ful flails. That moment was one of intense anxiety, both to the people of the city and to the army at Vitkov. All seemed lost! The women, children, and old men who could not fight were upon their knees, wailing and beseeching Heaven to aid their cause. Within an hour the crisis was over, the tide turned in favor of the Taborites. The besiegers were repulsed, falling back in great disorder. The victors pursued the flying enemy, forcing them down a precipitous height, where many perished, being trampled upon by the horses that rushed on in the wildest confusion. Many more perished in trying to swim across the river.
This defeat filled Sigmund’s heart with bitter sorrow; and, what was even worse, discouraged his army, so that the rest of the plan had to be abandoned. Indeed, the defeat seemed to have a demoralizing effect upon officers as well as upon privates. The German princes, out of spite, caught and burned every Bohemian they could get hold of; and when the Bohemian lords objected to this, they were charged with favoring heretics. Then the allies began to fire their cannon upon the city, for which they were severely reprimanded by Sigmund, who told them not to destroy his inheritance needlessly. Then nature itself came to the assistance of the besieged. The allies had neglected to bury the dead. It was July, and the stench arising from the dead bodies of men and horses, not only attracted swarms of insects of all kinds, but poisoned the air with pestilential vapors, causing much illness and suffering. The allies, thinking only of their own safety, one by one left the army of Sigmund, and all further attempt to capture the city was consequently given up.
