granted, as the generals of the league had already decided to force the citizens of the New Town to join the confederacy. The army of the league arrived before Prague on May 5, and, after marching through the Malá Strana, crossed by the bridge of Prague into the Old Town. They called on the citizens of the New Town to demolish the fortifications which they had constructed, to conclude a treaty of alliance with the Old Town, and to cease troubling the public peace. It appears likely that no answer was given to this summons, and none was probably expected. On the day of the arrival of the troops of the league an artillery duel began, and on the following day they, with their allies of the Old Town, took possession of the New Town without much bloodshed.[1]
Though the capture of the New Town was no great military exploit it must be considered as a great success for the league of the nobles. They had thus deprived the Táborites of the powerful aid of the New Town of Prague, and had forced them to abandon the siege of Plzeň without any further effort. Prokop the Great left the New Town immediately after its capture.[2] He proceeded hurriedly to Tábor, the centre of his community, where he hoped to organise a new army in view of the decisive conflict which was evidently impending. On his way he sent a letter to the priest Prokop the Lesser, who was then commanding the troops before Plzeň. The letter[3] is interesting, as throwing some light on the enigmatical character of Prokop the Great. He wrote: “Our Lord is omnipotent, He who after a storm grants calm and consoles His faithful after affliction. My most beloved brother in Christ! I wish
- ↑ A contemporary chronicler writes: “By God’s dispensation few were killed on this occasion, sixteen or twenty at most, and only one house, that of Kucka, was burnt down” (“Scriptores rerum Bohemicarum,” Vol. III. p. 88).
- ↑ According to the “Scriptores rerum Bohemicarum” Prokop the Great and Andrew of Kerský were expelled from the New Town of Prague after its capture by the army of the league.
- ↑ The Latin original of this letter is printed by Palacký, Urkunden, etc., Vol. II. p. 411. Its fate is very curious; it never reached Prokop the Lesser; it was intercepted by the troopers of the Catholic Lord Ulrich of Rosenberg. The original is now preserved at Wittingau (Třeboň), in the archives of the princes of Schwarzenberg, who are descendants of the Lords of Rosenberg.
