Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/224

 those who had taken a prominent part in the revolution; among these were, as already mentioned, Svojše and Rozvoda. The imprisonment of Prince Korybutovič was immediately followed by that of the priests Christian of Prachatice, Peter Mladenovič, Master John of Přibram, and Master Prokop of Plzeň. They were conveyed to the prison in the town-hall, where they remained in safety, though the rabble demanded that they should be drowned.

Though the deposition of Prince Korybutovič is noted by the contemporary writers rather as an incident of civic strife than as the turning-point in the Hussite war, its great importance is very evident to the modern student. The rule of Korybutovič, though it had, except in Prague and in the cities allied or subject to the capital, been but a nominal one, had yet, to a certain extent, united the antagonistic Hussite parties. The powerful Utraquist nobility, which had played so great a part in the Hussite movement, now began to foresee that the fall of Korybutovič would slowly but surely undermine its influence in the country and transfer all power to the ultrademocratic party. If this evolution did not immediately take place, the reason is to be found in the fact that a new and—as was then believed—dangerous crusade at that moment menaced Bohemia. In September 1426 the Hussite general Přibik of Klenov had, almost without resistance, obtained possession of the important city of StřiboStříbro [sic] (in German, Miess), which is situated on the direct road between Plzeň and Cheb. The occupation of this town, in which the Utraquists immediately established a nationalist municipality, was considered as a permanent menace by the inhabitants of the neighbouring German districts, as well as by the Bohemian cities which had remained faithful to King Sigismund and the Roman Church. The spot most menaced by the Hussites was the town of Tachov, situated at a short distance from Střibro. The townsmen of Tachov were greatly alarmed, and wrote to the town-councillors of Cheb, begging them, “for the love of