de of victory now set strongly in favor of Rhodolph, for "the race
is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." The troops of
Bohemia were soon everywhere put to rout. The ground was covered with
the dead. Ottocar, astounded at his discomfiture, and perhaps fearing
the tongue of his wife more than the sabers of his foes, turned his back
upon his flying army, and spurred his horse into the thickest of his
pursuers. He was soon dismounted and slain. Fourteen thousand of his
troops perished on that disastrous day. The body of Ottocar, mutilated
with seventeen wounds, was carried to Vienna, and, after being exposed
to the people, was buried with regal honors.

Rhodolph, vastly enriched by the plunder of the camp, and having no
enemy to encounter, took possession of Moravia, and triumphantly marched
into Bohemia. All was consternation there. The queen Cunegunda, who had
brought these disasters upon the kingdom, had no influence. Her only son
was but eight years of age. The turbulent nobles, jealous of each other,
had no recognized leader. The queen, humiliated and despairing, implored
the clemency of the conqueror, and offered to place her infant son and
the kingdom of Bohemia under his protection. Rhodolph was generous in
this hour of victory. As the result of arbitration, it was agreed that
he should hold Moravia for five years, that its revenues might indemnify
him for the expenses of the war. The young prince, Wenceslaus, was
acknowledged king, and during his minority the regency was assigned to
Otho, margrave or military commander of Brundenburg. Then ensued some
politic matrimonial alliances. Wenceslaus, the boy king, was affianced
to Judith, one of the daughters of Rhodolph. The princess Agnes,
daughter of Cunegunda, was to become the bride of Rhodolph's second son.
These matters being all satisfactorily settled, Rhodolph returned in
triumph to Vienna.

The emperor now devoted his energies to the consolidation of these
Austrian provinces. They were four in number, Austria, Styria, Carinthia
and Carniola. All united, they made but a feeble kingdom, for they did
not equal, in extent of territory, several of the States of the American
Union. Each of these provinces had its independent government, and its
local laws and customs. They were held together by the simple bond of an
arbitrary monarch, who claimed, and exercised as he could, supreme
control over them all. Under his wise and energetic administration