This paper is a loose sequel to our 2017 essay “The Hussite Era in the First Edition of Daniel Adam of Veleslavín’s Historical Calendar”, in which we argued that any researcher of an Early Modern Czech historiographic text should thoroughly compare its factual content with the sources it creatively paraphrases, mainly with Václav Hájek of Libočany’s Czech Cronicle. The present article introduces eight Czech manuscripts that emerged in the years 1741–1835 containing passages devoted to the Hussite era and retelling the story of the late 14th and 15th century, each with its own particular angle and emphasis. Since at least six authors are Catholic, their reception of Jan Hus and the militant Utraquist movement is predictably negative; however, our most interesting outputs concern the way historiographers pursued an intertextual discussion with their Humanist predecessors in the first three decades of the 15th century, while paying little or no attention to events that took place after the ratification of the Basel Compacts in 1436.
By the end of spring 1468, within just a few months of one another, the anti-Ottoman crusade had suffered two grievous losses, both unavoidable or, at least, expected. In mid-January, Skanderbeg passed away. With the exception of a couple of fortresses and the Venetian possessions, Albania came under Ottoman rule. The difficult Hungarian-Ottoman negotiations of February-April 1468 led to the conclusion of a two-year truce between King Matthias Corvinus and Sultan Mehmed II (twice prolonged, in 1470 and in 1472). John Hunyadi’s soon left on his other crusade, against the heretic king of Bohemia, George Podiebrad, whom he accused, like his fellow crusader leaguer of 1463, Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, of also conspiring with the Turk. The paper explores - based on archival material - the Hungarian and Wallachian background that led to this change in the policy of Matthias Corvinus, who had been prepared to attack the Turks, not the realm of Bohemia, in mid-1467. and Alexandru Simon.