Battle of Lipany
The
Battle of Lipany, also called the
Battle of Cesky Brod, was fought near
Prague on
May 30,
1434 and virtually ended the
Hussite Wars. An army of
Utraquist nobility and Catholics, called the Bohemian League, defeated the radical
Taborites led by
Prokop the Great, the overall commander, and by
Čapek of Sány, the cavalry commander.
The Taborites set up a
Wagenburg to start the battle. The Leaguer troops immediately fired a cannon barrage and then made an infantry assault. The infantry assault failed, and the remaining infantry retreated. The Taborites followed them in close pursuit. The withdrawal of the infantry was a ploy so that the heavy cavalry could charge at the pursuing infantry, which duly followed. The heavy cavalry crushed the Hussite infantry and charged all of the way into the Wagenburg. The Taborite cavalry commander, Čapek of Sány, had his men flee before the Leaguer heavy cavalry charged. This could have been betrayal, since Hussite cavalry would normally counter the enemy cavalry. Prokop the Great led a courageous last stand, but it was to no avail. The battle was the final loss for the Hussites.
The Taborite army was almost completely destroyed, and Taborites as a military force ceased to exist. The road to accept
Compact of Basel was open; it was signed on
5 July 1436 in
Jihlava and the next month,
Sigismund was accepted as a King of Bohemia by all major factions. Sigismund commented after the Battle of Lipany that "the
Bohemians could be overcome only by Bohemians."
The last formation of
Taborites under the command of
Jan Roháč of Dubé was besieged in his castle
Sion near
Kutná Hora. It was then captured by Sigismund forces, and on
9 September,
1437 Jan Roháč, who still refused to accept Sigismund as his King, was
hanged in
Prague. With the wars officially over, many Hussites were now hired by the same countries whom they had sacked during their "beautiful rides".
*
The Battles of the Hussite Wars
