tood for election at all.
Certain it is that Rudolph, supported by all Germany, attacked Ottokar;
this was the first rencontre between Bohemia and the House of Habsburg,
and it ended in disaster for the former. Ottokar was deprived of all the
lands he had acquired, betrayed by his own nobles, and finally killed
in battle near the scene of his victory over the Hungarians.

Despite the troublous times of the two Ottokars and of Wenceslaus I, the
city of Prague, or rather the communities composing it, had expanded
into a place of considerable extent and importance, and was already
spoken of as the City of many Towers. The three above-mentioned
sovereigns, as also Wenceslaus II, son and successor of Ottokar II, had
found time and means to do a considerable amount of building of which
some traces are still evident. We have already noted that Wenceslaus I
girt the Old Town around with walls, likewise the hill of Vy[vs]ehrad,
and he took the strengthening of the Hrad[vs]any in hand. This latter
job was completed for the time being by Ottokar II, who caused those
imposing-looking towers on the north front of the castle to be built.
These towers are named respectively Black Tower, White Tower, and
Daliborka, by which latter hangs a tale which I will relate to you by
and by. Some of the authorities I have consulted differ as to the actual
date of these towers, and are inclined to place the building of
Daliborka in the fourteenth century, probably into the period when
Charles IV found the royal castle to be badly in need of repair and set
about the work forthwith. It is certain, however, that both the
Wenceslaus and Ottokars interested themselves in strengthening the
fortifications of Prague, and are not likely to have neglected the
Hrad[vs]any, which stronghold was furnished with a permanent garrison of
ten knights and three hundred men-at-arms. The north side of the castle
has preserved the mediaeval appearance which has been improved away on
the other sides, chiefly by fatuous Habsburger in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries; the north side overhanging the deep-cut Stags'
Moat shows you the formidable nature of this fortress with its stout
towers rising up over the tops of tall trees that struggle up out of the
valley mentioned by Libu[vs]a, for a glimpse of the sun.

The towers of the Hrad[vs]any were suitably fitted out as dungeons, with
the latest thing in trap-doors warranted to give the visitor a sudden
and complete