Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/27

 monks, and that they live henceforth conformably to the Scripture, and to the life of Christ and the Apostles.

4. “That all deadly sins, and especially those of an open nature, be brought to judgment and punished, and that an end be put to the evil and false report of this land.”

On Oct. 31 the Crusaders suffered a second defeat while attempting to relieve the garrison of the Vyssegrad, or citadel of Prague, and Ziska led the Taborites to success after success in the south of Bohemia. On Feb. 6, 1421, a junction was effected between the forces of Ziska and those of Prague, the result of which was that Sigismund disbanded his army, and hastened out of Bohemia, which was soon overrun by the Hussites, who then entered Moravia. And on April 21, to the great astonishment of all men, Archbishop Conrad, of Prague, declared his adhesion to the Four Articles. Ziska lost his remaining eye at the siege of the castle of Rabi by an arrowshot, but still continued to act as general with similar success. In fact, this loss caused him to be more dependent on others, and thus spread a greater amount of military skill and science in his army.

Of the second great crusade, in the latter part of 1421, but little is known, except that it exercised great cruelties, besieged Saaz unsuccessfully, and was so disgracefully defeated that the common remark was that the Crusaders entertained so pious a horror of the infidel Hussites that they would not so much as look them in the face. Sigismund afterwards suffered a tremendous defeat at Deutsch-brod on Jan. 8, 1422.

Ziska himself, it must be remarked, was not a genuine Taborite, but headed a party which stood midway between the party of Prague, afterwards called the Calixtines, and the Taborites. This is proved by the fact of the separation of those more particularly attached to the person of “Father