Battle of Vyšehrad

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The battle of Vyšehrad is a series of smaller and larger skirmishes between Hussite troops and " crusade " troops of King Sigismund during the siege of Prague Castle and the Vyšehrad district of the same name between August 16 and November 1, 1420 (capture of Vyšehrad) designated.

Before the battle

On October 25, 1419 , Hussite troops had already taken Vyšehrad once. On November 13th, Queen Sophie , who sympathized with the moderate Hussites and the wife of King Wenceslaus , promised to protect the Hussites throughout Bohemia . Thereupon the Hussite Utraquists returned the Prague Castle Hill to the royal army.

In March 1420 Pope Martin V called for a crusade against the Hussites, and in early April the crusade army crossed the Bohemian border from Silesia. Meanwhile, Žižka's troops conquered Goldenkron ( Zlatá Koruna ) (April 1420), Prachatitz and other cities, monasteries and castles in South Bohemia. In May 1420, Vinzenz von Wartenberg surrounded the Hradschin and switched to King Sigismund's side. Soldiers from Vyšehrad advanced towards the New Town of Prague . The Hussites in turn began to besiege the Vyšehrad.

In June 1420 the royal troops from Vyšehrad succeeded in securing supplies that were destined for the Hradschin . On June 12, 1420 some units of Sigismund succeeded in getting into the Hradschin with supplies and taking horses from there. During the siege of Prague, Sigismund's soldiers, who were in the two castles, advanced to Hussite positions in Prague. After the successful defense of the Hussites on July 14th on Vitus Hill , they began to bombard Vyšehrad with artillery . In doing so, however, they suffered greater losses than the defenders of the city of Prague.

After the unsuccessful attack of July 14th, the crusaders decided to attack local Hussite positions. The Hussite military leader ("hejtman") Jan Žižka left Prague in August with relief troops to come to the aid of the town of Pisek in southern Bohemia, which was threatened by Catholic troops under Ulrich II von Rosenberg . On September 15, 1420, the second siege of Vyšehrad began. In the last days of October, the commander accepted a surrender agreement. If he did not get help from Sigismund's troops by 8:00 a.m. on November 1st, he would hand over the castle. Meanwhile, another formation of the Hussites with the commander Jan Roháč z Dubé conquered the city of Lomnitz .

The battle of Vyšehrad

Sigismund planned a major attack on Prague with soldiers from Hradschin and Vyšehrad, counting on reinforcements from Pilsen ("Pilsener Union"). This battle plan was sent to the two castles by courier , but the messenger was picked up by the Hussites, who then dispatched soldiers under Žižka's command to stop the advance of reinforcements from Pilsen.

The Hussite artillery managed to stop the attack by the Hungarian and German horsemen. The Hussites then attacked. After the battle, the crusade forces withdrew. Four hundred knights were killed by the Hussites who did not take prisoners. On November 1st, the soldiers surrendered on Vyšehrad.

After the battle

On December 24, 1420, the Hussite commander Nikolaus von Hus died after an accident. In January 1421 Taborites under Jan Žižka and Chval von Machovice conquered the town of Mies and the monastery in Krakikov . The commander of Mies Castle, Bohuslav von Schwanberg , surrendered and his soldiers were able to withdraw. According to another good source, however, the capture of Mies failed. Because Sigismund did not pay a ransom for Bohuslav von Schwamberg, Bohuslav decided to join the Hussites, the Taborites later even elected him "Hauptmann" (general).

In February 1421 King Sigismund withdrew to Hungary via Moravia . The soldiers on the Hradschin did not capitulate until June 1421.

literature

  • The Hussites. The Chronicle of Laurentius von Březová, 1414–1421 (= Slavic historian. 11). Translated from Latin and Old Czech, introduced and explained by Josef Bujnoch. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 1988, ISBN 3-222-11813-2 (title of the original: Chronicon. ).
  • Jan Durdik: Hussite army. German military publisher, Berlin 1961.
  • Heinz Rieder: The Hussites. Casimir Katz, Gernsbach 1998, ISBN 3-925825-71-1 .
  • Piotr Marczak: Wojny husyckie (= W kręgu średniowiecza. 4). Egros, Warsaw 2004, ISBN 83-88185-31-4 , pp. 55-69.