August – November 1421
The second crusade and Žatec, 1421
On 5 August 1421 the Prague army of Jan Želivský, besieging the castle of Most, is beaten by the Meissen army of Margrave Frederick the Belligerent and the Catholic lords of North Bohemia. It is the first defeat of the Hussites in a large battle, and it weakens Želivský in Prague.
Louis III, Count Palatine, with his standard at the burning of Jan Hus in 1415, from Ulrich of Richental’s chronicle of the Council of ConstanceWikimedia Commons, Ulrich Richental, Public domain (Ludwig III. von der Pfalz bei der Hinrichtung von Jan Hus.jpg)
The army of the second crusade, about 30,000 men under the Count Palatine Louis III and the archbishops of Cologne and Trier, enters West Bohemia from Cheb on 28 August 1421. It takes Kadaň and Chomutov and lays siege to Žatec, held by about 6,000 Hussites, around 10 September. On 19 September the defenders throw back six assaults, and on 2 October, after rumours of a Hussite army coming from Prague and a fire in their camp, the crusaders retreat to the border. Thomas Ebendorfer counts 2,000 crusaders dead in the siege and the retreat.
The Hussite bastion in the town walls of ŽatecWikimedia Commons, SchiDD, CC0 (Saaz24.JPG)
Sigismund sets out from Hungary only at the start of October. In November Žižka marches into the Plzeň region with 1,500 foot and 400 horse, meets strong resistance and falls back towards Žatec. On the hill of Vladař near Žlutice he holds off the Plzeň league and Henry of Plauen behind his wagons for three days, then breaks out, the wagons moving with him, and reaches Žatec with a relief force sent from the town.
The hill of Vladař near Žlutice, seen from the south eastWikimedia Commons, Petr Kinšt, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Vladař 2017-10-14 Od Bohuslavi.jpg)
Sources
- Frederick G. Heymann, John Žižka and the Hussite Revolution (1955).
- František Šmahel, Die Hussitische Revolution (2002).
- Stephen Turnbull, The Hussite Wars 1419–36 (2004).
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