Hussite Wars

“ They had advised him also to send representatives to the diet of Prague. The King readily consented. He was above all things anxious to terminate the struggle with the Hussites. The Hussite wars have so great an importance in the world’s history that it is difficult to realise how largely Sigismund was, during this period, occupied with other matters, which even to the historian now appear unimportant. At this moment the King of Hungary was principally interested in the expedition to Italy which he had planned. ”

“ Though the record of Hus is, I think, pretty well known in England, great ignorance I believe prevails with regard to the Hussite wars. It is one of the many merits of the great historian Palacký, who here, as elsewhere, has been the pioneer of modern historical research in Bohemia, that he has drawn attention to the great importance of the Hussite wars. ”

“ Both on this march and during the siege of Tachov the crusaders plundered and devastated the surrounding country to an extent unrivalled even in the bloody annals of the Hussite wars. The entire population was murdered, irrespective of their religious creed. The crusaders were undoubtedly determined to extirpate entirely the Slavic-Bohemian race. ”

“ I have already alluded to the collection of ancient chronicles, belonging to the period of the Hussite wars, which was edited by Palacký. They are all written in the national language, and are a true but little-explored storehouse for Bohemian historical research. Time obliges me to refrain almost entirely from quotation. Among the most interesting parts of the chronicle is the account of Žižka’s invasion of Hungary in 1423, by means of which he hoped to force Sigismund to renounce his claims to the Bohemian crown. ”

“ As in the old days during the Hussite wars, when the people compelled the princes of the world to give them a fair hearing by working according to the motto, Vexatio dat intellectum, so it seems that as long as the officers of the government were harassed by disturbances and uprisings on all sides, their intellect was clear and they were ready to enter upon a policy that would have brought harmony and prosperity to the nations composing the monarchy ”

“ Plzeň, to the end of the Hussite wars, remained the weak spot in the position of the nationalists. From Plzeň Žižka returned to central Bohemia. The Praguers, who had sanctioned the new negotiations with Sigismund and even taken part in them, had incurred his bitter hatred. Žižka who, as must always be remembered, was everywhere confronted by far more numerous hostile forces, entered the town of Kostelec on the Elbe, and was here besieged by a large army consisting of Praguers and of nobles both of the Utraquist and the Roman party. ”

“ For these principles our nation shed its blood in the memorable Hussite Wars, 500 years ago; and for these same principles, beside her Allies, our nation is shedding its blood today in Russia, Italy, and France."
It is said that the Czech soldiers fighting on the French front received the news of the declaration with wild enthusiasm, rushed forward, and wrested from the enemy one of the most difficult positions on the Aisne.
The Czechs were also fighting in Italy, and in Russia, although they had been first forced into the Austrian army. ”

“ It was for Žižka, perhaps, an even more difficult task to train his men to use skilfully the hand-guns and field-guns, whose superiority to the fire-arms of the enemies so greatly contributed to his victories. It is at the present moment a somewhat unfashionable theory that a people can, under the influence of extreme national or religious enthusiasm, defeat skilled soldiers after having received only a brief training. Yet this proved true during the Hussite wars, as it did during the wars of the French Revolution three and a half centuries later. ”

“ Valdštýn, a very fervent Utraquist, had, during Sigismund’s invasion of Moravia, sacrificed his large estates in that country for the sake of his cause, and had afterwards taken a considerable part in Žižka’s brilliant campaign of Kutna Hora. There is no doubt that the inconstancy and ambiguous attitude of Čeněk of Wartenberg and some other Bohemian nobles caused them to be often suspected by the Bohemian people, but of the countless writers on the Hussite wars Palacký alone has pointed out the great difficulties which then confronted the Bohemian nobles. ”

“ It is certain that men began only very gradually to realise the complete change in the methods of warfare which was a necessary consequence of the use of fire-arms. The Bohemian and Polish army, which appears to have been very considerable, occupied all the hills which surrounded the Karlštýn, and as was then the custom, erected block-houses or small forts, surrounded by ditches, which were to secure the besiegers against sorties. The Hussite army brought a considerable amount of artillery, according to the ideas of the time, and among them four large pieces of ordnance. ”

“ It is deeply to be regretted that Březova’s chronicle breaks off suddenly in the middle of his record of the year 1421. Professor Goll has edited, together with Březova’s chronicle, two other contemporary chronicles, that of the university of Prague—a not very valuable compilation—and that of Bartošek of Drahonic. Bartošek was a knight in the service of King Sigismund during the Hussite wars. He writes as a soldier, little interested in theological discussions; but with regard to the details of warfare—so sadly neglected by the other writers of the time—his work is most valuable. ”

“ When the news of the execution of Hus reached the Bohemian court, King Venceslas said: “They ought not to have treated him in this manner as he had a safe-conduct.” The king also expressed great indignation at the behaviour of the Bohemian priests, who by their false accusations and depositions had greatly contributed to the condemnation of Hus. [88] The Bohemian people never forgave Sigismund, “the dragon of the apocalypse,” as they called him, his treachery, and this feeling contributed largely to the intense bitterness and cruelty of the Hussite wars. ”

“ The church of St Bonaventura with the convent, originally belonging to the friars minor and later to the Bohemian brethren, is now a Piaristic college. The church of St Wenceslaus, once a convent of the brotherhood, is now used for military stores. Jung-Bunzlau was built in 995, under Boleslaus II., as the seat of a gaugraf or royal count. Early in the 13th century it was given the privileges of a town and pledged to the lords of Michalovic. In the Hussite wars Jung-Bunzlau adhered to the Taborites and became later the metropolis of the Bohemian Brethren. ”

“ These raids of smaller or larger Hussite bands into the neighbouring country continued during the summer and autumn of the year 1430. On December 21 the Orphans started on another foreign expedition, invading Lusatia, which had hitherto suffered less than the other neighbouring countries. ”

“ King John aids King of France, 18, 19; King John makes levies on churches and monasteries of, 20; relics in churches of, 22; attitude of King Charles towards religious authorities, ib.; its prominent part in church reform, 26; its history during Hussite wars, 27; Hussites strive to reform clergy of, 28 ”

“ Jacob Bílek stated as author, 63; a record of Augusta’s imprisonment, ib.; written in Bohemian, 65; translated into German by Dr. J. Müller, ib.
Austrian censors, an obstacle to Palacký, 93, 95, 96.
Azzo de Visconti, lord of Milan, 24.
Balbinus, 66; publisher of Life of St. Ludmilla and Martyrdom of St. Wenceslas, 3; brief description of life and character, 85; his Epitome Historica Rerum Bohemicarum, ib.; writes of Hussite Wars in a distorted manner, ib.; his Apology for the Slavic and specially the Bohemian Tongue, ib.; begins publication of A Miscellany of Bohemian History, 86. ”

“ Palacký, Francis, Bohemian historian, 1, 7; his Würdigung der alten böhmischen Geschichtschreiber standard authority, 10; shows the difficulty of obtaining history during Hussite wars, 27; publisher of Mladenovič’s biography of Hus, 29; editor of chronicles of the Hussite wars, 50; leader of Bohemian national revival movement, 88; his education, ib.; studied English writers, 89; referred to in English literature very little, ib.; at Prague, ib., 90; at Patriotic Association meeting, ib.; first editor of Journal of the Bohemian Museum, ib. ”

“ It is impossible when studying the events connected with the life of Hus not to devote great attention to the lengthy wars in Bohemia and the neighbouring countries that were the inevitable result of his unjust condemnation, and not to realise how great the influence of these wars on the development of Europe was. It is certainly due to the military genius of Žižka and the other Hussite leaders that Hussite teaching and Hussite thought long prevailed in Bohemia and largely influenced the neighbouring countries. ”

“ In spite of the bitter invectives of the enemies of Bohemia, and in spite also of the perhaps more harmful writings of indiscriminate praisers of Hussitism, the period of the Hussite war will always appear to a Bohemian as the most glorious epoch in the annals of his country. ”

“ The wagons or carts were not, indeed, entirely Žižka’s invention, but he first used them as an important feature in warfare. They were generally covered with steel or iron (ironclad, to use a modern expression) , and carried a few small field-pieces. On the march not only the warriors, but also the women, children and priests, found room in these movable forts. Through the genius of Žižka these wagons played so great a part in the Hussite war that towards the end of that war the German enemies, though not very successfully, began to adopt the system. ”

“ Of course, those old times were bad times, but the badness was at least above board and the warfare pretty stoutly waged. There is some sense in fighting your foe hand to hand, but to-day when a battle is contested by armies which never see one another, and are decimated by silent bullets, the courage needed is of a different character, and the wicked murder of such combats is obvious.
But let us quit war and confiscation for the equally stormy region known as politics, wherein it may be noted that in 1613 Michael Hussey was Member of Parliament for Dingle. ”

“ Great numbers were slaughtered by the Hussite army, which pursued the fugitives, and an immense booty fell into the hands of the victors, so that the war, instead of impoverishing, enriched the Bohemians. ”

“ The history of the last century, in particular, was dominated by a series of destructive national rivalries that left battlefields and graveyards across the Earth. Germany fought France, the Axis fought the Allies, and then the East fought the West, in proxy wars and tense standoffs, against a backdrop of nuclear Armageddon. ”

“ A plot was formed to murder all the Hussites. When, therefore, the Hussite army left the city to go out to meet the Imperial forces, the work of destruction began. The miners and other Catholics fell upon the unsuspecting people, and ruthlessly massacred all who could not give the word agreed upon, not even sparing helpless women and little children. They were aided in this bloody work by the soldiers of Sigmund, who had, through treachery, found means to enter into the city. ”

“ HUSSITE WAR.—The indignation of the followers of Huss was such that a great revolt broke out in Bohemia. The leader was a brave man, Ziska. The imperial troops, after the coronation of Sigismund as king of Bohemia, were defeated, and driven out. The Hussite soldiers ravaged the neighboring countries. The council of Basel (1431-1449) concluded a treaty with the more moderate portion of the Hussites, in which concessions were made to them. ”

“ None other than their governments, on whom, in my opinion, the guilt rests; the three rapacious eagles, the three empires, the tortuous policy of the house of Austria, the ravenous greed of Russia, the brutality of Prussia. The worst enemy of each nation is not without, but within its frontiers, and none has the courage to fight against it. ”

“ A Hussar had been taken a prisoner to the village, which was defended by 300 Germans. Under cover of their own artillery fire the French infantry advanced irresistibly.
“The German officer, who saw that he could not hold out, asked the Hussar’s advice. Of course the French soldier answered, ‘If you resist you’re all dead.’ ‘Yes,’ says the German, ‘but if we surrender, still we will all be shot.’ The Hussar assured him that France respects the laws of war, that prisoners are well treated and every one of them would be safe. The German officer quickly resolved to stop his resistance. ”

“ In the Western Empire falling more and more into ruin, amid the confusion of the repeated disasters that fall upon it, unchecked by the constant threat of invasion by the Barbarians now pressing in hordes at the very gates of the Empire whose bolts and bars are cracking under the strain, he revivifies Antiquity, sings of the Rape of Proserpine, lays on his brilliant colours, goes by with all his fires ablaze in the gathering gloom that is overspreading the world. ”

“ The Imperial army was literally cut to pieces, 8,000 wagons, filled with provisions and munitions of war, and 150 cannons, were left upon the field. The Hussites marched northward to the Baltic, and eastward into Hungary, burning, slaying, and plundering as they went. Even the Pope now yielded, and the Hussites were invited to attend the Council at Basel, with the most solemn stipulations in regard to personal safety and a fair discussion of their demands. ... In 1433, finally 300 Hussites, headed by Procopius, appeared in Basel. ”