One-eyed Jan (1)

We're back!

To freshen things up a bit, let’s take a look at the blind genius general of Bohemia, Jan Zizka. I had a bit of a Hussite phase several years ago and wrote a novel about them (plug, plug). Most of the information on these posts comes from Victor Verney’s book on Zizka, a couple of old textbooks I have lying around and the bargain bucket of my memory. Also, I am typing Zizka’s name without accents because I don’t know how to do them on a Mac. So there. 

We don’t know much about Zizka’s early life. He may (or may not) have been born circa 1360 in Trocnov, now part of the town of Borovany in the Czech Republic. I used to live in CZ, incidentally, teaching English. This may (or may not) explain the poor standard of English.* A document dated 3 April 1378 mentions one ‘Johannes dictus Zizka de Trocnov; (Jan called Zizka of Trocnov) as a witness on a marriage contract. Another, dated 10 July of that year, confirms a loan incurred by the same man and two friends. 

There is, apparently, no direct evidence that this Jan Zizka is identical to the famous general. However, it seems very likely: ‘Zizka’ means ‘one-eyed’ in Czech, and it defies belief that there were two one-eyed men named Jan Zizka from Trocnov at the same time. According to legend, Zizka lost his first eye during the Battle of Grunnenberg-Tannenberg in 1410. That is probably a later myth, one of the many that swirl about his name. He could just as easily have lost it in a pub brawl when he was young, or any one of a thousand reasons. Furthermore, ‘Zizka’ was not a family name, but a nickname applied to a specific individual. 

In order to secure loans, Zizka must have held property. The family estate in Trocnov was small, with poor quality soil, and its prosperity depended on crops and livestock. Either Zizka was unlucky, or a bad estate manager, but by 1384 he had sold off the last of his ancestral estate. He was in Prague in 1381, perhaps inspiring a later tale that he was educated at the Prague royal court. A document from 1384 mentions one Catherine, wife of Johannes dictus Zizka, who seems to have died young. 

As you can tell, it is very difficult to piece together Zizka’s early life. The evidence, such as it is, indicates that he was the heir to an impoverished country estate, which he gradually sold off. Zizka then moved to Prague and got married at some point in the 1380s. 

He wasn’t a particularly good catch. In this era, property defined a man’s status. After selling off his inheritance, poor as it was, Zizka was reduced to a mere squire, and a landless one at that. Oh, and he was half-blind. Not a very promising start, then. *I’m joking, of course. I expect the standard is very good.