Square in Prague). It was the largest army of intervention that had occupied Bohemia by then. They faced 9,000 (according to other sources: 12,000) defenders of the city of Prague. However, Prague was well supplied with supplies and could withstand a long siege. From the line-up of Sigismund's army it was evident that their main attack was to be carried out over the hospital fields (today the Karlín district ). Jan Žižka had meanwhile had two bastions built on Vitus Hill , which protected an open flank through which the Prague residents could continue to receive supplies. (According to the English Wikipedia, somewhat abbreviated: One of the most important points in the fortifications of the city was the Vitusberg, the fortifications there made of tree trunks, reinforced by a wall and ditches, secured the supply lines of the crusaders (sic!). In the southern part of the hill stood a tower, the northern flank was protected by a steep rock. The crew of these fortifications consisted of only about 30 to 60 people.)
On July 4th, a “synod” in Prague gave absolute power to the radical priest Jan Želivský . Before the battle, the papal legate Ferdinand von Lucca had the Four Prague Articles examined again, the acceptance of which the Hussites made a condition of the task. The legate, however, rejected the articles and demanded almost unconditional submission.
The battle
The Prague refused to do this and preferred to take up the unequal fight. Because of the fortifications mentioned, Sigismund was first forced to take Vitkov (Vitkov). On July 13th, the Catholic cavalry crossed the Vltava River and began their attack. On July 14th, the Hussite relief force under Jan Žižka attacked the crusaders with success. Most of Žižka's soldiers fought with flails and rifles. After a fierce battle they won, the crusaders lost 300 knights. According to another source, 30,000 crusaders marched against the aforementioned fortifications that day, which were defended by less than a hundred people at the castle, including Žižka. At a critical point in time, when Sigismund's soldiers were already entering the bastions, farmers armed with flails and 50 riflemen came to their aid. The cries of battle had strengthened the resistance of the Hussites so much that the crusaders were forced to retreat in chaos after a short time. The battle was decided within an hour.
After the battle
Five days after this fight, a fire broke out in the crusader camp, which mainly killed tents with supplies. The battle was more of a political than a military success, and Sigismund had to start new negotiations on the four articles. In view of the wavering attitude of his allies, Sigismund had himself crowned King of Bohemia on July 28th in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral - i.e. on the Hradschin - which the Hussites could not prevent. On July 30th the Army of the Cross withdrew.
Because of the battle, Vitusberg was renamed in Czech, since then it is no longer called Vítkov, but Žižkov after Jan Žižka, which is also the name of the Prague district that is located there today . The national monument with a nine-meter-high bronze equestrian statue stands on the hill today. In 2003, community representatives tried to rebuild the vineyard in which the battle took place.
See also list of battles
Literary representation
- Alois Jirásek : Against all the world. Roman (= Slavic Roman Library. 13, ZDB -ID 2195432-X ). Translated from the Bohemian by Joža Höcker. 2 volumes. J. Otto, Prague 1911, (again: Aufbau, Berlin 1956. Translated from the Czech by Josef Zivný and Egon Jiřiček. Original: Proti Všem. ).