Friday, November 20, 2015

Hussite Wars Part 2: Crossbowmen and Handgunners

    The execution of Jan Hus, followed by that of his freind and supporter, another priest named Jerome, who was burned at the stake in May 1516 without even the appearance of a fair trial, along with the apparent treachery of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund spurred the Bohemian radicals to action, and  infuriated even the most conservative members of the Bohemian nobility. "The outraged sense of betrayal, usurpation of local judicial prerogatives, and besmirching of national honor was shared by Czechs of all social classes, temporarily overshadowing political and religious differences that later re-emerged." (Warrior of God, Victor Verney, pg 44). In the, in my opinion, unlikely event that Sigismund was not complicit in Hus' arrest and execution, subsequent events gave little evidence of it. He continued to pressure Wenceslaus to act against the Hussites. In 1419, Queen Sofia of Bohemia, although a staunch Hussite supporter herself, became fearful of an invasion of the country and convinced her indecisive husband to restrict Hussite services to just three Prague churches.

    This failed to have the desired effect (at least from Sigismund's viewpoint). Large numbers of clergy left Prague, and held open air, hilltop services unrestricted by capacity or outside authorities. It did convince the Archbishop of Prague to lift the interdict. As so many Bohemian clergy had left, Wenceslaus encouraged the return of anti-Hussite priests, many of them German, who had fled the previously city out of fear. In June 1419, a church rededication in Prague was interrupted by a Hussite crowd, lead by Jan Zevlisky, a former monk and firebrand preacher at on of the three remaining Hussite churches, St Mary's ijn the Snows. This prompted Wenceslaus to purge the city government of Hussite supporters in July 1419. The new, anti-Hussite city council instituted a series of police actions against Hussite supporters, and banned teaching of anything except strict Catholic Orthodoxy. This caused growing resentment throughout the country, and by the later part of July, Nicholas, a former courtier who had been exile from Prague earlier that year, organized a mass gathering outside of Bechyne, attended by over 40,000 people from all over the country, This gathering also was notable for the first use of the Biblical term "Tabor", which gave it's name to the radical Hussite movement. Back in Prague, Zevlisky continued to fan the fires of insurrection. At last as important, he had previously enlisted the assistance of a petty nobleman with military experience who was devoted to the Hussite cause - Jan Ziska.

    On July 30th, 1419, Zevlisky preached a fiery sermon to a packed church, condemning the actions of the City Council. Afterwards, he took the Sacred Host from the church and lead a protest march, supported my many armed men. The march proceeded to another Church that supported Rome, and was due for re-consecration. The mob stormed the barred doors of the church, and hanged a resisting priest. From there, they proceeded back to St Mary's, in the process, probably quite deliberately on Zevilsky's part, passing by the Prague City Hall. The frightened councilors had barred the doors here as well. The crowd demanded admission to present their grievances to the Council, The officials attempted to parley from the assumed safety of the upper story windows of the building. It was claimed that someone threw a stone at the Sacred Host, striking the priest leading the procession. The angry mob stormed City Hall and threw the councilors from the windows; those who survived the fall were dispatched by the crowd below. This event became known as the "First Defenestration of Prague (from the Latin phrase, de fenestra, "from a window"). Amazingly, there was to be a Second Defenestration of Prague at the start of the Thirty Year's War, 200 years later.

    A new City Council of Hussite supporters was declared, and a civic militia was decried, with several; captains, chief among them Jan Ziska. Learning of the rebellion, King Wenceslaus flew into a rage. In the midst of an angry tirade, he suffered a massive stroke, leaving him paralyzed on one side. At the same time as he reached compromise by which he would recognize the new City Council in exchange for their contrition, pledge of allegiance and agreement to follow the rule of law, he wrote to Siguismund (who was also his brother) requesting his swift and armed intervention. The King suffered a second stroke soon thereafter, and died on August 16, 1419. Queen Sofia spirited his body away to the Vysehrad castle, accompanied by loyal troops, but still was unable to bury the late King for another three weeks.

    Sigismund assumed the crown of Bohemia himself, and, afraid to come to Prague himself, appointed one Cenek of Wartenburg as regent in an attempt to curry favor with the Bohemians, Cenek being a Hussite himself. Further mass meetings and incendiary sermons ensued, and it became clear that the differences of the two sides, both political and religious, were irreconcilable. The Hussite Wars were about to commence in earnest with the first Catholic "Crusade" against the Hussite heretics.


Infantry armed with missile weapons, such as these crossbowmen, were vital to the defense of the Hussite "Wagon Fort" employed in battle against their invariably better armored and equipped enemies.


One Hussite regulation called for each Wagon to have a complement of 10 - 20 men, stated to include 2 Wagon drivers, 2 Hand gunners, 6 Crossbowmen, 14 Flailmen, 4 Halberdiers, and 2 Pavisers.


While it is alleged that a Hussite War Wagon could hold 15 to 20 men, clearly many of them would have to be fighting from between (or even under) the wagons


The Hussites were early adapters of gunpowder weapons, such as these early handguns. 


These relatively primitive firearms must have been hugely inaccurate, but at the close ranges involved in defending the wagons, their penetrating power against the masses of their foes in plate mail would have more than made up for this.


Being relatively novel weapons, the psychological effect of the noise and smoke they produced upon men and horses both must have been considerable as well. 


Although I have painted these crossbows with steel staves, the majority of the weapons used by the Hussites would have had the staves made from a composite of wood, sinew, and horn. These had the advantage of becoming stronger in cold weather (as opposed to more brittle for steel staves).


The crossbow was an excellent weapon for use against heavily armored foes, especially when the shooter could shelter behind cover during the lengthy reloading process, during which he was very vulnerable. 

These figures are once again Old Glory 25/28mm, with the "command" figures form the Mad Monks and Agitators" set. 


The smallest of the  Hussite guns would have been similar to those seen above. An example found at an archaeological dig at Tabor has a barrel 16.5" long with a caliber of 0.7 inches. There is a socket at the base for a wooden pole or stock to be inserted.


In contemporary illustrations, the guns are usually shown with the stock held under the left arm and fired with a lighted match applied to the touch hole with the right hands. Field trials of a replica of a similar hand gun showed that holding in under the right arm improved the accuracy of the weapon, but made it more difficult to fire.


These early hand guns could also be rested on a pavise or the sides of a wagon or mantlet when shooting, in an attempt to improve accuracy as well. 


Regardless, Crossbows heavily outnumbered hand guns within the Hussite armies.


The use of crossbows in conflicts between Christian states had been famously outlawed by the Second Latetran Council in 1139, the weapons being regarded as "hateful to God", and perhaps more importantly, the aristocracy!


An exception was made for use against non Christians and heretics; neither side showed any qualms at using them against their enemies!



The Battle of Sudomer, the first use of Hussite War Wagon tactics. 

This is great cinema from a Wargamer's standpoint, and considerable effort was made to be as historically accurate as reasonably possible. Note the scenes depicting the deployment of the Wagons, including setting up the mantlets between them, the realistic gunfire, etc. Well worth viewing!

The scenes are from the 1957 film "Jan Ziska", part of the Hussite trilogy of Czech director Otakar Vávra. Unfortunately, a version with English subtitles has never been made available. It (apparently)contains some Marxist propaganda, but  it is said to be limited, especially given the time of its production. Religious elements aside, perhaps the story of a largely underclass revolt, although more nationalist and theological than economic in origin, is not so dissonant with such ideology?!

The music heard is the Hussite hymn "Ktož jsú boží bojovníci", "Ye who are Warriors of God", parts of which are used in Smetana's patriotic tone poem, "Ma Vlast" (My Homeland). especially the last two movements, Tabor and Blanik.

22 comments:

  1. For me, this is a quite an obscure period. Interesting history lesson, great looking units, and movie clip all rolled into one! I wonder about the military acumen of the attackers in the movie clip. Both attacks seemed destined for failure.

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    1. Well, the "Catholic" side in this conflict certainly produced no military geniuses! However, it is important to remember that as far as the "crusaders" were concerned, they were a body of noblemen, well equipped, well armored, and well and trained, who were facing what was effectively an armed rabble of heretics. By their social standing, their faith, and the superiority of their combat ability, they had every expectation of sweeping aside this gaggle of peasants and slaughtering them! Although the use of war wagons was not original (we will come to that), certainly at Sudomer it was, if not unexpected, certainly something that almost none of the men there would have had experience in fighting. They didn't get any better at it with practice, either, while the Hussites certainly did! The Hussites NEVER lost a battle in 10 years of fighting... until they started feuding with and fighting against one another.

      Ziska was said to have had a particularly keen eye (just one, he lost the first years before, probably as a teenager, and lost the other in action during the Hussite Wars, and yet still commanded effectively even when effectively of not totally blind!) The film clip shows him quite carefully choosing where he would fight; the rapid frormation of the "Wagon Fort", the use of terrain that caused the failed flank attack to bog down in the thick mud, the reserves planned to address that threat, etc.

      The Military narrative of the 14th and 15th centuries, and even the 16th largely deals with ways to counter the heavily armored knight/gendarme. The Swiss did it with Halberds and Pikes, the English with longbows and stakes, the Hussites with the War Wagon and zealous peasantry, and the Spanish with the Arquebus! Many other such attempts over those centuries ended in bloody ruin for the opponents of the knightly class!

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    2. You are a wealth of knowledge, Peter! Thanks!

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    3. In addition to Oman's Art of War in the 16th Century, which you now posses, and I am confident will enjoy (best digested a chapter at a time only), Oman covers the decline of Chivalry in the 2nd volume of his Art of War in the Middle Ages, 1278 -1485 AD, which, although not without its flaws, is also well worth owning. It includes about 10 pages on the Hussites, as doe Delbruck's "History of the Art of Warfare: Volume II: Medieval Warfare.

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  2. Great post and beautiful units!

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  3. Very nice figures...I like the sprinkling of bellicose clergy among the soldiers.

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  4. Thanks; the "Mad Monks" are certainly fitting for the Hussites; the Old Glory Line has no command figures, so that's what I drew them from.

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  5. A great assortment of figures and nice use of colours between the units Peter.

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    1. Thanks, Lawrence. As noted previously, they are doubtless brighter and more uniform than they should be, but I will plead wargames functionality and artistic license there!

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    2. The different coloured trousers are representative enough of possible (OK, probable) variability between units as far as I am concerned Peter!

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    3. That's the idea; pus almost all of the coats are in three or four different shades/stains.

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  6. Excellent paint job ! And the film was interesting, thanks for sharing!

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  7. Nice units I especially like the mad monks, good command for hussites , I'd only heard of the 17th century defenestration it's was obviously popular in Prague!
    Thanks Iain

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    1. Thanks, Ian. The Hussite Wars, although fascinating, certainly were a time of pretty major atrocities, such as throwing prisoners down mine shafts (Kutna Hora - several thousand over the course of the wars - Royalists), burning at the stake (both sides), death by starvation of prisoners, etc. Not pretty reading at times! Religious fanaticism seems to be immune to the actual central message of most religions, focusing instead on differences in doctrine, etc that seem foolish to those outside the debate - both then and now!

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  8. Belatedly catching up on this marvellous series of posts Peter, piqued by your report of the game at Historicon.
    I am assuming that, as with most wars of this nature (including the present), religion is not the cause, but a convenient 'rallying cry' used to mobilise the masses (or nobles in this case--as with the earlier crusades). Was it actually the next in the series of wars, conflicts and 'insurrections' by the Czechs against Imperial/Austrian rule? You seem to allude to that as a major element of these particular wars in this part (and to some extent part three)?

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    1. James, in this case, I would say that Religion WAS assuredly the MAIN cause of the Hussite wars (and the dissent within the various Hussite factions), BUT that the other factors (nationalism, class differences) reinforced and widened the rebellion. In the case of the Wars of he Reformation a century later, then yes, religion was often more an excuse then the real reason. The modern Shia/Sunni Islamic conflicts are a mix of religion and national politics as well, with the religious component being quite strong.

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    2. The rise of IS was driven by former power-brokers in Sadam's regime who had been displaced. Religion has been used to activate the masses to provide them with a means to re-establish their lost power. Various genies that have been released from bottles since the foolish invasion in 2003.

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    3. We don't want to get too far off track here, but I vehemently opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as an exceedingly unwise and ill justified action that would embroil us in conflict for a decade or more. Certainly national alliances in the middle Wast often follow Sunni/Shia lines as well, but for sure the division is exploited by those in power, and those seeking powerm, such as the former Baathists.

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