It Does Not Befit a Faithful Christian to Retreat Before Antichrist

In 1420, during the siege of Prague, Sigismund meant to occupy this hill so as to close the city off from this side as well, being still master of Hradčany and Vyšehrad. But the prudent Žižka recognised the great importance of the place, forestalled him, had two timber blockhouses built on the hill and fortified himself there with a ditch and a wall. It was on Sunday 14 July that the king ferried some twenty-five thousand men across from Bubny and attacked this hill. At first Žižka's people fared badly and are said to have had to fight even with stones, for they lacked arms and shot. The bravest fighter of all is said to have been a woman, who cried: “It does not befit a faithful Christian to retreat before Antichrist” — until she fell. Žižka himself nearly perished that day. And the people of Prague looked on at the fighting from here in sorrow and great anxiety, until the Taborites beat off the enemy assault and put them to flight; then the men of Prague too sallied out of the city and cut down the fleeing enemy. From that victory the hill of Vítkov was given the name Žižkov, which it bears to this day; the names proposed for it, Bojiště and Kalich, did not take.