always the most moderate element in the reform party; the democrats of Prague, on the other hand, found their natural allies in the democratic community of Tabor.
Korybut, whose principal supporters were the utraquist nobles, used his influence in favour of the aristocratic party at Prague, which through him obtained the important municipal offices of the city. He endeavoured, and not without success, to avoid a rupture with Žižka[1] and the more moderate Taborites, whose leader (contrary to the popular opinion, which represents him as an extreme fanatic) Žižka was.
As soon as order had been re-established in Prague, Korybut set out to besiege the castle of Karlstein, which was still held by the forces of King Sigismund, and which through its vicinity to Prague was a permanent menace to that town. This siege was unsuccessful, and Korybut, being obliged to return to Prague because of renewed riots that had broken out there, concluded a truce with the defenders of Karlstein. The duration of this truce, which Korybut concluded in his own name and in those of the utraquist lords, was fixed at one year.
King Sigismund had meanwhile endeavoured to detach the Polish princes from the Bohemian cause. His efforts were successful, and in consequence of an agreement with Sigismund, Prince Witold recalled his nephew, who had been acting as his representative in Bohemia. Prince Korybut very reluctantly left Prague on December 24, 1422.
The temporary departure of Prince Korybut, whose influence on the affairs of Bohemia has been greatly under-rated,[2] was almost immediately followed by civil war. Probably from distrust of the utraquist lords, who still held most of
- ↑ In his curious letter to the Praguers, in which he informed them that he would not oppose Prince Korybut, Žižka says: "We—the Taborites—will willingly obey his Highness (Prince Korybut), and with the Lord's help aid him in all rightful things by deed and by advice, and we beg that you all of you, from this day forth, will verily drop all the discord, quarrels, and bitterness which you have had either during your whole life or during these last years, so that you may honestly say the Lord's Prayer, and pray: 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.'" Palacký very truly remarks that this letter gives us a clearer idea of the nature of the great Bohemian warrior than the most elaborate attempt to characterize him could do.
- ↑ This is probably caused by the fact that his conciliatory policy was equally distasteful to the papal and to the extreme Taborite partisans.
