and instead of the limited sphere occupied by most of the previous wars,
we find ourselves now watching a scene of world-wide interest and
importance. Three Great Powers--France, Germany, and Austria--if such a
term is applicable in the fifteenth century, are striving for the
downfall of a fourth great realm, Burgundy, in some respects the
mightiest of them all. The Swiss League, no less interested in the
issue, is made the instrument for bringing about that tragical ending
which strikes Burgundy for ever from the list of future kingdoms.
[Illustration: Elizabeth, wife of Albert II.; Maria of Burgundy; Eleanor
of Portugal; Kunigunde, sister of Maximilian.
(_From Maximilian Monument at Innsbruck._)]
Charles the Bold aimed at the re-establishment of the ancient kingdom of
Lorraine, such as it was created by the treaty of Verdun in 843.[37]
This was to be a middle kingdom between French and German territory--a
kingdom which, stretching from the North Sea through to the
Mediterranean, would absorb the Swiss Confederation, and what of other
territory we cannot tell. A striking scheme, and one which, if it had
succeeded, would have greatly changed the face of modern politics.
Charles's deadliest foe was Louis of France, who was unswervingly bent
on his destruction. Politically, the two men were the very antipodes of
each other. The romantic duke is the embodiment of mediaeval chivalry;
the sober Louis that of modern absolutism. His reign seals the fate of
dying feudalism. Louis is like an immovable rock against which the
effete Middle Ages dash themselves in vain. He stands, indeed, between
two great historical epochs. Charles is doomed to fall; for pitilessly
Louis crushes his unruly vassals, and feudatory France is by his power
welded into a mighty and absolute monarchy. The ambitious hotspur, the
warlike duke, believes himself a second Alexander. And, indeed, in all
Christendom there is no court so splendid as his, no treasury so vast.
His magnificence is more than royal, more even than imperial, and he
grapples with numberless intricate problems. To carry out his plans he
stakes realm and life, but lacking patience and sound political judgment
he fails in his chief enterprises.[38]
The preliminary steps leading to the war are a diplomatic maze,
revealing the double-dealing of the actors, and likewise showing the
uncertain position held by the Swiss League in the empire. The
destruction of this league, and the overthrow of Charles the Bold were
chiefly aimed at. The maze of intrigue is, indeed, well-nigh
impenetrable; yet, because the preliminaries are far less known than the
wars which followed, and the actual facts have been often distorted,
they will, no doubt, command general interest, and we shall try to
disentangle the skeins as best we can. The battle of St. Jacques had
secured for the Confederates, not only the sympathies of Louis, but also
the alliance of his father, Philip the Good, of Burgundy, the Sforzas of
Milan, and others. Since those times of prowess the young republic had
been growing into a prosperous and powerful nation, not without its
influence on continental military affairs. Admired, envied, and feared,
by turns, its friendship was greatly appreciated, and it lent protection
to all who sought it. So strong was its love of warfare, that it was at
all times ready to avenge any wrong or fancied wrong done to itself or
its friends. Thus, Zurich, in 1456, laid waste the lands of the Austrian
knight-robbers who had plundered some Strasburg merchants on a Swiss
round. Despite the distance between them, the two towns of Strasburg and
Zurich were on terms of close friendship.[39] At the bidding of Pius
II., the elegant Latin writer commonly known as AEneas Sylvius, who had
fallen out with his literary friend, Duke Sigmund of Austria, the
Eidgenossen conquered Thurgau, which had remained still an Austrian
province, and placed it amongst their subject lands. The quarrels of
Mulhausen and Schaffhausen with Austria entangled their friends of the
league into a war with Sigmund (1468), who, to secure peace, agreed to
pay over the sum of ten thousand florins, guaranteeing them their recent
conquests. This feud of Waldshut (Black Forest) led to the Burgundian
wars.
Extravagant but poor, Sigmund failed to find even that modest sum, and
applied to Louis of France for help, but was by him referred to Charles
of Burgundy. The astute Louis saw that a quarrel between the dukes would
be injurious and possibly fatal to Charles, who, all unaware of the
pitfall prepared for him, readily fell in with the proposals of Sigmund.
He was anxious to join together Alsace, Breisgau, the Aargau towns on
the Rhine, &c., and advanced fifty thousand florins as mortgage on the
dominions of Sigmund, expecting they would soon fall to him entirely. By
the treaty of St Omer, in 1469, their mutual terms of agreement were
thus fixed:--Charles to give help in case of need against the Swiss, and
Sigmund to promote the long-planned marriage between the son of his
cousin and Maria of Burgundy. Rejoicing at this turn of fortune, the
emperor at once disannulled the treaty of Waldshut, and the new lands
were by Charles the Bold entrusted to the management of his favourite,
Peter von Hagenbach.[40] A tyrant and a libertine, his acts of violence,
and those of his foreign soldiery, exasperated the German populations
of Alsace, Basel, Bern, and Solothurn. Their merchants being robbed on
the Rhine, their envoys imprisoned--one Bernese man was killed in a
fray--they complained to the duke, but without result for the cruelties
and oppression continued.
Artful and ever on the watch, Louis found that the Eidgenossen,
disgusted by the grasping tendencies of Charles, were fast drifting away
from their good understanding with Burgundy, and strove to draw them to
his own side. Anxious to secure a friend, the Swiss lent willing ears to
the flattery and insinuations of the crafty Louis. He actually succeeded
in effecting a reconciliation between the Eidgenossen and Austria. It
was a cleverly calculated bit of diplomacy, that secured for the Swiss
their recent conquests, isolated Charles, and strengthened the
opposition against him. Louis fixed a pension on Sigmund, and urged him
to pay off the mortgage on his lands, whilst the Alsacian towns likewise
leagued themselves with the Swiss, and actually advanced Sigmund the sum
of money required. Charles, however, disappointed in his plans, refused
to receive the money. A popular rising took place at Breisach, and
Hagenbach was seized, imprisoned, and brought before a tribunal, at
which some of the Eidgenossen assisted. He was condemned to death, and
publicly beheaded, as a sort of popular judgment. Enraged beyond measure
though he was, yet Charles deferred vengeance for the death of his
favourite, being, indeed, at the time, otherwise engaged. Taking
advantage of this delay, Louis won over to his side Frederick, also
lavishing flatteries on the Swiss, and pensions on Nicolas von Diesbach
and his followers. This Nicolas was a Bernese nobleman and a skilled
politician, and was a fit instrument in the hands of a king who
calculated his schemes rather on men's _mauvaises passions_ than on
their virtues. Louis hastened on the outbreak of war, and on October 9,
1474, Frederick called on the Eidgenossen to take their part in the
attack on Charles. They hesitated, but the pensioner and creature of
France, Diesbach, notwithstanding the resistance offered by Adrian von
Bubenberg, a Bernese noble of far loftier character, in hot haste
declared war against Charles in the name of the empire, and with the
consent of the Confederation. But war once actually afoot the Swiss were
made a mere catspaw by their partners, and left to their own devices.
In a short story like this it is impossible to discuss the merits or
demerits of the various factions, or those of Hagenbach or Diesbach,[41]
yet we must dwell for a moment on the federal policy, and more
especially on that of Bern. The position of the Swiss League at the
outbreak of the war was very similar to that of "Sweden, under Gustavus
Adolphus, in the Thirty Years' War." Threatened by the preponderating
power of Austria, she would not take up arms till France, equally
interested in the downfall of Habsburg, under Richelieu, drove her to
war by sending subsidies. But French gold was by no means the actual and
moving cause of the war. Many things concurred to give rise to it, not
the least being Bern's extraordinary bent for aggrandisement and
conquest. Her aggressiveness and her far-sightedness were quite
remarkable for that age, and her policy was conceived on so large a
scale that she has been not inaptly compared to ancient Rome. Bordering
on Swiss Burgundy, Bern had strong western leanings, if one may so
speak, and very early set her eyes on Vaud and Geneva. She considered
Mount Jura as the true western boundary, for French Switzerland still
lay without the pale of the Confederation, and belonged for the most
part to Savoy, or the vassals of Savoy. However selfish the policy of
Bern may appear at this distance of time, yet she has the unquestionable
merit of having brought Swiss Burgundy into the federation, thus
connecting the French with the German portions of Helvetia. The
political views of Bern are clearly evidenced by her foreign relations
at the time. Her nobility sent their sons to foreign courts to be
educated and trained for a military or a diplomatic career--Bubenberg,
for instance, spent his youth at the Court of Burgundy. Her leading men
were well-trained military officers or skilled politicians, and the
aristocracy which formed the governing body of the town clung
obstinately to the prerogatives still left them in those moribund Middle
Ages.
The country cantons were less interested in Burgundian troubles, well
knowing that Bern would take the lion's share of any conquests. Bern and
Zurich were rivals, and, like Athens and Sparta of old, followed each
its separate ends. Yet when the safety of either, or that of the
fatherland, was at stake, private aims and private animosities were
dropped, and the Confederates rallied to the common standard, displaying
that wonderful heroism which strong love of fatherland seems ever to
inspire.
The first event of the war was the siege of Hericourt, near Belfort, at
the bidding of Frederick III. This was in November, 1474, and there
followed wasteful inroads into Vaud, by Bern, Freiburg, and Solothurn,
on the pretext of punishing Savoy for siding with Charles (1475). Place
after place fell to the victors, and with the help of Bern, Lower Valais
was wrenched from Savoy, and restored to Upper Valais. But when once the
Swiss were fairly launched on the war all their partners withdrew from
the stage, and made their peace with Charles. The Burgundian prince thus
having his hands more free pushed on alone his expedition against Duke
Rene, the minstrel poet of Lorraine, in November, 1475. In the January
of the following year he opened his campaign against the Swiss.
With an enormous army of fifty thousand of the best-trained soldiers in
Europe, besides heavy artillery, he started in high spirits across the
Jura, resolved on crushing the Swiss peasants, and levelling Bern with
the ground. Count Romont was sent on in advance, with instructions to
re-conquer Vaud. This he effected within a fortnight, the district being
inefficiently garrisoned. Charles then marched on Grandson, whither the
main Bernese force had retired. The odds were desperate, five hundred
men against so vast an army, and, after a resistance of ten days, the
garrison was allured into a surrender by vain promises of safety, and
by impudent forgeries. The fate of Dinant (Belgium) awaited the body of
412 men who surrendered. They were bound with ropes and drowned in the
lake, or hanged from the trees lining the roads (February 28, 1476). In
great straits Bern summoned the assistance of the other cantons, and, on
March 2nd, the federal army of eighteen thousand horse and foot, well
trained and equipped, assembled at Neuchatel, and Charles went to meet
this force. A large division of the Swiss having gone on in front
suddenly noticed from the vineyard slopes the Burgundian troops in the
plain beneath. As was their wont in warfare--they were very religious,
almost superstitiously so, at that time--the Swiss knelt down, and
extended their hands in prayer. To the enemy it seemed as if they were
begging for mercy, and Charles exclaimed, "These cowards are ours!" and
ordered his men to fire. His artillery swept down whole files, but,
though their ranks were broken, the Swiss stoutly held their ground
against the oncoming foe. Suddenly Charles ordered his forces to fall
back, with the double intention of getting more room, and of alluring
his foe into descending from the higher ground. But his men unapprised
of their leader's intentions mistook the movement for an actual flight,
and their ranks began to show signs of falling into disorder. At this
most critical moment the chief body of the Swiss appeared on the
heights, their armour glittering in the sun. The deafening noise of
their war-cries and war-horns (Uristier of Uri, Harsthoerner of Lucerne)
"struck such terror into the Burgundians," reports an old chronicler of
Neuchatel, "that they took to their heels, and disappeared from sight,
as if a whirlwind had swept them from the earth." Not far, however, did
the Eidgenossen pursue, for, "with indescribable joy," they dropped on
their knees to render thanks for the great victory. When they neared the
camp of Charles the terrible sight they saw stirred up still more their
desire for revenge. Their brethren were still suspended by dozens from
the trees by the wayside.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF GRANDSON--SKETCH MAP.
Scale 1 in 150,000.
MAP OF GRANDSON DISTRICT.]
The battle of Grandson is remarkable for the immense quantity of spoil
that fell to the victors. For Charles and his nobles were wont to carry
the splendour of their court even into their camps. Four hundred silk
tents came into the hands of the Swiss, as well as the arras carpets,
and Charles's sets of gold plate and dishes, the admiration of the
sovereigns of the time. His Flemish lace and fine linen were cut up like
homespun, and divided amongst the rough soldiers; his money dealt out in
helmets; his artillery, his beautiful swords and hand-guns; and, most
precious of all, his jewellery, were shared amongst the victorious
Swiss. Of his three famous diamonds the finest passed finally to Pope
Julius II., another to Henry VIII., of England, and thence to Philip of
Spain, and the third to the kings of Portugal. It would require pages to
give even a bare list of the spoils.[42]
Despite this great disaster, Charles did not lose heart, and within a
fortnight began to reassemble his scattered forces. His movements were
closely watched by the Bernese, who strongly fortified Morat, their
strongest outpost, sending Adrian von Bubenberg with fifteen hundred men
to hold it against the duke. On the 9th of June, 1476, Charles appeared
before the town with twenty-five thousand men, and his artillery soon
made terrible havoc amongst the weak fortifications. Von Bubenberg,
however, vowed that he would not surrender so long as a drop of living
blood remained in his veins. The Eidgenossen forces, which had returned
home after the last engagement, did not reach Morat till the 21st of
June, but determined to give battle on the 22nd, that day being the
anniversary of the ever-memorable Laupen. Charles had drawn up his
troops on the plateaux of Munchwiler, Courlevon, and Cressier, opposite
Morat, and had strengthened his front with a ditch and a barricade of
trees, having also lined the hedges with his artillery, and flanked it
with his horse. It was raining in torrents; to weary the foe the Swiss
spent the morning in dubbing knights; Duke Rene of Lorraine, who had
joined the Swiss ranks as simple spearman, and Hans Waldmann having that
honour bestowed upon them. Towards noon the sun unexpectedly broke
forth, and Hans von Hallwyl, a Bernese nobleman, brandishing his sword,
exclaimed, "Onward! brave men. God lights up our path. Do not leave your
wives and children to the stranger!" Leading his van in a wide circle to
avoid the hedge he fell on the right wing of Charles. Seeing him thus
engaged Hans Waldmann of Zurich, with his ten thousand troops occupying
a central position in the field, marched up, sprang on the intrenchment,
and trampled down the hedge. Carrying their guns across their shoulders,
they rushed on the artillery, who were keeping up a deadly fire, and,
thrusting back the enemy, soon silenced their guns. Then the Swiss force
advanced in a close phalanx to the hostile centre, where stood Charles
with the Prince of Orange, and other distinguished officers, and where,
too, were placed the English archers under Somerset. A murderous
engagement ensued, Charles fought like a lion, and soon fifteen hundred
nobles lay at his feet. Suddenly Bubenberg sallied forth with his force,
and attacked the Burgundian left wing, stationed between Munchwiler and
Morat, whilst Hertenstein of Lucerne attacked Charles's centre in the
rear. A terrible panic seized Charles, and his army became suddenly
disorganized, and fled in wild haste, the Swiss closely following in
pursuit. For the whole distance from Morat to Avenches there were
terrible hand-to-hand conflicts, for the Burgundians resisted stoutly,
and the Swiss gave no quarter. Countless numbers were driven into the
lake, and altogether twelve thousand of the foe fell that day, the Swiss
themselves losing three thousand men. Charles escaped with a few
horsemen to Morges, but quite dazed with despair, and the Eidgenossen
turned homewards laden with rich spoils. All over the country the bells
were set ringing to welcome the heroic men who had saved Switzerland
from becoming a subject-province of Burgundy. The great battle of
Murten, a purely defensive engagement so far as the Swiss were
concerned, still exerts on them the same spell as Morgarten and
Sempach.
[Illustration: OLD WEAPONS AND ARMOUR PRESERVED IN THE ARSENAL,
ZURICH.]
Luckless Duke Charles had shut himself up in his castle near Pontarlier,
a prey to a morbid despair, but hearing that Rene was reconquering
Lorraine, he was spurred into taking up arms once more, and started for
Nancy with a new force. Rene went back to Switzerland, and even with
tears implored the Federal Diet to help him. The Diet would not
themselves organize a new army, but permitted men to enlist of their own
will under Rene's banner. Some eight thousand soldiers enlisted, and,
under Hans Waldmann, retook Nancy, on January 15, 1477. The fate of the
unhappy Charles is well known; his corpse was found in a bog embedded in
ice and snow. A popular rhyme thus characterizes Charles's triple
misfortune:--
"Zue Grandson das Gut,
Zue Murten den Mut,
Zue Nancy das Blut."
The acquisition of the victors were in no way adequate to the labour
expended. Franche Comte, to which the Eidgenossen had a title, and which
the cities wished to annex, was sold to Louis for a sum of money, which
he never paid, however. The Swiss merely retained the protectorate over
the province, whose envoys had begged on their knees that they might be
admitted to the Swiss Federation, to prevent their falling into the
hands of France or Austria, a fate which was, however, to be theirs.
Grandson Murten, Bex, &c., remained with Bern and Freiburg, but the
greater part of Vaud fell back to Savoy, for a ransom of fifty thousand
florins. Geneva had to pay half that sum as a war contribution; yet the
way was paved for the annexation of Vaud. Freiburg and Low-Valais were
entirely rescued from the grasp of Savoy.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] See Chap. VI.
[38] One curious instance of his failures may be given. The Burgundian
crown was ready for him, and he proceeded to Trier (1473) to have it
placed on his brow by the (Roman) emperor, and push his imperial claims.
However, Frederick III., becoming alarmed at the presumption of the
future Welsh-German sovereign, broke off negotiations, and fled at night
with his son Max, who was to have married the daughter of Charles.
[39] A pleasant story is related to the effect that, on one occasion,
some young Zurich men started off in a boat by way of the Limmat and the
Rhine, taking a dish of hot lentils with them. Reaching Strasburg in the
evening they placed the dish, still hot, on the mayor's dinner table. A
famous poem, "Glueckhaft Schiff," describes the event.
[40] Well known from Scott's "Anne of Geierstein."
[41] For these matters the reader is directed to Freeman's admirable
essay on Charles the Bold.
[42] The suits of armour, guns, and banners--the suit belonging to
Charles's court jester who fell at Morat, is at Soleure--are stored up
in the museums of various capitals. The golden seal of Burgundy is at
Lucerne, whilst the town library of Zurich possesses the seal of the
Great Bastard, brother of Charles.
XIX.
MEETING AT STANZ, 1481, &C.
Grandson, Morat, and Nancy stamped the Eidgenossen as the _enfants
gates_ of Europe, and as a nation of the highest military standing on
the Continent, nay, even as an umpire in continental politics, and a
guardian of the peace. Everybody lavished flattering praises on the
prowess of the Swiss. Nation after nation made overtures to them--France
foremost, Italy, the Pontiff, the Emperor, distant Hungary, and even
England, this last desirous of breaking the French alliance. The
meetings of the Federal Diet often became brilliant congresses, lasting
for weeks, where princes and ambassadors vied with each other in
bestowing bounties and favours on the Swiss leaders, in order to secure
their aid, deeming themselves invincible if the Swiss fought on their
side. The period 1476-1512--from Morat to Marignano--a noble victory and
a scarcely less noble defeat, adds another glorious page to the military
history of the Swiss League, but the _revers de la medaille_ shows
bitter contention and moral decline. In truth, the Burgundian wars
closed a glorious epoch, but brought about a baleful change in the face
of more noble warfare, for Nancy is linked with that period of mercenary
service and foreign pay which became the curse of Switzerland, and which
could not be checked even by the grand efforts of the Reformation
period.
Leaving the foreign wars for the moment let us cast a glance at home
matters. It is not necessary to dwell at length on the excesses indulged
in by the disbanded soldiers, unoccupied and unaccustomed to regular
labour after the Burgundian wars. These things nearly always result from
long-continued struggles.