Battle of Lipany

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Lipany
partof=the Hussite Wars


date=30 May, 1434
place=Lipany near Český Brod
result=Decisive Anti-Hussite Victory
combatant1=Taborites and Orphans
combatant2=Utraquists and Catholics
commander1=Prokop the Great
Jan Čapek of Sány
commander2=Diviš Bořek of Miletínek
strength1=10,700 soldiers
strength2=13,000
casualties1=1300 soldiers
casualties2=Unknown

The Battle of Lipany or Lipan, also called the Battle of Česky Brod, was fought at Lipany 40 km east of 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 and Orphans led by Prokop the Great, the overall commander, and by Čapek of Sány, the cavalry commander.

The radicals set up a Wagenburg on a strategically very advantageous hill and both armies stood against each other for some time. An attempt of the Utraquists to negotiate and to solve the conflict peacefully failed due to irreconcilable position of the radicals. Three days after the unsuccessful negotiations, the Leaguers advanced to the radicals' encampment and although the following mutual cannonade was harmless due to big distance between the two armies, to the surprise of the radicals, the Leaguers began to retreat with all their waggons. Thinking that their enemy was fleeing, the radicals' commanders opened the Wagenburg to attack the Leaguers' marching formation, not knowing that this retreat was actually a trick to draw them forth out of the Wagenburg. After the radicals approached the Leaguers' army, the Leaguers stopped and started to fire from their waggons. Simultaneously, a heavy cavalry of the Leaguers hidden near the radicals' camp undertook a surprising attack from the side and penetrated into the opened Wagenburg. The army of the radicals quickly collapsed and the commander of the Orphans' cavalry, Čapek of Sány, fled with all his men to the nearby town of Kolin. The fight then changed into a bloody massacre of the light-equipped radicals' forces. Both Prokop the Great and Prokupek (Prokop the Little) were killed, holding "the last stand" at the waggons. Some prominent leaders of the radicals, like e.g. Jan Roháč of Dubé, were captured, but about 700 ordinary soldiers, who gave up due to promises of a new military service, were burned to death in near barns.

As a consequence of the battle, the Taborite army was markedly weakened, and Orphans as a military force virtually 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's 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".

External links

* [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/matthaywood/main/Hussite_Battles_and_Significant_events.htm The Battles of the Hussite Wars]