Jan Zizka

[greg3]

This is a custom fig I put together ages ago... and just rediscovered!! (apologies for the long post but the history behind this guy is fascinating - well I think so!)

All lego parts (apart from the paper eye patch)

Jan Zizka was born into a minor noble family in Bohemia. Despite being half blind after losing an eye as a child, he went on to become a soldier, mercenary and a captain in King Wenceslas’ palace guard but it was during the Hussite Wars (1419-36) that he made his name as a military leader.

The Hussite Wars were actually a series of crusades launched by the Catholic Church and the Emperor Sigismund (the ruler of Bohemia) against the Hussites. These were the followers of a Bohemian priest called Jan Hus who had been burnt at the stake in 1415 for calling for religious reforms and an end to corruption in the Church.

As one of the few Hussites with military experience, Jan Zizka took charge of the Hussite army. This force consisted of mainly peasant men and women with no training and few weapons. To withstand the crusader armies (which consisted of some of the finest knights in Europe) Zizka had to develop whole new ways of fighting. He had farm tools converted to weapons, crude but highly effective weapons such as the war flail became particularly feared. He embraced the new technology of firearms - up until this time, firearms in Europe had only been used in sieges. The Hussites would be the first to use them successfully on the battlefield, where they were deployed alongside large numbers of crossbows. His greatest innovation though, was the war wagon. These were large farm wagons which had one side built up with wooden armour. Able to carry up to 20 people they made the Hussite army incredibly mobile and also formed the basis of Zizka’s battle strategy. The wagons (full of Hussite troops) would form a circle (called a Wagenburg) with the hussite cavalry in the middle. When the Catholic crusaders attacked, they were met by a hail of fire from crossbows and firearms fired through loopholes in the wagon walls. Any knights that reached the wagenburg would be unable to get past the wagons and were easy targets for the pole arm wielding infantry. Once the enemy attack lost momentum, a gap would open in the wagenburg and the Hussite cavalry would be unleashed. With these tactics and Zizka’s leadership, the Hussites defeated every Crusader force sent against them. Then in 1421 at the siege of Rabi, Zizka was hit in the face by an arrow. He survived but lost the sight in his good eye. Now completely blind, he continued to lead his army, with the help of his advisors, to victory after victory.

Zizka eventually died of plague in 1424 and legend has it that his dying wish was to have his skin used to make a drum to be beaten at the head of the army! Whether that’s true or not, his legacy did live on as his successors continued to use his tactics and eventually, after 17 years and 5 separate and unsuccessful crusades against the Hussites, Sigismund gave in and allowed the Hussites their religious freedom.

Unfortunately, without an enemy against which to unite, the various Hussite factions then began to turn on each other and over the next few decades the Catholic church was able to gradually reassert it’s authority in Bohemia.

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Greg

[CommoScout]

Ohhh! Amazing.

What material was used for the "chain mail" shirt?

Very nice back story as well.

[greg3]

The chain mail is a Harry Potter Dementor's cape turned back to front and trimmed to size.