March 1427 – May 1428
Austria and Silesia, 1427–1428
On 12 March 1427 the Taborites and the Orphans under Prokop lay siege to Zwettl in Lower Austria. On 25 March by most accounts an Austrian relief army under Reinprecht of Walsee and Leopold of Krayg attacks them, perhaps on the vineyard hill by the town, and after four hours puts them to flight. While the Austrians plunder the abandoned wagon fort, the Hussites rally and attack again, and the Austrians lose 4,000 men by Andreas of Regensburg, 9,000 by the Czech accounts, before they reach the shelter of the town walls. The Hussites plunder Altenburg abbey and go home by Horn.
The town walls of Zwettl, which the Hussites besieged in March 1427Wikimedia Commons, Duke of W4, CC BY-SA 3.0 at (Stadtmauer bei Schulgasse 6 in Zwettl.jpg)
In mid May the field armies ride into Upper Lusatia and Silesia, round Zittau to Lubań, Lwówek and Jawor, and return by Trutnov and Náchod with gold, silver and cattle. After the crusade Prokop takes Kolín from Diviš Bořek of Miletínek on 16 December 1427 and leads Taborites, Orphans, Praguers and Moravian Hussites into Upper Hungary. They plunder the suburbs of Pressburg on 18 February 1428 and turn back by Šintava and Nové Mesto nad Váhom to Uherský Brod.
The walls and the Lubań tower of Lwówek Śląski, on the Hussite ride of May 1427Wikimedia Commons, PITORIO, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Mury obronne wraz z Wieżą Lubańską w Lwówku Śląskim.jpg)
From there the army turns north through the Moravian Gate into Silesia. The people of Ostrava and Osoblaha flee, Głogówek is taken, Duke Václav of Opava makes a truce and Bolko of Opole an alliance. On 18 March 1428 the Hussites beat the army of Bishop Konrad of Wrocław, led by Půta of Častolovice, outside Nysa. Its peasant foot breaks after a short fight, and about 2,000 are said to be killed or drowned in the river, but Půta holds the town. They raid across Silesia, take ransom from the towns, burn the suburbs of Wrocław on 1 May and go home by Kłodzko.
Sources
- František Šmahel, Die Hussitische Revolution (2002), vol. 3.
- Petr Čornej, Velké dějiny zemí Koruny české V, 1402–1437 (2000).
- Ferdinand Stöller, “Österreich im Kriege gegen die Hussiten (1420–1436)”, Jahrbuch für Landeskunde von Niederösterreich 22 (1929), pp. 45 to 47.
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