nations still retained many of their primitive democratic institutions.
Žižka was not ambitious. The chief leader of the Taborites, he was never called by any other name than Brother John of the Chalice. He cared not for wealth, for government, nor for glory.
The historian, Æneas Sylvius, says that the Emperor Sigmund, seeing that whatever Žižka undertook prospered, and that the eyes of all Bohemians were turned to him, conceived that it would be well to become reconciled to him and bend him to his will.
He therefore offered him the government of the country, the chief command of his army, and a large sum of money, in consideration of which he was to help him to regain the crown of Bohemia. But Sigmund had mistaken his man—Žižka cared nothing for all these things. Had he been desirous of wealth, he could have obtained it without the help of Sigmund. In the numerous victories he had won over the Imperial army, he had secured rich spoils; but all this he used for the public good, keeping nothing for his own use. His brother, Jaroslav, remained a common page, and his Aunt Anna was so poor that she was obliged to accept support from the city of Prague.
Some have denied Žižka all literary culture, but this is a great mistake. As every one in the camp of the Taborites could read and write, it is not at all probable that the leader alone was illiterate. The well-known hymn that the Taborites used to sing when going to battle—“Ye Warriors of the Lord”—was believed to have been composed by him, which shows that he was a scholar of no mean ability.
