The fall of Tabor marks a great crisis in the Utraquist movement; and though there is another phase of that movement which has yet to be recorded, the distinctive character, that had given it such life and force, must evidently have been doomed to destruction before such an event could have occurred. Important as was the element contributed to the Utraquist cause by the learned scholars of the University of Prague, they could never have produced so vivid an effect on Europe had they not been backed by the fiery enthusiasm, the high ideals, and the ferociously combative spirit of the flail-bearing peasants of Tabor. It was the flails of the Taborites which made the Moravian nobles flinch from the battle of Vys̆ehrad; it was they who had scared every army which came against them, from the time of the first battle of the Z̆iz̆ka Hill to the day when Cardinal Cesarini fled in panic from the country which he had been so certain of conquering. The zeal of the Taborites for purity and simplicity of life had supplied an impulse which no theological doctrine could of itself contribute; while their intolerance of priestly forms, and their belief in the superiority of the Congregation of the Faithful to the decrees of any learned society, had given that democratic colouring to the movement which has made their traditions such a lasting force in Bohemia, even to the present day. At the same time their turbulent savagery and fierce intolerance made it necessary that, at some time or other, they should be absorbed in a broader and more orderly organisation. The Independents had now found their Cromwell; and to him they were obliged to sacrifice much of the liberties for which they had originally fought. XII. FROM THE FALL OF TABOR TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE OF PODĔBRAD. (1452-1470.) The parallel suggested at the end of the last chapter between Cromwell and George of Podĕbrad must, like all such parallels, be taken with very considerable modifications; and it was perhaps not one of the least points of difference between these two rulers that George’s first object, after the establishment of his power, was to bring back the King, who was still detained by the Emperor of Germany. As a concession to one of the complaining nations, and very likely with the hope of exciting jealousy between them, Frederick had brought the young Ladislaus to Vienna; but, if this step conciliated the Austrians, it does not appear to have excited any opposition on their part to the return of Ladislaus to Bohemia. Nor were the Catholic nobles able to make use of his restoration for weakening the power of George; they could not even prevent the Utraquists of the Assembly from resolving that Ladislaus should be asked, before his coronation, to accept the Compacts of Basel.