office or wealth.  Tremblingly they came.  As soon as they had entered, the gates were closed and guarded, and they were all made prisoners.  The king then, seated upon his throne, in his royal robes, and with his armed officers around him, ordered the captives like culprits to be led before him.  Sternly he charged them with treason, and demanded what excuse they had to offer.  They were powerless, and their only hope was in self-abasement.  One, speaking in the name of the rest, said: 

“We will not presume to enter into any defense of our conduct with our king and master.  We cast ourselves upon his royal mercy.”

They then all simultaneously threw themselves upon their knees, imploring his pardon.  The king allowed them to remain for some time in that posture, that he might enjoy their humiliation.  He then ordered his officers to conduct them into the hall of justice, and detain them there until he had decided respecting their punishment.  For some hours they were kept in this state of suspense.  He then informed them, that out of his great clemency he had decided to pardon them on the following conditions.

They were to surrender all their constitutional privileges, whatever they were, into the hands of the king, and be satisfied with whatever privileges he might condescend to confer upon them.  They were to bring all their artillery, muskets and ammunition to the palace, and surrender them to his officers; all the revenues of the city, together with a tax upon malt and beer, were to be paid into his hands for his disposal, and all their vassals, and their property of every kind, they were to resign to the king and to his heirs, whom they were to acknowledge as the hereditary successors to the throne of Bohemia.  Upon these conditions the king promised to spare the rebellious city, and to pardon all the offenders, excepting a few of the most prominent, whom he was determined to punish with such severity as to prove an effectual warning to all others.

The prisoners were terrified into the immediate ratification of these hard terms.  They were then all released, excepting forty, who were reserved for more rigorous punishment.  In the same manner the king sent a summons to all the towns of the kingdom; and by the same terrors the same terms were extorted.  All the rural nobles, who had manifested a spirit of resistance, were also summoned before a court of justice for trial.  Some fled the kingdom.  Their estates were confiscated to Ferdinand, and they were sentenced to death should they ever return.  Many others were deprived of their possessions.  Twenty-six were thrown into prison, and two condemned to public execution.