followed. Many of the surrounding nobles had outlived their time of
prosperity and greatness, and yet clung to the prerogatives of their
class without possessing any longer the means to maintain them. Bern
took advantage of all this to secure her own aggrandisement, and gain
for herself more territory, for originally she had possessed no lands
beyond her walls. The Bernese Oberland was the first district on which
she set her eyes. Here the counts of Greyerz,[32] the dynasts of Turn
(Valisian nobles), and the barons of Weipenburg, held the chief
territorial lordships, and formed a strong Alpine coalition with
Austrian sympathies, as against the rising city of Bern. With the last
mentioned Bern strove for the supremacy, and stormed their stronghold,
Wimmis, in the Simmenthal, both town and castle, and demolished the
_Letzinen_,[33] or fortifications in the valley. The old baron and his
nephew had no means to fight out the quarrel, and were compelled to
accept the terms dictated by the victors. They were bound to render
military service, and were required to pledge their castles for their
submission, and so forth. But what most nearly touched them was the loss
of Hasle. That beautiful valley, stretching from Brienz lake to the
Grimsel pass, with romantic Meiringen as its central place, has had a
strange history. The inhabitants were at first free Alamannic farmers,
owing allegiance to no sovereign, or lord, except the German monarch,
and they chose their Ammann from amongst themselves, or had him chosen
by the king. They had allied themselves as equals with Bern, in 1275,
but in 1310 their subjection was sealed. Henry VII. wanting money for
his coronation at Rome, mortgaged Hasle to the barons of Weipenburg, for
340 marks. In 1334 Bern bought up the mortgage, and the valley thus came
under Bernese rule. Bern now appeared likely enough to stretch her power
even up to the snow-clad mountain lands, and laid the foundation of her
future pre-eminence amongst the western cantons. But she stirred up
fierce opposition, especially on the part of the Burgundian nobles.
Fearing for their very existence, the counts of Greyerz, Valangin,
Aarberg, Nidan, Neuchatel, Vaud, Kyburg, headed by Freiburg, encouraged,
though not actually assisted, by Louis of Bavaria, rose in arms. Bern
called for help from Hasle, Weipenburg, and the Forest Cantons, but
found it a difficult matter to get together the scattered forces. On the
10th of June, 1339, an army of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand
horse marched against Laupen, whose defence devolved upon some four
hundred Bernese. On the 21st of the same month there arrived at the town
the forces of the Eidgenossen, amounting to barely six thousand men.
They wore a white cross of cloth, and marched to the relief of the
beleaguered city animated by the stirring words of Theobald, a priest of
the Teutonic order. The battle actually took place, however, on a
plateau a little more than two miles east of the town. During the day
the besiegers had amused themselves with various sports, mocking the
preparations of their opponents, and it was not till vespers that Count
Valangin commenced hostilities. It was a desperate struggle that
followed--a second Morgarten. The Waldstaetter had begged to be allowed
to engage the cavalry, and a hard task they found it. Yet within two
hours the enemy was completely routed, and took to flight. No fewer than
fifteen hundred men lay dead upon the field, and amongst them the counts
of Valangin, Greyerz, Nidan, the last count of Vaud, and others. Seventy
full suits of armour, and twenty-seven banners had been taken. Their
hearts overflowing with joy and thankfulness the victors sank on their
knees at nightfall, when all was over, and thanked God for His mercy. It
would be uninteresting to a foreign reader to give an account of the
discussions which have taken place as to the leadership of the Bernese
force. But it may be mentioned that two distinguished generals, Rudolf
von Erlach and Hans von Bubenberg, have by different authorities been
credited with the honour.
[Illustration: PORCH OF BERN MINSTER, WITH STATUE OF RUDOLF VON
ERLACH.]
The war was not yet concluded, but degenerated into one of simple
devastation. The Freiburg forces were defeated at the very gates of
their town by Rudolf von Erlach, according to some records, which would
seem to show at any rate that he is no mere fictitious personage. Bern
added victory to victory, and the saying ran that, "God Himself had
turned citizen of that town to fight for her just cause." In July, 1340,
a truce was agreed upon, and Bern resumed her old alliances with Kyburg,
the Forest, Vaud, and even Geneva. The diplomatic Lady of Koenigsfelden,
Agnes, anxious to secure so staunch an ally, drew Bern into a league
with Austria, which lasted for ten years, and strongly influenced the
politics of the town. It was not till after the expiration of this
league, and after the peace of Brandenburg, that she could enter into an
alliance with the league of the seven states. This closed the list of
the eight Orte, and the league proved to be perpetual. Though Bern was a
great check on the feudal nobility, she yet herself possessed a
thoroughly aristocratic form of government, in which the lesser people
and craftsmen had no share whatever.
The mad schemes of Rudolf of Kyburg, who hoped to mend his fortunes by
conquering Solothurn and other towns, gave rise to protracted warfare,
in which Burgdorf and Thun fell to the share of Bern, by purchase, in
1384. To dwell on this is impossible, within the limits of our space,
but it may be mentioned that a first siege proved a failure. Retaliation
was made by the siege of Burgdorf, which likewise miscarried, through
the intervention of Leopold. The doom of the house of Kyburg was,
however, sealed, and it fell beneath the sway of Bern. The treachery of
the Habsburgs in breaking their promise to the Eidgenossen was one of
the chief causes leading to the battle of Sempach, the most famous of
all Swiss battles.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] Von Greyerz still occurs amongst the Bernese aristocracy.
[33] Letzinen are walls constructed across a valley, and are peculiar to
Switzerland.
XV.
THE BATTLES OF SEMPACH, 1386, AND NAEFELS, 1388.
Seldom, if ever, has Switzerland seen a more eventful month than that of
July, 1386, for in that month she fought and won the ever-memorable
battle of Sempach. To set down all the petty details as to the causes
which led to this engagement would be tedious indeed. It is sufficient
to point out--what is but a truism--that there is seldom much love lost
between oppressor and oppressed, and Austria and the Swiss Confederation
had for some time held that relation to each other. A ten years' peace
had indeed been concluded between the two powers, but it was a sham
peace, and the interval had been used by both to prepare for new
conflicts.
Austria was secretly assisting the impoverished house of Kyburg in her
ravishing expeditions against the towns of the Confederation.
Ruthlessness was met by ruthlessness; Zurich laid siege to Rapperswyl
with the intent to destroy the odious Austrian toll-house; Lucerne
levelled with the ground the Austrian fort Rothenburg, and entered into
alliances with Entlebuch and Sempach to overthrow the Austrian
supremacy. This was equal to a declaration of war, and war was indeed
imminent.
Duke Leopold III., of Austria, was most anxious to bring the quarrel to
an issue, and to chastise the insolent Swiss citizens and peasantry. The
Swiss cities had joined in league with the Southern German towns, which
like themselves professed the policy of resisting the encroaching
tendencies of princes and nobles. Mutual help in case of need had been
pledged amongst themselves by this league of cities, but the burghers of
the German towns were mere puppets in the hand of Austria. She, dreading
the rising of wealthy towns, cajoled them by fine promises, and they
pleaded for submission, and sought to compose the differences between
the Swiss and the Austrians. Of very different mettle, however, were the
towns on this side the Rhine; they objected to the weak and wavering
policy of their more northerly neighbours, and determined on fighting,
if necessary, alone and unaided.
Leopold III., a descendant of that Leopold so disastrously defeated at
Morgarten, possessed most of the virtues held of account in his day. He
was manly, chivalrous, dauntless; he was possessed of dexterity and
adroitness in both sports and the more serious business of war. His
indomitable spirit and personal daring knew no bounds. He had once, clad
in full armour, forded the Rhine at flood-time, and in the sight of the
enemy, to escape being made prisoner. Like Rudolf of Habsburg he was
vastly ambitious, and bent on securing wealth and greatness for the
house of Austria. A clever manager of his estates and a generous master,
he was yet neither politician nor tactician; as a man of action, and
filled with hatred of the refractory towns, he spared no pains to check
their struggles for independence. No wonder then that the nobles of
Southern Germany rallied round the gallant swordsman, and made him their
leader in the expeditions against the _bourgeoisie_ and peasantry. And
no sooner had the truce expired (June, 1386), than they directed their
first attack on the bold Confederation; no fewer than one hundred and
fifty nobles sending letters of refusal (= a challenge) to the summons
to war sent out by the Swiss Government.
Leopold's plan was to make Lucerne the centre of his military
operations, but in order to draw away attention from his real object, he
sent a division of five thousand men to Zurich to simulate an attack on
that town. Whilst the unsuspecting Confederates lay idle within the
walls of Zurich, he gathered reinforcements from Burgundy, Swabia, and
the Austro-Helvetian Cantons, the total force being variously estimated
at from twelve thousand to twenty-four thousand men. He marched his army
in the direction of Lucerne, but by a round-about way, and seized upon
Willisan, which he set on fire, intending to punish Sempach _en passant_
for her desertion. But the Confederates getting knowledge of his
stratagem left Zurich to defend herself, and struck straight across the
country in pursuit of the enemy. Climbing the heights of Sempach on the
side of Hiltisrieden, overlooking the town and lake of that name, they
encamped at Meyersholz, a wood fringing the hilltop. The Austrians
leaving Sursee, for want of some more practicable road towards Sempach,
made their way slowly and painfully along the path which leads from
Sursee to the heights, and then turns suddenly down upon Sempach. Great
was their surprise and consternation when at the junction of the Sursee
and Hiltisrieden roads they came suddenly upon the Swiss force, which
they had imagined to be idling away the time at Zurich. The steep
hillsides crossed by brooks and hedges looked a battlefield
impracticable enough for cavalry evolutions, yet the young nobles in
high glee at the prospect of winning their spurs in such a spot pleaded
for the place against the better reason of all men.
[Illustration]
The Swiss, confident of success, and trusting in the help of God and the
saints, as of old, drew up in battle order, their force taking a kind of
wedge-shaped mass [Drawing of trapezoid] the shorter edge foremost
and the bravest men occupying the front positions. The Austrians, on the
other hand, relying proudly on the superiority of their high-born
knights and nobles, looked disdainfully on what they believed to be a
mere rabble of herdsmen. And, in truth, the handful of fifteen hundred
men, inadequately armed with short weapons or clubs, battle-axes or
halberds, seemed but a sorry match for that steel-clad army of six
thousand well-trained lancers, cavalry, and foot. But the possession of
cavalry in such a spot could not in itself give any advantage to the
Austrians, and their knights dismounted and handed their horses to the
care of attendants. To avoid getting their feet entangled in the long
grass of a meadow close by the noble cavaliers cut off the beaks or
points of their shoes--then the fashion--and the spot is to this day
called the "beak-meadow" (Schnabelweide). Claiming for themselves the
right to win honour that day, they ordered their infantry to the rear.
According to another account, however their infantry were still at
Sursee, the noble horsemen declining their aid. After ancient custom,
the Austrians formed themselves into a compact phalanx, the noblest
occupying the front ranks, the preparations being necessarily hurriedly
and somewhat indefinitely made.
The onset was furious, and the Austrian Hotspurs, each eager to outstrip
his fellows in the race for honour, rushed on the Swiss, drove them back
a little, and then tried to encompass them and crush them in their
midst. The Swiss quickly fell back, but some sixty of their men were cut
down before the Austrians lost a single soldier. The banner of Lucerne
was captured; the Austrian phalanx was as yet unbroken, and all the
fortune of the battle seemed against the Swiss, for their short weapons
could not reach a foe guarded by long lances. But suddenly the scene
changed. "A good and pious man," says the old chronicler, deeply
mortified by the misfortune of his country, stepped forward from the
ranks of the Swiss--_Arnold von Winkelried_! Shouting to his comrades
in arms, "I will cut a road for you; take care of my wife and children!"
he dashed on the enemy, and, catching hold of as many spears as his arms
could encompass, he bore them to the ground with the whole weight of his
body. His comrades rushed over his corpse, burst through the gap made in
the Austrian ranks, and began a fierce hand-to-hand encounter. Fearful
havoc was made by the Swiss clubs and battle-axes in the wavering ranks
of the panic-stricken enemy, whose heavy armour and long lances indeed
greatly impeded their movements. Nevertheless the Austrians made a brave
stand, and Leopold, who had been watching the issue, now rushed into the
_melee_, and fell one of the bravest in the desperate struggle. The
nobles and knights, calling for their horses, found that the attendants
had fled with them. Seeing that all was lost, the knights became
panic-stricken, and rushed hither and thither in the greatest disorder.
There still remained the infantry, however, and these attempted to stay
the flight of the hapless cavaliers, and restore order, but it was all
in vain. A fearful carnage followed, in which no mercy was shown, and
there fell of the common soldiers two thousand men, and no fewer than
seven hundred of the nobility. The Swiss lost but one hundred and twenty
men. Rich spoils--arms, jewellery, and eighteen banners--fell into the
hands of the victors.
This defeat of a brilliant army of horse and foot, of knights and
noblemen, all well-trained, by a mere handful of irregulars--citizen and
peasant soldiers--was a brilliant military achievement, and attracted
the attention and admiration of the civilized world. It brought to the
front the _bourgeoisie_ and peasantry and their interests, and struck
terror into the hearts of their oppressors. This great victory gained by
the Swiss not only widened and established more firmly the career of
military glory commenced at Morgarten, but it gave to the Confederation
independence, and far greater military and political eminence. What
Plataea had been of old to the Greeks, that Sempach was to the Swiss; it
struck a deadly blow against an ancient and relentless foe. Austria, her
rule on this side of the Rhine thus rudely shaken, was compelled to
waive all rights of supremacy over the Confederation. Not that she
relinquished those rights readily; it needed an equal disaster to her
forces at Naefels, in 1388, before she would really and avowedly
renounce her pretensions to rule the Swiss.
The story of Winkelried's heroic action has given rise to much fruitless
but interesting discussion. The truth of the tale, in fact, can neither
be confirmed nor denied, in the absence of any sufficient proof. But
Winkelried is no _myth_, whatever may be the case with the other great
Swiss hero, Tell. There is proof that a family of the name of Winkelried
lived at Unterwalden at the time of the battle. But no Swiss annals
referring to the encounter at Sempach were written till nearly a century
later. The Austrian chronicle gives no account of Winkelried's exploit,
and for good reason, say the Swiss: all the men of the Austrian front
ranks, who alone could have witnessed the exploit, were killed, and the
rear ranks fled at the very first signs of disaster in front of them. A
fifteenth-century chronicle of Zurich, and the numerous songs and annals
of the sixteenth century, are full of praise of Winkelried and his
deeds. But whatever may be the real truth of the matter it is certain
that the grand old story of Winkelried and his splendid self-sacrifice
is indelibly written on grateful Swiss hearts. Whether it was a single
man or a whole body of men that offered up life itself for their
country, it clearly proves a dauntless spirit of independence, a hatred
of wrong and tyranny to have been innate in the breasts of the old
Switzers, and to have led to the deliverance of their country from
foreign oppression. And in spite of the many and often bitter
controversies of the past twenty years the memory of Winkelried will
ever remain an inspiration and a rallying-point whenever the little
fatherland and its liberties are threatened.
[Illustration: Winkelried's monument at Stanz (_From photograph by
Appenzeller, Zurich._)]
The victory of Naefels forms a worthy pendant to that of Sempach, and as
such cannot be passed over in silence. The Austrians, having recovered
their spirits after the terrible disaster, and the "foul peace" (_faule
Friede_) hastily arranged having expired, they carried the game to its
conclusion. Despite all prohibitions, Glarus had kept up its friendship
with the Eidgenossen, and in conjunction with them had, in 1386,
captured Wesen, the key to the district. To Glarus, therefore, Albrecht
III. now gave his whole attention. But Glarus itself, feeling much more
free after Sempach, assembled its inhabitants, in the spring of 1387,
for the first time as a Landsgemeinde, and drew up for itself a
constitution. Wesen on Walensee was recaptured by the Austrians on
their way to Glarus. This happened through the treachery of the
inhabitants of the town, who, siding with their old masters, opened
their gates. The federal garrison was surprised as they slept, and put
to the sword (February, 1388). The Austrians assembled at Wesen a force
of six thousand horse and foot, and on the 9th of April set out in two
divisions. Count Hans von Werdenberg, the chief mover in the enterprise,
climbed the opposite heights, with the intention of forming a junction
at Mollis, whilst Count Donat von Toggenburg and other nobles led the
main force along the river Lint. Reaching Naefels, at the entrance of
the Glarus valley they found their passage barred by an Alpine
fortification--a _Letzi_, as it is called--consisting of rampart and
ditch. This, however, was stormed without difficulty, as the guard was
insufficient for its defence. In truth, the Glarner were unaware of the
Austrian movements, and though Ambuehl and his two hundred men fought
with the utmost bravery, they were no match for the far superior numbers
against them. Like a torrent the Austrians rushed into the open and
defenceless valley, and, fancying no doubt there was no further
opposition or danger to fear, dispersed in all directions, pillaging
property, firing houses, driving cattle. Plunder and destruction seemed
indeed to be now their sole aim; but meanwhile the tocsin was sounding
through the valley to call the villagers to arms in defence of their
country. Fast they flocked to the standard of Ambuehl, who had posted
himself with his troops on the steep declivity of Rautiberg, waving
high the banner of St. Fridolin to attract his friends. Here, six
hundred men all told, including a handful of men from Schwyz, awaited
the foe. At last, in straggling and disorderly fashion, the Austrians
appeared in sight, many lingering behind for the sake of plunder. Their
attempt to ascend the eminence occupied by the foe was met by a shower
of stones, which threw the horses into confusion. With true Alpine
agility the mountaineers now dashed down the slopes and fell on the
cavalry. A fierce encounter followed, and then a terrible chase, during
which the Austrians are said to have ten times stopped in their flight
and attempted to hurl back their Swiss pursuers, but ten times were
compelled to give way again before the terrible strokes which met them.
Darkness set in, and with it came on fog, and a sudden fall of snow. A
superstitious panic seized on the Austrians, and they fled in the utmost
confusion to Naefels, and thence sought to regain their faithful Wesen.
But here a fresh catastrophe awaited them. Thronging the bridge spanning
the outlet of the lake their weight broke down the structure, and
hundreds of fugitives dragged down by their heavy armour sank with it,
and were drowned. Count Werdenburg, who was watching the disaster from
his eminence, fled as fast as he could. This disaster explains the loss
by the Austrians of so disproportionate a number of men, viz., seventeen
hundred, as against the fifty-four who fell of the Glarus force. The
latter fell chiefly in defence of the Letzi.
Year after year the people of Glarus, rich and poor alike, Protestant
and Catholic, still commemorate this great victory. On the first
Thursday in April, in solemn procession, they revisit the battlefield,
and on the spot the Landammann tells the fine old story of their
deliverance from foreign rule, whilst priest and minister offer
thanksgiving. The 5th of April, 1888, was a memorable date in the annals
of the canton, being the five-hundredth anniversary of the day on which
the people achieved freedom. From all parts of Switzerland people
flocked to Naefels to participate in the patriotic and religious
ceremonies. A right stirring scene it was when the Landammann presented
to the vast assembly the banner of St. Fridolin--the same which Ambuehl
had raised high--and thousands of voices joined in the national anthem,
_Rufst du mein Vaterland_, which, by the way, has the same melody as
_God save the Queen_. If the Switzer has no monarch to love and revere,
he has still his national heroes and his glorious ancestors, who sealed
the freedom of their country with their blood.
In 1389 a seven years' peace was arranged, and Glarus returned to the
Confederation. This peace was first prolonged for twenty years, and
afterwards, in 1412, for fifty years. Finally, after a strife of more
than one hundred years, Austria renounced her claims to rule over the
Forest, and all her rights in Zug, Lucerne, and Glarus. In process of
time the various dues were paid off in ordinary form.
XVI.
HOW SWITZERLAND CAME TO HAVE SUBJECT LANDS.
(1400-1450.)
In the fourteenth century the Eidgenossen established a _menage
politique_ of their own, and fixed its independence; in the fifteenth
they raised it to power and eminence, and obtained for it an important
military position in Europe. Yet though their family hearth was
established, all was not done. The allied states could not stop there.
They were still surrounded by lands ruled by Austria, by Italy, by
Savoy; lands which could and did threaten the independence of the little
infant republic. In fact, at a very early stage, the acquisition of
additional territory became a vital question. This was to be done by
means of new alliances, or by purchase or conquest. Zurich, for
instance, had already, between 1358 and 1408, spent some two million
francs in the buying of land. The struggles for independence had kindled
a like desire for emancipation amongst the neighbouring Alpine states.
But the efforts resulting were not all equally successful. Some of the
states drifted from monarchical subjection to that of the federation or
canton as subject lands (_Unterthanen laender_); others became
"connections" (_Zugewandte_), or allies of inferior rank; others, again,
took the position of _Schirmverwandte_, or _proteges_. One might indeed
go thus through a whole graduated scale of relationships developed
amongst the crowd of candidates seeking admission into the league. And
though as yet kept outside they received a helping hand from the
Eidgenossen. But it is not till the opening of the nineteenth century
that we find the list of twenty-two cantons made up. Thanks to the
mediation of Napoleon Bonaparte (1803), St. Gall, Thurgau, Grisons,
Aargau, Vaud, and Ticino were added to the confederation of states. And
by the Congress of Vienna, in 1814-15, were also added Valais, Geneva,
and Neuchatel. The latter, however, still continued under the sway of
Prussia, although partly a free state, till 1857. The reader will
clearly see into what a complicated fabric of unions the league is
growing, and that the Swiss fatherland did not spring at once into life
as a _fait accompli_. Each canton had its separate birth to freedom, as
was the case with the free states of ancient Greece, which joined into
confederations for a similar end--protection against a common foe. Each
little state has its own separate history, even before it amalgamates
with the general league. We shall, however, notice only the leading
features.
Appenzell opens the series of _Zugewandte_, or "connections." The
shepherds and peasants scattered around the foot of Mount Saentis,
oppressed by the abbots of St. Gall, began a rising that partook of a
revolutionary character. A succession of heroic feats followed--the
battle of Vogelinseck in 1403, that of Am Stoss in 1405, and
others[34]--and the prelate and his ally, Frederick IV. of Austria
("Empty Pocket"), were completely defeated. Somewhat curiously we find
Graf Rudolf von Werdenberg throwing in his lot with that of the humble
peasants, and stooping to the humiliating terms they insisted upon. He
had been robbed of his lands by the Habsburgs, and hoped to recover them
by the help of the Alpestrians, and actually did so. But the peasantry
were somewhat diffident concerning him, and would not entrust him with
command. So the noble knight of St. George put aside his fine armour and
his magnificent horse, and donned the peasant's garb to be admitted into
their ranks. Elated by their succession of triumphs the hardy
Appenzeller rushed on to new victories. Bursting their bounds, like an
impetuous mountain torrent, they spread into neighbouring lands, and
even penetrated to the distant Tyrol. Serf and bondsman hailed them as
deliverers, and whole towns and valleys along the Upper Rhine and the
Inn came into alliance with them--_Bund ob dem See_, above Lake
Constance--that was to be a safeguard in the East. At last the Swabian
knighthood plucked up courage enough to oppose this mountain hurricane.
At the siege of Bregenz in 1407, they were, through carelessness, put
to flight. The Bund collapsed, and its prestige departed, but the men
had secured their object, viz., independence from control by the Abbey
of St. Gall. By and by they bought off some of the taxes, and they met
at their Landsgemeinde to consult respecting the weal of their country.
Down to our own days this institution remains famous. Their application
in 1411 for admission into the league was granted, but quite
conditionally. Bern kept aloof from them, and Zurich found it necessary
to checkmate their revolutionary tendencies, and they were received as
_Zugewandte_, or allies of second rank. It was not till 1513 that the
new-comer rose to the position of full member of the league. St. Gall,
too, became "a connection"--and no more--in 1412.