f Bavaria, had
purchased either the neutrality or assistance of many of the German
princes, had drawn auxiliaries from the chiefs of Poland, Bulgaria,
Pomerania, and Magdeburg, and from the Teutonic hordes on the shores
of the Baltic. He had also excited a party among the turbulent nobles
of Hungary, and spread disaffection among his former subjects in
Austria and Styria. In June he quitted Prague, effected a junction
with his allies, directing his march toward the frontiers of Austria,
carried Drosendorf, after a short siege, by storm, and, descending
along the banks of the Taya, invested the fortress of Laa.

Rudolph, convinced that his cause would suffer by delay, waited with
great impatience the arrival of a body of troops from Alsace, under
the command of his son Albert. But as these troops did not arrive at
the appointed time he was greatly agitated and disturbed, became
pensive and melancholy, and frequently exclaimed that there was not
one in whom he could confide or on whose advice he could depend. His
household and attendants partook of his despondency. To use the words
of a contemporary chronicle, "All the family of King Rudolph ran to
confessors, arranged their affairs, forgave their enemies, and
received the communion, for a mortal danger seemed to hang over them."
The citizens of Vienna caught the contagion and began to be alarmed
for their safety. Seeing him almost abandoned by his German allies,
and without a sufficient army to oppose his adversaries, they
requested his permission to capitulate and choose a new sovereign,
that they might not be involved in his ruin. Roused from his
despondency by this address, Rudolph prevailed on the citizens not to
desert their sovereign; he confirmed their privileges, declared Vienna
an imperial city, animated them with new spirit, and obtained from
them a promise to defend the ramparts to the last extremity.

At this period he was joined by some troops from Alsace and Swabia,
and particularly by his confidant and confessor, the Bishop of Basel,
at the head of one hundred chosen horse, and a body of expert
slingers. This small but timely reenforcement revived his confidence,
and although he was privately informed that his son Albert could not
supply him with further succors, and was advised not to hazard an
engagement with an enemy so superior in number, he resolved to commit
his fortune to the decision of arms. Turning then to the chosen body
newly arrived, he addr