A Terrible Battle, or the Second Crusade Against the Bohemians.
By S. N. H.
THE Hussites had internal differences which contributed more to their overthrow than did their enemies, who were so numerous; and there was nothing but affliction and the general oppression brought to bear upon them as a nation that united the different parties which existed among them. The two leading parties were the Taborites and Calixtines. The latter believed in a more thorough reform than the former, and many of their ideas were correct and in harmony with the views taught by the Reformers of the sixteenth century. To the Pontiff's summons for a second crusade against the Bohemians there was a general response. An army was collected of not less than 70,000 picked men, some historians say 100,000, and they carried with them 3,000 wagons and 180 pieces of cannon. On Saturday, June 15, 1426, they entered Bohemia in three columns, marching in the direction of Aussig, which lies on the great plain between Dresden and Toplitz, on the confines of the Slavonic and German worlds. On the approach of this formidable army Procopius sent a proposal to the invaders that quarter should be given to the defeated party, whichever it might be. The Germans did not expect to need quarter for themselves, and therefore refused it to the Hussites, saying, that they were under the curse of the Pope, and that to spare them would be a violation of their duty to the church. Procopius replied, “Let it be so, then; let no quarter be given on either side.” The Bohemians entrenched themselves behind 500 wagons, fastened together with chains forming a formidable rampart. The Germans entered the battle with great impetuosity. They stormed the first line of defense, and with great difficulty broke through the line of wagons, and threw down the second and weaker line, which consisted of wooden shields stuck in the ground. When they reached the area where the Bohemians were entrenched, they were weary with the labor it had cost them to break through this double rampart. Meanwhile the Bohemians had been picking off their men as usual with their swivel guns. They were fresh for battle, and as the enemy approached they raised their war cry, and began to swing their terrible flails and ply their long hooks, pulling the Germans from their horses and making fearful slaughter among them. Rank after rank of the enemy came forward only to be blended in the terrible carnage that was going on. The battle raged until late in the afternoon. The soil was slippery with blood and cumbered with the corpses of the Germans. The Bohemian ranks were almost unbroken, and the day finally closed with the total rout of the Germans, who fled from the field in confusion and sought refuge in the mountains and woods around the scene of action. When the fugitives were overtaken they implored quarter, but they themselves had settled this question and accordingly no quarter was given. A large number of knights, nobles, counts, and barons struck their swords into the ground and prayed for mercy, asking simply that their lives might be spared; but all in vain. In one place 300 slain knights are said to have been found lying together in one heap. “Palacky's History of Bohemia,” which is said to be based on original documents, and the accuracy of which has never been questioned, says that there were killed, wounded, and missing, not less than 50,000 of the Germans. There never was a time, says the historian, when the German nobility suffered such a tremendous loss as this; nearly all of their leaders having been left on the field of battle. The loss of the Hussites was only thirty men. We have never seen a history that questioned these figures. A rich booty was reaped by the victors. One historian says that every Bohemian was made rich by the plunder he received which the Germans left on the battle-field when they retreated. The Hussites jeeringly said, “The Pope owes the Germans his curses for having enriched us heretics with such boundless stores of treasure.” The national poets of Bohemia celebrated this triumph in song. After each victory and before every battle the Bohemians celebrated the communion and held religious services. They carried their cause to God in prayer, acknowledging him as the author of the religion which they professed, and they devoted their lives to his service. It was not for themselves that they fought, but for their country, from which they desired that the world might have the light of truth. They were stirred to action by the injustice of the Emperor Sigismund in violating his sacred promises made to them, and in disregarding the safe conduct given to Huss, and also in the condemnation of Jerome. They felt that their leaders had been taken from them, and that they must fight to prevent the word of God from being crushed out of existence. Their souls were stirred within them, and no other nation ever passed through so many wars, to maintain their right, and with as firm adherence to the principles that governed them as they. It is a singular fact that in all of their wars for eighteen years they never lost a battle. After the great victory above described, a poem was composed by the poets of Bohemia which was handed down to many generations. It most clearly describes the battle, giving particulars of their asking for quarter, what was said respecting the matter, how they were looked upon, and the German's subsequent demand for mercy. The poem begins as follows:— “In mind let all Bohemians bear,
How God the Lord did for them care,
And victory at Aussig gave,
Where war was waged their faith to save.
The year of grace,—the time to fix—
Was fourteen hundred and twenty-six,
The Sunday after holy Vite
The German host dispersed in fight.” The poem closed as follows:— “Ho! All ye faithful Christian men!
Each lord, and knight, and citizen!
Follow, and hold your father's creed
And show ye are their sons indeed.
Be steadfast in God's truth always
And so from God ye shall have praise.
God on your offspring blessing pour,
And grant you life forevermore.”