The Hussites (Czech: ''Husité'', or ''Kališníci''; Men of the Chalice) were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415), who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. This predominantly religious movement was propelled by social issues and strengthened Czech national awareness.

After the Council of Constance lured Jan Hus in with a letter of indemnity, and then the state put him to death on 6 July 1415, the Hussites fought a series of wars (1420–1434) for their religious and political cause.

Among present-day Christians, Hussite traditions are represented in the Moravian, Unity of the Brethren, and the refounded Czechoslovak Hussite churches.

Effect in Bohemia of the death of Hus

The arrest of Hus in 1414 caused considerable resentment in Czech lands. The authorities of both countries appealed urgently and repeatedly to King Sigismund to release Jan Hus (John Huss).

When news of his death at the Council of Constance in 1415 arrived, disturbances broke out, directed primarily against the clergy, and especially against the monks. Even the Archbishop narrowly escaped from the effects of this popular anger. The treatment of Huss was felt to be a disgrace inflicted upon the whole country, and his death was seen as a criminal act. King Wenceslaus, prompted by his grudge against Sigismund, at first gave free vent to his indignation at the course of events in Constance; and his wife openly favored the friends of Huss. Avowed Hussites stood at the head of the government.

A league was formed by certain lords, who pledged themselves to protect the free preaching of the Gospel upon all their possessions and estates, and to obey the power of the Bishops only where their orders accorded with the injunctions of the Bible, with the university as arbiter of any disputed points. The entire Hussite nobility joined the league. Other than verbally protest the council's treatment of Hus, there was little evidence of any actions taken by the nobility until 1417. At that point several of the lesser nobility and some barons, signatories of the 1415 protest letter, removed Romanist priests from their parishes, replacing them with priests willing to give communion in both wine and bread. The chalice of wine became the central identifying symbol of the Hussite movement. If the king had joined, its resolutions would have received the sanction of the law; but he refused, and approached the newly formed Roman Catholic League of lords, whose members pledged themselves to support the king, the Catholic Church, and the Council. The prospect of a civil war began to emerge.

Pope Martin V, who while still Cardinal Otto of Colonna, had attacked Huss with relentless severity, energetically resumed the battle against Huss's teaching after the enactments of the Council of Constance, seeking to eradicate completely the doctrine of Huss, for which purpose the co-operation of King Wenceslaus had to be obtained; in 1418, Sigismund succeeded in winning his brother over to the standpoint of the council by pointing out the inevitability of a religious war if the heretics in Bohemia found further protection. Hussite statesmen and army leaders had to leave the country, and Roman Catholic priests were reinstated. These measures caused a general commotion which hastened the death of King Wenceslaus by a paralytic stroke in 1419. His heir was Sigismund.

The parties of the Bohemian Hussites

Hussism organised itself during the years 1415–1419. From the beginning, there formed two parties.

The moderate party, who followed Huss more closely, sought to conduct reform while leaving the whole hierarchical and liturgical order of the Church untouched.

The more radical party identified itself more boldly with the doctrines of John Wycliffe, sharing his passionate hatred of the monastic clergy, and his desire to return the Church to its supposed condition during the time of the apostles. This required the removal of the existing hierarchy and the secularisation of ecclesiastical possessions. The radicals preached the ''"sufficientia legis Christi"''—the divine law (i.e. the Bible) is the sole rule and canon for human society, not only in the church, but also in political and civil matters. They rejected therefore, as early as 1416, everything that they believed had no basis in the Bible, such as the veneration of saints and images, fasts, superfluous holidays, the oath, intercession for the dead, auricular Confession, indulgences, the sacraments of Confirmation and the Anointing of the Sick; they admitted laymen and women to the preacher's office, and chose their own priests. But above all they clung to Wycliffe's doctrine of the Lord's Supper, denying transubstantiation, and this is the principal point by which they are distinguished from the moderate party.

The Four Articles of Prague

The programme of the more conservative Hussites is contained in the Four Articles of Prague, which were agreed upon in July 1420, and promulgated in the Latin, Czech, and German languages. The full text is about two pages long, but they are often summarized as:

#Freedom to preach the Word of God. #Celebration of the Lord's Supper in both kinds (bread and wine to priests and laity alike). #No secular power for the clergy. #Punishment for the mortal sins.

Calixtines (or Utraquists) and Taborites

The views of the moderate Hussites were widely represented at the university and among the citizens of Prague; they were therefore called the Prague Party, but also Calixtines (Latin ''calix'' chalice) or Utraquists (Latin ''utraque'' both), because they emphasized the second article of Prague, and the chalice became their emblem.

The radicals had their gathering-places all around the country. Their first armed assault fell on the small town of Ústí, on the river Lužnice, south of Prague (today's Sezimovo Ústí). However, as the place did not prove to be defensible, they settled in the remains of an older town upon a hill not far away and founded a new town, which they named Tábor (after the traditional name of the mountain on which Jesus was expected to return; see Mark 13); hence they were called Taborites. They comprised the essential force of the radical Hussites. Their aim was to destroy the enemies of the law of God, and to defend his kingdom (which had been expected to come in a short time) by the sword. Their end-of-world visions did not come true. In order to preserve their settlement and spread their ideology, they waged bloody wars; in the beginning they observed a strict regime, inflicting the severest punishment equally for murder, as for less severe faults as adultery, perjury and usury, and also tried to apply rigid Biblical standards to the social order of the time. The Taborites usually had the support of the Orebites (later called Orphans), an eastern Bohemian sect of Hussitism based in Hradec Králové.

The Hussite Wars

The news of the death of King Wenceslaus in 1419 produced a great commotion among the people of Prague. A revolution swept over the country: churches and monasteries were destroyed, and church property was seized by the Hussite nobility. Sigismund could get possession of his kingdom only by force of arms. Pope Martin V called upon Catholics of the West to take up arms against the Hussites, and there followed twelve years of warfare.

The Hussites initially campaigned defensively, but after 1427, they assumed the offensive. Apart from their religious aims, they fought for the national interests of the Czechs. The moderate and radical parties were united and they not only repelled the attacks of the army of crusaders, but crossed the borders into neighboring countries. On March 23, 1430, Joan of Arc dictated a letter that threatened to lead a crusading army against the Hussites unless they returned to the Catholic faith, but her capture by English and Burgundian troops two months later would keep her from carrying out this threat.

The Council of Basel and Compacta of Prague

Eventually, the opponents of the Hussites found themselves forced to consider an amicable settlement. They invited a Bohemian embassy to appear at the Council of Basel. The discussions began on 10 January 1432, centering chiefly on the four articles of Prague. No agreement emerged. After repeated negotiations between the Basel Council and Bohemia, a Bohemian-Moravian state assembly in Prague accepted the ''"Compacta"'' of Prague on 30 November 1433. The agreement granted communion in both kinds to all who desired it, but with the understanding that Christ was entirely present in each kind. Free preaching was granted conditionally: the Church hierarchy had to approve and place priests, and the power of the bishop must be considered. The article which prohibited the secular power of the clergy was almost reversed.

The Taborites refused to conform. The Calixtines united with the Roman Catholics and destroyed the Taborites at the Battle of Lipany on (30 May 1434). From that time, the Taborites lost their importance, though the Hussite movement would continue in Poland for another five years, until the Royalist forces of Poland defeated the Polish Hussites at the Battle of Grotniki. The state assembly of Jihlava in 1436 confirmed the ''"Compacta"'' and gave them the sanction of law. This accomplished the reconciliation of Bohemia with Rome and the Western Church, and at last Sigismund obtained possession of the Bohemian crown. His reactionary measures caused a ferment in the whole country, but he died in 1437. The state assembly in Prague rejected Wyclif's doctrine of the Lord's Supper, which was obnoxious to the Utraquists, as heresy in 1444. Most of the Taborites now went over to the party of the Utraquists; the rest joined the "Brothers of the Law of Christ" () (see Unity of the Brethren; also Bohemian Brethren and Moravian Church).

Reorganisation of the Hussites

The Utraquists had retained hardly anything of the doctrines of Huss except Communion in both kinds. In 1462, Pope Pius II declared the ''"Compacta"'' null and void, prohibited communion in both kinds, and acknowledged King George of Podebrady as king on condition that he would promise an unconditional harmony with the Roman Church. This he refused, but his successor, King Vladislaus II, favored the Roman Catholics and proceeded against some zealous clergymen of the Calixtines. The troubles of the Utraquists increased from year to year. In 1485, at the Diet of Kutná Hora, an agreement was made between the Roman Catholics and Utraquists which lasted for thirty-one years. It was only later, at the diet of 1512, that the equal rights of both religions were permanently established. Luther's appearance was hailed by the Utraquist clergy, and Martin Luther himself was astonished to find so many points of agreement between the doctrines of Huss and his own. But not all Utraquists approved of the German Reformation; a schism arose among them, and many returned to the Roman doctrine, while other elements had organised the ''"Unitas Fratrum"'' already in 1457.

Under Emperor Maximilian II, the Bohemian state assembly established the ''"Confessio Bohemica,"'' upon which Lutherans, Reformed, and Bohemian Brethren agreed. From that time forward Hussitism began to die out. After the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620 the Roman Catholic Faith was re-established with vigour which fundamentally changed the religious conditions of Bohemia and Moravia.

Leaders and members of Unitas Fratrum were forced to choose to either leave the many and varied southeastern principalities of what was the Holy Roman Empire (mainly Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia and parts of Germany and its many states), or to practice their beliefs secretly. As a result, members were forced underground and dispersed across northwestern Europe. The largest remaining communities of the Brethren were located in Lissa (Leszno) in Poland, which had historically strong ties with the Czechs, and in small, isolated groups in Moravia. Some, among them Jan Amos Comenius, fled to western Europe, mainly the Low Countries. A settlement of hussites in Herrnhut, Germany, in 1727 caused the emergence of the Moravian Church.

Today, the Czechoslovak Hussite Church claims to be the modern successor of the Hussite tradition.

See also

Hussite Bible

Pavel Kravař

References

Bibliography

Howard Kaminsky. "A History of the Hussite Revolution," University of California Press, 1967. Ondřej, Brodu, "Traktát mistra Ondřeje z Brodu o původu husitů" (), Muzem husitského revolučního hnutí, Tábor, 1980, OCLC 28333729 in with introduction in Mathies, Christiane, "Kurfürstenbund und Königtum in der Zeit der Hussitenkriege: die kurfürstliche Reichspolitik gegen Sigmund im Kraftzentrum Mittelrhein," Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, Mainz, 1978, OCLC 05410832 in Bezold, Friedrich von, "König Sigmund und die Reichskriege gegen die Husiten," G. Olms, Hildesheim, 1978, ISBN 3-487-05967-3 in Denis, Ernest, "Huss et la Guerre des Hussites," AMS Press, New York, 1978, ISBN 0-404-16126-X in Macek, Josef, "Jean Huss et les Traditions Hussites: XVe-XIXe siècles," Plon, Paris, 1973, OCLC 905875 in

Klassen, John, "Hus, the Hussites, and Bohemia" in New Cambridge Medieval History (Cambridge, 1998)

External links

Hussite Museum, Tabor

Hussites - God's warriors, in

Notes on the Hussite movement and links to primary sources, from Kenyon college

''The Hussite Era'', from Radio Prague's History Online feature

Catholic Encyclopedia: ''Hussites''

Hussite War-wagons, presenting detailed information about the Hussites' most characteristic tactic, by Matthew Haywood

''Letter to the Hussites dictated by Joan of Arc on March 23, 1430'', translated by Allen Williamson.

Short article on the Hussites, from the University of Calgary's 'The End of Europe's Middle Ages'

Article on the Tactics of the Hussites

Category:Christianity in the Czech Republic Category:Protestant Reformation

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Name	Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha
Birth place	Trocnov
Death place	Přibyslav
Placeofburial	Unknown
Placeofburial label	Place of burial
Nickname	John the One-EyedŽižka of the Chalice
Allegiance	Bohemia
Serviceyears	c. 1378–1424
Rank	Chamberlain to Queen Sofia of Bavaria
Battles	Battle of Grunwald Hussite Wars Battle of Nekmer Battle of Sudoměř Battle of Vítkov Hill Battle of Vyšehrad Battle of Kutná Hora Battle of Nebovidy Battle of Deutschbrod Battle of Hořice
Awards	A castle near Litoměřice. He gave the biblical name of ''Chalice'' (Kalich in Czech) to this new possession }}

Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha ( or ''Johann Schischka''; ) (c. 1360–1424), Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus, was born at small village Trocnov (now a part of Borovany) in Bohemia, into a gentried family. He was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka". From his youth, he was attached to the royal court and held the office of Chamberlain to Queen Sophia.

He fought in the Battle of Grunwald (July 15, 1410), where he defended Radzyń against the Teutonic Order. Later he played a prominent role in the civil wars in Bohemia during the reign of Wenceslas IV. Žižka's tactics were unorthodox and innovative. In addition to training and equipping his army according to their abilities, he used armored wagons armed with small cannons and muskets, presaging the tank of five hundred years later. He was also a master at using geography to full advantage as well as managing the discipline of his troops. Žižka is considered to be among the greatest military leaders and innovators of all time and is one of four commanders in history who never lost a battle (alongside Alexander the Great, Scipio Africanus, and Khalid ibn al-Walid).

Grunwald

Žižka was on the winning side of the Battle of Grunwald, also called the 1st Battle of Tannenberg, one of the largest battles in Medieval Europe. It was fought on July 15, 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila (Władysław Jagiełło) and Grand Duke Vytautas (Witold), decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led by Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen. Most of the Teutonic Knights' leadership were killed or taken prisoner. The Knights never recovered their former power and the financial burden of war reparations caused internal conflicts and an economic downturn in their lands. The battle shifted the balance of power in Eastern Europe.

Rise to prominence

Žižka's name first became prominent during the Hussite Wars. The Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague, Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415). On November 13, 1419 a temporary armistice was concluded between the partisans of King Sigismund, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg and the citizens of Prague. Žižka disapproved of this compromise and left Prague for Plzeň, one of the richest cities of the kingdom with his followers, but soon left that city. On March 25 1420 he defeated the partisans of Sigismund at Sudoměř, the first pitched battle of the Hussite wars. He later arrived at Tábor, the then-recently established stronghold of the Hussite movement. The ecclesiastical organization of Tabor had a somewhat puritanical character with a very strict military discipline being instituted though the government was established on a thoroughly democratic basis. Žižka took a large part in the organization of the new military community and became one of the four captains of the people (''hejtman'') who were at its head.

Wagenburg tactics

Žižka helped develop tactics of using tabors, called ''vozová hradba'' in Czech or ''Wagenburg'' by the Germans, as mobile fortifications. When the Hussite army faced a numerically superior opponent they prepared carts for the battle by forming them into squares or circles. The carts were joined wheel to wheel by chains and positioned aslant, with their corners attached to each other, so that horses could be harnessed to them quickly, if necessary. In front of this wall of carts a ditch was dug by camp followers. The crew of each cart consisted of 16-22 soldiers: 4-8 crossbowmen, 2 handgunners, 6-8 soldiers equipped with pikes or flails (the flail was the Hussite "national weapon"), 2 shield carriers and 2 drivers.

The Hussites' battle consisted of two stages, the first defensive, the second an offensive counterattack. In the first stage the army placed the carts near the enemy army and by means of artillery fire provoked the enemy into battle. The artillery would usually inflict heavy casualties at close range.

In order to avoid more losses, the enemy knights finally attacked. Then the infantry hidden behind the carts used firearms and crossbows to ward off the attack, weakening the enemy. The shooters aimed first at the horses, depriving the cavalry of its main advantage. Many of the knights died as their horses were shot and they fell.

As soon as the enemy's morale was lowered, the second stage, an offensive counterattack, began. The infantry and the cavalry burst out from behind the carts striking violently at the enemy - mostly from the flanks. While fighting on the flanks and being shelled from the carts the enemy was not able to put up much resistance. They were forced to withdraw, leaving behind dismounted knights in heavy armor who were unable to escape the battlefield. The enemy armies suffered heavy losses and the Hussites soon had the reputation of not taking captives.

Gunpowder weapons

The Hussite wars also marked the earliest successful use of pistols on the battlefield and Žižka was an inovator in the use of gunpowder. He was the first European commander to maneuver on the field with cannon of medium caliber mounted on carts in between the wagons. The Czechs called the handgun a ''píštala'', and anti-infantry field guns ''houfnice'', from which the English words "pistol" and "howitzer" have been derived. The Germans had just started corning gunpowder, making it suitable for use in smaller, tactical weapons. A gunman on an open field armed with only a single-shot weapon was no match for a charging knight on a horseback; however, from behind a castle wall, or from within the enclosure of the wagenburg, massed and disciplined gunmen could use the handgun to its greatest potential. From his experiences at the Battle of Grunwald, Žižka knew exactly how his enemies would attack, and he found new ways to defeat forces numerically superior to his own.

Hussite Crusades

The Hussite Wars became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation and though predominantly religious movement it was also propelled by social issues and strengthened Czech national awareness. The Catholic Church deemed Hus' teachings heretical. He was excommunicated in 1411, condemned by the Council of Constance, and burned at the stake in 1415. The wars proper began in July 1419, with the First Defenestration of Prague, when protesting Hussites threw the town councillors from the windows of the New Town Hall. It has been reputed that King Wenceslaus IV was so stunned by the defenestration that he died from the shock shortly after on 16 August 1419. This led to the armed conflict in which Žižka would earn his fame.

The first anti-Hussite crusade

King Sigismund was king of Hungary but only the titular king of Bohemia. Sigismund had acquired a claim on the Bohemian crown, though it was then, and remained till much later, in question whether Bohemia was an hereditary or an elective monarchy. A firm adherent of the Church of Rome, Sigismund was successful in obtaining aid from Pope Martin V, who issued a bill on 17 March 1420 which proclaimed a crusade “for the destruction of the John Wycliffe, Hussites and all other heretics in Bohemia". Sigismund and many German princes arrived before the walls of Prague on June 30 at the head of a vast army of crusaders from all parts of Europe, largely consisting of adventurers attracted by the possibility of pillage. They immediately began a siege of the city and Žižka was compelled to defend the Kingdom. He was a pragmatist in developing his military strategy. His army consisted of farmers and peasants, lacking both the funds and equipment to be classic soldiers with sword, horse and armor, Žižka used their farmers' skills to boost their military efficacy. He adapted the tools of agriculture into the tools of war. The agricultural flail was transformed into the flail.

Menaced by Sigismund, the citizens of Prague entreated the Taborites for assistance. Led by Žižka and their other captains, the Taborites set out to take part in the defence of the capital. At Prague, Žižka and his men took up a strong position on the hill just outside the city known as the Vítkov, now in Žižkov, a district of Prague named after the battle in his honour. On July 14 the armies of Sigismund made a general attack. A strong German Crusader-led force assaulted the position on the Vítkov, the stronghold that secured the Hussite communications with the open country. Thanks to Žižka's personal leadership, the attack was thrown back and the forces of Sigismund abandoned the siege. A monument was erected on the top of this hill to honor Jan Žižka (The statue has Žižka sitting on the largest horse statue in the world. It is 9 meters or greater than 27 feet tall.) On August 22 the Taborites left Prague and returned to Tábor. Though Sigismund had retired from Prague, the castles of Vyšehrad and Hradčany remained in possession of his troops. The citizens of Prague laid siege to the Vyšehrad (see Battle of Vyšehrad), and towards the end of October the garrison was on the point of capitulating through famine. Sigismund attempted to relieve the fortress, but was decisively defeated by the Hussites on November 1 near the village of Pankrác. The castles of Vyšehrad and Hradčany now capitulated, and shortly afterwards almost all Bohemia fell into the hands of the Hussites.

Žižka now engaged in constant warfare with the partisans of Sigismund, particularly with the powerful Romanist, Oldřich II of Rožmberk. Through this struggle, the Hussites obtained possession of the greater part of Bohemia from Sigismund. It was proposed to elect the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas to the throne. However, the estates of Bohemia and Moravia met at Čáslav on June 1, 1421 and decided to appoint a provisional government, consisting of twenty members chosen from all the political and religious parties of the country. Žižka, who took part in the deliberations at Čáslav, was elected as one of the two representatives of Tábor.

Žižka summarily suppressed some disturbances on the part of a fanatical sect called the Adamites.

He continued his campaigns against the Romanists and the adherents of Sigismund, and having captured and rebuilt a small castle near Litoměřice (Leitmeritz) he retained possession of it, the only reward for his great services that he ever received or claimed. According to the Hussite custom he gave the biblical name of ''Chalice'' (Kalich in Czech) to this new possession, and henceforth adopted the signature of ''Žižka of the Chalice''. Jan Žižka didn't capture more estates during hussite wars. This fact wasn't usual at this time and made huge difference between Žižka and his contemporaries.

Later that year he was severely wounded while besieging the castle of Rábí, and lost the use of his remaining eye. Though now totally blind, he continued to command the armies of Tábor.

The second anti-Hussite crusade

At the end of 1421, Sigismund, again attempted to subdue Bohemia and gained possession of the important town of Kutná Hora. The mainly German citizens of the city killed a few of the Hussites in the town and closed the city to Žižka, whose armies were camped outside the city walls. Žižka was at the head of the united armies of Tábor and Prague and though trapped managed to execute what some historians call the first mobile artillery manoeuver in history. Žižka broke through the enemy lines and retreated to Kolín, but having received reinforcements he attacked and defeated Sigismund's unsuspecting army at the village of Nebovidy between Kolín and Kutná Hora on January 6, 1422. Sigismund lost 12,000 men and only escaped himself by rapid flight. Sigismund's forces made a last stand at Německý Brod (Deutschbrod) on the 10th of January, but the city was stormed by the Czechs, and contrary to Žižka's orders, its defenders were put to the sword.

Civil war

Early in 1423, internal dissent among the Hussites led to civil war. Žižka, as leader of the Taborites, defeated the men of Prague and the Utraquist nobles at Hořice on April 20. Shortly afterwards came news that a new crusade against Bohemia was being prepared. This induced the Hussites to conclude an armistice at Konopiště on June 24. As soon as the crusaders had dispersed, internal dissent broke out anew. During his temporary rule over Bohemia, Prince Sigismund Korybut of Lithuania had appointed Bořek, the lord of Miletínek, governor of the city of Hradec Králové. Bořek belonged to a moderate Hussite faction, the Utraquist party. After the departure of Sigismund Korybut, the city of Hradec Králové refused to recognize Bořek as its ruler, due to the democratic party gaining the upper hand. They called Žižka to its aid. He acceded to the demand and defeated the Utraquists under Bořek at the farm of Strachov, near the city of Hradec Králové on August 4, 1423.

Žižka now attempted to invade Hungary, which was under the rule of his old enemy King Sigismund. Though this Hungarian campaign was unsuccessful owing to the great superiority of the Hungarians, it ranks among the greatest military exploits of Žižka, on account of the skill he displayed in retreat. In 1424, civil war having again broken out in Bohemia, Žižka decisively defeated the "Praguers" and Utraquist nobles at Skalice on January 6, and at Malešov on June 7. In September, he marched on Prague. On the 14th of that month, peace was concluded between the Hussite parties through the influence of John of Rokycan, afterwards Utraquist archbishop of Prague. It was agreed that the now reunited Hussites should attack Moravia, part of which was still held by Sigismund's partisans, and that Žižka should be the leader in this campaign. However, he died of the plague at Přibyslav on October 11, 1424 on the Moravian frontier. According to chronicler Piccolomini, Žižka's dying wish was to have his skin used to make drums so that he might continue to lead his troops even after death. Žižka was so well regarded that when he died, his soldiers called themselves the Orphans (''sirotci'') because they felt like they had lost their father. His enemies said that "The one whom no mortal hand could destroy was extinguished by the finger of God".

He was succeeded by Prokop the Great.

Recent criticism and defence

Recently there have been several speculations on the actual role of Jan Žižka in the development of Czech culture and religion among some historians studying this topic. They argue that Žižka mustn’t be considered only as a brilliant commander fighting for the aim of self-defense and returning the Church nearer to God; we may see him also as a man who – in the name of God – was responsible for killing many people and destroying significant part of a culture by massacring and burning down churches and villages, often sparing only women and children.

This opinion is considered to be very radical, though. The general view is that in response to many official crusades launched at Bohemia from every direction, Žižka had little choice but to stand up and defend his nation and the faith of his countrymen. At a time when mercy from an opponent was not expected, Žižka often offered mercy and enforced it. After the disobedience of his troops at Německý Brod, he ordered his entire army to pray to God for forgiveness for their sins. Thereafter, Žižka authored a document that enforced a strict code of conduct on everyone in his armies, himself included.

Jan Žižka, the man of the sword, may be considered the opposite side of the coin of Jan Hus, the man of God. In Otakar Vávra's film trilogy on the Hussite Revolution shot in the 1950s, Zdeněk Štěpánek played both Hus and Žižka, reflecting the two sides of the Hussite movement. The two men are permanently linked in the Czech national consciousness.

Pioneering a type of armored warfare not to be seen again till the 20th century, Žižka must be considered one of history's great captains.

Sources

Count Lutzow, ''The Hussite Wars'', J. M. Dent & Sons London, E. P. Dutton & Co. New York (1909).

Höfler, Konstantin , ''Geschichtsquellen Böhmens''.

Heymann, Frederick G. (1969), ''John Zizka & the Hussite Revolution'', Russell & Russell New York (1955).

Turnbull, Stephen, ''The Hussite Wars (1419-36)'', Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841766658.

Dr. Fudge, ''The Crusade Against Heretics in Bohemia, 1418-1437: Sources and Documents for the Hussite Crusades'' (Crusade Texts in Translation S.).

Šmahel, František, ''Die Hussitische Revolution I-III'', MGH-Schriften. 43/I-III, Hannover (2002).

Verney, Victor (2009), ''Warrior of God: Jan Žižka and the Hussite Revolution'', Frontline Books London. ISBN 9781848325166.

Bílek, Jiří (2007), ''Hádanky naší minulosti 7. Čtyři Janové a bratr Prokop'', Euromedia Group Praha. p. 172-173. ISBN 9788024219523.

References

External links

Category:1360 births Category:1424 deaths Category:Revolutionaries Category:Hussites Category:Czech military personnel Category:People in the Battle of Grunwald Category:People from Borovany Category:Blind people Category:Deaths from bubonic plague

ar:يان جيجكا be:Ян Жыжка bg:Ян Жижка cs:Jan Žižka da:Jan Žižka de:Jan Žižka es:Jan Žižka eo:Jan Žižka fa:یان ژیژکا fr:Jan Žižka ko:얀 지슈카 hr:Jan Žižka it:Jan Žižka ka:იან ჟიჟკა lt:Janas Žižka hu:Jan Žižka nl:Jan Žižka ja:ヤン・ジシュカ nn:Jan Žižka pl:Jan Žižka pt:Jan Žižka ru:Жижка, Ян sk:Ján Žižka sr:Јан Жишка sv:Jan Žižka uk:Ян Жижка

Antoni Wit (born February 7, 1944, Kraków) is a Polish conductor. He is the present musical director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

Wit graduated from Kraków's State Higher School of Music, studying conducting under Henryk Czyz and composition under Krzysztof Penderecki, going on to study under Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Wit has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and in London the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has recorded over 90 albums, most of them for the Naxos label, and specializes in the works of Polish composers such as Henryk Gorecki, Wojciech Kilar, Krzysztof Meyer, Witold Lutosławski and Krzysztof Penderecki whose ''Polish Requiem'' he recorded in 2004. Wit received a Cannes Classical Award for his album of Olivier Messiaen's ''Turangalila Symphony'', and high acclaim has also been granted to his recording of Bedřich Smetana's ''Má vlast'' cycle.

Wit currently teaches at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.

External links

Faculty biography from the Frederyk Chopin Academy of Music

Naxos artist biography

Biography from the Warsaw Philharmonic

culture.pl

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:Polish conductors (music) Category:Polish music educators

de:Antoni Wit fr:Antoni Wit nl:Antoni Wit ja:アントニ・ヴィト pl:Antoni Wit ru:Вит, Антони fi:Antoni Wit

Emmy Destinn ( (); 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a renowned Czech operatic soprano with a strong and soaring lyric-dramatic voice. She enjoyed a successful career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera.

Biography

Destinn was born Emílie Pavlína Věnceslava Kittlová () in Prague, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

At first Destinn devoted herself to studying the violin, and intended to shine as a virtuoso on that instrument. When she was well on in her teens, however, her voice was so rich and full that she changed her mind and determined upon an operatic career.

Her voice teacher since age 13 had been Marie Maria von Dreger Loewe-Destinn, and the young singer began using her teacher's surname as a tribute. She was let go after the short engagement at the Dresden Opera and declined by Prague National Theatre in 1897. Destinn debuted on 19 July 1898 at the Berlin Court Opera as Santuzza in ''Cavalleria rusticana''. She made such progress that the intendant of the Berlin Court Opera engaged her at once when she was brought to her notice. She was scarcely nineteen at the time, but her voice and her genius for acting soon won the Berlin public. Her engagement in Berlin lasted till 27 October 1909. She sang in 54 operas, including 12 premieres, the most famous of which was ''Salome'' by Richard Strauss (5 December 1906).

Her fame became international in 1901 when she was invited to sing the part of Senta in ''Der Fliegende Holländer'' at Germany's Bayreuth Festspielhaus. She returned to sing the same role the next year.

Destinn made her London debut at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House on 2 May 1904, as Donna Anna in ''Don Giovanni''. She appeared there in several operas for the next two seasons, including the London premiere of ''Madama Butterfly'' with Caruso. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1908 with an acclaimed performance of ''Aida'', after she was released from her contract with the Berlin Court Opera. Two years later at the Met, she created the role of Minnie in the premiere of Puccini's ''La fanciulla del West'', again opposite Caruso, and under the direction of Arturo Toscanini.

While she was highly successful in the lighter roles of Wagner's operas, her ''spinto'' voice—although large in size, with a ringing top register—was better suited to German music of a less declamatory type. She also excelled in the French part of Carmen, too, in which she was said to rival Calvé, and in the Italian roles of Aida, Madama Butterfly and Leonora (in ''Il trovatore'').

Destin's career suffered a fatal blow in World War I. She returned to her homeland after the start of the war in 1914, but her links with the patriotic Czech resistance caused her passport to be revoked. She was interned at her chateau for the remainder of the conflict. By the time that she returned to the Met in 1919, her voice had become rusty and she had been replaced in the hearts of New York audiences by a new generation of singers, though she did still continue to sing with the company until 1921.

Destinn returned to Czechoslovakia, where she married Joseph Halsbach, a Czech air-force officer, in 1923. She retired from the stage in 1926 and died from a stroke in České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia. She is interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague.

Emmy Destinn was a versatile artist and besides being a singer was a poet, novelist and playwright—though nothing she achieved in other professions has rivalled her reputation as a singer. Her voice can still be heard on CD reissues of the many 78-rpm gramophone records which she made during her prime, most famously in America for the Victor label.

Destinn's likeness appeared in 1996 on the 2,000 Czech koruna banknote.

Notes

External links

Biography, discography, bibliography from the Kapralova Society

The Emmy Destinn Foundation, with a biography

Biography by Alan Bilgora for Prima Voce

Biography from Opera-Gems.com

Category:1878 births Category:1930 deaths Category:Czech female singers Category:Czech opera singers Category:Operatic sopranos Category:People from Prague Category:Czech Austro-Hungarians

cs:Ema Destinnová de:Ema Destinová es:Emilie Kittlová eo:Ema Destinnová fr:Emmy Destinn pl:Ema Destinnová sk:Ema Destinová sl:Ema Destinnová sv:Emmy Destinn

Gabriela Beňačková (also ''Gabriela Beňačková-Čápová''. Born March 25, 1947) is a Slovak soprano.

She specializes in the music of her compatriots, particularly Eugen Suchoň, as well as Czech composers, notably Bedřich Smetana and Leoš Janáček. She is considered to be one of the greatest 'Jenufa's' in Janáček's opera of the same name. Her Carnegie Hall performance (and subsequent Metropolitan Opera run with Leonie Rysanek) is considered to be legendary.

In 1981 Czech television starred Mrs Benackova in a definitive version of Prodana Nevesta (The Bartered Bride), which has since become a popular DVD recording available in an all-regions format(2006). That recording teamed her with the heroic tenor (fellow Slovak) Peter Dvorsky, and with bass Richard Novak and other popular singers. She completed her farewell recital tour in 2008.

She has made a number of recordings, and has appeared in several filmed operas on DVD, as well as the feature film ''The Divine Emma'', where she supplied the singing voice of the famous Czech soprano Emmy Destinn. Her voice can be heard in the movie Driving Miss Daisy singing title role "Rusalka" by Dvorak.

She has appeared as Fidelio/Leonore in the Royal Opera House production of Fidelio (1991).

She has made a beautiful recording in the title role "Rusalka" by Dvorak. The conductor was Vaclav Neumann.

Recordings

''Leoš Janáček: Jenůfa'' Gabriela Beňačková with Naděžda Kniplová, Vilém Přibyl, Vladimír Krejčík, Janáček Theatre in Brno opera and chorus conducted by František Jílek (1977–1978) Supraphon CD SU 3869-2.

''Smetana - The Bartered Bride'' Gabriela Beňačková with Peter Dvorský, Richard Novák, Miroslav Kopp, Marie Veselá, Czech Philharmonic conducted by Zdeněk Košler, Supraphon DVD

References

IMDB page, accessed 21 January 2010

Review of The Bartered Bride recording, accessed 21 January 2010

Review of Beethoven Symphony No. 9 concert recording, accessed 21 January 2010

Review of Rusalka recording, accessed 21 January 2010

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Operatic sopranos Category:Slovak female singers Category:Slovak opera singers Category:Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)‎

cs:Gabriela Beňačková es:Gabriela Beňačková sk:Gabriela Beňačková