Hussite Wars - The Second Anti-Hussite Crusade

The Second Anti-Hussite Crusade

Internal troubles prevented the followers of Hus from fully capitalising on their victory. At Prague a demagogue, the priest Jan Želivský, for a time obtained almost unlimited authority over the lower classes of the townsmen; and at Tábor a religious communistic movement (that of the so-called Adamites) was sternly suppressed by Žižka. Shortly afterwards a new crusade against the Hussites was undertaken. A large German army entered Bohemia and in August 1421 laid siege to the town of Žatec. After an unsuccessful attempt of storming the city, the crusaders retreated somewhat ingloriously on hearing that the Hussite troops were approaching. Sigismund only arrived in Bohemia at the end of the year 1421. He took possession of the town of Kutná Hora but was decisively defeated by Jan Žižka at the Battle of Deutschbrod (Německý Brod) on 6 January 1422.