VIEW OF PRAGUE SHOWING Z̆IZ̆KA’S HILL TO THE NORTH-EAST.
At last, on the 14th of July, the invading army grew weary of its delays, and prepared for a general attack on various parts of the city. In this plan the invaders were to be aided by the garrisons which occupied respectively the fortress of the Vys̆ehrad and the castle of Prague. The battle began by an attempt to storm the hill which Z̆iz̆ka had fortified. This attack was undertaken by the Margrave of Meissen, the hereditary enemy of the Bohemians. As his soldiers charged up the hill they were encountered, not only by Z̆iz̆ka’s forces, but also by private citizens, and even by women. The stones hurled by these defenders produced such effect that the first attack was repelled. But the Germans quickly returned to the charge; nor could the desperate courage of the defenders wholly prevent their advance. One of the Germans seized on a woman who was defending the hill; but she vowed that she would not yield to anti-Christ, and she was killed in defending herself. Still the invaders pressed on. Z̆iz̆ka was himself wounded and struck down, and was with difficulty rescued by the flails of his followers. The Germans had almost reached the top of the hill, when suddenly the gate of the city, which stood nearest to the hill on the other side, was thrown open, and a priest came out bearing the Sacrament, and followed by fifty archers, and some more of the flail-bearing peasants. At the same moment all the bells in the city were set ringing; and, with a great shout, echoed from within the walls, the new-comers rushed up the hill to meet the advancing enemy. Immediately the invaders were seized with a panic and fled; three hundred of them were killed in the descent, and others dangerously wounded. Sigismund’s forces retreated to their tents, and the citizens of Prague hastened to their churches to return thanks for their victory. The scene of this battle was called by some Bojiste (the battlefield) in consequence of the great slaughter of the Germans; others called it the Hill of the Cup; but the name which has driven out every other is that which connects it with the general of the day; and it is still known as Z̆iz̆kov Hora—the hill of Z̆iz̆ka.
It might have seemed that such a victory, however startling, would scarcely have ended a war, begun with so great preparation, and engaged in by so formidable an army. But the bitter feeling between the German and Bohemian Royalists had now risen to such a height as to make common action impossible. On the one hand, the Germans furiously accused the Bohemians of having betrayed them in the battle; and, in revenge for this supposed treachery, they attacked and burnt some of the houses in the outlying villages, and threw the women and children into the fire. The Bohemians, on the other hand, were more and more disposed to make peace with their countrymen; and it will be remembered that some of the nobles had already shown an inclination to Utraquism. As for Sigismund, his first and main thought was to secure the crown of Bohemia to himself with the smallest amount of trouble.
Under these circumstances the Bohemian part of the army willingly entered into negotiations with the defenders of the city; and the latter proposed, for Sigismund’s acceptance, four Articles of Peace, which were to become very famous in the following years. The first of these was the free preaching of the Word of God; the second, the granting of the Cup to the laity; the third, the removal of the clergy from rule in secular affairs, and their restriction to the apostolic mode of life; the fourth was the public suppression of deadly sins. Sigismund consented to discussion on these points between the Utraquist preachers and the Catholic priests, who had followed his army. The leading orator on the Utraquist side was John Pr̆zibram, a man who was to play a conspicuous part in the coming controversies.
Strangely enough, it was found that the Catholic clergy were willing to make many concessions in the discussion. But the Conference broke down on a point which may be called the main issue of the Later Reformation—the question, namely, whether, in cases of doubt, the deciding authority should be the Church or the Scriptures. Perhaps few could have expected that the clerical disputants would have come to an agreement; and the Bohemian Royalists did not seem to have been shaken by this result in their desire for peace. Indeed, such readiness did they show to accept the Four Articles, that the citizens of Prague considered their cause secure, and consented to elect Sigismund as their King. So on July 28, 1420, Sigismund, having given a general promise to govern better, was solemnly crowned at Prague; and two days later the great army of Crusaders returned, cursing the King as a breaker of his word and a favourer of heretics.
