DBA Armies

The Hussites were named after Jan Hus, a Bohemian religious reformer judicially murdered while under safe-conduct in 1415. This having failed to suppress local anti-catholic religious aspiration, a revolt broke out 1419-1424 under Jan Zizka which was to win many victories against the Catholic League’s Royalist and Hungarian armies. Having defeated the initial Catholic response, they then split into mutually hostile Utraquist, Taborite and smaller factions, though these still occasionally combined. Their strength lay in massed open-topped horse-drawn war wagons crewed by crossbowmen and some handgunners. Other wagons mounted a houfnice, which was a short light cannon, but with a large bore suitable for firing multiple small shot. A new series of crusades 1464-1471 were led by King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary against the “Hussite King” Georg Podiebrad of Bohemia. Reference: Armies of the Middle Ages Vol 2 1. Heath.