The Battle of Domažlice () or Battle of Taus () or Battle of Tausch was fought on 14 August 1431 as the part of the 5th crusade against

Hussite file:Hussitenkriege.tif, upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century file:The Bohemian Realm during the Hussite Wars.png, upright=1.2, The Lands of the ...

s. The crusade was sent to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

after negotiations, held in

Pressburg Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

and

Cheb Cheb (; ) is a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře River. Before the Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, expulsion of Germans in 1945, the town was the centre of the G ...

, between Hussites and the

emperor Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1437. He was elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) in 1410, and was also King of Bohemia from 1419, as well as prince-elect ...

had failed.

Outcome

According to legend, the Imperial army was besieging the city of

Domažlice Domažlice (; ) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monument reser ...

since 8 August, when the sight of the approaching and singing Hussite relief army led by Prokop the Bald and hearing their battle hymn "

Ktož jsú boží bojovníci "Ye Who Are Warriors of God", the English translation of "Ktož jsú Boží bojovníci" from History of the Czech language, Old Czech, is a 15th-century Hussite war song. Alternate Czech language, modern Czech spellings of the title are: "Kdož js ...

" ("Ye Who are Warriors of God"), led to mass panicking among the crusaders, who fled through the

Bohemian Forest The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as () and in German as , is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria in Germ ...

. The Hussites immediately set after the fleeing Imperial army and annihilated its remnants. Reportedly, 8,000 wagons and all the equipment of the crusaders were captured. The crusader army was accompanied by

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the Pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catho ...

Julian Cesarini who escaped, but lost all of his luggage in the retreat, including the secret correspondence and the

Papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

charging him to hire crusaders.John William Mears. "Heroes of Bohemia: Huss, Jerome and Zisca." (1879)

Sources

* ''Ich Wolkenstein'', by Dieter Kühn; Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main, 1977

External links

Bellum.cz – Battle of Domažlice 14 August 1431
* The National Monument Domažlice on Czech Wikipedia 1431 in Europe Domazlice 1431 Domazlice 1431 Conflicts in 1431 Prokop the Great History of the Plzeň Region {{CzechRepublic-stub