April – August 1427
The fourth crusade, 1427
In March 1427 Pope Martin V proclaims a new crusade against the Hussites and makes Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, cardinal and legate. On 17 April the Prague radicals seize Sigismund Korybut, who has been negotiating in secret with the Catholic side, and hold him at Valdštejn castle. Of the four armies planned, the crusaders gather only at Nuremberg, later at Weiden, at Cheb under Frederick of Brandenburg and at Freiberg. The main army joins at Planá under Otto of Ziegenhain, archbishop of Trier, and lays siege to Stříbro on 23 July. Modern estimates put it at about 20,000 with the Plzeň landfrýd and the English archers in Beaufort’s pay, and Bartošek of Drahonice at 80,000 horse.
Cardinal Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and papal legate for the crusade of 1427, engraving by James ParkerWikimedia Commons, James Parker (1750-1805), Public domain (Cardinal henry beaufort (cropped).jpg)
The Hussite unions gather at Prague, march to Karlštejn on 18 July and move west by Rokycany when they hear of the siege, 16,000 foot and 1,500 horse by Bartošek. On 2 August the crusaders send Duke Henry of Landshut with 3,000 horse against the Hussite column, and he comes back at midnight without having fought. The same day, as the camp before Stříbro is burned for the move, the levies and the carters start for the Bavarian border, and the rest of the army follows them back to Tachov.
On 4 August the crusaders flee before the battle. Quarrels among the commanders, the disorderly move from Stříbro and the failed sortie have broken the army before the Hussites come. Beaufort tries to rally it before Tachov. By the gunsmith Hans Rosenplüt, who is with the army, the banner falls when someone tries to take it from the hesitating Duke John of Neumarkt, and the crusaders take it as an ill omen. Bartošek writes that the cardinal raises the papal and imperial banners and the cross, and when nothing helps throws the banners down before the Germans. The Hussites catch only stragglers. Tachov, held by the Plzeň landfrýd, is stormed on 11 August, and its castle surrenders on 14 August with about 1,400 prisoners.
Cardinal Henry Beaufort raises the banner before the fleeing crusaders, drawing by Věnceslav Černý, about 1927Wikimedia Commons, Věnceslav Černý, Public domain (And then the cardinal legate, in despair and anger, raised the precious banner... (Kantorovy trampoty).png)
Sources
- Frederick G. Heymann, “The Crusades against the Hussites”, in Harry W. Hazard (ed.), A History of the Crusades, vol. 3 (1975), pp. 609 to 618.
- Count Lützow, The Hussite Wars (1914), ch. 5.
- Bartošek of Drahonice, Chronicle, and the Old Czech Annals, after the Czech Wikipedia article Bitva u Tachova.
Prev: The sally and the flightNext: Austria and Silesia, 1427–1428