Talk:Jan Žižka

Most of this article is only average history. I just deleted a paragraph that was very nearly pure myth. If I had time, I would rewrite the article. As it is, I really don't. However, I wrote a fairly long high school research paper on the Hussites which can be found at http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=hussite_effects - I hope some people will use it in this and related articles. 141.157.99.25 01:29, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

You should correct your view that hussites were defeated on the White Mountain in 1620. There were no hussites; the army hired by Czech nobles consisted often of foreign mercenaries, who fled soon after the battle started. 82.100.61.114 07:16, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

What is the baffling sentence "The Germans had just started korning gunpowder" supposed to mean? Deipnosophista 18:30, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

That's a misspelling of "corning," meaning forming into grains. I'll fix that now. You want baffling, how about "Legal records from 1378 mention Jan Žižka z Trocnova, hinting that if the nick-name žižka meant one-eye, early chronologer Aeneus Sylvius Piccolomini, Pius II was correct in stating the loss of the eye was the result of a childhood fight." I'd fix that, but I don't know what Pius II has to do with it, if anything. My guess is that "Legal records from 1378 mention Jan Žižka z Trocnova, hinting that if the nick-name žižka meant one-eye, early chronologer Aeneus Sylvius Piccolomini was correct in stating the loss of the eye was the result of a childhood fight." is what was intended.Milkbreath 18:46, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Eye

There is written "Reportedly, he lost one eye in a skirmish during the Battle of Grunwald (July 15, 1410), earning him the nickname "John the One-Eyed"". In cs:Jan Žižka is written that he lost left eye in childhood. The same information is (in Czech) on Hussite, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University in Brno or Prague Information Service. There is also no evidence if Žižka really took part in Battle of Grunwald. --Luděk 12:58, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Frederick Heymann wrote that the early historian Aeneas Sylvius twice mentioned Žižka's first loss of an eye took place as part of a childhood fight.(page 18) We have no reports of which eye he lost. Heymann also has written evidence that Žižka fought under the Czech general Sokol in 1410, but took part in the defense of Radzyń.(page 31)Source: Frederick G. Heymann, John Žižka and the Hussite Revolution, (Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press, 1955) Another point that must be added is Žižka's revolutionary use of the hand gun and small cannon. By combining the hand guns pištala with the Wagonburg, Žižka devised an exceptional platform from which to shoot, while keeping the gunners protected from the charging knights. Sappers loaded handguns from inside the protective enclosure of the wagonburg and passed the loaded weapon to the gunners in the wagon. From the elevation of the wagon, the fighters looked down on the knights, and assailed them with guns, arrows, military flails, pikes, hooks, and sometimes even rocks. The wagons were not used like our modern tanks. Instead, Žižka used them like a portable fort. Because he knew the landscape well, Žižka could get to any location in the Czech lands within three days. There he unfailingly found the best location for defense, and the well-trained wagoneers could have the wagonburg set up in a very short time. Misha Griffith 22:01, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

According to the investigation of the "Caslavska kalva" (remains of the supposed Zizka's skull), he lost a left eye during his childhood due to a serious wounding. He may not have been completely blind after the loss of his second eye in 1421. 82.100.61.114 07:19, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I do not consider Aeneas Sylvius to be a reliable source on the Hussites. The myths he began (Zizka's drum, Hussites worshipping Zizka) give severe doubt to any of the facts that are uncorroborated by any other sources. In short, he was biased, and losing an eye in a childhood fight would certainly present a less glorious view of Zizka than losing it fighting the Germans. It would also save some face for the Germans. Anyway. 70.22.81.172 02:29, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Zizka at the Defenestration?

In 1419 at the First Defenestration of Prague, Žižka headed those who threw the town councillors from the windows of the town hall.

I am not sure this is correct. It contradicts the article on the Defenestrations of Prague, which states that a Hussite priest named Jan Zelivsky (not Jan Zizka) headed the defenestation. A quick Google search on both names seems to back this up ... While Zizka became famous as a general in the Hussite war that followed, I don't think he was involved in the Defenestration itself. If no one minds, I will amend the paragraph. Blueboar 18:11, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

This site does a good job of deliniating the difference between the two Jans... Based on this I will make the amendation. Blueboar 18:23, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Wagons

When you said circled like Pioneers of the Old West, I just wanted to say there is no historical record of that ever happening