20 May – 13 July 1420
Prague under siege
On Vítkov hill about 30 Hussites in timber and earth works, and then a sally from Prague, beat back several thousand crusader horse, 7,000 to 8,000 by Laurence of Březová. The works close a narrow ridge where only a few men can attack side by side, and the sally takes the crusaders in the flank above a steep slope.
Jan Žižka and the priest Václav Koranda look over Prague from Vítkov in 1420, by Josef MathauserWikimedia Commons, Josef Mathauser, Public domain (Josef Mathauser - Jan Žižka s Václavem Korandou na Vítkově 1420 (Historie českého národa v obrazech, obr. 045) retouched.jpg)
The Hussites hold the Old and New Towns of Prague with about 9,000 men under arms, and royal garrisons hold Prague Castle and Vyšehrad. The crusaders mean to starve the city, and the roads that still bring food to it run east of the river past Vítkov, a long ridge outside the walls of the New Town. The hill commands the ground east of Prague.
Žižka has two timber blockhouses built on the western end of the ridge, next to the gallows, behind three shallow ditches and a wall of earth and stones. On 13 July the crusaders make a first attack on the Spital field below the hill. Sigismund’s plan for 14 July is to take Vítkov and then to attack the city from three sides at once: from Prague Castle, from Vyšehrad and from the Spital field.
Sources
- Laurence of Březová, Hussite Chronicle, Czech edition Husitská kronika (1979).
- Josef Pekař, Zprávy pramenů o boji na hoře Vítkově 14. července 1420 (1926).
- Petr Čornej, Velké dějiny zemí Koruny české V (2000).
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