Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/66

 strongholds. They were aided by members of the Orebite community, led by Lord Krušina of Lichtenburg and the monk Ambrose, one of the numerous warrior-priests of this period. Their repeated attacks were, however, repulsed, and the citizens were even obliged to evacuate part of the Malá Strana.

A great feeling of discouragement now prevailed among the citizens of Prague. They concluded a truce with the royalist commanders of the Hradčany and Vyšehrad castles and determined to enter into negotiations with Sigismund in view of peace. They elected six envoys—two city councillors, two doctors of the university and two townsmen—who were to proceed to Kutna Hora for this purpose. Their reception was most ungracious. Sigismund again subjected the envoys to the indignity of kneeling before him for a longer time than was customary. He then informed them that he was bound by oath to extirpate all heresies by fire and sword, and that he would not perjure himself even if he were obliged to destroy the whole Bohemian kingdom, reduce it to ashes and re-people it with foreigners. Then, brutally violent as he often was when dealing with those whom he believed to be weak, he “became as hard as steel and moved his limbs as one demented.” The King finally again ordered the Praguers to remove all fortifications and barricades within their city and to deliver up all arms to the commanders of the royal garrisons of the Hradčany and Vyšehrad; on his arrival at Prague only would he be prepared to tell them what amount of mercy he would grant them. This, as Palacký has well said, meant war to the knife. When the envoys, on their return to Prague, informed the citizens of the result of their mission all, men and women, rich and poor, began to work incessantly at the fortifications