IX.

FROM THE DEATH OF HUS TO THE FIRST CORONATION OF SIGISMUND.

(July 6, 1415-July 28, 1420.)

Few great teachers are ever well represented by their immediate followers and disciples; but hardly any have been distinguished from their followers by so many and such important differences as those which separated John Hus from the men who are known by his name. First of all there was the gulf which separates the man who rejoices to die for his faith from those who delight in killing on its behalf. But that difference between teacher and follower, though much more vital, is, perhaps, also more common than the barrier of doctrinal difference which separated Hus from those who claimed to represent him. The very practice, which supplied the war-cry of the coming struggle, was one which Hus had merely approved with a friendly tolerance, never advocated with any special enthusiasm; and that difference of feeling is characteristic of the whole relations between Hus and his followers. On the one hand the constitutional reforms of the Church, hinted at in the “De Ecclesia,” would certainly have been rejected by the Calixtine party; while, on the other hand, the doctrines and practices of the Taborites would have been opposed by Hus himself. It will therefore be more convenient, in describing the following struggle, to speak of the Reformers by their doctrinal name of “Utraquists,” rather than by the personal but misleading title of “Hussite.”

But, if the spirit of the living Hus could scarcely be said to rest upon those who called themselves by his name, undoubtedly the death of Hus was recognised, on both sides, as the essential cause of the wars which followed. Men might wrangle about this or that doctrine or practice; but the murder of a Bohemian, in a place to which he had been sent under the special protection of the King and the nobles, was a point which could never be forgiven or forgotten against Sigismund or the Council of Constance; especially when this murder was connected with an attempt to brand as heretics the whole Bohemian nation. This feeling breathes through the fiery letter of the nobles of Bohemia, which was sent to the Council on the 2nd of September, 1415. They accused the Councillors of having condemned Hus on false evidence; and they declared him to be a good Catholic. They give the lie to all to dare to assert that there is heresy in Bohemia or Moravia, except only to the Emperor Sigismund, who, they _hope_, is innocent in the matter; and they declare that they will defend the law of Christ and His preachers, even to the shedding of blood.

While the nobles threw down their gauntlet to the Council in this formal manner, the main body of the people showed their feeling by fierce riots against the monks. Churches and monasteries were burnt; many monks were driven from Prague, and some priests were killed in the riots. The Archbishop of Prague determined to stand by his Order; and he too fixed on the Communion in both kinds as the dividing line between the two parties. Finding that he could neither prohibit this practice nor obtain compensation for the injuries done to the clergy, he laid Prague under an Interdict.

This Interdict became a new source of division. The Utraquists utterly disregarded it, and exposed themselves to the charge of rebellion against the Church. The Catholics, on the other hand, scrupulously recognised the archbishop’s decree, and therefore felt bound to celebrate their services only in the Vys̆ehrad, which was outside the prohibited area. The Catholic visits to that fortress were compared by the Utraquists to the more celebrated pilgrimages to Mecca; and hence the name of Mahometan was added to the other terms of abuse, which were being so freely scattered by the rival theologians.

The attitude of Wenceslaus was wavering and uncertain. He had, indeed, been disposed to accept the Council’s condemnation of the granting of the Cup to the laity; but he had used his best influence to save Hus, and he had resented his execution, as another proof of that faithlessness of Sigismund, of which he had already had such painful experience. He refused, however, to join the League which the nobles had formed to defend the liberties of Bohemia, partly, perhaps, because they connected it with a defence of the practice just condemned by the Council; and he even consented to support an Opposition League formed by the Catholic nobles in defence of the Church.

Sigismund, on his part, began to entertain hopes that he might contrive to sow division between these rival parties; and, feeling that his share in the death of Hus was the point which prevented his success in these intrigues, he wrote to the Bohemian nobles assuring them that he deeply regretted that death, that he had done his best to prevent it, and that, if Hus had only consented to come under the Emperor’s protection to Constance, instead of starting alone from Prague, all would have been well; but he added that he could not have saved Hus at the last, without breaking up the Council altogether. Whether these falsehoods deceived any one may be doubted. At any rate they did not accomplish Sigismund’s immediate purpose; for, when the Bishop of Litomys̆l arrived, with authority from the Council to suppress heresy in Bohemia, he received no encouragement either from king or from nobles, and, when he attempted violence, he was driven out by force.

Indeed, whatever terms the nobles of Bohemia might have thought right to make with Sigismund, as the heir to the Bohemian throne, they could not, with any credit to themselves, come to terms at this time with the Council of Constance. In the same letter in which the nobles had condemned the burning of Hus, they had also complained of the imprisonment of Jerom; and with Jerom it was clear that the Council were determined to proceed to extremities. Worn with starvation and chains, the unfortunate prisoner at last yielded to his persecutors; and, while his countrymen were protesting against his imprisonment, he had consented to recant his errors, and to acknowledge the justice of the death of Hus. The Italian cardinals now desired to set him free; but the German and Bohemian members of the Council, backed by the Chancellor of the University of Paris, insisted that this recantation was not to be trusted, and that Jerom should be further examined as to his doctrines. Michael de Causis and Stephen Pálec̆ fastened with relentless eagerness on their second victim, and, by so doing, they saved his honour and reputation, and gave him an opportunity of showing his better side.

In May, 1416, he was granted a new hearing before the Council; and, after having been for some time pestered with questions, he was at last allowed to speak for himself. His long oration, filled with classical allusions, greatly impressed the Italian scholar, Poggio Bracciolini, who was present on this occasion. But it will scarcely strike modern readers as so edifying as the simpler utterances of Hus. The conclusion, however, was more worthy of the occasion. It contained a manly and straightforward eulogy on Hus, an expression of his deep regret at the weakness which had led him to recant, and a declaration of his adherence to the teaching both of Hus and of Wyclif. Then, on May 14, 1416, he was led out to be burnt, and went singing to the stake.

If this execution had not been sufficient to prevent a reconciliation between the Bohemians and the Council of Constance, another event of the same period would certainly have deepened the division between them. The Bishop of Olmütz died about this time, and Wenceslaus nominated a new bishop in his stead. The Council, however, intervened; and they not only rejected Wenceslaus’s nominee, but they demanded that he should accept instead that Bishop of Litomys̆l whom he had just driven out of the country as a disturber of the peace, and who was so deeply hated for his prominent share in the condemnation of Hus. Wenceslaus of course refused, and thereby widened the gulf between himself and the orthodox Catholics.

Unfortunately, however, the effect of this consolidation of national feeling was speedily weakened by the divisions which had begun to show themselves in the Utraquist party. Teachers were coming to the front who demanded far more sweeping reforms than those which Jakaubek of Kladrau and the other friends of Hus were at all disposed to approve; and they wished to enforce these reforms by the extremest violence. As these reforms were aimed, not only at abuses in the Church, but also at the influence of the wealthy men in the State, the Reformers soon roused against them the fears and anger of the well-to-do citizens of Prague. Nor were these alarms likely to be modified when it became evident that two men, at least, of important position and remarkable ability, were disposed to place themselves at the head of the reforming movement.

The leader who first attracted the attention of the crowd and the fears of the King was Nicholaus of Hus, the Guardian of the Fortress of Hus, and the proprietor of the village of Husinec. He had been a favourite with the King, and was reputed, even by his enemies, to be a man of great ability and insight. He now gathered together such great crowds of people for prayer and preaching that Wenceslaus began to suspect him of aiming at the throne. But the more pacific abilities of Nicholaus were soon to be thrown into the shade by his fiercer and more brilliant ally, John Z̆iz̆ka of Troc̆nov.

Though Z̆iz̆ka, like Nicholaus, had been a favourite at Court, he had already once offended the king by a daring act of independence. Influenced, no doubt, by Sigismund and his friends, Wenceslaus had at one time supported the Order of Teutonic Knights in their struggle against the King of Poland. The anti-German feeling in Bohemia was already running high, even at that time; and sympathy with their Slavonic kinsmen induced many Bohemian officers to hasten to the support of the Poles, in opposition to the wish of the King. In this semi-rebellious movement Z̆iz̆ka had taken a prominent part; but he had, since then, been pardoned and received back into favour. His independent spirit, however, was ill-suited to a Court life, and he was not long in giving new offence to Wenceslaus.

[Illustration: MARKET-PLACE OF PRACHATICE, THE TOWN WHERE HUS AND Z̆IZ̆KA WENT TO SCHOOL.]

Tradition gives an early date to the first signs of sympathy between Z̆iz̆ka and Hus. Within a walk of the village of Husinec stands the old town of Prachatice, where the ruins are still shown of the school in which Z̆iz̆ka and Hus are said to have studied together. However this may be, there can be no doubt that it was very soon after the death of Hus that Z̆iz̆ka began to assume that position of leadership among the extremer Utraquists, which ultimately gained him such fame both among friends and enemies. This section of Reformers had already discovered that they did not receive that sympathy from the citizens of Prague which they believed to be their due. Many of them were compelled to leave the city; and they gathered together on a mountain near Austi, to which they gave the name of Tabor, and to which their supporters gradually flocked from all parts of the kingdom. These gatherings so alarmed Wenceslaus that they even weakened his hostility to the Council of Constance; and not only the followers of Nicholaus and Z̆iz̆ka, but even some of the more moderate Utraquists became objects of his suspicion.

This change of feeling naturally increased the hopes of Sigismund, and he became even more sanguine of success, and more bitter against the followers of Hus, when the Council of Constance elected, under the name of Pope Martin V., that Cardinal Colonna, who had urged upon John XXIII. the first proposal for the condemnation of Hus. Under the influence of this new Pope, all the schemes of reform, which the Council had once thought of considering, were sacrificed to the one aim of the suppression of heresy; and in April, 1418, the Pope secured himself a freer hand by dissolving the Council of Constance.

Urged, then, by pressure from Emperor and Pope, and by his own fear of Utraquistic excesses, Wenceslaus banished one of the Reformers from Prague, and recalled the Catholic clergy, who had been expelled from the city. He discovered, indeed, that Utraquism had taken so deep a root in Prague that it would be necessary to grant at least three churches to its preachers. But this concession did not satisfy the more zealous champions of the cause; and the favour shown by the King to the Catholics provoked riots among the Reformers. Then Wenceslaus demanded that the citizens should all give up their arms to him.

Z̆iz̆ka now saw that the controversy with the Catholics must sooner or later end in war; and he was determined that his followers should not be unprovided for such a struggle. He therefore resolved to obey the royal summons, but in a peculiar manner of his own. He gathered together his followers, led them into the presence of the King, and assured him that they were ready to stand by him, with life and property, against his enemies. The unfortunate Wenceslaus felt bound to thank Z̆iz̆ka and his followers for this loyal declaration; but Z̆iz̆ka knew well enough that he had thereby forfeited the royal favour. He therefore quickly retired from Court, and joined Nicholaus of Hus in organising their followers on Mount Tabor. The alarm of Wenceslaus was naturally increased by these proceedings; and he began to meet the opposition by deposing the Town Councillors in the different divisions of Prague, and thrusting in their opponents. This was a more arbitrary act of power than he had yet resorted to in this struggle; and it naturally hastened on the violent crisis which had long been approaching.

The quarter in which the outbreak finally took place had a peculiar character of its own, which some historians believe to have affected the character of the coming struggle. It will be remembered that Charles IV. had done much, not merely to develop the intellectual greatness of Prague, but also to increase its physical size. A completely new suburb had been added during that reign, which was known as the New Town of Prague. This division of the city was governed by its own Council, and rapidly assumed a peculiar character. Charles’s policy attracted many Germans to the city; and, while the more prominent struggle between the rival “Nations” of the University had been growing in intensity, it is believed by some that an equally bitter feeling had been springing up among those Bohemian workmen who had fallen under the rule of German employers of labour. The historians who hold this view maintain that the workmen, who desired to escape from this domination, fled from the older parts of Prague, and found new possibilities of life and of organisation in the New Town. Whether this migration can be clearly proved or no, it is certain that, both at this and later crises, there appears a more democratic and, in some respects, a more national spirit in the movements which had their rise in the New Town, than in those of other parts of the city.

It was then, in the church of St. Stephen, in the New Town, that on the 30th of July, 1419, a fiery preacher named John of Seelau (Zelív) delivered a sermon in the presence of an excited crowd of the followers of Z̆iz̆ka. After being worked up by pictures of the coming judgment, these fiery reformers marched in procession through the streets. As they passed the Council House, some insult appears to have been offered them by those who were looking out of the windows; whereupon the infuriated Utraquists rushed upstairs into the council chamber, and hurled the newly-elected Councillors from the window, the crowd below receiving the falling men on the points of their spikes. Then Z̆iz̆ka and his friends proceeded to seize the town into their hands, elected four captains for each district, and appointed Councillors in the place of those who had been killed.

Wenceslaus was furious at this news, and vowed that he would exterminate all Wyclifites and Hussites. Many of his advisers, however, were still in sympathy with the principle of Utraquism; and they persuaded the King to come to terms with the rioters, and to confirm the election of the new Councillors. The excitement of the controversy and the humiliation of this confession were too much for the strength of Wenceslaus. He was seized with a fever; and, in August, 1419, ended at last his long and tragic reign.

The concessions into which Wenceslaus had been persuaded by his queen and his nobles, produced less effect on the minds of the citizens of Prague than the violent threats which had preceded them; and, at the time of his death, the feeling against him was so fierce that his friends did not venture to give him a public funeral, but buried him secretly by night. A still plainer evidence of this feeling was shown in the renewal of the riots against the monks. Altars, organs, and images of saints were destroyed; and many of the monks were driven out of the city.

Several of the nobles who had been hitherto inclined to the Utraquist cause, were so much alarmed at these excesses that they called upon Sigismund, as next heir to the throne, to hasten to Bohemia, to restore order. The messengers found him preparing to start on an expedition against the Turks; and his German and Hungarian councillors persuaded him to delay his visit to Bohemia, until he could enter it at the head of a victorious army. He therefore appointed Wenceslaus’s widow Sophia as regent in his place; and he chose a council to assist her, of which the most prominent member was C̆enĕk of Wartenberg.

C̆enĕk was one of those men who will always receive more condemnation and less pity than are their due. He was evidently a man of some attractive qualities, and, originally at least, of excellent intentions. He had taken the lead in the protest against the execution of Hus; and, if he had shown himself somewhat too tolerant towards the early excesses of Z̆iz̆ka and his friends, he had at least helped to preserve Wenceslaus from being driven by those acts into the arms of Sigismund. But to steer the kingdom through the dangers with which it was threatened by the fierce intolerance of Sigismund on the one hand, and of Z̆iz̆ka on the other, required stronger nerve and clearer purpose than C̆enĕk possessed; and thus his continual changes of party were effected in a manner which have left a deep stain on his memory.

When the Bohemian Assembly first met to consider the position of affairs, it seemed as if the moderate Utraquists would be able to carry the day; for a resolution was passed that the Estates would only consent to the coronation of Sigismund on the following conditions: First, that he would permit the Communion in both kinds to be celebrated in all the churches, and would try to procure the sanction of the Pope to this practice. Secondly, that he would place no clergy in temporal authority. Thirdly, that he would not permit the publication of any Papal Bulls until they had received the approval of the King’s Council. Fourthly, that he would not appoint any foreigners to either temporal or spiritual offices, nor set German magistrates over towns where Bohemians dwelt. Lastly, that the proceedings of the law-courts should be conducted in the Bohemian language. These were the principal demands of the nobles; but the citizens of Prague, who were daily gaining greater influence in the councils of the State, added certain conditions of their own. These were that Sigismund should grant an amnesty for the recent disturbances; that he should not permit the establishment in Prague of any more houses of ill-fame; and that he should permit the reading of at least the Gospel and Epistle in the Bohemian language. Such a programme might seem to unite for the moment all sections of Bohemians who desired peace and independence for their country; but, when Sigismund replied by putting aside the whole of these demands, and declaring that he would only promise to govern as his father had governed before him, the situation was entirely changed.

Strange as it sounds, in speaking of so turbulent a country, it is none the less true that, till this time, there had been no instance of a combined national resistance in Bohemia to a King who was the sole lawful claimant of the throne. There had been plenty of instances of setting up rival members of the royal family against each other; attempts by discontented nobles to call in a foreign King or Emperor to their help; and even something like a provincial insurrection of Moravia against Bohemia; but that the National Assembly of Bohemia should formally commit itself to an attempt to exclude from the country the lawful heir to the throne, who was at once the only living representative of the House of Luxemburg, and the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire--this was a step so unprecedented that it may well have caused hesitation in those who were called upon to take it.

Doubtless this difficulty might have been avoided if Sophia could have ventured on more independent action. But the Queen, though she had exercised so useful an influence over her husband during his lifetime, seems, after his death, to have fallen completely into the background, and to have taken her cue from Sigismund, or from his principal advisers.

The result, then, of the deliberations of the Bohemian Assembly was that the nation was broken up into three parties. These were as follows: (1) The Catholic Party, which was in favour of complete submission to Sigismund. (2) The Moderate Utraquist Party which would have accepted him if he would have granted some amount of religious liberty. (3) The Extreme Reforming Party, which thoroughly distrusted Sigismund, and desired to throw off his authority. The first of these

## parties found its supporters chiefly in Moravia, and particularly in

the German-speaking districts of that province. By a strange irony of fortune, its leader was that Wenceslaus of Duba who had stood so gallantly by Hus at the Council of Constance. But though he, and one or two others of the party, may have cherished some national aspirations, they were, as a body, too much out of sympathy with the keen Slavonic feeling of the country to be reckoned as a Bohemian party at all. The second party, which gradually acquired the name of Calixtines, from the importance which they attached to the custom of granting the Cup to the laity, were really composed of two very different elements. Many of the great nobles, while theoretically zealous for the Cup, were far more anxious to maintain that position in the country which largely depended on the favour of the king; while, on the other hand, learned preachers like Jakaubek of Kladrau were as zealous for the reforms which they desired as many of the extremer Utraquists could be, and would have risked and sacrificed as much to secure them.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE INTO FORTIFIED PART OF TABOR.]

But, though men like Jakaubek of Kladrau had an important part to play in the coming struggle, it was from the third Bohemian party that there were to be drawn the most determined fighters, and the most impressive figures, in the struggle of Bohemia against the German Emperor. This party had been founded by those fiery spirits who had been banished from Prague by Wenceslaus; and they derived their name of Taborite from the mountain which they had made their chief place of refuge after their expulsion from Prague. So great was the enthusiasm which they caused that, when Wenceslaus forbade any further visits to Tabor under penalty of death and confiscation of goods, large numbers of the peasantry willingly sacrificed all their possessions, and risked the chance of death, to unite themselves with this chosen band. A community so formed naturally developed very remarkable qualities; and a stern Puritanical gloom, combined with the Puritanical nobleness of aspiration, rapidly showed itself among them. Rich and poor shared their food with each other; no strife or theft was permitted; intoxicating liquors were excluded from the mountain; and not only was gambling forbidden to the elders, but even the children were deprived of their games. Such is the account given of the Taborites by a somewhat hostile chronicler, who thus proceeds to describe their manner of passing the day:

“Having then completed the moderate refreshment of the body, the priests rise with the people to give thanks to God. They march round the Mount of Tabor, bearing the venerable Eucharist--the virgins preceding the Sacrament, and the men and women in their squadrons following, all shouting and singing psalms as seems convenient. When this procession is finished, they exchange farewells with their clergy, not bending to the right or left lest they should trample on the wheat; and so they come to the place whence they started.” These people, already prepared for religious enthusiasm by the stern discipline of such a life as this, were kindled yet further by fiery sermons, founded chiefly on the visions of the Apocalypse, in which prophecies were delivered of the speedy coming of Christ, and the reign of the Saints, which was to be hastened by the putting to death of the enemies of Christ. They were told that they were to bathe and sanctify their hands in the blood of their enemies; and that, while they were to imitate the zeal and indignation of their Master, this was not the time to imitate His gentleness. All human learning, said the fiercer of the preachers, was to be treated with contempt; and the taking of degrees at the University was a vanity.

Nor was it only the training, which they had received from their preachers, that prepared the Taborites for the part which they were to play in the coming struggle. Z̆iz̆ka was eminently fitted to be the hero of a revolutionary party. To a fiery sincerity, and a steady devotion to that high ideal of life which was implied in the Taborite creed, he united a genius for leadership and organisation which the greatest generals might have envied; a statesmanlike instinct for seizing the right moment and the right course of action; and a savage ferocity which none of his opponents could surpass.

[Illustration: HOUSE IN TABOR WITH OLD TABORITE COMMUNION TABLE IN FRONT OF IT.]

But, though this fiery band, and their uncompromising leader, were to give the tone to the struggle which was fast approaching, one passing hint was given, before the outbreak of the war, of the presence among the Bohemians of gentler spirits who would gain a hearing at a later and more appropriate time. One or more of those Taborites, who had not imbibed that contempt for learning which had been inculcated by their wilder preachers, applied to the Masters of the Prague University, to know whether war on behalf of religion was not forbidden by the command to Peter to put up his sword into his sheath. Jakaubek answered, on behalf of his colleagues, that, though a war for the propagation of the Faith was undoubtedly forbidden to Christians, yet a defensive war for the protection of the Faith was certainly lawful.

This question, as has been already suggested, has more importance as a prophecy of future religious developments than as a characteristic utterance of the period. But the answer has a more immediate significance, as indicating a policy which was to separate the learned professors of the University from the more aristocratic section of the Calixtines. This difference has already been referred to above; but it requires to be emphasized and developed. In the case of C̆enek of Wartenberg the difference seems to have been partly due to a sense of loyalty to the House of Luxemburg, and to a shrinking from some of the violences in which the Taborites indulged. But C̆enek’s prominent position in his party was not due solely to his personal qualities or even to his personal rank. It was also largely derived from the guardianship which he possessed over the lands of Rosenberg; and this position must also be considered as colouring the character of his policy.

Ulric von Rosenberg, like his guardian C̆enek, played a somewhat questionable and uncertain part in the coming struggle. But the times and circumstances of his changes of position lead one to attribute to him somewhat different motives of action from those which influenced his guardian. He seems to have begun his career as a decided Utraquist; but his subsequent oppressions of his Utraquist dependents show a bitterer change of feeling than can be laid to the charge of C̆enek; while his special opposition to Z̆iz̆ka seems to mark the real ground of his questionable policy. In mere doctrine he may have had some sympathy with the reforming movement; but he was soon alarmed by the democratic character of the Taborite party and of its leader; and the great power which had been so long wielded by the Rosenbergs, was thrown, in the main, into the defence of aristocratic privileges and feudal rights. For the moment, however, the nobles could put forward the excuse that they were supporting the claims of a Queen, who was not stained with the blood of Hus, nor committed to an anti-national policy; and, it was on her behalf that C̆enek now organised a standing army, and seized into his hands several important fortresses.

Z̆iz̆ka, on his part, felt that no time was to be lost in saving the cause for which he desired to struggle. So, at the head of a band of his drilled peasants, he suddenly marched upon the fortress of the Vys̆ehrad, drove out the royalist garrison, and put his own men in their place. Then, on the 10th of November, the Taborites set out in various bands, from the three or four towns which were occupied by their party; and they marched to Prague, to hold a great meeting there. The main body met at the town of Zinkov, where they organised their forces before proceeding on their march. But three hundred men had started alone from Austi, apparently ill-armed and ill-prepared for attack. This detached body was met on its way by one of the royalist nobles; and on the first attack he put to flight the men of Austi with much slaughter.

The fugitives escaped to Knin, at which point the main body of their friends had now arrived. Baron von Sternberg, the general of the royalists, marched thither to meet the advancing Taborites, and probably hoped to obtain an easy victory. But the sturdy peasants repelled his attack with such vigour that the royalists were forced to retreat; and on the 4th of November, 1419, the Taborites entered Prague without further opposition. The royalist party were at once called to arms; while, on the other side, Nicholaus of Hus and Z̆iz̆ka marched into the Small Division of Prague, and, after a fierce struggle, seized upon the great fortress, which still overlooks the town. The Queen fled from Prague under the protection of Ulric of Rosenberg. C̆enek in the meantime gathered new forces on her behalf, and persuaded several towns to declare for the royalist cause.

[Illustration: FIGURE OF MINER WITH MINING LAMP AND STAFF IN CHURCH OF ST. BARBARA AT KUTTENBERG (KUTNA HORA).]

[Illustration: KUTNA HORA, OFFICE WHERE THE COINS WERE STRUCK BY THE ITALIANS BROUGHT TO KUTNA HORA BY WENCESLAUS II.]

Each party was now conscious of the strength of its opponents; and, under such circumstances, those moderate citizens of Prague who combined a zeal for freedom with a desire for peace, were able to hold the balance between the contending parties. So a compromise was effected, by which the queen and the nobles were pledged to protect religious liberty and especially Communion in both kinds; while the citizens, on their part, consented to restore the fortress of Vys̆ehrad to the Queen, and to abstain from any injuries to churches or images. Z̆iz̆ka, however, distrusted the Queen’s party, and was discontented with these terms. So he withdrew with most of his troops to his chief fortress of Pilsen (Plz̆en).

[Illustration: TOWN COUNCIL HOUSE OF PILSEN (PLZEN).]

Although the recovery of the Vys̆ehrad was an important gain to the royalist cause, the great centre of the extreme Catholic feeling was the town of Kutna Hora. That town, from its importance as a mining centre, and from the special favour shown to it by the kings, had become a kind of rival to Prague; and in a time of civil war such rivalry naturally ripened into active hostility of the fiercest description. In spite of the occasional fierceness of such outbursts as that which had produced the slaughter of the Councillors of the New Town, there had been, till now, little organised cruelty in the contest between the two parties. Now, however, whether actuated by municipal rivalry or religious hostility, the men of Kutna Hora began to inaugurate a system of persecution which was to produce terrible reprisals. They seized upon all the Utraquists whom they could find, and even paid other towns so much a head to send them victims. Some of these they buried alive in pits; some they burnt, and some they beheaded; so that in a short time more than sixteen hundred had been put to death.

In the meantime Sigismund had returned from Hungary to Moravia; and in Christmas, 1419, he and Queen Sophia held a meeting at Brünn (Brno). The citizens of Prague sent a deputation to this assembly to entreat for terms of peace. Sigismund ordered them at once to pull down all the chains which they had placed across the streets; to destroy all their new fortifications; and to bring back the Catholic priests who had been driven out. The citizens were so anxious to avoid a collision with Sigismund that they consented to these terms; and they destroyed their fortifications amid the jeers of the Catholics and Germans.

Z̆iz̆ka now fully realised the impossibility of any compromise, and he prepared for a desperate struggle. His first intention had been to make the town of Pilsen the centre of his operations. From that town he had succeeded in driving out all the Catholics; and its fortifications were so strong that he hoped to make it good against all comers. But the growing strength of the fortress of Tabor led him to change his opinion; and he decided to withdraw from Pilsen, and to concentrate the whole force of his followers on the mountain from which they took their name. According to one account, the divisions in Pilsen itself were the main cause of this decision. Certainly some special explanation is needed of a step which proved, in one way, so disastrous to the reforming cause; for, during all the victories gained by the Utraquists, they were never able to recover this important fortress again.

It was not, however, unconditionally that Z̆iz̆ka consented to abandon this position. He stipulated that he should be allowed to depart freely to Tabor, and that the granting of the Cup to the laity should be permitted in Pilsen. Wenceslaus of Duba, as leader of the Catholic forces, consented to the terms which Z̆iz̆ka proposed. Unfortunately, however, the doctrine that faith should not be kept with heretics had already taken deep root amongst the opponents of the Utraquists. While Z̆iz̆ka was still on his way from Pilsen to Tabor, he was attacked by Peter of Sternberg, at the head of a royalist force. Unprepared for this attack, and very inferior in the number of his forces, Z̆iz̆ka at first retreated before his enemies; but, finding himself compelled to fight, he took up his position on the bank of a fish-pond near the town of Sudomír. There, for the first time, he adopted the plan which became a special characteristic of his battles. He entrenched himself behind his baggage-waggons, over which his men fired at the advancing foe. The struggle was a fierce one; but at last the royalists were compelled to retreat, and Z̆iz̆ka went on in safety to Tabor.

But though much of the success of the Utraquist wars was due to the energy of Z̆iz̆ka and his followers, the leading citizens of Prague had also a very important influence on the struggle; and Sigismund’s

## actions soon roused in them that desperate courage which had seemed

for a moment to forsake them. The nickname of Sigismund, “Super Grammaticam,” has been fixed on this Emperor by Carlyle; but an even more distinctive name would have been Sigismund “Super Veritatem.” Many other rulers have told lies in their time of emergency; but surely no one ever took so much pains to write himself down a liar as Sigismund did at every stage of his career. It will be remembered that he had written most urgently to the Bohemians, to express his regret for the death of Hus, and to assure them that he had done all he could to prevent it. Yet, as soon as Pope Martin had published his Bull, urging a crusade against the Hussites, Sigismund seized upon a merchant of Prague named Krasa, and publicly burnt him in Breslau, on the express ground that he had disapproved of the burning of Hus and Jerom.

C̆enek of Wartenberg, who had been entrusted by Sigismund with the care of the fortress of Prague, now declared that he could no longer serve the king. At nearly every stage in the career of this unfortunate nobleman, his change of opinion, however excusable in itself, was stained by some act of treachery. On this occasion he invited the subordinate governors of the castle to dinner, and seized that opportunity for arresting and imprisoning them. Having thus mastered the castle, he placed it under the care of the citizens of Prague. He then arrested seventy-six of the clergy, and drove several of the opposing citizens from the town.

But C̆enek was never long of one mind; and he soon began to despair of the struggle on which he had entered. On the one hand the Catholic defenders of the Vys̆ehrad held out successfully against his attacks; and at the same time he seems to have been sincerely shocked at the outrages committed by the Taborites. In the early outbursts, though there had been much plundering and some bloodshed, there had been little deliberate cruelty. Now, however, Z̆iz̆ka began to imitate only too closely the cruelties of the Kuttenberger; for finding a number of monks in a castle which he had stormed, he burnt them alive after the victory was over. When this cruelty was followed by the destruction of many churches and monasteries, C̆enek began to shrink from the cause which he had defended, and to urge the citizens of Prague to come to terms with Sigismund. Finding, however, that he was unable to persuade them to take this course, he resolved secretly to betray the castle to Sigismund, on the understanding that the Communion in both kinds should be permitted on C̆enek’s own estates. Sigismund apparently consented to this arrangement; and C̆enek secretly admitted into the castle four thousand of the royalist soldiers, of whom many were Germans. Furious at this treachery, the citizens made so fierce an attack upon the castle that C̆enek was panic-struck and fled secretly to Sigismund. But the attack was made without organisation or arrangement and the citizens were repelled.

[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF PRAGUE.]

Several noblemen had followed C̆enek in his desertion of the national cause; and at last the citizens decided to send a new embassy to Sigismund, under the protection of Wenceslaus of Duba. Sigismund’s hope and indignation had alike been raised by the recent events; and he demanded that the citizens should surrender all their arms to the defenders of the Vys̆ehrad. On receiving this demand, the Town Council of Prague sent defiance to the king, and resolved to fight till the last.

Both parties now prepared for action; and, while Sigismund was issuing an appeal to all citizens and princes to come to help him against his rebellious subjects, Z̆iz̆ka and Nicholaus of Hus were preparing to march to Prague at the head of their Taborite forces. Many of the workmen and peasants were now beginning to stir themselves for the national cause; and, before Sigismund could secure the help of the Electors of the Empire, he was to have a slight taste of the dangers which he was about to encounter. The Kutna Hora miners had roused much opposition by their cruelties on behalf of the royalist cause; and the charcoal burners, who had hitherto been dependent upon them, had now revolted against them. After vainly attempting to pacify their new opponents, the Kuttenberger appealed to Sigismund, and he sent them a detachment of the royal troops. The charcoal burners met the soldiers with stones and arrows; and, cheered on by a Taborite priest, they drove back the royalists in confusion to the mountains. The priest, however, was wounded; and the charcoal burners then retreated.

In the meantime Z̆iz̆ka and his forces were on their march. Their importance was now recognised by their opponents; and Wenceslaus of Duba attempted to intercept them. Z̆iz̆ka encountered the royalists near Porc̆ic, signally defeated them, and entered Prague in triumph on the 20th of May, 1420.

The powerful help of the new-comers was doubtless welcomed by the citizens of Prague; but they speedily discovered that differences of habit and feeling were likely to produce as many difficulties in the relations of the two parties to each other, as had already been produced by differences of doctrine. Both sections of the Utraquist Party had desired to introduce a purer life and simpler habits; and in many cases they had taken steps to enforce them. But the Taborite ideal, and still more the Taborite methods of realising it, differed considerably from those of the comfortable and orderly citizens of Prague. The latter, it appeared, indulged in delicately trimmed beards and moustachios; their wives wore trains, which seemed to the Taborites unduly long; and the hair of the younger ladies fell in long and curiously made plaits on their shoulders. The sturdy peasant reformers resolved summarily to correct these evils; so they seized the citizens in the streets, and compulsorily shaved them, cut off the trains of their wives’ dresses, and even shortened the locks of the girls. The citizens naturally objected to such strong methods of reform; and the Taborite captains cut short these proceedings by sending their followers to dig trenches for the defence of the town.

But the value of the new defenders was soon proved; for a force of royalist troops on their way to the castle at Prague, were completely cut to pieces by a sally of the Taborites; and when Sigismund at last advanced against the city, the approach of this fierce peasant army, wielding the spiked flails which were generally their only weapon, struck him with such fear that he at once abandoned the siege of Prague, and devoted himself to more easy enterprises. Nor were the nobles of Bohemia more fortunate in their efforts. Ulric of Rosenberg, who had followed C̆enek in his desertion of the popular cause, was driven back from Tabor by Nicholaus of Hus, and confined himself for a time to imprisoning and starving the Utraquist priests whom he found on his lands.

In the meantime, the appeal of the Pope and the Emperor for a crusade against the Utraquists was producing its effect. Not only from Germany, but from various parts of Hungary, Spain, France, England, and Holland, and in some cases even from Poland, trained warriors came to join Sigismund’s army.

Prominent amongst the German princes was Frederick of Hohenzollern. He had been secured to Sigismund’s cause by a transaction which roused new bitterness in Bohemia against the Emperor. It may be remembered that Charles IV. had added Brandenburg to the Bohemian kingdom. Thomas of S̆títný, and other stern moralists, had objected to this acquisition, considering it as a mere act of personal aggrandisement, and of no real benefit to the kingdom. But, in the history of every country, there have been additions of territory which, however questionable in their origin, have afterwards roused on their behalf a strong national feeling. Nor must it be forgotten that the circumstances, under which Sigismund surrendered this territory, certainly justified considerable indignation on the part of the Bohemians. In 1415, four years before he was actually King of Bohemia, without any consultation with Wenceslaus or the Bohemian Assembly, Sigismund handed over Brandenburg to Frederick of Hohenzollern, whose ancestor had so actively assisted Rudolf in the conquest of Bohemia.

It soon appeared that the national feeling against Germans in general, and the Hohenzollerns in particular, was not limited to the Utraquists, but was shared even by those Bohemian nobles who followed Sigismund in battle. So intense was this hatred that the Bohemians and their allies had to be quartered in different parts of the field; and doubtless this disagreement was one cause of the strange delay in the operations of the army which followed their arrival before Prague. Two weeks were spent by the captains of the host in raids upon the neighbouring towns, whence they brought in Utraquist priests whom they burnt in the camp. One occasion is specially noted by the chronicler, in which three old men and four boys were brought in, in company with their priest. These prisoners, after having been struck and insulted for some time, were ordered to abjure the practice of Communion in both kinds, and when they refused, were burnt. During all this time Z̆iz̆ka was working at the fortifications of a hill which overlooks the town, and from which he hoped to conduct the defence.

[Illustration: VIEW OF PRAGUE SHOWING Z̆IZ̆KA’S HILL TO THE NORTH-EAST.]

At last, on the 14th of July, the invading army grew weary of its delays, and prepared for a general attack on various parts of the city. In this plan the invaders were to be aided by the garrisons which occupied respectively the fortress of the Vys̆ehrad and the castle of Prague. The battle began by an attempt to storm the hill which Z̆iz̆ka had fortified. This attack was undertaken by the Margrave of Meissen, the hereditary enemy of the Bohemians. As his soldiers charged up the hill they were encountered, not only by Z̆iz̆ka’s forces, but also by private citizens, and even by women. The stones hurled by these defenders produced such effect that the first attack was repelled. But the Germans quickly returned to the charge; nor could the desperate courage of the defenders wholly prevent their advance. One of the Germans seized on a woman who was defending the hill; but she vowed that she would not yield to anti-Christ, and she was killed in defending herself. Still the invaders pressed on. Z̆iz̆ka was himself wounded and struck down, and was with difficulty rescued by the flails of his followers. The Germans had almost reached the top of the hill, when suddenly the gate of the city, which stood nearest to the hill on the other side, was thrown open, and a priest came out bearing the Sacrament, and followed by fifty archers, and some more of the flail-bearing peasants. At the same moment all the bells in the city were set ringing; and, with a great shout, echoed from within the walls, the new-comers rushed up the hill to meet the advancing enemy. Immediately the invaders were seized with a panic and fled; three hundred of them were killed in the descent, and others dangerously wounded. Sigismund’s forces retreated to their tents, and the citizens of Prague hastened to their churches to return thanks for their victory. The scene of this battle was called by some Bojiste (the battlefield) in consequence of the great slaughter of the Germans; others called it the Hill of the Cup; but the name which has driven out every other is that which connects it with the general of the day; and it is still known as Z̆iz̆kov Hora--the hill of Z̆iz̆ka.

It might have seemed that such a victory, however startling, would scarcely have ended a war, begun with so great preparation, and engaged in by so formidable an army. But the bitter feeling between the German and Bohemian Royalists had now risen to such a height as to make common

## action impossible. On the one hand, the Germans furiously accused the

Bohemians of having betrayed them in the battle; and, in revenge for this supposed treachery, they attacked and burnt some of the houses in the outlying villages, and threw the women and children into the fire. The Bohemians, on the other hand, were more and more disposed to make peace with their countrymen; and it will be remembered that some of the nobles had already shown an inclination to Utraquism. As for Sigismund, his first and main thought was to secure the crown of Bohemia to himself with the smallest amount of trouble.

Under these circumstances the Bohemian part of the army willingly entered into negotiations with the defenders of the city; and the latter proposed, for Sigismund’s acceptance, four Articles of Peace, which were to become very famous in the following years. The first of these was the free preaching of the Word of God; the second, the granting of the Cup to the laity; the third, the removal of the clergy from rule in secular affairs, and their restriction to the apostolic mode of life; the fourth was the public suppression of deadly sins. Sigismund consented to discussion on these points between the Utraquist preachers and the Catholic priests, who had followed his army. The leading orator on the Utraquist side was John Pr̆zibram, a man who was to play a conspicuous part in the coming controversies.

Strangely enough, it was found that the Catholic clergy were willing to make many concessions in the discussion. But the Conference broke down on a point which may be called the main issue of the Later Reformation--the question, namely, whether, in cases of doubt, the deciding authority should be the Church or the Scriptures. Perhaps few could have expected that the clerical disputants would have come to an agreement; and the Bohemian Royalists did not seem to have been shaken by this result in their desire for peace. Indeed, such readiness did they show to accept the Four Articles, that the citizens of Prague considered their cause secure, and consented to elect Sigismund as their King. So on July 28, 1420, Sigismund, having given a general promise to govern better, was solemnly crowned at Prague; and two days later the great army of Crusaders returned, cursing the King as a breaker of his word and a favourer of heretics.