was supposed to have written to the Bohemians, and which for a time was widely circulated, confirmed them in their hopes.
The Germans, though they had so easily abandoned their intention of invading Bohemia, were not long destined to enjoy peace. In the same year (1429) the Bohemians again attacked them in their own country. During the summer small detachments of Bohemians had already pillaged the neighbouring districts of Lusatia, but in December Prokop the Great led into Germany an army greater than any the Bohemians had ever before assembled for warfare beyond their frontiers. This adventurous expedition, of which want of space makes it impossible to give a detailed account, first marched into Saxony, where the Duke of Saxony and other German princes had assembled an army of 10,000 men near Leipzig; this army, however, dispersed at the mere news that the dreaded Bohemians were approaching. The Bohemians then continued their march through Germany, burning down many towns, and ravaging the country in every direction. The general terror was so great that even towns distant from their line of march like Hamburg and Lüneberg prepared their defences. The Bohemians, however, marched southward, intending to attack the city of Nuremberg before returning to their country.
Frederick of Hohenzollern, Margrave of Brandenburg, and Burgrave of Nuremberg, who seems already to have been gifted with the political insight which has ever since been characteristic of his race, saved the town from the danger that menaced it. At a personal interview that took place between him and Prokop and other Bohemian generals at Kulmbach (Feb. 6, 1430), Frederick concluded a truce with the Bohemians in his own name as well as in that of the German princes and the towns that were then
ad me Ambassiatores mittatis; ipsis dicam quid illud sit quod facere vos opporteat." The letter ends with renewed threats should the Bohemians remain obstinate. This letter, the original spelling of which I have retained, is printed in Pubitschka's Chronologische Geschichte v. Bohem (pt. vi. vol. i). It is dated from "Suliaci (Sully) iii Marci 1429." Palacký also mentions it, and tells us, as a proof of the importance which was at the time attached to it, that he found a copy of it among the documents of the Imperial chancellory referring to Emperor Sigismund's reign. Mr. Anatole France, in his Vie de Jeanne d Arc, has republished this letter in a somewhat different form.
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