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 of opinion in view of the common enemy, and to seek for help from Tabor. Messengers were sent from Prague to Tabor entreating the Taborites, "if they wished verily to obey the law of God, to march to their aid without delay, and with the largest force they could muster."

At Tabor, thanks to Žižka's foresight, every one was ready. Probably on the very day the message arrived, 9000 warriors, accompanied by a large number of priests, women, and children, set forth and soon arrived at Prague after they had defeated some of the royal troops, who, at Poric on the River Sazava, had attempted to intercept their passage. Almost at the same time a thousand horsemen, led by the utraquist knights Bradatý and Obrovec, also came to aid in the defence of the menaced capital.

Sigismund had at first intended to march immediately from Kuttenberg to Prague, where the castles of Hradčany and Vyšehrad were still in the hands of his adherents. Probably informed of the strength of the forces now assembling in the town, he changed his intentions and decided to await the arrival of the whole force of the crusaders. By the end of June (1420) most of them had arrived in Bohemia. They were led by the Elector Palatine, the Archbishop-Electors of Maintz, Trier, and Cologne, Frederick of Hohenzollern (who had just become Elector of Brandenburg, which Sigismund had mortgaged to him), Duke Albert of Austria, Sigismund's son-in-law, and other German princes. The crusaders comprised men of almost every country in Europe, and their number is estimated between 100,000 and 150,000. If we believe Aenaeas Sylvius, the horsemen alone were 70,000 in number; in that case the higher figure probably more exactly indicates the full strength of the crusading army.

On June 30, 1420, Sigismund entered the castle of Prague, on the Hradčany, and the enormous forces of the crusaders encamped round the town. Žižka had before their arrival occupied and fortified the steep hill to the east