On receiving the news that their opponents had received such strong reinforcements the Orphans and Táborites left the neighbourhood of Prague and marched on Kolin, to be nearer to the district of Králové Hradec, where they still had many adherents. Immediately afterwards the Utraquist nobles also left Prague and, following their enemies, first marched to Zaběhlic, where, on May 26, their complete junction with the Roman Catholic allies took place, though the troops had already previously been in connection. The joint armies then marched on Český Brod and laid siege to that city, which still sided with the Táborites. Up to the day of the great battle both parties continued to receive reinforcements. At Kolin the Táborites were met by a few new recruits from the district of Králové Hradec, while several knights and nobles, who had hitherto wavered, at the last moment joined the army of the nobles. Finding more resistance at Německý Brod than they had expected the nobles, now vastly superior in number to their antagonists, determined to attack them as soon as possible. They divided their forces into four army corps; the first comprised the Utraquist nobles and their followers, the second consisted of the citizens of Plzeň, and the third of the troops of Lord Ulrich of Rosenberg. The fourth corps was composed of the levies of the three towns of Prague—the men of the New Town only reluctantly followed the standards of their enemies—and of those of the city of Mělnik. Our information concerning the events that immediately preceded the battle is very insufficient and contradictory.[1] On the advance of the army
- ↑ The three most valuable contemporary accounts of the great battle are that of Bartošek of Drahonic, whom I have frequently quoted, and those contained in two letters, one written by Martin Husnik, a soldier who, like Bartošek, took part in the battle, the other by the citizens of Plzeň, announcing the victory to some Minorite friars. Both these letters are printed by Palacký, Urkundliche Beiträge, etc., Vol. Il. pp. 414–416. The best modern accounts are those of Professor Tomek, in his History of the Town of Prague, and of General Köhler, in his Entwicklung der Kriegskunst in der Ritterzeit. Dr. Toman, Hussite Warfare, is also interesting. Lately articles on some controversial matters connected with the battle have appeared in the Časopis Musea Království Českého (Journal of the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia) for 1898 and 1900, in the Věštník České společností nauk (Proceedings of the Bohemian Society for Sciences) for 1903, and elsewhere.
