TA'BORITES (a sect of the FIussites in Bohemia), derived their name from their for tress of Tabor, near the river Luschnitz, an affluent of the Moldau, 49 m. s.s.e. of Prague. There is now a small town at the place, which has a population of 6,717, and carries on some wollen manufactures, etc.—The first leader of the Taborites was John Ziska (q.v.) of Trocyuow. Under him was Nicolas von Hussinecz, who repelled the impe nal army from Tabor in 1420. The Calixtines, desirous of the peace of the country, offered the throne of Bohemia first to king Ladislas of Poland, then to the grand duke Witold of Lithuania, and afterward to his brother Coribut. Ziska refused his consent, and thus these parties became completely separated. In the years 1420 and 1421 both of them set forth their creed in a number of articles. The Taborites absolutely rejected all ordinances of the church not expressly appointed in the holy Scriptures. Both parties were united by common danger in opposition to a common enemy. In 1422 Ziska defeated the imperialists at Deutschbrot., and thereafter with uninterrupted sue• cess in a number of minor conflicts; and in 1424 Prague was saved from destruction only by submitting to hard terms of peace. After Ziska's death, Procop (q.v.) the
greater, or Procop rasa (the shaver), and Procop the less were the leaders. In 1427 and in 1431 they gained great victories at 3liess and Tachau over the mercenary cru saders of the German empire, and till 1432 their incursions were the dread of the neigh boring countries. The council of Basel, finding them still unconquered in 1433, pro ceeded to treat with them; and the Calixtines entered into an arrangement, known as the Prague compact, which, however, was despised by the Taborites and the Orphans, as that section of the Taborites who considered Ziska as irreplaceable, had come to be termed. The Taborites and Orphans were completely defeated at BOhmischbrot on May 30, 1434, by the now united forces of the Roman Catholics and the Calixtiues. In the treaty of Iglau in 1436, the emperor Sigismuud confirmed the compact, and prom ised religious and political liberty. The civil war, however, continued till king Ladislas in the diet at Kuttenberg, in 1485, established a religious peace, securing both Roman Catholics and Calixtiues in their possessions. The Taborites were eventually lost in the sect of Bohemian Brethren (q.v.), which arose from among them.