Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/143

 The meetings of the adherents of the extreme party, the first of which, held near Austi, has already been mentioned, still continued; the movement soon spread all over Bohemia and parts of Moravia; and the endeavours even of the utraquist nobles to calm the people were ineffectual. These meetings took the place of the pilgrimages to which the Bohemian peasants had been accustomed, and they flocked to them from all parts of the country, deserting home and hearth. A sort of religious mania, which the contemporary writers ascribed to a peculiar collocation of the stars, seized on the people of Bohemia. It is, on the other hand, more than probable that Žižka of Trocnov, Nicholas of Hus, and the other leaders, who were already certain that they would shortly have to resist the armed forces of Sigismund, viewed with favour these meetings, which kept their men in touch with each other, and prevented their dispersing.

At a meeting held near Prague on the day of St. Venceslas (September 28), the Taborites decided to hold their next assembly in Prague itself, and fixed its date for November 10. Though the great mass of the enthusiasts this time also spent the days in prayers and devotion, there is little doubt that the leaders held a serious consultation, and on that day decided to obtain possession of Prague.

Queen Sophia was probably informed of their intentions. She obtained aid from several of the utraquist lords, and also assembled a large body of German mercenaries. Doubtless, in consequence of the arrival of these mercenaries, the people of Prague rose up in arms (October 25) and obtained possession of the old castle on the Vyšehrad, the most ancient seat of the Bohemian sovereigns, possibly with the connivance of the soldiers of the former bodyguard of King Venceslas, who were quartered there. Meanwhile, some days before November 10, armed bands of Taborites began to arrive in Prague from every direction. The citizens of Prague, encouraged by their first success and by the arrival of the Taborites, now led by Žižka and Nicholas of Hus, began further hostilities against the troops of Queen Sophia. They attacked the quarter known as the "Malá Strana," near which the royal palace of the Hradčany is situated. The attacking party were received with discharges of artillery, then still a great novelty in Bohemia, and very bloody street-fighting ensued (November 4, 1419). "It was a night of fear and terror, sorrow and lamentation,