He had first to conquer the reformers before he could punish them, and
this was to prove no easy task.
The dreadful work of religious war began with the burning of Hussite
preachers who had ventured from Bohemia into Germany. This was an
argument which Ziska thoroughly understood, and he retorted by
destroying the Bohemian monasteries, and burning the priests alive in
barrels of pitch. "They are singing my sister's wedding song," exclaimed
the grim barbarian, on hearing their cries of torture. Queen Sophia,
widow of Wenceslas, the late king, who had garrisoned all the royal
castles, now sent a strong body of troops against the reformers. The
army came up with the multitude, which was largely made up of women and
children, on the open plain near Pilsen. The cavalry charged upon the
seemingly helpless mob. But Ziska was equal to the occasion. He ordered
the women to strew the ground with their gowns and veils, and the
horses' feet becoming entangled in these, numbers of the riders were
thrown, and the trim lines of the troops broken.
Seeing the confusion into which they had been thrown, Ziska gave the
order to charge, and in a short time the army that was to defeat him was
flying in a panic across the plain, a broken and beaten mob.
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