Let him who will not proffer'd peace receive,
Be sated with the plagues which war can give;
And well thy hatred of the peace is known,
If now thy soul reject the friendship shown.
HOOLE'S _Tasso_.
The confidence betwixt the Landamman and the English merchant appeared
to increase during the course of a few busy days, which occurred
before that appointed for the commencement of their journey to the
court of Charles of Burgundy. The state of Europe, and of the
Helvetian Confederacy, has been already alluded to; but, for the
distinct explanation of our story, may be here briefly recapitulated.
In the interval of a week, whilst the English travellers remained at
Geierstein, meetings or diets were held, as well of the City Cantons
of the Confederacy as of those of the Forest. The former, aggrieved by
the taxes imposed on their commerce by the Duke of Burgundy, rendered
yet more intolerable by the violence of the agents whom he employed in
such oppression, were eager for war, in which they had hitherto
uniformly found victory and wealth. Many of them were also privately
instigated to arms by the largesses of Louis XI., who spared neither
intrigues nor gold to effect a breach betwixt these dauntless
confederates and his formidable enemy, Charles the Bold.
On the other hand, there were many reasons which appeared to render it
impolitic for the Switzers to engage in war with one of the most
wealthy, most obstinate, and most powerful princes in Europe--for such
unquestionably was Charles of Burgundy--without the existence of some
strong reason affecting their own honour and independence. Every day
brought fresh intelligence from the interior that Edward the Fourth of
England had entered into a strict and intimate alliance, offensive and
defensive, with the Duke of Burgundy, and that it was the purpose of
the English King, renowned for his numerous victories over the rival
House of Lancaster, by which, after various reverses, he had obtained
undisputed possession of the throne, to reassert his claims to those
provinces of France so long held by his ancestors. It seemed as if
this alone were wanting to his fame, and that, having subdued his
internal enemies, he now turned his eyes to the regaining of those
rich and valuable foreign possessions which had been lost during the
administration of the feeble Henry VI. and the civil discords so
dreadfully prosecuted in the wars of the White and Red Roses. It was
universally known, that throughout England generally the loss of the
French provinces was felt as a national degradation; and that not only
the nobility, who had in consequence been deprived of the large fiefs
which they had held in Normandy, Gascony, Maine, and Anjou, but the
warlike gentry, accustomed to gain both fame and wealth at the expense
of France, and the fiery yeomanry, whose bows had decided so many
fatal battles, were as eager to renew the conflict, as their ancestors
of Cressy, Poitiers, and Agincourt had been to follow their sovereign
to the fields of victory, on which their deeds had conferred deathless
renown.
The latest and most authentic intelligence bore, that the King of
England was on the point of passing to France in person (an invasion
rendered easy by his possession of Calais), with an army superior in
numbers and discipline to any with which an English monarch had ever
before entered that kingdom; that all the hostile preparations were
completed, and that the arrival of Edward might instantly be expected;
whilst the powerful co-operation of the Duke of Burgundy, and the
assistance of numerous disaffected French noblemen in the provinces
which had been so long under the English dominion, threatened a
fearful issue of the war to Louis XI., sagacious, wise, and powerful
as that prince unquestionably was.
It would no doubt have been the wisest policy of Charles of Burgundy,
when thus engaging in an alliance against his most formidable
neighbour, and hereditary as well as personal enemy, to have avoided
all cause of quarrel with the Helvetian Confederacy, a poor but most
warlike people, who already had been taught by repeated successes to
feel that their hardy infantry could, if necessary, engage on terms of
equality, or even of advantage, the flower of that chivalry which had
hitherto been considered as forming the strength of European battle.
But the measures of Charles, whom fortune had opposed to the most
astucious and politic monarch of his time, were always dictated by
passionate feeling and impulse, rather than by a judicious
consideration of the circumstances in which he stood. Haughty, proud,
and uncompromising, though neither destitute of honour nor
generosity, he despised and hated what he termed the paltry
associations of herdsmen and shepherds, united with a few towns which
subsisted chiefly by commerce; and instead of courting the Helvetian
Cantons, like his crafty enemy, or at least affording them no
ostensible pretence of quarrel, he omitted no opportunity of showing
the disregard and contempt in which he held their upstart consequence,
and of evincing the secret longing which he entertained to take
vengeance upon them for the quantity of noble blood which they had
shed, and to compensate the repeated successes they had gained over
the feudal lords, of whom he imagined himself the destined avenger.
The Duke of Burgundy's possessions in the Alsatian territory [_f_]
afforded him many opportunities for wreaking his displeasure upon the
Swiss League. The little castle and town of Ferette, lying within ten
or eleven miles of Bâle, served as a thoroughfare to the traffic of
Berne and Soleure, the two principal towns of the confederation. In
this place the Duke posted a governor, or seneschal, who was also an
administrator of the revenue, and seemed born on purpose to be the
plague and scourge of his republican neighbours.
Archibald von Hagenbach was a German noble, whose possessions lay in
Suabia, and was universally esteemed one of the fiercest and most
lawless of that frontier nobility known by the name of Robber-knights
and Robber-counts. These dignitaries, because they held their fiefs of
the Holy Roman Empire, claimed as complete sovereignty within their
territories of a mile square as any reigning prince of Germany in his
more extended dominions. They levied tolls and taxes on strangers,
and imprisoned, tried, and executed those who, as they alleged, had
committed offences within their petty domains. But especially, and in
further exercise of their seignorial privileges, they made war on each
other, and on the Free Cities of the Empire, attacking and plundering
without mercy the caravans, or large trains of wagons, by which the
internal commerce of Germany was carried on.
A succession of injuries done and received by Archibald of Hagenbach,
who had been one of the fiercest sticklers for this privilege of
_faustrecht_, or club-law, as it may be termed, had ended in his being
obliged, though somewhat advanced in life, to leave a country where
his tenure of existence was become extremely precarious, and to engage
in the service of the Duke of Burgundy, who willingly employed him, as
he was a man of high descent and proved valour, and not the less,
perhaps, that he was sure to find in a man of Hagenbach's fierce,
rapacious, and haughty disposition, the unscrupulous executioner of
whatsoever severities it might be his master's pleasure to enjoin.
The traders of Berne and Soleure, accordingly, made loud and violent
complaints of Hagenbach's exactions. The impositions laid on
commodities which passed through his district of La Ferette, to
whatever place they might be ultimately bound, were arbitrarily
increased, and the merchants and traders who hesitated to make instant
payment of what was demanded were exposed to imprisonment and personal
punishment. The commercial towns of Germany appealed to the Duke
against this iniquitous conduct on the part of the Governor of La
Ferette, and requested of his Grace's goodness that he would withdraw
Von Hagenbach from their neighbourhood; but the Duke treated their
complaints with contempt. The Swiss League carried their remonstrances
higher, and required that justice should be done on the Governor of La
Ferette, as having offended against the law of nations; but they were
equally unable to attract attention or obtain redress.
At length the Diet of the Confederation determined to send the solemn
deputation which has been repeatedly mentioned. One or two of these
envoys joined with the calm and prudent Arnold Biederman, in the hope
that so solemn a measure might open the eyes of the Duke to the wicked
injustice of his representative; others among the deputies, having no
such peaceful views, were determined, by this resolute remonstrance,
to pave the way for hostilities.
Arnold Biederman was an especial advocate for peace, while its
preservation was compatible with national independence, and the honour
of the Confederacy; but the younger Philipson soon discovered that the
Landamman alone, of all his family, cherished these moderate views.
The opinion of his sons had been swayed and seduced by the impetuous
eloquence and overbearing influence of Rudolph of Donnerhugel, who, by
some feats of peculiar gallantry, and the consideration due to the
merit of his ancestors, had acquired an influence in the councils of
his native canton, and with the youth of the League in general, beyond
what was usually yielded by these wise republicans to men of his early
age. Arthur, who was now an acceptable and welcome companion of all
their hunting parties and other sports, heard nothing among the young
men but anticipations of war, rendered delightful by the hopes of
booty and of distinction, which were to be obtained by the Switzers.
The feats of their ancestors against the Germans had been so wonderful
as to realise the fabulous victories of romance; and while the present
race possessed the same hardy limbs, and the same inflexible courage,
they eagerly anticipated the same distinguished success. When the
Governor of La Ferette was mentioned in the conversation, he was
usually spoken of as the bandog of Burgundy, or the Alsatian mastiff;
and intimations were openly given, that if his course were not
instantly checked by his master, and he himself withdrawn from the
frontiers of Switzerland, Archibald of Hagenbach would find his
fortress no protection from the awakened indignation of the wronged
inhabitants of Soleure, and particularly of those of Berne.
This general disposition to war among the young Switzers was reported
to the elder Philipson by his son, and led him at one time to hesitate
whether he ought not rather to resume all the inconveniences and
dangers of a journey, accompanied only by Arthur, than run the risk of
the quarrels in which he might be involved by the unruly conduct of
these fierce mountain youths, after they should have left their own
frontiers. Such an event would have had, in a peculiar degree, the
effect of destroying every purpose of his journey; but respected as
Arnold Biederman was by his family and countrymen, the English
merchant concluded, upon the whole, that his influence would be able
to restrain his companions until the great question of peace or war
should be determined, and especially until they should have discharged
their commission by obtaining an audience of the Duke of Burgundy; and
after this he should be separated from their society, and not liable
to be engaged in any responsibility for their ulterior measures.
After a delay of about ten days, the deputation commissioned to
remonstrate with the Duke on the aggressions and exactions of
Archibald of Hagenbach at length assembled at Geierstein, whence the
members were to journey forth together. They were three in number,
besides the young Bernese, and the Landamman of Unterwalden. One was,
like Arnold, a proprietor from the Forest Cantons, wearing a dress
scarcely handsomer than that of a common herdsman, but distinguished
by the beauty and size of his long silvery beard. His name was
Nicholas Bonstetten. Melchior Sturmthal, banner-bearer of Berne, a man
of middle age, and a soldier of distinguished courage, with Adam
Zimmerman, a burgess of Soleure, who was considerably older, completed
the number of the envoys.
Each was dressed after his best fashion; but notwithstanding that the
severe eye of Arnold Biederman censured one or two silver
belt-buckles, as well as a chain of the same metal, which decorated
the portly person of the burgess of Soleure, it seemed that a powerful
and victorious people, for such the Swiss were now to be esteemed,
were never represented by an embassy of such patriarchal simplicity.
The deputies travelled on foot, with their piked staves in their
hands, like pilgrims bound for some place of devotion. Two mules,
which bore their little stock of baggage, were led by young lads, sons
or cousins of members of the embassy, who had obtained permission in
this manner to get such a glance of the world beyond the mountains as
this journey promised to afford.
But although their retinue was small, so far as respected either state
or personal attendance and accommodation, the dangerous circumstances
of the times, and the very unsettled state of the country beyond their
own territories, did not permit men charged with affairs of such
importance to travel without a guard. Even the danger arising from the
wolves, which, when pinched by the approach of winter, have been known
to descend from their mountain fastnesses into open villages, such as
those the travellers might choose to quarter in, rendered the presence
of some escort necessary; and the bands of deserters from various
services, who formed parties of banditti on the frontiers of Alsatia
and Germany, combined to recommend such a precaution.
Accordingly, about twenty of the selected youth from the various Swiss
cantons, including Rudiger, Ernest, and Sigismund, Arnold's three
eldest sons, attended upon the deputation. They did not, however,
observe any military order, or march close or near to the patriarchal
train. On the contrary, they formed hunting parties of five or six
together, who explored the rocks, woods, and passes of the mountains,
through which the envoys journeyed. Their slower pace allowed the
active young men, who were accompanied by their large shaggy dogs,
full time to destroy wolves and bears, or occasionally to surprise a
chamois among the cliffs; while the hunters, even while in pursuit of
their sport, were careful to examine such places as might afford
opportunity for ambush, and thus ascertained the safety of the party
whom they escorted, more securely than if they had attended close on
their train. A peculiar note on the huge Swiss bugle, before
described, formed of the horn of the mountain bull, was the signal
agreed upon for collecting in a body should danger occur. Rudolph
Donnerhugel, so much younger than his brethren in the same important
commission, took the command of this mountain body-guard, whom he
usually accompanied in their sportive excursions. In point of arms,
they were well provided; bearing two-handed swords, long partisans and
spears, as well as both cross and long bows, short cutlasses, and
huntsmen's knives. The heavier weapons, as impeding their activity,
were carried with the baggage, but were ready to be assumed on the
slightest alarm.
Arthur Philipson, like his late antagonist, naturally preferred the
company and sports of the younger men to the grave conversation and
slow pace of the fathers of the mountain commonwealth. There was,
however, one temptation to loiter with the baggage, which, had other
circumstances permitted, might have reconciled the young Englishman to
forego the opportunities of sport which the Swiss youth so eagerly
sought after, and endure the slow pace and grave conversation of the
elders of the party. In a word, Anne of Geierstein, accompanied by a
Swiss girl her attendant, travelled in the rear of the deputation.
The two females were mounted upon asses, whose slow step hardly kept
pace with the baggage mules; and it may be fairly suspected that
Arthur Philipson, in requital of the important services which he had
received from that beautiful and interesting young woman, would have
deemed it no extreme hardship to have afforded her occasionally his
assistance on the journey, and the advantage of his conversation to
relieve the tediousness of the way. But he dared not presume to offer
attentions which the customs of the country did not seem to permit,
since they were not attempted by any of the maiden's cousins, or even
by Rudolph Donnerhugel, who certainly had hitherto appeared to neglect
no opportunity to recommend himself to his fair cousin. Besides,
Arthur had reflection enough to be convinced, that in yielding to the
feelings which impelled him to cultivate the acquaintance of this
amiable young person, he would certainly incur the serious displeasure
of his father, and probably also that of her uncle, by whose
hospitality they had profited, and whose safe-conduct they were in the
act of enjoying.
The young Englishman, therefore, pursued the same amusements which
interested the other young men of the party, managing only, as
frequently as their halts permitted, to venture upon offering to the
maiden such marks of courtesy as could afford no room for remark or
censure. And his character as a sportsman being now well established,
he sometimes permitted himself, even when the game was afoot, to
loiter in the vicinity of the path on which he could at least mark the
flutter of the grey wimple of Anne of Geierstein, and the outline of
the form which it shrouded. This indolence, as it seemed, was not
unfavourably construed by his companions, being only accounted an
indifference to the less noble or less dangerous game; for when the
object was a bear, wolf, or other animal of prey, no spear, cutlass,
or bow of the party, not even those of Rudolph Donnerhugel, were so
prompt in the chase as those of the young Englishman.
Meantime, the elder Philipson had other and more serious subjects of
consideration. He was a man, as the reader must have already seen, of
much acquaintance with the world, in which he had acted parts
different from that which he now sustained. Former feelings were
recalled and awakened, by the view of sports familiar to his early
years. The clamour of the hounds, echoing from the wild hills and dark
forests through which they travelled; the sight of the gallant young
huntsmen, appearing, as they brought the object of their chase to bay,
amid airy cliffs and profound precipices, which seemed impervious to
the human foot; the sounds of halloo and horn reverberating from hill
to hill, had more than once well-nigh impelled him to take a share in
the hazardous but animating amusement, which, next to war, was then in
most parts of Europe the most serious occupation of life. But the
feeling was transient, and he became yet more deeply interested in
studying the manners and opinions of the persons with whom he was
travelling.
They seemed to be all coloured with the same downright and blunt
simplicity which characterised Arnold Biederman, although it was in
none of them elevated by the same dignity of thought or profound
sagacity. In speaking of the political state of their country, they
affected no secrecy; and although, with the exception of Rudolph,
their own young men were not admitted into their councils, the
exclusion seemed only adopted with a view to the necessary
subordination of youth to age, and not for the purpose of observing
any mystery. In the presence of the elder Philipson, they freely
discussed the pretensions of the Duke of Burgundy, the means which
their country possessed of maintaining her independence, and the firm
resolution of the Helvetian League to bid defiance to the utmost force
the world could bring against it, rather than submit to the slightest
insult. In other respects, their views appeared wise and moderate,
although both the Banneret of Berne and the consequential Burgher of
Soleure seemed to hold the consequences of war more lightly than they
were viewed by the cautious Landamman of Unterwalden, and his
venerable companion, Nicholas Bonstetten, who subscribed to all his
opinions.
It frequently happened that, quitting these subjects, the conversation
turned on such as were less attractive to their fellow-traveller. The
signs of the weather, the comparative fertility of recent seasons, the
most advantageous mode of managing their orchards and rearing their
crops, though interesting to the mountaineers themselves, gave
Philipson slender amusement; and notwithstanding that the excellent
Meinherr Zimmerman of Soleure would fain have joined with him in
conversation respecting trade and merchandise, yet the Englishman, who
dealt in articles of small bulk and considerable value, and traversed
sea and land to carry on his traffic, could find few mutual topics to
discuss with the Swiss trader, whose commerce only extended into the
neighbouring districts of Burgundy and Germany, and whose goods
consisted of coarse woollen cloths, fustian, hides, peltry, and such
ordinary articles.
But ever and anon, while the Switzers were discussing some paltry
interests of trade, or describing some process of rude cultivation, or
speaking of blights in grain, and the murrain amongst cattle, with all
the dull minuteness of petty farmers and traders met at a country
fair, a well-known spot would recall the name and story of a battle in
which some of them had served (for there were none of the party who
had not been repeatedly in arms), and the military details, which in
other countries were only the theme of knights and squires who had
acted their part in them, or of learned clerks who laboured to record
them, were, in this singular region, the familiar and intimate
subjects of discussion with men whose peaceful occupations seemed to
place them at an immeasurable distance from the profession of a
soldier. This led the Englishman to think of the ancient inhabitants
of Rome, where the plough was so readily exchanged for the sword, and
the cultivation of a rude farm for the management of public affairs.
He hinted this resemblance to the Landamman, who was naturally
gratified with the compliment to his country, but presently
replied--"May Heaven continue among us the homebred virtues of the
Romans, and preserve us from their lust of conquest and love of
foreign luxuries!"
The slow pace of the travellers, with various causes of delay which it
is unnecessary to dwell upon, occasioned the deputation spending two
nights on the road before they reached Bâle. The small towns or
villages in which they quartered, received them with such marks of
respectful hospitality as they had the means to bestow, and their
arrival was a signal for a little feast, with which the heads of the
community uniformly regaled them.
On such occasions, while the elders of the village entertained the
deputies of the Confederation, the young men of the escort were
provided for by those of their own age, several of whom, usually aware
of their approach, were accustomed to join in the chase of the day,
and made the strangers acquainted with the spots where game was most
plenty.
These feasts were never prolonged to excess, and the most special
dainties which composed them were kids, lambs, and game, the produce
of the mountains. Yet it seemed, both to Arthur Philipson and his
father, that the advantages of good cheer were more prized by the
Banneret of Berne and the Burgess of Soleure than by their host the
Landamman and the Deputy of Schwitz. There was no excess committed, as
we have already said; but the deputies first mentioned obviously
understood the art of selecting the choicest morsels, and were
connoisseurs in the good wine, chiefly of foreign growth, with which
they freely washed it down. Arnold was too wise to censure what he had
no means of amending: he contented himself by observing in his own
person a rigorous diet, living indeed almost entirely upon vegetables
and fair water, in which he was closely imitated by the old
grey-bearded Nicholas Bonstetten, who seemed to make it his principal
object to follow the Landamman's example in everything.
It was, as we have already said, the third day after the commencement
of their journey, before the Swiss deputation reached the vicinity of
Bâle, in which city, then one of the largest in the south-western
extremity of Germany, they proposed taking up their abode for the
evening, nothing doubting a friendly reception. The town, it is true,
was not then, nor till about thirty years afterwards, a part of the
Swiss Confederation, to which it was only joined in 1501; but it was a
Free Imperial City, connected with Berne, Soleure, Lucerne, and other
towns of Switzerland by mutual interests and constant intercourse. It
was the object of the deputation to negotiate, if possible, a peace,
which could not be more useful to themselves than to the city of Bâle,
considering the interruptions of commerce which must be occasioned by
a rupture between the Duke of Burgundy and the Cantons, and the great
advantage which that city would derive by preserving a neutrality,
situated as it was betwixt these two hostile powers.
They anticipated, therefore, as welcome a reception from the
authorities of Bâle as they had received while in the bounds of their
own Confederation, since the interests of that city were so deeply
concerned in the objects of their mission. The next chapter will show
how far these expectations were realised.