Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/212

 their country in the autumn of 1425. Hostilities entirely ceased during the winter, but in the following spring the Bohemians were obliged to defend their frontiers against foreign enemies. The Bohemian city of Ústi nad Labem (Aussig an der Elbe) had, by King Sigismund, been pledged to Duke Frederick of Saxony. It is probable that the ever-impecunious King had thus obtained a loan, and it was certainly not displeasing to him that an important city situated on the banks of the Elbe should by a foreign occupation be secured against the Hussites. The Bohemians, equally aware of the importance of the town, began to besiege it in the spring of 1426. This caused great apprehension in Germany and particularly in Saxony. Duke Frederick was at that moment taking part in the deliberations of the diet of Nürnberg, but his energetic wife, the Duchess Catherine, succeeded in assembling in a very short time a large army that was to march to the aid of the menaced city. Catherine accompanied the German soldiers to the foot of the mountains which separate Bohemia from Saxony, and there took leave of them “with many tears.” As soon as the report of the new invasion reached Prague the Bohemians—for once united—determined to march on Ústi with all the forces they could raise. The forces of the Praguers and of the Utraquist nobles, under Prince Korybutovič, marched immediately in the direction of Ústi, while Prokop’s army of Táborites, probably to avoid the difficulty of victualling, marched by a less direct route, and on its way captured several towns that were held by the partisans of Sigismund. As soon as the national forces had united, an attack was made on Ústi on June 6, but was repulsed by the Germans. Prokop the Great with the tacit assent of all the troops, now assumed supreme command. Following the tactics of Žižka he placed his army on the slopes of a hill named Běhani, between the villages of Předlic and Hrbovic. He ordered his soldiers to await the attack of the enemies here under the shelter of the wagon-forts. The Hussites here, as