Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/170

 they also would have no mercy on any man. The Bohemians were unwilling to fight on Sunday, but seeing that battle was inevitable, they all knelt down and prayed to God with great piety and humility. Korybut in a fervent speech entreated them to meet the enemy bravely and with a cheerful mind. On the advice of Prokop, who here adopted the defensive tactics of his master Žižka, the Bohemian army occupied a hill named Běhani, near the village of Predlitz, and at no great distance from the town of Usti, where the wagon-forts could be firmly established. The Germans attacked bravely, and arrived close to the enemies' lines, when the Bohemians, who had reserved their fire, discharged all their guns at close quarters. A panic among the German forces ensued. The slaughter of the Germans was terrific, and their flight continued till they reached the mountains that divide Bohemia from Saxony. The Bohemians, as had been agreed, took no prisoners, and twenty-four counts and lords who knelt down before the victors demanding grace were instantly killed. The Germans lost over 15,000 men during the battle and the rout that followed it. The Bohemian losses were very slight, though certainly considerably greater than the number of thirty men which some contemporary writers give. The camp and supplies of the Germans also fell into the hands of the Bohemians, who mockingly said that their enemies had incurred the papal ban, as they had so largely enriched the heretics. The town of Usti surrendered the day after the battle, and was burnt down by the Bohemians.

The news of this great victory over the Hussites caused a panic in the whole of Northern Germany, where an immediate invasion of the Bohemians was expected. Many towns were newly fortified, and in others the fortifications were repaired. These apprehensions proved unfounded, at least for the moment, as internal dissensions broke out among the Bohemians immediately after their great victory. This quarrel, in which we again find the Taborites and Orphans on one side, the Praguers and utraquist nobles on the other, was, however, of short duration; only in one district did actual war between the opposed parties take place. It is certain that before the end of the year 1426 the national parties in Bohemia were again on friendly