of
crusaders that came out of the West and were defeated by [vZ]i[vs]ka. A
pageant of those whose life and work was connected with the Cathedral of
St. Vitus. Charles and Church Reform, and of a Pope who was himself in
need of reform. St. Henry and Kunigunde his wife, and the church
dedicated to them. Frederick II of Prussia and the church which Charles
had built and consecrated to the Virgin and St. Charles. St. Stephen's
Church. Some remarks on the saints who are patrons of Bohemia or in one
way or another interested in that country. A passing reference to
London's patron saint Erkenwald and some remarks about a students'
feast-day.

Despite his undoubted gallantry in battle, Charles, as a warrior, was
overshadowed by his picturesque sire; moreover, he shone more brightly
as a man of peace, as scholar, as founder and builder, even as author;
in the latter capacity he has left behind a remarkable work, his
autobiography, written in Latin: "Commentarius de Vita Caroli Bohemiae
Regis ab ipso Carolo conscriptus." Yet, had he done nothing else, his
military achievements would probably have brought him lasting renown. As
we have seen, he acquitted himself well, when quite a young man, in his
father's campaigns in Italy. He took part with conspicuous gallantry in
the Battle of Crecy. I gather that it was his advice not to attack with
tired troops, but he was overruled; not but what the result might have
been the same had the French agreed to wait another day. It was the
Bohemian cavalry that had already distinguished itself by preventing the
passage by the English Army of the bridge of St. Remy, and it was not
their fault that the ford of Blanche-Taque was insufficiently guarded
and thus left open a crossing over the Somme. Many of us know that
country about Abbeville well, the lush meadows and clumps of trees not
so unlike our own river scenery. Some of us may even have recalled
memories out of school of that battle fought out in so small a space
compared to the "shows" to which we had become used. While out of the
line in that neighbourhood I myself met the direct descendant of French
warriors who fought at Crecy, the mayor of a small village. I happened
to refer lightly to that page of long-ago history, but the mayor
corrected me--it had indeed been a most serious affair; he had lost
thirteen ancestors on that occasion, and the family had not recovered to
this day. As a social function the Battle of Crecy was certainly