ed his duplicity so far as to conclude a truce with the emissaries
and make a proposal to exchange hostages. The negotiations were,
however, in all probability insincere on both sides; and, after further
delay, the emissaries returned to their respective camps, and the
opposing armies met in hostile array upon a plain between Hermanstadt
and Schellenberg. Here each prince addressed his troops previous to the
encounter. Cardinal Andreas, divested of his clerical robes and fully
equipped and mounted, denounced Michael in the bitterest terms. His
brethren, he said, still herded sheep and pigs in Wallachia. He had
associated himself with robbers and with a miscellaneous rabble
collected from all parts to ruin the country. 'Be not afraid,' he added,
'of this nation of Sclaves, who, from time immemorial, have been
conquered subjects of the Hungarians, and who should be punished rather
with rods and blows than with the sword.' Thus, and much more in the
same strain, spake Andreas. Michael, on the other hand, spoke of his
enemy with contemptuous jocularity, as a mounted and perjured priest who
had allied himself with the Turks, the enemies of Christendom, whilst he
himself claimed to represent fidelity to Christianity and the Empire.
Moreover, he held out to his troops tho prospect of great booty if they
were victorious.

We shall not attempt to describe the engagement which followed. At the
very outset it declared itself to some extent in Michael's favour
through the desertion of one of the most influential leaders in
Andreas's army. It was chiefly a series of encounters between isolated
detachments of troops, and in many cases not only were men of the same
nation arrayed against each other, but the opposing forces were under
the leadership of near relatives. The first to yield, after a fierce and
protracted contest, was Andreas, who fled from the field believing the
battle to be lost. His brave generals, however, rallied his men, and to
a great extent retrieved the fortunes of the day. In fact they fought so
successfully that a portion of the Wallachian army, where Michael
himself was in command, took to flight, and for a time dragged its
leader along with it. The cowardice of Andreas prevented the
Transylvanian leaders from taking advantage of this turn in their
favour; and Michael, seeing that all was not lost, made strenuous
efforts to rally his troops. By threats, blows, and angry exclamations,
he at length succeeded in a