Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

cannon to thunder, by which the coronation was
celebrated, when the nation and the new monarch
were called to look in the face the awful struggle
they had invited. Ferdinand, raising a mighty army,
was already on his march to chastise Bohemia. On
the road to Prague he took several towns inhabited
by Protestants, and put the citizens to the sword.
Advancing to the capital he encamped on the
White Hill, and there a decisive battle was fought
on the 8th of November, 1620. [7] The Protestant
army was completely beaten; the king, whom the
unwelcome tidings interrupted at his dinner, fled;
and Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia lay prostrated
at the feet of the conqueror. The generals of
Ferdinand entered Prague, "the conqueror
promising to keep articles," says the chronicler,
"but afterwards performing them according to the
manner of the Council at Constance."
The ravages committed by the soldiery were
most frightful. Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia were
devastated. Villages were set on fire, cities were
pillaged, churches, schools, and dwellings pulled
down; the inhabitants were slaughtered, matrons
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