Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/106

 panic; Premysl Ottokar, seeing that all was lost, plunged, with some of his faithful followers, into the thickest battle, and fell pierced by many swords. The defeat of the Bohemians was complete. Of the 30,000 met engaged in the battle, 12,000 were left upon the field (1278). Some personal enemies of the fallen king, finding his body, tore off the clothing, and brutally mutilated it. When Rudolph afterwards saw the body, he gazed with consternation upon all that now remained of one who, in life, had been the greatest ruler of his time.

When the news of the fall of Ottokar reached Bohemia, the common people were filled with sorrow. PremsylPremysl [sic] Ottokar had been a good and just ruler, and had often taken up the cause of the poor against the wealthy classes that oppressed them; and this very virtue in him led, ultimately, to his ruin.

The death of the king brought the country into a state of anarchy. The selfish lords, caring nothing for the people, did nothing to oppose the approach of the enemy, and thus Rudolph marched through Moravia without any let or hindrance, leaving misery and death behind him. Among the distinguished prisoners in his train was the Bohemian queen, with her seven-year-old Václav.

The imperial army marched into Bohemia as far as Kuttenberg. Here they were met by some Bohemian lords with a small force, and negotiations for peace were entered upon. It was agreed that the emperor should hold Moravia for five years, and that Bohemia should be governed by regents until Václav, the son of Ottokar, should be of age. To perpetuate his hold upon the two countries, the agreement entered upon