Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/217

 attempted to leave the city immediately after the defeat and to join their flying comrades; but the Bohemians at the same moment entered the town walls, and burnt down the city so completely that, as we are told, the site remained entirely uninhabited for more than three years.

It may have been noticed that very little mention is made of Prokop in the accounts of the great victory of Ústi. This is no doubt largely due to the fact that the contemporary chroniclers delighted in recording the brave deeds of arms of the Utraquist lords and of Prince Korybutovič and his Polish followers. Prokop’s reluctance to appear as a warrior and his wish to accentuate his priestly office may also be one of the reasons why his name is not more prominent in the accounts of the great battle. There is, however, no doubt that the Hussites attributed their great victory mainly to Prokop. It was he who, following Žižka’s example, chose admirably the position which so largely contributed to the success, and Prokop and his Táborites were the first to assume the offensive when the Germans had reached the heights on which the national army was entrenched. Prokop’s military genius was henceforth recognised not only by his Táborite followers, but by the members of all Utraquist parties. As Dr. Neubauer writes: “A new epoch of the Hussite wars begins with the victory of Ústi, the epoch of Prokop; it was the epoch of great victories over the crusaders and of the successful incursions into distant lands.”

After the great victory of Ústi the soundest policy for the Bohemians would have been to assume the offensive and invade the neighbouring German lands. They could, indeed, only hope to secure peace if the Germans also endured the hardships and the horrors of incessant inexorable warfare from which Bohemia had now suffered for six years. The feeling in favour of an invasion of the neighbouring countries naturally became stronger after a course of almost uninterrupted victories. The soldiers, particularly the Táborites, became