went so far as to imprison both her and Václav in a strong fortress, where she was kept under a strong guard, and deprived of all the comforts to which she had been accustomed. A Diet having been called, the nobles tried to obtain the liberty of the queen, but to no purpose; Otto, as guardian and regent, claimed the right to keep them in confinement. The queen finally succeeded in making her escape, whereupon she fled to Moravia; but the young prince was left behind to pine in solitude all alone.
The native lords, seeing that the condition of the country was growing worse and worse, and that the foreign adventurers were becoming rich at the expense of the native lords and citizens, began to hold meetings, and secretly to prepare to cast off the foreign yoke. The facts transpiring, Otto took the young prince and fled with him to Brandenburg. Rudolph, now fearing that Otto had some evil design against his youthful son-in-law, decided to come into the country himself to settle the difficulties. It was decided that Otto should still remain the guardian of the prince, but that the latter should be sent to Prague, the government promising to pay 15,000 pounds silver for his release. To restore the country to peace, all the Germans that had been brought to the country by the regent were now ordered to leave within three days under a penalty of death. The lords who had taken possession of the crown estates were ordered to give them up, and if they had any claims upon them, to seek redress by process of law. By these means peace was again restored; but the evil effects of the state of anarchy were not so easily obliterated.
In the state of anarchy, many of the peasants fled
