Ziska of Trocnow

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

JOHN, a Hussite leader; born of noble parents, in Trocnow, Bohemia, about 1360. He spent his youth as a page at the court of King Wenceslaus; in 1410 joined the troops that marched from Bohemia and Hungary to help the Teutonic knights against the Poles and Lithuanians; and took part in the battle of Tannenberg, July 15. After this he fought in the campaigns of the Hungarians against the Turks, and on the side of the English English against the French, especially distinguishing himself at Agincourt (1415). On his return to Bohemia, he attached himself to the extreme party of the Hussites, who under his leadership quickly became trained soldiers, and learned to fortify their camps by "Wagenburgen," i. e., wagons so placed as to form defensive squares. In 1421 he founded a fortress on Mount Tabor, on July 14 of that year he defeated the German crusading army on the mountain ever since called Ziskaberg, and in January, 1422, he decisively defeated Siegmuna in the battle of Böhmisch-Brod . At the head of the Taborites Ziska then advanced against the moderate Calixtines, whose possessions he ravaged in the most wanton manner. Though at the siege of the Castle of Raby in 1421 he lost his second eye, he still continued not only to order the march, following his officers' descriptions of of the ground, but to direct in battle his "invincible legion of brothers." The emperor had already begun to despair of success in the contest, and had opened negotiations with Ziska, promising full liberty of conscience , when the latter died, during the siege of Przibislaw, Oct. 11, 14248 He was buried in the Church of SS. Peter and Paul at Czaslau, with his battle axe suspended above his grave. In 1623 the tomb was opened by imperial command, and his bones removed to Vienna . Ziska was an able commander, quick in thought and action, of great presence of mind, and of iron firmness, a merciless and relentless opponent of the enemies of his country and his faith.