on Tábor while the Orphans, after crossing the Vltava, proceeded in the direction of Králové Hradec, the great stronghold of their community. We are not well informed as to the very rapid movements[1] of the two contending armies during the month of May. Prokop the Great’s plan, that the whole army which had besieged Plzeň should march together to Sedlčany, was not carried out—no doubt because his letter was intercepted. Both the Orphans and the Táborites, however, appear to have agreed to attempt to regain possession of Prague. The Orphans, under Čapek of San, were the first to appear in the neighbourhood of the capital. The Utraquist nobles who occupied Prague, still hoping for a reconciliation, entered into negotiations with Čapek. The leader of the Orphans, however, made the surrender of the New Town a condition of peace, and an accord was thus impossible. Almost immediately afterwards—on May 17—the Táborite forces, under Prokop the Great, also arrived in the vicinity of Prague. The re-united Táborite and Orphan armies appear to have desired to give battle to the lords of the league under the walls of the capital. The lords, however, who expected large reinforcements, cautiously remained within the city walls. These reinforcements soon arrived. The powerful Lord Ulrich of Rosenberg, the faithful friend of King Sigismund and leader of the Roman party in Bohemia, sent a large force. The citizens of Plzeň and the nobles allied with them joined the army of the league, as did also the garrison of the Karlštýn, who, during the whole course of the war, had held that stronghold for King Sigismund. The new army which joined the Utraquist lords consisted of 10,000 infantry and 500 horsemen.[2]
- ↑ The Lords of the league occupied the New Town of Prague on May 6, the siege of Plzeň was raised on the 9th, and the decisive battle of Lipany was fought on the 30th of that month.
- ↑ “Ipso die sancti Urbani gentes dominorum Ulrici de Rosenberg, Johannis de Rabie et domini Menhard de Nova Domo . . . ante Pragam erant et dominus Johannes de Svamberk, Zdenko Drstka, dominus Alsso de Zylberg et de districtu Plznensi habentes sexingentos equites et decem millia vel circa peditum in adjutorium Antique civitatis Pragensis contra Taborenses et Orfanorum sectam venerunt” (Bartošek of Drahonic, p. 613).
