country, both Catholic and Calixtine, having an army of 25,000 men; on the other, the Taborites and Orphans, with an army of 18,000, commanded by Prokop the Great, Prokop the Small, Capek, and others.
The armies, taking their stand near the village of Lipan, arranged their wagon fortifications, and waited each the attack of the other; for it seemed that the victory would be with the side that succeeded in beguiling the other out of its fortifications. The Taborites, impatient in waiting so long, began the attack. When the shooting had continued for some time, the commander of the army of the nobles resorted to a stratagem. His troops were ordered to retreat. The cry arose,“They run, they run!” The Taborites rushed upon what they supposed to be the flying enemy, got into ambush, and were cut to pieces, this disaster turning the tide of the battle. Then commenced a frightful slaughter that lasted for a whole day and night; no quarter was given, and the work of butchery did not cease until only about 700 men were left of the Taborite army. These were shut up in barns, and burned alive. Capek, who fled with his division almost before the battle began, was for a long time regarded as a traitor.
Among the fallen were both the Prokops, both of whom fell like common soldiers. Their bodies were not even sought out and honored with a separate burial. The ungrateful noblemen did not think it worth while to seek out the remains of one who so many times had saved their country from destruction.
With the defeat at Lipan, the power of the Taborites was forever broken, and with them the power of
