The Battle of Aussig () was fought on 16 June 1426, between

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

crusaders and the

Hussite file:Hussitenkriege.tif, upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century file:The Bohemian Realm during the Hussite Wars.png, upright=1.2, The Lands of the ...

s during the Fourth Crusade of the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

. It was fought near Aussig (

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction. ...

) in northern

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. The crusade was called because the Pope believed that the Hussite armies would be easily defeated after the death of

Jan Žižka Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha (; 1360 – 11 October 1424) was a Czechs, Czech military leader and Knight who was a contemporary and follower of Jan Hus, and a prominent Radical Hussite who led the Taborites, Taborite faction during the Hu ...

. The overall commander of the Hussite forces at the battle was

Sigismund Korybut Sigismund Korybut (; ; ; ; , 1395 – 1435 near Vilkmergė) was a duke and knight from the Korybut dynasty, best known as a military commander of the Hussite army and a governor of Bohemia and Prague during the Hussite Wars. Sigismund was most ...

, while

Prokop the Great Prokop the Great (, ) or Prokop the Bald or the Shaven (, ) (c. 1380 – 30 May 1434) was a Czech Hussite general and a prominent Taborite military leader during the Hussite Wars. On his mother's side, he came from a German patrician family l ...

was independently in command of the

Taborites The Taborites (, ), were a faction within the Hussite movement in the medieval Lands of the Bohemian Crown. The Taborites were sometimes referred to as the Picards, a term used for groups which were seen as extreme in their rejection of traditi ...

. Boso of Vitzthum was the leader of the crusading army. Medieval chronicles states that Hussites had 24,000 soldiers and at least 500 war wagons, while the crusaders had 36,000 men. However modern historians suggest that these numbers are largely exaggerated. The Hussites drew up their

Wagenburg Wagenburg may refer to: * Wagenburg (wagon fort), a temporary fortification made of wagons * Wagenburg (trailer park), a humorous term for trailer parks * Wagenburg (museum), the Imperial Carriage Museum in Vienna, Austria * Wagenburg (Seegräb ...

on one of the hills near the town. A crusader cavalry assault on the wagon fortress began the battle. The knights could have been equipped with very large battle axes or hammers because one account of the battle has them hewing through the retaining chains on the wagons to breach through the fortress and get inside the Wagenburg. Then, the knights broke through a second defensive line that was made up of

pavise A pavise (or pavis, pabys, or pavesen) was an oblong shield used during the mid-14th to early 16th centuries. Often large enough to cover the entire body, it was used by archers, crossbowmen, and other infantry soldiers on the battlefield as pri ...

s. This was the highest point of crusader morale in the whole battle. The Hussite cavalry inside the Wagenburg had left and attacked the knights trying to breach the wagon chains from the rear. The knights were then surrounded and fell under a huge barrage of artillery, crossbow, and handgun fire. The Hussites then charged in on the knights and showed no mercy. The actual battle was brief, and for that reason, it is possible that no more than 4,000 soldiers were lost on the crusader side. However, after the battle, many of the crusaders fled to nearby villages.

References

External links

Battles of the Hussite Wars
{{Authority control Aussig Aussig 1426 in Europe Aussig 1420s in the Holy Roman Empire Prokop the Great History of the Ústí nad Labem Region