King Sigismund's Tears over Vyšehrad

The defenders of Vyšehrad had consumed a hundred and thirty horses from hunger, and on 28 October they agreed a truce with the besiegers: they would surrender if no relief reached them by 31 October; the people of Prague supplied them with food for three days, but Sigismund did not come in time. Only on 1 November, All Saints' Day, did he wave his sword at sunrise from the height by Michle as a signal to the men of Vyšehrad that they too should begin the fight. The commander of the castle, Jan Ženbera of Boskovice, understood the signal, but having agreed to the truce he made no sortie. Sigismund gave battle nonetheless: some came down to Braník and from Podolí struggled up the steep slopes towards the church, where there were small ponds and marshes, while the king led the rest of the army over the level ground from Michle. But the royal army soon wearied itself assaulting the ramparts; on that cold day the fighters grew stiff under their heavy iron armour and could not withstand the heavy flails of the country folk. It went worst on the slope by the marshes, where the flower of the nobility perished. The king watched the fight from the height, saw with astonishment the defeat of his people, and from anger and grief the tears poured from his eyes. He could no longer mend the battle; he withdrew to Kunratice and on to Kutná Hora, and then left the country. On the field he left a multitude of his dead, who lay there stripped to their blue shirts, until even the people of Prague pitied them; among the fallen were more than twenty banneret lords, most of them Moravians. The zealous Taborite priests preached that the dead should be left to the beasts and not buried, but merciful people buried them nonetheless in the night.