Diviš Bořek of Miletínek

Who is Diviš Bořek of Miletínek?

Diviš Bořek z Miletínka was a captain of the Hussites in eastern and central Bohemia.

He started his career as a poor, rural nobleman of Czech origin, seated at small stronghold named Miletínek, near the village Miletín in northeastern Bohemia. After Jan Hus had been burned at the stake in Constance, he joined the Hussite movement. At first, he was a leader of the more radical Hussites and a comrade of Jan Žižka; later he became more moderate and even fought against the Taborites.

In 1420, Diviš and priest Ambrož Hradecký conquered Hradec Králové, the most important city in eastern Bohemia. It allowed him in following year to conquer and loot nearby Benedictine monastery at Opatovice nad Labem and subsequently the very same fate prepared for the Cistercian Sezemice Convent. He confiscated their properties which made him suddenly a rich man. In 1423, he founded a small castle on the hill Kunětická Hora, near the town Pardubice; this castle he named Kunětice Mountain Castle.

In June and July 1423 he and captain Bedřich of Strážnice led a campaign to Moravia, in which they defeated the armies of Jan XII. Železný, Bishop of Olomouc and the Duke Přemek of Opava. After its return to Bohemia, the Hussite armies were attacked near Hradec Králové by the armies of Jan Žižka, whom they had regarded as fellow Hussites. Jan Žižka defeated them and took the abundant prey they had conquered in Moravia.