Ziska fortified the mountain of Witlow (now called
Ziskaberg), which also commanded the city. Sigismund, finding that he
had been outgeneralled, and that his opponent held the controlling
position, waited and temporized, amusing himself meanwhile by assuming
the crown of Bohemia, and sowing dissension in his army by paying the
Slavonian and Hungarian troops with the jewels taken from the royal
palaces and the churches, while leaving the Germans unpaid. The Germans,
furious, marched away. The emperor was obliged to follow. The
ostentatious invasion was at an end, and scarcely a blow had been
struck.
But Sigismund had no sooner gone than trouble arose in Prague. The
citizens, the nobility, and Ziska's followers were all at odds. The
Taborites--those strict republicans and religious reformers who had made
Mount Tabor their head-quarters--were in power, and ruled the city with
a rod of iron, destroying all the remaining splendor of the churches and
sternly prohibiting every display of ostentation by the people. Death
was named as the punishment for such venial faults as dancing, gambling,
or the wearing of rich attire.
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