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 Hussites. Although a great fanatic, he was the only one capable of acting as a mediator between the Taborites and the people of Prague, which, in times of peril, proved of incalculable value.

The defeat of the Imperial army at Kuttenberg and at German Brod had the effect of breaking up the alliance between Vladislav, the King of Poland, and the emperor. The Polish king now gave his cousin, Vitold of Lithuania, permission to accept the crown of Bohemia, which he did, not in his own person, but in behalf of his nephew, Sigmund Corvinus. Being a devoted Catholic, he sent letters to the Pope explaining and justifying his conduct. He begged His Holiness to remove the interdict from Bohemia, and to treat the people with kindness; for he felt assured that most of them were now anxious and ready to return into the bosom of the Church; that it was only in this hope that he accepted the crown for his nephew Corvinus.

Sigmund Corvinus was a young man of much promise. Wise and thoughtful beyond his years, he added to great amiability of manner, energy of will and warlike valor. Besides this, he had always cherished a sincere love for the Bohemian people. The Bohemians were rejoiced that such a king was to rule over them, and felt greatly encouraged to have their independence of the emperor acknowledged by another State.

Sigmund Corvinus raised an army of 6,000 volunteers, and marched into Moravia by way of Silesia. The emperor, hearing of his approach, and believing his army much larger than it really was, became