The young king, who saw his army destroyed, made his escape like the rest. A Silesian ran before him to guide him in his flight. When he reached the plain he came to a piece of black, stagnant water, which he was obliged to cross. He pushed on his horse to reach the opposite bank, which was very high; but in climbing the animal slipped and fell with the prince, who was buried in the marshy waters. Melancholy burial-place! Louis had not even the honor of dying arms in hand. All was lost! The crescent triumphed. The king, twenty-eight magnates, five hundred nobles, seven bishops, and twenty thousand armed men left their corpses on the field of battle.[546] Terror spread far and wide. The keys of the capital were brought to the Sultan. He pillaged Buda, set fire to the town, reduced the library to ashes, ravaged Hungary as far as the Theiss, and caused two hundred thousand Hungarians to perish by the hands of his Mussulmans. This victory, which appeared to ensure the predominance of Islamism, filled Germany and all Europe with sorrow and alarm. There were some small compensations. Pempflinger, having no longer to fear either the priests or the king, saved the evangelical Christians who were threatened by the fury of the monks. But this deliverance of a few did not lessen the horror of the public disaster. At the sight of their smoking towns, their devastated fields, their slaughtered countrymen, and the crescent taking the place of the cross, the Hungarians wept over the ruin of their country. The unfortunate Mary, a widow still so young, lost at the same time her husband and her crown, and saw with distress of heart the Hungary which she loved ravaged by the Turks. This terrible blow was felt at Wittenberg, where the Hungarian students had excited a warm interest in their native land. Luther on hearing of the affliction of the queen was moved with lively pity, and wrote to her a letter full of consolation: ‘Most gracious queen, knowing the affection of your Majesty, and learning that the Turk has smitten the noble young prince, your husband, I desire in this great and sudden calamity to comfort you so far as God may enable me, and I send you for this purpose four _psalms_ (with reflections), which will teach your Majesty to trust solely in the true Father who is in heaven, and to seek all your consolation in Jesus Christ, the true spouse, who is also our brother, having become our flesh and our blood. These psalms will reveal to you in all its riches the love of the Father and the Son.’ ‘Dear daughter,’ said Luther further to the queen, ‘let the wicked oppress thee and thy cause; let them, wrapped in clouds, cause the rain and the hail to fall upon thy head and bury thee in darkness. Commend thy cause to God alone. Wait upon Him. Then shall He bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. God permits indeed the righteous to fall into the hands of the wicked, but He does not leave them there.