Battle of Vítkov Hill The Battle of Vítkov Hill was a part of the Hussite Wars . The battle pitted the forces of Emperor Sigismund , Holy Roman Emperor against Hussite forces under command of Jan Žižka ( in English , John Zizka ) . Vítkov Hill was located on the edge of the city of Prague and the battle occurred in a vineyard established by Sigismund ' s father , Charles IV . Preliminaries to the battle . On 1 March 1420 , Pope Martin V published a papal bull in which he ordered that Sigismund and all Eastern princes had to organize a crusade against the Hussite followers of John Hus , John Wycliffe and other heretics . On the 15th of March in Wrocław , Emperor Sigismund ordered the execution of Jan Krása who was a Hussite and leader of the Wrocław Uprising in 1418 . On the 17th of March the papal legate Ferdinand de Palacios published the bull in Wrocław . After that the Utraquist faction of Hussites understood that they would not reach agreement with him . They united with Taborite Hussites and decided to defend against the emperor . The crusaders assembled their army in Świdnica . On the 4th of April 1420 , Taborite forces destroyed Catholic forces in Mladá Vožice . On the 7th of April Taborites under command of Nicholas of Hus captured Sedlice after which they captured Písek , the castle Rábí , Strakonice , and Prachatice . At the end of April , the crusading army crossed the Bohemian border . At the beginning of May they captured Hradec Králové . On the 7th May , Čeněk of Wartenberg surrounded Hradčany . Fights on Benešov and near Kutná Hora . The Crusader force of 400 infantry and knights under the command of Peter of Sternberg attempted to defend Benešov against the Taborites . After the battle , the crusader forces were destroyed and the town was burned . Near Kutná Hora the crusader forces under the command of Janek z Chtěnic and Pippo Spano ( Filippo Scolari ) attacked the formations of the Taborites without success . On 22 May Taborite forces entered Prague . Jan Žižka destroyed the crusader ' s relief column which had to secure supplies which were sent to Hradčany and Vyšehrad . Meanwhile the crusading army captured Slaný , Louny and Mělník . Defence of Prague . The siege began on 12 June . The crusaders ' forces , in the opinions of the chroniclers , consisted of 100 - 200 thousand soldiers . In the opinions of modern historians they probably had 50 - 100 thousand soldiers . One of the most important points in the fortifications of Prague was Vítkov Hill . The fortifications on this hill secured roads on the crusaders ' supply lines . The fortifications themselves were made from timber but they were consolidated with a stone and clay wall and with moat s . On the southern part of the hill there was a standing tower , the northern part was secured by a steep cliff . The fortifications were said to be defended by 26 men and three women , though in the opinion of J . Durdik , it was probably about 60 soldiers . On 13 July , the Crusader ' s cavalry crossed the river Vltava and began their attack . On 14 July , Hussite relief troops surprise attacked the Knights through the vineyards on the southern side of the hill on which the battle was fought . The violent attack forced the crusaders down the steep northern cliff . Panic spread among the crusaders , which made them rout the field . During the retreat , many knights drowned in the Vltava . Most of Žižka ' s forces were soldiers armed with flails and guns . After the battle , the Hussites had won . Crusaders lost about 300 knights . In honour of this battle , Vítkov Hill was renamed Žižkov after Jan Žižka . This battle was more of a political success than a military success . As a consequence of the Hussite victory on Vítkov , the crusaders lost any hope of starving the city into submission and their army disintegrated . Afterward the crusaders withdrew to Kutná Hora and began local warfare . A monument exists today on the hill and in 2003 local officials were attempting to replant the vineyard .