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To the Reign of Sigmund.
235

hands of a single general, and selected for this purpose Frederick the Margrave of Brandenburg. But when the time came to begin the march, so few princes had responded to the call, that now, indeed, there was but one general but no army, as before there had been a great army but no general, or rather so many generals that their mutual jealousies fustrated all unity of action.

INTERNAL TROUBLES.

The crusade of 1423 having failed, the Bohemians were left unmolested; but this very security seems to have been the means of awakening the old hostilities between the parties. After the departure of Sigmund Corvinus, Prague was governed by Sir Hasek of Wallenstein, and William Kostka of Postupitz. Both of these were zealous Hussites, who desired to go further in religious innovations than most of the masters of the university, and for a while it seemed that they would hold the same position that John Zelivsky did—be the mediators between the Calixtines and the Taborites; but the old friendship could no longer be maintained, since the former, especially those belonging to the nobility, leaned more and more to the Catholics. Finally an open rupture occurred between the parties. Just how it came about is not recorded by any writer of those times; but in the spring of 1423, Žižka carried on a war against the Calixtine lords, and the people of Prague against the Taborites. Among the disaffected lords was Čenek of Wartenberg, who changed sides for the third time. He was at the head of a conspiracy among the noblemen, who were plotting to destroy the power of the Taborites, and then, after some sort of understanding about the “Four