Jan Žižka, Podkrušnohoří a Chomutov v roce 1421 aneb O dobývání měst
Jan Žižka, the Podkrušnohoří Region, and Chomutov in 1421: On the Conquest of Towns

Summary/Abstract: The well-known campaign of the Hussite armies, the Prague and Tabor armies led by Jan Žižka, into western and north-western Bohemia in February and March 1421 has been reconstructed by historians several times, yet it has repeatedly attracted scholarly attention due to a number of unresolved issues. The original aim of the Hussite expedition was to get the unrecognized Bohemian ruler and Roman and Hungarian king Sigismund of Luxembourg to abandon the siege of the Tabor garrison defending itself in the monastery complex at Kladruby nearby Stříbro. This task was easily accomplished on 11 or 12 February, when Sigismund, fearing enemy forces, withdrew to Litoměřice rather than risk a clash. The Hussites thus chose an alternative programme. After capturing Rokycany, the Rosenberg castle of Vildštejn (Vlčtejn) and the fortress in Štěnovice (where the Tabor garrison was probably placed only in February 1421, not at the beginning of 1420), on 14 February they besieged the town of Plzeň, the strongest stronghold of the Plzeň Landfryd, which united Catholic nobles, towns and religious institutions from the whole West Bohemian region. Four weeks of futile attempts to seize the well-protected city of 20 hectares showed the limits of Hussite soldiering. Due to insufficient human capacity, logistical difficulties, and the low technical quality of the works of the time, the Hussites were unable to control towns with an area exceeding 18 hectares throughout the Hussite Revolution (1419– 1436), or even smaller urban fortifications if they had a large garrison and were located in terrain that was not easily accessible (see Table 2 for an overview). If the Hussites captured them, it was usually by trickery and subterfuge. Otherwise, however, the military campaign in the Podkrušnohoří region, where the Hussite troops headed from Pilsen, was extremely successful. The greatest response was the conquest of the town of Chomutov (an area of less than 9 hectares), accompanied by a ruthless advance against the Catholic garrison and the predominantly German civilian population. The indiscriminate attack on the town, undertaken on Palm Sunday, 16 March 1421, was carried out because the defenders refused to capitulate and accept the Hussite programme. The Hussites, in accordance with Old Testament, ancient and chivalric customs, killed all the captured fighting men, but this time they did not spare several wo men, who were burned to death by the Tabor warriors in a vineyard hut outside the town. The reason for this is not clear (perhaps the burghers tried to smuggle jewels and money in violation of the convention), but it was certainly not the obscene behaviour of the Chomutov women, who allegedly exposed their private parts on the walls before the Hussite attack in order to provoke and humiliate their enemies. This explanation is an afterthought and does not appear before the middle of the 16th century. In the realm of targeted slander, we must also refer to the reports of the slaughter of infants by the Hussites, who allegedly sang Easter songs while killing innocent children. Stories about the murder of newborn babies and toddlers commonly served (and still do) to demonise the enemy and were also used by the Hussites against the Crusaders as propaganda. If children did die in Chomutov, it was Jewish children who followed their parents, refusing to accept baptism at the hands of Hussite priests and preferring death in flames. Even captured Catholic priests ended up in the fire, as did the corpses of most of the slaughtered Catholics. Catholic (especially Crusader) armies did not act differently in relation to the Hussites. Realistically, the number of victims in Chomutov can be estimated at about 250 people (the town had no more than 1200 inhabitants), the figures of 2000-2500 dead are exaggerated. A thorough examination of the surviving sources has led to the conclusion that Jan Žižka personally participated in the conquest of Chomutov (see Table 1). The suppression of Žižka’s presence in the Hussite Chronicle of Laurence of Březová probably served to correct the image of the commander in a positive sense.

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