edited and published by Professor Höfler in the present century. It is interesting as being the only existent definition of the doctrines of the Taborites written by a member of the community.
I follow the example of Jungmann and Jireček, as well as of the most recent writers on Bohemian literature, in including among the writers of the Taborite party the celebrated Bohemian warrior John Zižka of Trocnov, born about the year 1378. It has already been mentioned that Zižka was the head of the more moderate division of the Taborists, which after his death assumed the name of the "Orphans." Zižka's writings consist indeed only of the curious work entitled The Regulations of War (Řád vojenský), four letters, and a war-song or hymn, but they are among the most precious relics in the Bohemian language. They give a thorough insight into the real nature and character of the hero of the Hussite wars, who has so often been compared to Oliver Cromwell. The Řád vojenský is no mere collection of military regulations; besides establishing the rule of an iron discipline, it also enforces religious practices, and repeatedly proclaims—in a manner very unusual in the fifteenth century—the absolute equality of the different classes of men who composed the Hussite armies. It is perhaps only after reading these regulations that the victories of the Hussites over immensely superior forces become intelligible.
Of Zižka's letters, the most noteworthy is the celebrated Letter to the Allies of Domažlice. The citizens of Domažlice (Tauss) had been attacked by the Germans, and applied to their Hussite comrades for aid. Zižka wrote to them: "Dear Brothers in God!—I beg you
