Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 05 (of 15), GermanMorris, Charles
History
Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 05 (of 15), German
Morris, Charles
Germany -- History
Seven years after the death of Ziska an army of invasion again entered
Bohemia, so strong in numbers that it seemed as if that war-drenched
land must fall before it. In its ranks were one hundred and thirty
thousand men, led by Frederick of Brandenburg. Their purposes were seen
in their actions. Every village reached was burned, till two hundred had
been given to the flames. Horrible excesses were committed. On August
14, 1431, the two armies, the Hussite and the Imperialist, came face to
face near Tauss. The disproportion in numbers was enormous, and it
looked as if the small force of Bohemians would be swallowed up in the
multitude of their foes. But barely was the Hussite banner seen in the
distance when the old story was told over again, the Germans broke into
sudden panic, and fled _en masse_ from the field. The Bavarians were the
first to fly, and all the rest speedily followed. Frederick of
Brandenburg and his troops took refuge in a wood. The Cardinal Julian,
who had preached a crusade against Bohemia, succeeded for a time in
rallying the fugitives, but at the first onset of the Hussites they
again took to flight, suffering themselves to be slaughtered without
resistance. The munitions of war were abandoned to the foe, including
one hundred and fifty cannon.
It was an extraordinary affair, but in truth the flight was less due to
terror than to disinclination of the German soldiers to fight the
Hussites, whose cause they deemed to be just and glorious, and the
influence of whose opinions had spread far beyond the Bohemian border.
Rome was losing its hold over the mind of northern Europe outside the
limits of the land of Huss and Ziska.
Negotiations for peace followed. The Bohemians were invited to Basle,
being granted a safe-conduct, and promised free exercise of their
religion coming and going, while no words of ridicule or reproach were
to be permitted. On January 9, 1433, three hundred Bohemians, mounted on
horseback, entered Basle, accompanied by an immense multitude. It was a
very different entrance from that of Huss to Constance, nearly twenty
years before, and was to have a very different termination. Procop Holy
headed the procession, accompanied by others of the Bohemian leaders. A
signal triumph had come to the party of religious reform, after twenty
years of struggle.
For fifty days the negotiations continued. Neither side would yield. In
the end, the Bohemians, weary of the protracted and fruitless debate,
took to their horses again, and set out homewards. This brought their
enemies to terms. An embassy was hastily sent after them, and all their
demands were conceded, though with certain reservations that might prove
perilous in the future. They went home triumphant, having won freedom of
religious worship according to their ideas of right and truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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