Наумов Н. Н. Поведение Сигизмунда Люксембургского в бою как тема гуситской пропаганды [Электронный ресурс] // Vox medii aevi. 2024. Vol. 2 (11). С. 76–87. URL: https://voxmediiaevi.com/2024-2-naumov/
DOI: 10.24412/2587-6619-2024-11-76-87
Nikolay Naumov
Candidate of Sciences (History), Senior Lecturer at Lomonosov Moscow State University
nn-naumov@mail.ru
The Behavior of King Sigismund of Luxembourg in battle as a topic of the Hussite propaganda
The paper reflects on the ideology of those who inhabited the Kingdom of Bohemia and took part in the Hussite Wars in the first third of the 15th century. It especially considered their views on how a ruler should behave in battle. This research is focused on the way the Prague Hussites discussed this topic during their attempts to blacken the name of their political opponents. Sources from the 12th and 13th centuries (Chronica Bohemorum by Cosma of Prague and the Old-Czech Alexandreis) show the following point of view, which was self-evident to medieval Bohemians: one of the proper qualities of a respectable ruler is personal courage in battle. Those rulers who avoided participating in battle personally were criticised, while the warriors sent into battle instead of thems were praised— even if they belonged to the enemies, from the narrator’s point of view. The manifesto composed by the Prague Hussites and Orebites on November 5, 1420, after their victory over King Sigismund’s forces inforces the battle of Vyšehrad, follows the same narrative pattern. Sigismund is accused of not having wished, dared, or been able to save 500 lords, knights, and squires of the Bohemian nation from death. He sent them into battle in his place. The Hussites call these fallen nobles “our native Bohemians” and mourn their deaths— even though in other contexts they referred to them as “the enemies of the Chalice” and the “slanderers of the Truth.” The trope of Sigismund’s shameful absence from battle appears in n I Porok České koruny, where his behavior on the eve of the battle of Nicopolis, is used as proof of his cowardice and lasciviousness. The paper assumes that paper assumes there was a fundamental idea in the conscience of the Bohemian nobility influenced by the cult of Saint Wenceslas: namely, that a strong and manly king and war leader cannot be lascivious. The Prague Hussites were aligned with this view.
Keywords: Hussite wars, 15th century; Kingdom of Bohemia; Prague Hussites; Old-Czech Alexandreis; saint rulers.