Hussite Books

Well I'd rather the History forum was for history but this seemed the best place.

I wrote a research paper on the Hussites, so you could cite it as a reference  I could email it to you, if you want.

Anyhow, the one Emperor Barbarossa mentioned is excellent for just a brief understanding of the war. If you have money to burn, you have to have Fudge's Crusade Against Heretics in Bohemia. It's a translation of more than two hundred original sources, plus some commentary. You get most of Vavrinec of Brzezova's work, which unfortunately breaks off near the end of the third crusade, and parts of Pius Aeneas Piccolomini's description of the times, plus much else. Really, I very highly recommend it. I've also read Kaminsky's A History of the Hussite Revolution, which is one of the dullest books I've ever read -- a ton of excellent information and analysis, especially about the time between Hus's burning and the First Defenestration, but rather poorly presented to the common reader.

Aside from those there are some good web resources as well. I heartily recommend a search of Google Books for terms related to the Hussites (be sure to use all permutations of names -- jan/john hus/huss; jan/john zi(z/s)(k/c)a). Writers in the 1800s wrote a good deal more about the Hussites than modern writers do, and some of them have excellent information. I personally loved as a source this selection from Macmillan's Magazine. http://www.warfareeast.co.uk has an excellent section about the Hussites (it will be a wonderful website if it's ever finished!) and Wikipedia is good, as far as Wikipedia goes. Even our own allempires.com has its own little article (and no, Emperor, I'm not talking about yours, which was released after my paper was done. Quite possibly it is good too.)

Also, a Christian novelist from the 19th century wrote a novel about it, which is a better source than you might think -- she's an excellent historical fiction writer, appears to have had access to many good sources, and when running into historical events with historical people always tells them directly. (The final two chapters do not have the same historical quality and I wonder whether or not she was in a rush when she added them, as they serve only to tie up a few loose ends.) You might have a look for it at http://www3.telus.net/public/inhpubl/webip/ip.htm -- it's called Crushed Yet Conquering by Deborah Alcock.

Incidentally, you have quite a bit of reading to do! In the final tragic battle of Lipany, the Orebites and Taborites were allied against the Catholics and Utraquists. They were slaughtered together.


Edited by Timotheus - 23-Sep-2006 at 00:56

Well first things- thanks a lot guys!

Originally posted by Emperor Barbarossa You are welcome, Dampier. It may be good to emphasize the fact that Jan Zizka and the Hussite Wars are greatly overlooked in history, and there is no reason why they should be. In the Hussite Wars, we see the end of the "invincible knight", the beginning of the use of gunpowder-based weapons, and the beginning of the Reformation. We also see a great general who never lost that fought his best when he was blind.