PROCOP, ANDREW, the Hussite leader, known as Procop the elder, or the holy, or the shaven, in allusion to his having received the tonsure in early life, was born toward the close of the 14th c., and belonged to a noble family of Prague. After having traveled with an uncle for some years through France and Spain, he returned to Bohemia at the outbreak of the religious wars, in which Ziska (q.v.), took so prominent a part, and at. once 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 in 1424, Proem, was elected by the Taborites, who formed an important section of the Hussites, aa their leader, and from this period till 1427 his history presents an almost unbroken series of daring attacks upon the Austrians. .In the meantime, another body of Tabor ites, who balled themselves orphans, had overrun Lausitz, and burned Lauban, under the leadership of a man, subsequently known as Procop the lesser, or younger, who now, in concert with the more distinguished Procop, attacked Silesia, and took part in those internal feuds of the Hussite factions by which Bohemia was almost wholly ruined. The threatened approach of three German armies, which had been levied by the neighboring states to carry on an exterminating crusade against the heretics, was alone able to restore unanimity to the divided Hussites, who, under the leadership of the two Procops, offered a desperate and successful resistance to the larger numbers of the Germans, subsequently pursuing their enemies with fire and sword through Silesia, Moravia, and Hungary, as far as Presburg. In 1429 Procop made inroads into the German states as far as Magdeburg, and returned to Bohemia laden with spoil, and fol lowed by a numerous band of captive nobles and knights; and in the following year, at. the head. of 50,000 men-at-arms, and half as many horsemen, he again broke into Misnia, Franconia, and Bavaria, and after having burned 100 castles and towns, and destroyed. 1400 villages and hamlets, and carried off a vast amount of treasure, turned his arms against Moravia and Silesia. The emperor Sigismund at this crisis offered to treat with
him, but the imperial demand that the Hussites shotild submit to the decision of a COUH• cif, afforded Procop a pretext for breaking off all negotiations with the imperial court. A second German crusading army now advanced in 1431, but was thoroughly defeated at Ricsenburg. These successes, which were followed by others of nearly equal impor tance in Silesia, Hungary, and Saxony, where the princes had to purchase peace at the hands of the two Procops, on humiliating terms, induced the council of Base] to pro pose a-meeting between the Hussite leaders and ten learned Catholic doctors. The meet ing lasted 50 days, but was productive of no good result, and Procop returned to. Bohemia, where, combining his forces with those of Procop the lesser, lie laid siege to• Pilsen. The council, on this, passed an act, known as the Basel compact, by which the Hussites were allowed the use of the cup in the Lord's-supper, and the Bohemians were designated by the title of the "first sons of the Catholic church." The Taborites and orphans, under the leadership of the two Procops, 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 Lipau in 1434, in which Procop was induced, by a feint of the enemy, to• leave his intrenchments. His followers at first fought desperately against the troops of the Bohemian nobles, who were commanded by Meinhard of Neuhaus: but at length, under the influence of a sudden panic, they gave way, and took to flight. Procop, after vainly striving to re-form their broken lines, threw himself into the midst of the enemy, and was killed. Procop the lesser, following in his steps, was also slain, and with these: two brave Hussite leaders the cause of the Taborites perished.