of Calixtines, he accidentally met the king, to whom he addressed an earnest petition entreating him to cause a larger number of churches to be allotted to those who communicated in both kinds. Venceslas was very indignant at this attempt to extort concessions from him, and ordered Nicholas of Hus to leave Prague.
Nicholas retired to Austi, where a large number of the more advanced Church-reformers and many priests, who had been driven from their parishes by the decree of Venceslas, flocked to him. On a hill near Austi, probably on the site of the present town of Tabor, a large assembly took place (July 22, 1419), at which more than 42,000 people, men and women and children from all parts of Bohemia, and even from Moravia, were present. Even Roman Catholic writers describe this first great meeting of the Taborites as a most imposing event. From all directions bands of Taborites marched to the trysting-place, priests carrying the sacrament heading the procession. They were enthusiastically received by those already assembled on the hill, and welcomed as "brothers" and "sisters." The whole day was spent in prayers, in confession and communion, the strictest order being maintained. There is, however, little doubt that Nicholas of Hus availed himself of this opportunity to deliberate with the leaders of the assembled multitude as to the steps they were to take to defend their faith against the authorities at Prague. It is certain that at the court of Venceslas the design of seizing the Bohemian crown with the aid of the more advanced religious reformers was seriously attributed to Nicholas of Hus.
Trouble nearer home was destined to put an end to the life of King Venceslas before the plans of Nicholas had arrived at any sort of maturity. On July 30, 1419, when a procession of Calixtines, led by the priest John of Želivo who (as had now become the custom) carried the holy Sacrament, marched through the streets of Prague, a stone was thrown at priest John from one of the windows of the town-hall of the Nové Město (new town). The exasperated people, led by one of the king's courtiers, John Žižka of Trocnov, stormed the town-hall, and the burgomaster and several of the town-councillors were thrown from the windows, those of them who survived the fall being killed by the crowd in the market-place below.
