the account of a contemporary writer, not improbably an eye-witness. He writes[1]: "Here at Přibislav brother Žižka was seized by a deadly attack of the plague. He gave his last charge to his faithful Bohemians [saying], that fearing their beloved God, they should firmly and faithfully defend God's law in view of His reward in eternity; and then brother Žižka commended his soul to God, and died on the Wednesday before the day of St. Gallus." Even had we no historical evidence to the point, this tranquil death would appear a fitting end for the great Bohemian patriot. He who had so often fought what he firmly considered God's battles, assuredly did not dread entering into God's peace.
The importance of Žižka's position in history can hardly be exaggerated. As has been already noticed, it was entirely due to him and to his exceptional military genius that the Hussite movement did not collapse as soon as large armed forces were moved against Bohemia. Had not the genius of Žižka contrived to render the Bohemian warriors for the time invincible, the name of the Hussites would be unknown to history, in which Hus would only appear as an isolated enthusiast like Savonarola.[2] The immediate consequences of the death of Žižka were of great importance to Bohemia. He was in command of a large army. Had he lived and freed Moravia, as Bohemia had been, from the power of Sigismund and Albert, a Diet of the two lands would have assembled and in all probability have definitely declared Prince Sigismund Korybut king.
The death of their great leader did not for the moment weaken the Bohemian armies, and able leaders formed in Žižka's school took the command of the utraquist forces.[3] "Žižka's blindness had that advantage, that his military
- ↑ Staři Letopisove Česti (ancient Bohemian Chronicles).
- ↑ Zacharias Theobaldus (Hussitenkrieg) records several epitaphs on Žižka, which are reprinted by Lenfant in his Histoire de la Guerre des Hussites. They are not older than the sixteenth century. The most characteristic of them is the following—
"Strennuus in bellis hoc dormit Žižka sepulchro
Žižka suae gentis gloria, Martis honos
Ille duces scelerum monachos, pestemque nefandam
Ad Stygias justo fulmine trusit aquas
Surget adhuc rursus, quadratae cornua cristae
Supplicii ut poenas, quas meruere luant."The "quadratae cornua cristae" are, of course, the monks, against whom these lines breathe such bitter hatred.
- ↑ Tomek, Jan Žižka.
