prince had no evil designs against the country. The people were weary of the war, and longed for peace. They would have returned to the bosom of the Church had the Church been willing to make some reasonable concessions. But Rome would hear of nothing but unconditional surrender and unquestioning obedience, and this the Bohemians could not grant without doing violence to all their convictions
The Bohemian leaders now became convinced that, if they would gain anything, it must be gained by compulsion. They therefore decided to turn the streams of blood into the territory of their enemies; to adopt the principle of Rome, “Vexatio dat intellectum,” and extort from the Church what could not be obtained in any other way.
The chief supporter of this policy was the Taborite leader, Prokop the Great. It will be remembered how, after the battle of Aussig, he advised the commanders to follow the enemy into their own territory, but was opposed in this by the more moderate leaders. Had this advice been followed, much bloodshed would have been avoided. Time proved the wisdom of his opinion, and now, by common consent, his policy was adopted, and he was accepted as the commander-in-chief of all the Bohemian armies.
The Taborites and Orphans now had the ascendency, and immediately began to carry war into the enemy’s territory. This they did, not merely to harass the enemy, but to gain plunder, since their army, being mostly composed of the poorer people, was always in need, and now more than at the beginning of the war, since agriculture had so long been entirely neglected.
Invading Austria with a force of 16,000 men, they
