So obstinate was the resistance that the city might have held out
for years but for the pinch of famine. The effect of this was
temporarily obviated by driving all the old men and the women who could
be spared beyond the walls; but despite this the grim figure of
starvation came daily nearer and nearer, and the day of surrender or
death steadily approached.
A year at length went by, the famine growing in virulence with the
passing of the days. Hundreds perished of starvation, yet still the
people held out with a fanatical courage that defied assault, still
their king kept up their courage by divine revelations, and still he
contrived to keep himself sufficiently supplied with food amid his
starving dupes.
At length the end came. Some of the despairing citizens betrayed the
town by night to the enemy. On the night of June 25, 1535, two of them
opened the gates to the bishop's army, and a sanguinary scene ensued.
The betrayed citizens defended themselves desperately, and were not
vanquished until great numbers of them had fallen and the work of famine
had been largely completed by the sword.
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