imperialists entered the Grison territory of Munsterthal and Engadine;
Louis of Brandis, the Emperor's general, with several thousand men,
surprised and held the Pass of Luziensteig, and, by the treachery of
four burghers, the little city of Maienfeld. But the Grisons retook the
Luziensteig, and eight hundred Swabians here found their death; the rest
fled to Balzers. Then the Confederates passed the Rhine near Azmoos, and,
with the Grisons, obtained a great victory near Treisen. The Swabian
nobility, with ten thousand soldiers, were posted near St. John's, at
Hochst and Hard, between Bregenz and Fussach. Eight thousand Confederates
killed nearly half of the enemy's army, ascended as far as the forests
of Bregenz, and imposed contributions on the country. Ten thousand other
Confederates passed victoriously over the Hegau, and in eight days burned
twenty villages, hamlets, and castles. Skirmish followed quickly upon
skirmish, battle upon battle.
The enemy, indeed, issuing from Constance, succeeded in surprising the
Confederate garrison of Ermatingen while asleep, and in murdering in
their beds sixty-three defenceless men. But they bloodily expiated
this in the wood of Schwaderlochs, whence eighteen thousand of them,
vanquished by two thousand Confederates, fled in such haste that the city
gates of Constance were too narrow for the fugitives, and the number
of their dead exceeded that of the Swiss opposed to them. A body of
Confederates on the upper Rhine penetrated into Wallgau, where the enemy
were intrenched near Frastenz, and, fourteen thousand strong, feared
not the valor of the Swiss. But when Henry Wolleb, the hero of Uri, had
passed the Langengasterberg with two thousand brave men, and burned the
strong intrenchment, his heroic death was the signal of victory to the
Confederates. They rushed under the thunder of artillery into the ranks
of Austria and dealt their fearful blows. Three thousand dead bodies
covered the battle-field of Frastenz. Such Austrians as were left alive
fled in terror through woods and waters. Then each Swiss fought as though
victory depended on his single arm; for Switzerland and Swiss glory, each
flew joyously to meet danger and death, and counted not the number of the
enemy. And wherever a Swiss banner floated, there was more than one like
John Wala of Glarus, who, near Gams in Rheinthal, measured himself singly
with thirty horsemen.
The Grisons, also, fought with no less glory. Witness the Malserhaide in
Tyrol, where fifteen thousand men, under Austrian banners, behind strong
intrenchments, were attacked by only eight thousand Grisons. The ramparts
were turned, the intrenchments stormed. Benedict Fontana was first on the
enemy's wall. He had cleared the way. With his left hand holding the wide
wound from which his entrails protruded, he fought with his right and
cried: "Forward, now, fellow-leaguers! let not my fall stop you! It is
but one man the less! To-day you must save your free fatherland and
your free leagues. If you are conquered, you leave your children in
everlasting slavery." So said Fontana and died. The Malserhaide was full
of Austrian dead. Nearly five thousand fell. The Grisons had only two
hundred killed and seven hundred wounded.
When Emperor Maximilian, in the Netherlands, heard of so many battles
lost, he came and reproached his generals, and said to the princes of the
German empire: "Send to me auxiliaries against the Swiss, so bold as
to have attacked the empire. For these rude peasants, in whom there is
neither virtue nor noble blood nor magnanimity, but who are full of
coarseness, pride, perfidy, and hatred of the German nation, have drawn
into their party many hitherto faithful subjects of the empire."
But the princes of the empire delayed to send auxiliaries, and the
Emperor then learned, with increasing horror, that his army sent over the
Engadine mountains to suppress the Grison League had been destroyed in
midsummer by avalanches, famine, and the masses of rock which the
Grisons threw down from the mountains; then that on the woody height of
Bruderholz, not far from Basel, one thousand Swiss had vanquished more
than four thousand of their enemies; that, shortly after, in the same
region near Dornach, six thousand Confederates had obtained a brilliant
victory over fifteen thousand Austrians, killing three thousand men, with
their general, Henry of Furstenberg. Then the Emperor reflected that
within eight months the Swiss had been eight times victorious in eight
battles. And he decided to end a war in which more than twenty thousand
men had already fallen, and nearly two thousand villages, hamlets,
castles, and cities been destroyed.
Peace was negotiated and concluded on September 22, 1499, in the city of
Basel. The Emperor acknowledged the ancient rights and the conquests
of the Confederates, and granted to them, moreover, the ordinary
jurisdiction over Thurgau, which, with the criminal jurisdiction and
other sovereign rights, had, until then, belonged to the city of
Constance. Thenceforward the emperors thought no more of dissolving the
Confederacy, or of incorporating it with the German empire. In the
fields of Frastenz, of Malserhaide, and Dornach were laid the first
foundation-stones of Swiss independence of foreign power.
The confederated cantons thankfully acknowledged what Basel and
Schaffhausen had constantly done in these heroic days for the whole
Confederacy, and that warlike Appenzell had never been backward at the
call of glory and liberty. Therefore Basel, June 9, 1501, and flourishing
Schaffhausen, August 9, 1501, were received into the perpetual Swiss
bond, and finally, 1513, Appenzell, already united in perpetual alliance
with most of the cantons, was acknowledged as coequal with all the
Confederates.
Thus, in the two hundred fifth year after the deed of William Tell, the
Confederacy of the Thirteen Cantons was completed. But Valais and Grisons
were considered as cantons allied to the Confederacy, as were St. Gallen,
Muhlhausen, Rothweil in Swabia, and other cities--all free places,
subject to no prince--united with the Swiss by a defensive alliance.
At that period, the thirteen cantons of the Swiss Confederacy were not
yet, as now, equal in virtue of the bond, nor bound together directly by
one and the same covenant. They were properly united only with the three
cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, as with a common centre, but
among themselves by special treaties. Each canton was attentive to its
own interests and glory, seldom to those of the others or to the welfare
of the whole Confederacy. Fear of the ambition and power of neighboring
lords and princes had drawn them together more and more. So long as this
fear lasted, their union was strong.
As the governments were independent of each other so far as their
covenants allowed, and of foreign princes also, they called themselves
free Swiss. But within the country districts there was little freedom for
the people. Only in the shepherd cantons--Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,
also Zug, Glarus, and Appenzell--did the country people possess equal
rights, and, in the city cantons, only the burghers of the cities; and
often, even among these latter, only a few rich or ancient families. The
rest of the people, dependent on the cities, having been either purchased
or conquered, were subjects, often indeed serfs, and enjoyed only the
limited rights which they had formerly possessed under the counts and
princes. Even the shepherd cantons held subjects, whom they, like
princes, governed by their bailiffs. And the Confederate cantons and
cities would by no means allow their subjects to purchase their freedom,
as the old counts and lords had formerly permitted the Confederates
themselves to do.
But the people cared little for liberty; made rude and savage by
continued wars, they loved only quarrels and combats, revels and
debauchery, when there was no war in their own country. The young men,
greedy of booty, followed foreign drums and fought the battles of princes
for hire. There were no good schools in the villages, and the clergy
cared little for this. Indeed, the morals of the clergy were often no
less depraved than those of the citizens and country people; even in the
convents great disorders frequently prevailed with great wealth. Many of
the priests were very ignorant; many drank, gambled, and blasphemed; many
led shameless lives.
In the chief cities of the cantons, debauchery and dissipation were
rife. There was much division between citizens and councillors; envy and
distrust between the different professions. The lords, when once seated
in the great and small councils--legislative and executive--cared more
for themselves and their families than for the welfare of the citizens;
they endeavored to advance their sons and relatives, and to procure
lucrative offices for them. In all the cantons there were certainly some
great, patriotic souls who preferred the interests of their country to
their own, but no one listened to them.
As Switzerland had now no foreign wars to fear, and the neighboring kings
and princes were pleased to have in their armies Swiss, for whose life
and death they cared much less than for the life and death of their own
subjects, the principal families of the city and country cantons took
advantage of these circumstances to open fountains of wealth for
themselves. The desire of the kings to enlist valiant Swiss favored the
avidity of the council lords, as did the wish of the young men to get
booty. In spite of the positive prohibition of the magistrates, thousands
of young men often enlisted in foreign service, where most of them
perished miserably, because no one cared for them. Therefore the
governments judged it best to make treaties with the kings for the
raising of Swiss regiments, commanded by national officers, subject to
their own laws and regularly paid, so that each government could take
care of its subjects when abroad. "Confederates! you require a vent for
your energies," had Rudolf Reding of Schwyz already said, when, years
before, he saw the free life of the young men after the Burgundian war.
Now began the letting out of Swiss, Grisons, and Valaisians to foreign
military service, by their governments. The first treaty of this nature
was made by the King of France, 1479-1480, with the Confederates in
Lucerne. Next the house of Austria hired mercenaries, 1499; the princes
of Italy did the same, as did others afterward. Even the popes themselves
wanted a lifeguard of Swiss; the first, 1503, was Pope Julius II, who was
often engaged in war.
Switzerland suffered much from this course. Many a field remained
untilled, many a plough stood still, because the husbandman had taken
mercenary arms. And, if he returned alive, he brought back foreign
diseases and vices, and corrupted the innocent by evil example, for
he had acquired but little virtue in the wars. Only the sons of the
patricians and council lords obtained captaincies, commands, and riches,
by which they increased their influence and consideration in the land,
and could oppress others. They prided themselves on the titles of
nobility and decorations conferred by kings, and imagined these to be of
value, and that they themselves were more than other Swiss.
When the kings perceived the cupidity and folly of the Swiss, they
took advantage of them for their own profit, sent ambassadors into
Switzerland, distributed presents, granted gratifications and pensions to
their partisans in the councils, and for these the council lords became
willing servants of foreign princes. Then one canton was French, another
Milanese; one Venetian, another Spanish; but rarely was one Swiss. This
redounded greatly to the shame of the Swiss. When the German Emperor and
the King of France were, at the same time, canvassing the favor of the
cantons and bargaining in competition for troops, so great was the
contempt or insolence of the French ambassador at Bern, 1516, that he
distributed the royal pensions to the lords by sound of trumpet. At
Freiburg he poured out silver crowns upon the ground, and, while he
heaped them up with a shovel, said to the bystanders, "Does not this
silver jingle better than the Emperor's empty words?" So much had love of
money debased the Swiss.
The twelve cantons, Appenzell being the only exception, were at one
moment allied with Milan against France, at the next with France against
Milan. Milan was rightly called the Schwyzer's grave. It was not unusual
for Confederates to fight against Confederates on foreign soil, and to
kill each other for hire. The ecclesiastical lord, Matthew Schinner,
Bishop of Sion in Valais, a very deceitful man, helped greatly to
occasion this. According as he was hired, he intrigued in Switzerland,
sometimes for the King of France, sometimes against France for the
Pope, who, in payment, even made him cardinal and ambassador to the
Confederacy.
The mercenary wars of the Swiss upon foreign battle-fields were not wars
for liberty or for honor; but these hirelings of princes maintained
their reputation for valor even there. With the aid of several thousand
Confederates, the King of France subjected the whole of Lombardy in the
space of twenty days. But the expelled Duke of the country soon returned
with five thousand Swiss, whom he had enlisted contrary to the will of
the magistracy, to drive out the French. Then the King of France received
twenty thousand men from the cantons with whom he was allied; maintained
himself in Italy, and gave to the three cantons, Uri, Schwyz, and
Unterwalden, 1502-1503, the districts of Palenza, Riviera, and Bellenz.
But, as soon as the King thought he could do without the Swiss, he
paid them badly and irregularly. Cardinal Schinner, pleased at this,
immediately shook a bag of gold, with fifty-three thousand guilders, in
favor of the Pope and of Venice. At once, 1512, twenty thousand Swiss
and Grisons crossed the high Alps and joined the Venetians against the
French. The Grisons took possession of Valtelina, Chiavenna, and Bormio.
They asserted that, a century before, an ejected duke of Milan had ceded
these valleys to the bishopric of Coire. The Confederates of the twelve
cantons subjected Lugano, Locarno, and Valmaggia. The French were driven
out of Lombardy, and the young duke Maximilian Sforza, son of him who had
been dispossessed by them, was reinstated in his father's inheritance at
Milan. Victorious for him, the Confederates beat the French near Novara,
June 6, 1513; two thousand Swiss fell, it is true, but ten thousand of
the enemy. Still more murderous was the two-days' battle of Melegnano,
September 14, 1515, in which barely ten thousand Swiss fought against
fifty thousand French. They lost the battle-field, indeed, but not their
honor. They sadly retreated to Milan, with their field-pieces on their
backs, their wounded in the centre of their army. The enemy lost the
flower of their troops, and called this action the "Battle of the
Giants."
Then the King of France, Francis I, terrified by a victory which
resembled a defeat, made, in the next year, a perpetual peace with the
Confederates, and, by money and promises, persuaded some to furnish
him with troops; the others, that they would allow no enrolling by his
enemies. Thus the Confederates once more helped him against the Emperor
and Pope and against Milan, and the King concluded a friendly alliance
with them in 1521. During many years they shed their blood for him on the
battle-fields of Italy, without good result, without advantage, except
that the Confederacy stood godmother to his new-born son. Each canton
sent to Paris, for the _fête_, a deputy with a baptismal present of fifty
ducats. More agreeable to the King than this present was the promptitude
with which the Swiss sent sixteen thousand of their troops to his
assistance in Italy. However, as they had lost, April 20, 1522, three
thousand men near Bicocca; as of nearly fifteen thousand who entered
Lombardy, 1524, hardly four thousand came back; as, finally, in the
battle near Pajia, February 24, 1525, in which the King himself became
prisoner to the Emperor, the Swiss experienced a fresh loss of seven
thousand men, they by degrees lost all taste for Italian wars.
AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN AMERICA A.D. 1499
AMERIGO VESPUCCI
It was the claim of Amerigo Vespucci that he accompanied four expeditions
to the New World, and that he wrote a narrative of each voyage. According
to Amerigo, the first expedition sailed from Spain in 1497; the second,
of which his own account is here given, in 1499; both by order of
King Ferdinand. Grave doubt has been thrown upon the first of these
expeditions, the sole authority for which is Vespucci himself.
The name America was given to two continents in honor of this naval
astronomer on the authority of an account of his travels published in
1507, in which he is represented as having reached the mainland in 1497.
The justice of this naming has always been and still remains a matter of
warm dispute among historical critics.
But at the age of almost fifty--he was born in Florence in 1451--Vespucci
unquestionably promoted and made a voyage to the New World. In May, 1499,
he sailed from Spain with Alonzo de Ojeda, who commanded four vessels.
During the summer they explored the coast of Venezuela ("Little Venice"),
a name first given by Ojeda to a gulf of the Caribbean Sea, on the shores
of which were cabins built on piles over the water, reminding him of
Venice in Italy. Ojeda, who was but little acquainted with navigation,
entered upon this voyage more as a marauding enterprise than an
expedition of discovery, and he gladly availed himself of Amerigo's
scientific ability. Vespucci was also able to command the financial
support of his wealthy acquaintances. It is said that many of the former
sailors of Columbus shipped with this expedition.
The following account was written by Amerigo in a letter to Lorenzo Pier
Francesco, of the Medici family of Florence, from whom Vespucci had held
certain business commissions in Spain. Respecting this letter an Italian
critic observes that "it is the most ancient known writing of Amerigo
relating to his voyages to the New World, having been composed within a
month after his return from his second voyage, and remaining buried in
our archives for a long time. It is a precious monument, for without it
we should have been left in ignorance of the great additions which he
made to astronomical science. The most rigorous examination of this
letter cannot bring to light the least circumstance proving anything for
or against the accuracy of his first voyage. The diffidence with which
he commences the matter is, however, a strong indication that he had
previously written an account of his first voyage to the same Lorenzo de'
Medici, to whom he addressed this communication."
MOST EXCELLENT AND DEAR LORD:
It is a long time since I have written to your excellency, and for
no other reason than that nothing has occurred to me worthy of being
commemorated. This present fetter will inform you that about a month ago
I arrived from the Indies, by the way of the great ocean, brought, by the
grace of God, safely to this city of Seville. I think your excellency
will be gratified to learn the result of my voyage, and the most
surprising things which have been presented to my observation. If I am
somewhat tedious, let my letter be read in your more idle hours, as fruit
is eaten after the cloth is removed from the table. Your excellency will
please to note that, commissioned by his highness the King of Spain, I
set out with two small ships, on May 18, 1499, on a voyage of discovery
to the southwest, by way of the great ocean, and steered my course along
the coast of Africa, until I reached the Fortunate Islands, which are
now called the Canaries. After having provided ourselves with all things
necessary, first offering our prayers to God, we set sail from an island
which is called Gomera, and, turning our prows southwardly, sailed
twenty-four days with a fresh wind, without seeing any land.
At the end of these twenty-four days we came within sight of land, and
found that we had sailed about thirteen hundred leagues, and were at that
distance from the city of Cadiz, in a southwesterly direction. When we
saw the land we gave thanks to God, and then launched our boats, and,
with sixteen men, went to the shore, which we found thickly covered with
trees, astonishing both on account of their size and their verdure, for
they never lose their foliage. The sweet odor which they exhaled--for
they are all aromatic--highly delighted us, and we were rejoiced in
regaling our nostrils.
We rowed along the shore in the boats, to see if we could find any
suitable place for landing, but, after toiling from morning till night,
we found no way or passage which we could enter and disembark. We were
prevented from doing so by the lowness of the land, and by its being so
densely covered with trees. We concluded, therefore, to return to the
ships, and make an attempt to land in some other spot.
We observed one remarkable circumstance in these seas.
It was that at fifteen leagues from the land we found the water fresh
like that of a river, and we filled all our empty casks with it. Having
returned to our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, turning our prows
southwardly, as it was my intention to see whether I could sail around a
point of land which Ptolemy calls the Cape of Cattegara, which is near
the Great Bay. In my opinion it was not far from it, according to the
degrees of latitude and longitude, which will be stated hereafter.
Sailing in a southerly direction along the coast, we saw two large rivers
issuing from the land, one running from west to east, and being four
leagues in width, which is sixteen miles; the other ran from south to
north, and was three leagues wide. I think that these two rivers, by
reason of their magnitude, caused the freshness of the water in the
adjoining sea. Seeing that the coast was invariably low, we determined to
enter one of these rivers with the boats, and ascend it till we either
found a suitable landing-place or an inhabited village.
Having prepared our boats, and put in provision for four days, with
twenty men well armed, we entered the river, and rowed nearly two days,
making a distance of about eighteen leagues. We attempted to land in
many places by the way, but found the low land still continuing, and so
thickly covered with trees that a bird could scarcely fly through them.
While thus navigating the river, we saw very certain indications that the
inland parts of the country were inhabited; nevertheless, as our vessels
remained in a dangerous place in case an adverse wind should arise, we
concluded, at the end of two days, to return.
Here we saw an immense number of birds, of various forms and colors; a
great number of parrots, and so many varieties of them that it caused us
great astonishment. Some were crimson-colored, others of variegated green
and lemon, others entirely green, and others, again, that were black and
flesh-colored. Oh! the song of other species of birds, also, was so sweet
and so melodious, as we heard it among the trees, that we often lingered,
listening to their charming music. The trees, too, were so beautiful and
smelled so sweetly that we almost imagined ourselves in a terrestrial
paradise; yet not one of those trees, or the fruit of them, was similar
to the trees or fruit in our part of the world. On our way back we saw
many people, of various descriptions, fishing in the river.
Having arrived at our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, still
continuing in a southerly direction, and standing off to sea about forty
leagues. While sailing on this course, we encountered a current which ran
from southeast to northwest; so great was it, and ran so furiously, that
we were put into great fear, and were exposed to great peril. The current
was so strong that the Strait of Gibraltar and that of the Faro of
Messina appeared to us like mere stagnant water in comparison with it. We
could scarcely make any headway against it, though we had the wind fresh
and fair. Seeing that we made no progress, or but very little, and the
danger to which we were exposed, we determined to turn our prows to the
northwest.