Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/235

 short time near Střibro in the quarters where the crusaders had encamped on the previous night. The result of the approach of the enemies was immediate, and a general stampede began, in which the cardinal was obliged to join. The Elector of Brandenburg only halted when he had reached the little town of Wunsiedel in Bavaria. The Hussites on this occasion followed in hot pursuit and massacred a very large number of the Germans during their flight through the mountain-passes which here divide Bavaria from Bohemia. If we include the wagoners, camp-followers, and others who followed the mediæval armies in large crowds, it can be stated that the Germans killed during this flight numbered about 100,000 men; this—the figure given by the contemporary chroniclers—is probably but slightly, if at all, exaggerated. A certain number of Germans and some Bohemian Catholics, who had found the roads blocked by the enormous crowds of fugitives who were hurrying in the direction of the mountain-passes, took refuge in the city of Tachov, which was strongly fortified according to the ideas of that time. With their usual rapidity the Bohemians began immediately to bombard the city. The siege began on August 5, was carried out with great energy, and within a week the Bohemian artillery had set fire to considerable parts of the town, and the Hussites had also succeeded in undermining the city walls. Prolonged street-fighting took place after they penetrated within the city walls on August 11. Some of the defenders finally took refuge in the castle, but they were also obliged to surrender on the 14th from want of provisions. The Bohemians here also showed that comparative humanity which distinguished them from their German antagonists. The garrisons of the town and castle were led off as prisoners, and the woman and children—according to the usual custom of the Hussites—remained unharmed. In less than a month after their