Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/172

 Hussites was at that time very strong —would perhaps have fully succeeded in a task in which George of Poděbrad was only partially and temporarily successful.

As soon as the internal dissensions had for a time ceased, the Bohemians again turned their attention to their foreign enemies. They now, for the first time, assumed the offensive. An army commanded by Prokop the Great, Prokop the Less, leader of the Orphans, and by other chiefs, entered Lusatia and Silesia, and after having ravaged the country in every direction returned to Bohemia laden with booty. This was the first of a series of warlike incursions of the Hussites into Germany, which it will be unnecessary to detail. The cruelty of the Hussites during the invasions of Germany long remained traditional in that country; impartial judges will, however, have to admit that the Hussites, on the whole, behaved with more humanity in Germany than did the crusading armies during their repeated invasions of Bohemia.

Another of these invasions was at that time being prepared. King Sigismund was engaged in warfare with the Turks during the whole of the years 1427 and 1428, but Pope Martin V induced several of the German princes to undertake a new crusade against the Hussites. As leader of the crusade the Pope chose Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, who was made a cardinal at the same time; this honour was also conferred on the old enemy of the Hussites, John "the Iron," now bishop of OlomoncOlomouc [sic]. His relationship to the royal family of England gave Cardinal Henry no small influence; this, as well as the cardinal's long experience of secular affairs, probably governed the Pope's choice. The cardinal, who was appointed apostolic legate for Bohemia, Hungary, and Germany, and received full powers from the Pope, himself accompanied the invading army, though the Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg assumed the military command. The Duke of Bavaria, the Archbishops of Maintz and Trier, the Bishops of Bamberg and Wiirzburg, were among the many temporal and ecclesiastical princes who in person took part in the crusade. The total force of the invading army consisted,