The Crusades Against the Hussites in Bohemia (1419–1436)

This chapter provides an overview of the history of the crusades against the Hussites, including the religious, political, and social dynamics of the wider region. Between 1420 and 1431, the papacy in collaboration with the lay powers of the Holy Roman Empire undertook five large-scale crusades against the allegedly heretic followers of the Czech reformer Jan Hus. Despite the international scale and remarkable mobilising power of these campaigns, they failed ingloriously, as did the so-called “daily war” on the alleged heretics. Indeed, from the mid-1420s onwards the Hussites themselves went on the offensive and raided the neighbouring kingdoms in a series of penetrating incursions. The military conflict was only settled in 1436 when the Council of Basle and the Emperor officially acknowledged Hussite religious practice. With this agreement, an allegedly heretical movement had for the first time successfully held its ground against the crusading efforts of the Church. In addition to providing an overview of events, this chapter offers a historiographical survey that gives Anglophone readers a synoptic view of the extensive non-English-language literature on the topic. Finally, the chapter also discusses why the crusades against the Hussites were highly significant for contemporaries, regardless of their evident military failure.