The Peculiar Siege of Prague Lore Books

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How Prague was besieged by several armies and how the siege was ended without any bloodshed whatsoever.

Text

On the Siege of Prague
a peculiar one indeed

In the year of our Lord 1401, in the summer after the prince-electors stripped King Wenceslas of the title of Holy Roman Emperor due to his inability and unwillingness to rule, the army of Jobst, Margrave of Moravia, and the League of Lords appeared before the gates of Prague, alongside the armies of William of Meissen with the support of Prokop, the cousin of the king, who was initially sent to William to discourage him from war, but in the end he joined with him. Together they laid siege to the town from two sides, from north and south, but their strength was not so great that they could take the town by storm or even fully encircle its walls. King Wenceslas did not want to come out of the safety of the town walls with his army, so all the armies remained in place and waited to see what would happen. And none of those laying siege wanted to send their army against Prague to destroy it, for they did not wish to cause any injury to the Kingdom of Bohemia, but only force Wenceslas to capitulate and relinquish the Crown of Bohemia.

Sigismund of Luxembourg, who had been vying for the throne, remained at that time in the captivity of his own subjects and thus he could not come to the aid of either side. It is said that if he had come to the aid of someone, he would have likely helped his brother Wenceslas, although he had warred with him at other times, because blood is blood and it would be preferable for the crown to stay in the family. The besiegers of Prague kept up their siege and the Praguers themselves even brought them food and supplies, so rowdy soldiers would not plunder the surrounding area and would spare the farms. Aware of this willingness, the besieging army had no desire whatsoever to resort to violent deeds.

Seventeen days did the armies lay siege, seventeen days did they negotiate and make schemes so complicated that many got lost in them and they began to conspire against each other. On the seventeenth day Jobst and the League of Lords came to an agreement with King Wenceslas that the former would not have to relinquish the crown, but decision-making and government should be left to the nobles from then on and that he should endeavor no more to rule. William, seeing that no fruits would be borne, retreated with his army back to Meissen.

The peculiar siege ended without loss of life or injury. The only one to suffer loss was Wenceslas, for the soldiers in the royal siege encampments had slaughtered all the game in the royal preserve to fill their bellies.