Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/269

 won a glorious victory at Svetla, gaining much booty, and leaving 9,000 of the enemy upon the battle-field. Then they invaded Silesia and Lusatia, where they secured large quantities of provisions.

The years 1427 and 1428, Sigmund was engaged in the war against the Turks, so that the duty of carrying on the war against the Hussites devolved upon the Pope and the German princes.

The Pope issued a bull declaring another crusade againtagainst [sic] Bohemia. He chose as his instrument to carry on the great work, Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester, who had recently been made a cardinal. On account of his high position and his uncommon intellectual gifts, the Pope had every reason to hope that he would carry the war to a successful issue. The cardinal took hold of the work with great energy. Taking his retinue and a small army, he traveled through Germany, preaching the crusade against Bohemia with so much zeal and eloquence that soon he had a vast army at his command. The heavily-armed troops numbered 36,000 men; and the light-armed were estimated by some as 80,000, while other writers say 200,000. The armies were commanded by the princes and bishops from all parts of Germany,—from the west, the Princes of the Rhine, Alsace, Switzerland, Suabia, Bavaria, and the Netherlands; from the north, the Dukes of Upper and Lower Thuringia, the Princes of Hesse, Brandenburg, Brunswick, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania; from the east, those of Silesia, Lusatia, and Prussia; and from the south, Albert of Austria, and the Archbishop of Salzburg.