Jan Žižka. Život a doba husitského válečníka.

Žižka’s new biography is published on the occasion of the 600^th anniversary of the outbreak of the Hussite Revolution and corrects the current knowledge of Czech historiography. After František Šmahel’s Hussite tetralogy no informed scholarly work on this exciting topic has been published for a quarter of a century. The reader now gets his hands on the second most extensive work on Žižka, following almost ninety years of Josef Pekař’s monumental work. In our book the findings of Josef Pekař are extended, corrected and surpassed using the latest research.

The extensive biography of Jan Žižka by a renowned expert on the Hussite period presents Žižka as an undefeated hetman in a new light. The story of the most famous Czech warrior is being unveiled at the background of colourful historical panorama that helps to understand Žižka’s inner world and the motivation of his actions. On the pages of our book the Hussite warrior acts as a field commander whose outstanding achievements arise not only from a genius strategic thinking and the unique ability to come up with unexpected solutions but also from the loyalty of his fellow warriors and his charisma appreciated even by his enemies. Žižka sees himself, though, as a deeply religious fighter who fulfills God’s will anytime anywhere. Already during his life Žižka becomes the icon of the followers of the Hussite programme and also the object of hatred of his enemies.

The book is one the outcomes of the Czech Science Foundation project, ID: P405/12/G148: Kulturní kódy a jejich proměny v husitském období. Petr Čornej made an extraordinary contribution to this outcome as a member of the Department of Language Development.