After this success the Bohemians returned to their country, where they remained during the winter.
As successor of Bohuslav of Schwamberg the Táborites chose the priest Prokop, surnamed “the Great,” who became the protagonist in the later part of the Hussite wars almost to as great an extent as Žižka had been during the earlier period. If even as regards Žižka the energy of the Bohemian scholars of the last and the present generation has not entirely succeeded in elucidating many moot points, the events of the life of Prokop were up to recently quite obscure.[1] Recent research, however, shows it to be nearly certain that Prokop was the son of a merchant of Prague, named Andrew, who probably died during Prokop’s infancy. Andrew’s wife, Anna, was the sister of a man of knightly birth, who is mentioned in contemporary documents as “Jan de Aquis” or “John Voda.”[2] He appears to have owned the estate of Čelakovice, as we sometimes find him—according to the Bohemian custom of that period—described as Johannes de Čelakovice. John’s sister Anna was probably the mother of Prokop, and after the early death of his father he was brought up under the direction of his uncle, John de Aquis. In his youth Prokop accompanied his uncle on extensive travels through France, Spain, and Italy, and even visited Jerusalem. On his return from these travels he took Orders; the Polish historian Dlugoš calls him “apostata ordinis Minorum,” and we have evidence rendering it at least probable that he spent some time in a Minorite monastery at Králové Hradec. It is conjectured that Prokop was born between 1370 and 1379, but it is only after the year 1419 that
- ↑ Dr. Alphons Neubauer has, in the Cěsky Cǎsopis Historický (Bohemian Historical Journal) for 1910, published a series of articles on Prokop the Great, which throw much light on the career of the great Hussite leader. I wish here to acknowledge my great indebtedness to these valuable articles.
- ↑ “Voda” signifies “water” (aqua) in Bohemian.
cum potentia magna et vallaverunt unam civitatem quæ dicitur Recz et debellaverunt eam et interfecerunt multos homines. Et in eadem civitate ceperunt Comitem qui dicitur de Hardegg et duxerunt eum at [sic] Pragam et devastarunt sibi omnes res circumquaque, quidquid habuit et ibi mortuus est in Praga” (Pez, “Scriptores rerum Austriacarum,” Tom. I. p. 733).
