The kings of Bohemia and Germany, with their small band, remained with the rear of the army at the beginning of the battle, not probably very confident in the result of an engagement which had been brought on against their advice. When the defeat of the French seemed certain, some of the Bohemian nobles informed King John of the unfavourable turn the battle was taking, and advised him to follow the example of the French, who were already retreating. King John then spoke the memorable words: "So will it God, it shall not be that a king of Bohemia flies from the battle-field."[1]
King John then ordered two of his bravest knights, Henry Mönch of Basel and Henry of Klingenberg, to attach their horses to his, and to guide him to where the Black Prince stood. He then gave the watchword "Praha" (Prague), and the knights and nobles, following close behind their king, charged in the direction of the English army. Passing rapidly through the flying Frenchmen they penetrated, wedged close together, into the thickest of the English ranks, and had for a moment nearly reached the spot where the Black Prince stood. Soon beaten back by overwhelming numbers. King John fell from his horse mortally wounded, and fifty of the chief nobles soon lay dead round their king. Hardly any of the Bohemians survived, and the flower of the Bohemian nobility perished on the battle-field of Crécy.
The charge of the blind King of Bohemia, useless and even faulty, from a military point of view, as the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, is equally immortal: even after more than five hundred years a Bohemian cannot write of this "gallant deed of arms" without feeling his blood stirred.
Late in the evening King John was found, still alive, on the battle-field, and King Edward caused him to be carried to his own tent, where he died in the course of the night.
On hearing of his death. King Edward, we are told, was unable to refrain from tears, and he exclaimed: "The
- ↑ Palacký says that these last words of their blind king remained for ever in the memory of the Bohemians, and that they became a proverb in the country. Palacký also notes that no king of Bohemia ever fled from the battle-field, and that neither Přemysl Ottokar II nor Louis I survived their defeat.
