Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City (38 page)
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Authors: Peter Demetz
BOOK: Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City
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To confirm the ideological unity of the defenders of Prague, a shared (minimum) platform was defined (later known as the famous Four Prague Articles); it included “the ministering of the body and blood of the Lord to the laity in both kinds,” the “free preaching of the word of God,” the demand that “all priests, from the pope on down, should give up their pomp, avarice, and improper lordship,” and the “purgation of and cessation from all public mortal sins” (an article clearly directed against the Babylonian mores of Prague). The Hussites also agreed on a number of stringent security measures that have a distinctly modern flavor, trying, as they did, to prevent the emergence of a fifth column. Hussite delegates visited all families not known to take communion
sub utraque specie
and offered them the choice of accepting the chalice or of leaving; the historian V. V. Tomek believes that among those who left Prague at that time were at least seven hundred well-to-do German Catholics in whose houses soldiers
lodged. Wives and children of men who had left earlier were also asked to go unless they showed good reason that they were above suspicion. All people in town, except those in the Jewish district, had to affirm formally that they were ready and willing to fight the enemy, and committees were formed which investigated people of doubtful allegiance. Those who had to go were not hurt bodily, but Táborites were quick to strike back demonstratively in response to royalist terror in the provinces. When royalists killed prisoners at Slané and drowned seventeen Hussites at Litom
ice (Leitmeritz), the Táborites retaliated in full view of Hrad
any Castle: four men, two of them monks, were burned in front of the castle walls, and a few days later four more Cistercian monks who had fallen into Hussite hands. Royalists and Hussites fired at each other, the royalists from Hrad
any with artillery pieces, the Hussites stationed at Poho
elec mostly with catapults. The battle for Prague was near.
sub utraque specie
and offered them the choice of accepting the chalice or of leaving; the historian V. V. Tomek believes that among those who left Prague at that time were at least seven hundred well-to-do German Catholics in whose houses soldiers
lodged. Wives and children of men who had left earlier were also asked to go unless they showed good reason that they were above suspicion. All people in town, except those in the Jewish district, had to affirm formally that they were ready and willing to fight the enemy, and committees were formed which investigated people of doubtful allegiance. Those who had to go were not hurt bodily, but Táborites were quick to strike back demonstratively in response to royalist terror in the provinces. When royalists killed prisoners at Slané and drowned seventeen Hussites at Litom
ice (Leitmeritz), the Táborites retaliated in full view of Hradany Castle: four men, two of them monks, were burned in front of the castle walls, and a few days later four more Cistercian monks who had fallen into Hussite hands. Royalists and Hussites fired at each other, the royalists from Hradany with artillery pieces, the Hussites stationed at Pohoelec mostly with catapults. The battle for Prague was near.In early July, the armies of the crusaders—a motley crew of Germans from Meissen, Austrians, Silesians, Hungarians, and 16,000 royalist Czechs—surrounded Prague on three sides. Both Sigismund and Jan Žižka, commander in chief of the combined Hussite forces, inevitably had to turn their attention to the long, narrow Vftkov Hill, which dominated access to Prague from the east. This access was still open, which made it possible to provide the defenders of Prague with sufficient provisions (only salt slightly rose in price during the siege). On July 13, Sigismund had a small force probe the readiness of the Hussites and sent a few detachments of cavalry to the so-called Hospital Fields (now Karlín) at the bottom of Vítkov Hill; the result showed the Hussites were ready; and he scheduled the beginning of the operation for Sunday afternoon, July 14, at 5 p.m., leaving only four or five daylight hours to fight what was to be a decisive battle. He stationed his reserves along the left bank of the river, where Bubene
and Holešovice extend today, and ordered a strong army of Meissners, Austrians, Hungarians, and a battalion of Silesians to take Vítkov Hill. The tough and inventive Jan Žižka had fortified the hill as effectively as possible in a relatively short time. There were three ditches, the last of which was reinforced by a strong wall, a few bunkers of timber and stone, and an old vineyard tower, all ready to be defended by Táborites, including a few fighting women. A synchronized attack against all of their defense lines was well within the possibilities of the crusaders, and it would have created terrible difficulties, but the emperor wanted Vftkov first without engaging Hussite forces elsewhere. It was not his only blunder.
and Holešovice extend today, and ordered a strong army of Meissners, Austrians, Hungarians, and a battalion of Silesians to take Vítkov Hill. The tough and inventive Jan Žižka had fortified the hill as effectively as possible in a relatively short time. There were three ditches, the last of which was reinforced by a strong wall, a few bunkers of timber and stone, and an old vineyard tower, all ready to be defended by Táborites, including a few fighting women. A synchronized attack against all of their defense lines was well within the possibilities of the crusaders, and it would have created terrible difficulties, but the emperor wanted Vftkov first without engaging Hussite forces elsewhere. It was not his only blunder.The crusaders rode up the hill on the most easily accessible southeastern
side (where Libe
and Vyso
any are today). At the ridge, they crossed the first and second ditches without difficulty and seized the old vineyard tower. It was more troublesome to deal with the reinforced third ditch and the blockhouses, which would have been easier to take by foot soldiers; the defenders, among them two women and a girl, fought tenaciously with pitchforks and stones to the end, and one of the dying women was remembered for her last words, that a true Christian would never cede to the force of the Antichrist. It was a decisive moment: the cavalry attack lost its drive, Žižka appeared with a small group of his men, and time was gained for the defenders of Prague to send out a strong column of marksmen and people armed with deadly flails to challenge the crusaders from the left. The heavily armed knights were confused by this unexpected counterattack and could move in only one direction. Caught between the blockhouses and the Táborites on the left and the mass of following cavalry columns of their own behind them, they were pressed forward onto the hill’s narrow ridge, which did not allow for a broader unfolding of the attack. The knights tried to disengage themselves by riding to the steep, clifflike northern side of the hill. Some of them were killed in the fall, others tried to escape on the more gentle eastern slope and cross the river, but not knowing where the fords were, many drowned in the Vltava waters. The entire engagement, of about a thousand Hussites against an army of crusaders later estimated to be ten or twenty thousand strong, was over within an hour; more than three hundred of the attacking knights died in the field, among them their commander, Heinrich von Isenburg. Sigismund, who had watched the battle from the other side of the river, silently withdrew to his tent and gave no further orders that day. People spoke of Vftkov as Žižka’s Hill from that evening on.
side (where Libe
and Vysoany are today). At the ridge, they crossed the first and second ditches without difficulty and seized the old vineyard tower. It was more troublesome to deal with the reinforced third ditch and the blockhouses, which would have been easier to take by foot soldiers; the defenders, among them two women and a girl, fought tenaciously with pitchforks and stones to the end, and one of the dying women was remembered for her last words, that a true Christian would never cede to the force of the Antichrist. It was a decisive moment: the cavalry attack lost its drive, Žižka appeared with a small group of his men, and time was gained for the defenders of Prague to send out a strong column of marksmen and people armed with deadly flails to challenge the crusaders from the left. The heavily armed knights were confused by this unexpected counterattack and could move in only one direction. Caught between the blockhouses and the Táborites on the left and the mass of following cavalry columns of their own behind them, they were pressed forward onto the hill’s narrow ridge, which did not allow for a broader unfolding of the attack. The knights tried to disengage themselves by riding to the steep, clifflike northern side of the hill. Some of them were killed in the fall, others tried to escape on the more gentle eastern slope and cross the river, but not knowing where the fords were, many drowned in the Vltava waters. The entire engagement, of about a thousand Hussites against an army of crusaders later estimated to be ten or twenty thousand strong, was over within an hour; more than three hundred of the attacking knights died in the field, among them their commander, Heinrich von Isenburg. Sigismund, who had watched the battle from the other side of the river, silently withdrew to his tent and gave no further orders that day. People spoke of Vftkov as Žižka’s Hill from that evening on.The Hussites believed that the emperor would immediately renew the battle, and so they quickly built fortifications, but in the Prague towns the old tensions between radicals and moderates once again intensified, and in the camp of the crusaders individual army groups accused each other of irresponsibility. Sigismund was advised to use artillery against the Prague defenders, but did not want to do so, some saying because the Catholic German patricians in his camp were not eager to see their homes totally destroyed, others believing that he did not want to devastate his own future metropolis. (A few artillery barrages were fired from Letná Hill against his will and did some harm to the Jewish district and the parts of the Old and New Towns along the river.)
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