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openly, and proposed to the konopist synod, that mass should be celebrated in "one of the languages unknown to the people." The enthusiasm of the Hussites, however, was not easily subdued, and the tone and temper with which they went forward in their great work may be judged of by that remarkable composition, written, it is said, by Žižka himself,—the song of war—beginning,
"Kdoz gste Božj bogownjey
"a zákona geho."
This hymn, though somewhat rude in its language, and stamped with the fierceness of the times, became almost sanctified to the Hussites, and was constantly sung in circumstances of doubt and danger, and before attacking the enemy.
The following is a translation of this famous Taboritan[1] ode.
- ↑ From Tabor, a Turkish and Magyar word, meaning—a field, a camp. There is a town and a mountain so called in Bohemia. The word is frequently used as synonymous with Hussite.
