The New International Encyclopædia/Procopius, Andrew

PROCOPIUS, Andrew (c.1380-1434). A Hussite leader, known as Procopius the Great. He is also sometimes called the Holy, or the Shaven, in allusion to his having received the tonsure in early life. He studied in Prague, and after traveling for several years in foreign countries he returned to Bohemia and entered the ranks of the insurgent Hussites. His military genius soon raised him to the rank of an influential commander; and on the death of Ziska (q.v.), in 1424, Procopius was elected by the Taborites, who formed the radical section of the Hussites, as their leader. In the ensuing years he ravaged Austria, but in 1426 he vanquished the crusading armies of Central Germany at Aussig. In the meantime another body of Taborites, who called themselves Orphans, had overrun Lusatia, and burned Lauban, under the leadership of Procopius the Lesser, or Younger, who now, in concert with the more distinguished Procopius, attacked Silesia, and took part in those internal feuds of the Hussite factions by which Bohemia was almost wholly ruined. From 1428 to 1430 Procopius directed raids against Hungary, Silesia, Saxony, Franconia, and other neighboring lands, which were successful and caused the Hussites to be dreaded. The Emperor Sigismund attempted to treat with him, but was unsuccessful, and in 1431 Procopius decisively defeated a German army at Tauss. In 1433 the moderate Hussites or Calixtines accepted the terms offered by the Catholic party. The Taborites and Orphans, under the leadership of Procopius the Great and Procopius the Lesser, refused, however, to have anything to do with the Pope, and hence dissensions arose between them and the more moderate of the Hussites. After many lesser encounters between these factions, a decisive battle was fought near Böhmisch-Brod, on May 30, 1434, in which both Procopius the Great and Procopius the Lesser were slain. Consult Creighton, History of the Papacy (6 vols., London, 1897). See Hussites.