Ottocar himself fought with no less intrepidity than his great competitor.  On the total rout of his troops he disdained to quit the field, and, after performing incredible feats of valor, was overpowered by numbers, dismounted, and taken prisoner.  He was instantly stripped of his armor, and killed by some Austrian and Styrian nobles whose relations he had put to death.  The discomfited remains of his army, pursued by the victors, were either taken prisoners, cut to pieces, or drowned in their attempts to pass the March; and above fourteen thousand perished in this decisive engagement.

Rudolph continued on the field till the enemy were totally routed and dispersed.  He endeavored to restrain the carnage, and sent messengers to save the life of Ottocar, but his orders arrived too late, and when he received an account of his death he generously lamented his fate.  He did ample justice to the valor and spirit of Ottocar; in his letter to the Pope, after having described the contest and the resolution displayed by both parties either to conquer or die, he adds:  “At length our troops prevailing drove the Bohemians into the neighboring river, and almost all were either cut to pieces, drowned, or taken prisoners.  Ottocar, however, after seeing his army discomfited and himself left alone, still would not submit to our conquering standards, but, fighting with the strength and spirit of a giant, defended himself with wonderful courage, until he was unhorsed and mortally wounded by some of our soldiers.  Then that magnanimous monarch lost his life at the same time with the victory, and was overthrown, not by our power and strength, but by the right hand of the Most High.”

The body of Ottocar, deformed with seventeen wounds, was borne to Vienna, and, after being exposed to the people, was embalmed, covered with a purple pall, the gift of the Queen of the Romans, and buried in a Franciscan convent.

The plunder of the camp was immense, and Rudolph, apprehensive lest the disputes of the booty and the hope of new spoils should occasion a contest between his followers and the Hungarians, dismissed his warlike but barbarous allies with acknowledgments for their services, and pursued the war with his own forces.  He took possession of Moravia without opposition, and advanced into Bohemia as far as Colin.

The recent wars, the total defeat of the army, and the death of Ottocar had rendered that country a scene of rapine and desolation.  Wenceslaus, his only son, was scarcely eight years of age; and the Queen Cunegunda, a foreign princess, was without influence or power; the turbulent nobles, who had scarcely submitted to the vigorous administration of Ottocar, being without check or control, gave full scope to their licentious spirit; the people were unruly and rebellious, and not a single person in the kingdom possessed sufficient authority to assume and direct the reins of government.  In this dreadful situation Cunegunda appealed to the compassion of Rudolph, and offered to place her infant son and the kingdom under his protection.  In the midst of these transactions Otho, Margrave of Brandenburg and nephew of Ottocar, marched into Bohemia at the head of a considerable army, took charge of the royal treasures, secured the person of Wenceslaus, and advanced against the King of the Romans.