the leaders of the late revolution should take place. Early in the year 1621 the principal Bohemian nobles who had not fled from the country, and other leaders were arrested. On June 21 Budova, Count Černin, Count Šlik, Harrant Lord of Polžic, the celebrated Doctor Jessenius, who had negotiated with Gabriel Bethlen on behalf of the Bohemian Government, and others—twenty-seven in all—were executed in the market-place of Prague. They all met their fate with great fortitude.[1] On many others imprisonment and other lesser punishments were inflicted. These melancholy executions mark the end of the old and independent development of Bohemia. Members of the most prominent families of the Bohemian nobility, eminent citizens and learned men, in fact all the representatives of the culture of the land, ended here, and with them their cause. The destiny of the country was henceforth in the hands of foreigners, who had neither comprehension nor sympathy with its former institutions."[2]
CHAPTER VIII
It is certain that the fact that all resistance to the Imperialists ceased in the Bohemian lands very shortly after
- ↑ "When one of these holy men and martyrs for God was called out (from prison for execution) then to our great astonishment a leave-taking took place in a pleasant manner which rejoiced our hearts, just as if they were preparing to go to a banquet or some pastime. 'Now, my dear friends, may our Lord God bless and guard you; may He grant you the consolation of the Holy Ghost, patience and courage so that you may be able now also to prove in the moment of your death, that you have heartily and bravely defended the honour of God. I go before you that I may first see the glory of Eternal God, the glory of our beloved Redeemer; but I await you directly after me; already in this hour earthly grief vanishes and a new heart-felt and eternal gladness begins.' The other prisoners who remained behind answered, 'May our Lord God bless you on your way, for the sake of the guiltless death of Jesus Christ; may He send His holy angels to meet your soul. You go before us to the glory of Heaven. We also will follow you, and we are certain because of Him in whom we have believed, Jesus Christ, that we shall to-day all meet there again, and that with our beloved Redeemer, the angels, and the chosen of God we shall rejoice for ever'" (Skála ze Zhoře, vol. v. p. 110–111).
- ↑ Gindely, Geschichte des Dreissigjährigen Krieges.
