Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/154

142 112 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. who were enemies alike of their religion, their country, and their domestic homes, to defend at once their altars, hearths, and native soil. It was a crusade, a holy war, to which no one could possibly remain indifferent. Public prayers were offered up, priests exhorted the combatants in churches and camps ; even Saint Hedwig, the mother of Duke Henry, was seen to issue from the convent in which she had devoted herself to a life of religious seclusion, and rush through the ranks of the soldiers, urging them to heroic exertions in the cause of Christianity, and of Poland. It is said that God had revealed to her that her son was to perish in this struggle, but that she had the fortitude to control the anguish by which her heart was rent ; and this sublime mother was heard to say to Henry, at the moment when he was going into battle, that it was his part to set an example of valour, and that if God so willed it, he must die bravely, at the head of his army. On the ninth of April, 1241, Duke Henry, the princes and Christian leaders, after having heard mass, and communicated, issued from Liegnitz to meet the foe, and the two armies confronted one another about a league from the town, in a plain watered by the Neiss, where was since built the village of Wahlstadt. The crusaders had obtained from Duke Henry the favour of being allowed to commence the attack, and unfortunately they were deceived by a stratagem of the Mongol ad- vanced guard, which feigned to give way, and pursued them. When this ill-armed and half-naked infantry had been drawn to a sufficient distance from the main body, the Mongol cavalry surrounded them, and pierced them to death with their arrows.