His army consisted principally of the knights and nobles of Moravia; of these many were themselves partisans of Church reform, but their dynastic or rather feudal feelings overcame all other considerations, and they bravely though reluctantly rallied round the standard of the king. Of the battle of the Vyšehrad, Březov writes: ‘On the vigil of the day of All Saints the king arrived at midday at the new castle of Kunratic, but he was afraid of attacking on that day, as he expected further levies from the Moravian lords. These men arrived towards evening, and slept in armour in the woods, that all should be ready on the following day to drive from the field the Praguers and their allies. During the night the king sent a messenger to his mercenaries in the castle of Prague[1], ordering them to be under arms early in the morning, and descending from the castle to attack the Saxon house and the bridge-tower and if possible to burn them; the king himself would at the same hour drive the Praguers from the field, as he had received large reinforcements.
‘But God, who resists the haughty and is gracious to the humble, decreed that the messenger with his letter fell into the hands of the men of Prague, who were warned by the tenor of the king's letter and learnt all his plans. Therefore the commanders of the Praguers vigilantly gave instructions to the people, decreeing what post each leader with his men was to hold and bravely defend on the morrow. Then it befell that, when the fifteenth hour had passed, the king with from fifteen to twenty well-armed men left the new castle and approached the spot where the men of Prague lay; then, standing on the top of a height opposite
- ↑ That is to say, the Hradčany.
