John Huss and the Hussite Wars - James Aitken Wylie

Hussites, and laid siege to it. An idea may be
formed of the strength of the besieging force from
the rank and number of the commanders. Under the
emperor, who held of course the supreme
command, were five electors, two dukes, two
landgraves, and more than fifty German princes.
But this great host, so proudly officered, was
destined to be ignominiously beaten. The citizens
of Prague, under the brave Ziska, drove them with
disgrace from before their walls. The imperialists
avenged themselves for their defeat by the
atrocities they inflicted in their retreat. Burning,
rapine, and slaughter marked their track, for they
fancied they saw in every Bohemian a Hussite and
enemy.
A second attempt did the emperor make on
Prague the same year (1420), only to subject
himself and the arms of the Empire to the disgrace
of a second repulse. Outrages again marked the
retreating steps of the invaders. These repeated
successes invested the name of Ziska with great
renown, and raised the expectations and courage of
his followers to the highest pitch. It is not
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