The Undeservedly Obscure Dead

Today we return to that loftiest of blogging traditions, indeed, the mind of man hath rearely birthed its like into the world of ideas. I speak of course of The Undeservedly Obscure Dead once known as "Dead Europeans". Today's installment, Jan Žižka. Žižka was a Czech nobleman of the 15th Century who joined the Hussites. After the First Defenestration of Prague he defended the city from the forces of King Sigismund by running armored peasant carts down a hill and routing the superior forces. The tactic is cleverly called the Wagonburg (wagon hill). He moved around Bohemia, even attempting an abortive invasion of Hungary to strike at Sigismund's heart. He is notable for having never lost a battle. I speak of him for two reasons. First, I stayed in the Žižka neighborhood (home of the Television Tower...about the evil of which there shall be more anon) whilst in Prague. And second, he moved his forces to, and helped found, the town of Tábor some miles south of Prague, a Hussite stronghold. Some four centuries later some dry-goods merchant from Maine whose ancestors hailed from that town would grubstake a silver claim and become the first silver tycoon of the Colorado rush of 1859, and Horace Tabor would help build my birthplace of Denver, Colorado. So I salute you Jan Žižka. Truly you are the father of the Mother of Cities (though Prague was already 800 years old). You sly dog you. More importantly, now both of my readers salute you. Also, most of Europe is aware of your ginormous equestrian statue that stands over the city. But mostly my two readers.