Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/234

 as already mentioned, negotiated with the Hussites in the name of the German princes. The council of war decided to oppose the advance of the Bohemians, and made a last attempt to raise the spirits of the despondent crusaders. It was, however, fruitless. While the heralds proclaimed in the streets of Tachov that the army would attack the Bohemians on the following morning, an incessant stream of fugitives, with many provision- and ammunition-carts, was pouring through the town, intent on reaching the Bavarian frontier as quickly as possible. When, therefore, Cardinal Beaufort on the following morning appeared on a hill near Tachov bearing the banner of the Church and exhorting the soldiers to defend their faith, he must have known that this step would prove resultless, and Dr. Juritsch is hardly too severe when he describes the cardinal’s attempt as an act of theatrical display. According to a German contemporary ballad, the young Duke of Saxony offered to lead his troops against the Hussites, while Frederick of Brandenburg rightly foresaw that under the circumstances any attempt to encounter the Hussites would result in a disaster worse than that at Ústi had been. It is probable that a very angry dispute between the two princes arose, and the English cardinal, perhaps to prove his impartiality, entrusted the papal standard to neither of them, but to the Count Palatine John of Neumarkt, requesting him to lead the army against the Hussites. This caused further trouble, as the German princes disputed the right of an English ecclesiastic to appoint the leader of their armies. This new quarrel, almost in view of the enemy, seems not unjustifiably to have irritated the cardinal. He threw the banner to the ground before the German, and expressed himself in very strong language. This dispute seems to have continued up to the moment when the Bohemian cavalry was approaching. The Hussites marched with their usual rapidity, and rested for a