THE BURGUNDIAN WARS (Count Louis)
Among the many benefits with which Count Francois' ability and sagacity
had enriched his inherited estates were the acquisition of the
seigneuries of Grandcour and Aigremont, and the repurchase of the
beautiful castles of Oron and Aubonne. The two latter residences were
assigned during his life to his two sons Louis and Francois, Louis being
early established at Aubonne, and Francois becoming seigneur of Oron.
Louis, worthy successor of his father, passed at Aubonne by the shores
of lake Leman a youth of peace and happiness. Writing from thence to his
young wife Claude de Seyssel, a daughter of an illustrious knight of
Savoy, Louis showed in the following intimate little letter, the
charming nature he had inherited from his parents.
Ma Mie,
I recommend myself to thee. I have thy letter sent by Gachet, and I
think that my wish to see thee is as great as thine to see me, but
I must still delay a little. Ma Mie, I recommend to thee the little
one, my horse and all the household. Recommend me to our good Aunt
Aigremont, to her sister and to M. Aigremont and the nurse, to the
maid and Perrisont. Ma Mie, please God, to give thee a good and
long life and all thy heart desires.
Written at Aubonne, the morrow of St. Catherine's day.
Louis de Gruyere,
All thine.
A Ma Mie.
The joy of this happy household, of kind relatives and devoted servants,
was soon broken by the early death of the child, their first-born son,
Georges, who was taken from his parents six years before their accession
to the rule and responsibilities of their estates. The birth of two
other children, Francois and a daughter Helene, had consoled them, and
it was a truly "_joyeuse entree_" which they made on a beautiful July
Sunday in the year 1475 to the square before the Gruyere church,
formally to take possession of their domain according to the ancient
custom of their predecessors. The herald crying out the summons of the
count, his subjects, who had collected from towns and villages and
valleys, raised their hands and swore fidelity. Count Louis, with his
hand on the holy book, promised to protect them; and the
standard-bearer, waving the silver crane, declared that their flag
should lead them against all their foes. Three months only were to pass
before this banner took the field, for the storm clouds approaching from
the neighboring kingdoms of Burgundy and France were thundering now over
Switzerland, and the bitter rivalries of Duke Charles and his cousin of
France had now reached the moment of collision on Helvetian soil.
Fortified by a renewal of his alliance with the German emperor, the duke
of Burgundy, eager to chastise the Confederates who had dared to defy
his imperial ally and who had humiliated him at Hericourt, prepared to
invade Switzerland. But Louis, the _diabolus ex machina_, who had
secretly fostered the discord between Burgundy and the Confederates,
hastily signed a nine-years' truce with Charles, and remarking with his
usual sardonic smile that his "fair cousin did not know his foes," left
him and his sister to the tender mercies of the enemies he had arrayed
against them. A clause in the treaty which preserved Louis from all
participation in the impending conflict, stipulated that Savoy and the
Confederates should be included in the peace, provided that they
committed no single act of depredation or hostility for a period of
three months. Secretly subsidized by Louis with ample funds to
prosecute the war, the Confederates immediately sought a pretext for
the attack upon the possessions of Savoy, and found one ready to their
hand in the confiscation by Count Romont of the celebrated contraband
load of German sheepskins carried illegally through his country by some
Bernese carters. Calling to their aid the inhabitants of the Valais, who
had long resented the suzerainty of Savoy, they prepared to march
against the duchess and Count Romont. The frightened duchess now again
attempted to negotiate with this strong combination, when the news of
Duke Charles' advance with a splendid army dissipated her fears, and she
openly declared for Burgundy and sent her forces to join those of
Charles. Another cause involving the count of Gruyere precipitated the
internal quarrels of Savoy and the Confederates. Count Romont, incited
by the jealousy of the family of de Vergy, which (through their alliance
with the sisters of Count Antoine de Gruyere, had disputed the
inheritance of his legitimized successor Francois) pillaged and captured
the Gruyere chateaux of Oron, Aubonne and Palezieux, and Duke Charles
sent a force of Burgundian and Savoyard soldiers to invade Gruyere
itself. Calling his friends the Fribourgeois to his side, Count Louis
met and conquered this army, capturing a banner which is still preserved
in the church at Lessoc. No further hesitation was thereafter possible
for the ruler of Gruyere, who was thus compelled to take sides against
the duchess if he wished to preserve his country from dismemberment and
the cruel and ferocious devastation which the Confederates were now
inflicting upon the beautiful country of Romand Switzerland, and
particularly upon the country of Vaud, the apanage of Duke Charles'
marechal, Count Romont. For, fully supplied with funds by Louis, nothing
could arrest the German inhabitants of Fribourg and Berne, who, in a
three-weeks' campaign of murder, violence and pillage, utterly
devastated and conquered the above provinces, burning the chateaux,
decapitating their defenders and soiling the reputation of the Swiss
soldier by inexcusable acts of cupidity and ferocity. Never was so venal
and brutal a war waged at the will of a foreign and detestably
traitorous king, and the coming of the great Duke Charles was awaited by
all the inhabitants of the Romand country as a welcome deliverance from
the hated Bernois. Postponing his Italian campaign, Duke Charles, deaf
to his advisers and eager to chastise the cruel depredations of the
"insolent cowherds" he so despised, started from Nancy with his
magnificent army in midwinter of the year 1476 as for a brief pleasure
excursion, and laid siege to Grandson which had been captured by the
Bernois. After a stubborn resistance the Bernois garrison, promised
pardon by a venal German volunteer of the Burgundian cause, surrendered
only to suffer the same cruel fate which they had dealt to the
defenders of the Savoy fortresses. But now flocking to the aid of their
confederates came the unconquerable victors of the Austrian dukes, the
Waldstetten; and the horn of the Alps with the same fatal clarion led
the mountaineers from the heights above Grandson to their old victory
over the nobles, and to the surprising defeat of such an army of wealth
and kingly power as the world had not seen since Xerxes. Massed in his
jeweled tents and golden chapel were the treasures of the richest
potentate in all Europe; harnesses and habiliments of gold and velvet,
tapestries and gemmed crowns and orders, ropes of pearls, rubies and
diamonds (which still glorify the tiaras of the pope and emperors)--all
these were sold for a few sous or were trampled in the snow by the
ignorant shepherds and cowherds of the Alps. After such an unimaginable
tragedy, Duke Charles, like a beaten child, weeping with rage and sick
with despair, at last roused himself to send with the consent of the
Duchess Yolande a deputation to treat with the Confederates; and this
deputation was sent to Count Louis of Gruyere. Announcing this
extraordinary event to the authorities at Fribourg, he wrote: "It is
true that I received last Saturday a letter from M. de Viry, with a
sauf-conduit, to take me to Vauruz, to talk of peace. When asked what
authority I had to act for you, Gentlemen of Fribourg, I replied that I
had none whatsoever. I said, moreover, that I could not engage to
approach you without the written consent of M. de Bourgogne, but that I
would, with this guarantee, work body and soul in the matter. These
gentlemen assured me on their honor that they would not have spoken
without his consent, but I answered that trusting them in all else, I
would have nothing further to do with their propositions without this
writing from the Duke. Whereupon, it was agreed that M. de Viry, who was
to dine with Madame (the Duchess Yolande) to-day at Lausanne, would send
me news by this Tuesday or Wednesday."
[Illustration: THE CITY ON THE HILL]
Repeating in this communication the report that Duke Charles had
recovered from his illness and would be within a mile of Fribourg in a
few days, Count Louis added that a trusted agent of his own had been
sent to the duke's camp and had reported that he was still ill, that his
artillery was in poor condition and that some of his supporters had
deserted him. Ill as he was, Duke Charles, hastily collecting a new army
to avenge his defeat and too proud to confide to paper his real desire
for peace, refused the condition of Count Louis, sending a haughty reply
that "he was not accustomed to make advances to his foes, that he was,
nevertheless, disposed particularly to make terms with Fribourg but not
with its confederates." Thus the pride which was the origin of all his
woes caused Duke Charles to reject the mediator who would have worked
with "soul and body" for his welfare, and thus vanished the fair
prospect of peace between Burgundy and the Confederates. Although the
latter had been victorious at Grandson, the country captured in their
three-weeks' campaign had in a still shorter time been recaptured by the
Savoyards, and a strong party in Romand Switzerland was opposed to them.
At this juncture, the German emperor, twice foresworn, deserted their
ally the Archduke Sigismond, and the Bernois, alarmed for the safety of
their city, hastily invoked the promised aid of Louis XI. No answer came
from their perfidious ally and the Swiss Confederates, alone at last,
were left to defend their own country and their freedom. Emperor and
king alike were absent, all their machinations finished, and although on
the memorable day of Morat, Savoy was pitted against its own cities, and
the Confederates against their Burgundian cousins in as unnatural and
unnecessary a conflict as ever divided ancient friends, the Swiss
soldiers then immortally testified to their patriotism and their valor.
Three months had passed since Grandson and Duke Charles had succeeded in
assembling a new army--less in numbers than that which had there been
annihilated--a motley force of Savoyards and discontented Italian
mercenaries ready to desert his cause, but containing three thousand
English under Somerset who were eager to fight with the enemy of France.
The duke, still ill and half insane with fury and the determination to
avenge his defeat, was in no condition easily to accomplish that
revenge. He was determined to let no further time elapse, therefore he
assembled these forces and established his fortified camp within a mile
of the little city of Morat, held by a Bernese garrison. Magnificently
fighting before the great breaches in the defending walls, the Bernese
held the city during ten long days, giving time for their confederates
to assemble behind the hills which concealed their approach from the
Burgundian camp. Six thousand more men of Berne were joined by the
Waldstetten mountaineers, the German troops of Archduke Sigismund, one
hundred horse and six hundred foot from Gruyere, "all men of great
stature, athletic force and indomitable courage;" and, lastly, by the
men of Zurich, who had marched day and night to swell this army of
24,000 which were to meet a like number of Burgundians. On the 22nd day
of June, the anniversary of the death of the ten thousand martyrs who
had fallen at Laupen, their descendants prepared with masses and with
prayers to avenge their death. It was a day of pelting rain, and when
the Burgundians, advancing to the attack, had waited six hours under the
downpour for any sign of an approaching foe, they retired to their camp
with soaked powder and loosened bow-strings at the very moment when the
clouds dispersed and the sudden sunshine illuminated the serried pikes
of the Swiss as they advanced in unexpected numbers over the crest of
the hills. Duke Charles had retired to his tent and was surprised at
table by a messenger announcing the imminent attack of the enemy. He was
compelled to don his armor on the battlefield itself where he took
command of his confused ill-arranged forces, fighting beside the English
soldiers under Somerset in the thick of the battle as it raged about the
green hedge and little moat which divided the two armies. Against them
was Duke Rene, battling with the Swiss to regain his lost Lorraine, and
Louis of Gruyere with his brave soldiers. Many times the Swiss
halberdiers were driven back under the fire of the Burgundian artillery,
as many times the Burgundian cavalry charged with brilliant success, and
a hope of regaining his lost honor began to smile upon Duke Charles,
when a terrible clamor arose from the very midst of his camp. Again the
horn of the Alps, the loud appalling roar of the "Bull of Uri," the "Cow
of Unterwalden," which had overwhelmed in panic terror the Austrian
knights at Sempach and Morgarten and which the Burgundians themselves
had heard at Grandson, fell upon their ears; and quickly following the
crash of their own guns which had been captured and turned upon
themselves by their own adversaries, the mountaineers of the
Waldstetten. At the hedge, in the very centre of the conflict, Duke
Charles and Somerset still desperately encouraged their men to a
hopeless resistance. Here in the midst of the carnage was Duke Rene,
leaping from his fallen horse and fighting by the side of Count Louis
under the scarlet banner of Gruyere; here fell Somerset and here fell at
last the great banner of Burgundy in the arms of its dying defender.
Soon the Burgundians were completely surrounded by the rear-guard of the
Swiss, and by the Morat garrison, and Duke Charles breaking his way
through his beaten and disorganized army with a force of three thousand
cavalry, succeeded in making his escape. Red was the water of the little
lake where, in a mad retreat, the Burgundians were drowned in thousands;
red was the battlefield where, after all hope was gone, a still greater
number were massacred in cold blood by the implacable Swiss. "Cruel as
Morat" was the saying which, passing into common speech, commemorated
for centuries this unforgotten conflict.
Ill-prepared to meet the united and well-nigh unconquerable Swiss as was
Duke Charles, the irremediable defeat which he suffered in this
celebrated battle might have been averted. But like a predestined victim
of the gods, driven mad by pride, and surrounded by rumors of the
desertion of his supporters, he had most unhappily chosen the only
Savoyard prince who was unalterably faithful to him, for his distrust,
and had forbidden Count Romont and his strong army of nine thousand men
to take part in the conflict. Thus the able general and the fresh,
unbroken force which might have saved the day watched from a neighboring
hill the the annihilation of the Burgundian army. Retiring at last from
his post of observation when he saw the great banner fall, Count Romont
offered to cover the retreat of the duke, who, still refusing his aid
although deserted by all but a dozen of his guard, fled madly across
country, taking refuge at last at Morges. The fleeing remnant of his
army was pursued by the Lorraine and Gruyere cavalry to Avenches, Count
Romont and his Savoyards alone escaping the general destruction; while
Count Louis of Gruyere, still riding triumphantly at the head of his
horsemen, as far as Lausanne, laid that city under contribution. The
appetite of the Bernois was by no means appeased by the great spoils of
the Burgundian army, and in spite of the injunction of Louis the XI, who
did not intend to lose the jurisdiction of Savoy, they again took the
field, capturing Payerne, burning Surpierre and Lucens; while the
chateau of Romont, besieged by their allies of Fribourg and defended
gallantly to the last by Count Romont himself, fell also. At Lausanne,
the rage and cupidity of the Bernois knew no restraint, and the city and
cathedral were sacked remorselessly, thus bringing to an end an utterly
unwarranted campaign of wanton destruction.
Duchess Yolande, who had hastened to the relief of Duke Charles, was
also so suspected by her defeated ally that he caused her to be arrested
by his maitre d'hotel and some brutal Italian soldiers and cast into the
Burgundian fortress of Rouvres, whence, finally convinced that her
brother was the most powerful as well as the most friendly of her foes,
she appealed to him for deliverance. Brought by his agents to France
after three months' imprisonment, Louis summoned her to his presence at
Plessis-les-Tours: "Madame la Bourguignonne," he said with his evil
smile, "you are welcome." "I am a good French woman," replied his
sister, "and ready to obey the will of your Majesty."
Whether, as has been recorded, Louis really loved his sister, who was
almost as able and far more attractive than himself, he kept her in
strict imprisonment until she signed a paper of perpetual fidelity to
him, and then he sent her back to Savoy and reestablished her on her
ducal throne. The prince bishop of Geneva was even more eager than his
sister-in-law to desert Duke Charles, and fearing that his city would
suffer the fate of Lausanne, offered to assist the Bernois in invading
Burgundy, there to complete the duke's destruction; whereupon the
Bernois at the price of an enormous indemnity consented to spare Geneva,
and to cease all further conquests in the Pays de Vaud. They also
agreed, under the repeated commands of King Louis to send their deputies
to a convention of the ambassadors of all the powers to meet at
Fribourg in July, 1476. A great and imposing company were these
ambassadors, who from France and Austria, Savoy, and the confederated
cities and cantons of Switzerland met to treat of the long needed peace.
Among them were Duke Rene of Lorraine and Count Louis of Gruyere, who
together with a representative of Archduke Sigismund, were chosen as
arbitrators to decide the terms of the proposed treaty. Acting for
Savoy, the count of Gruyere, who only by _force majeure_ had sided with
its foes, now ably and happily proved his real fidelity to its
interests, providing for the restoration of all its possessions in the
Pays de Vaud. At a second conference at Annecy, when the alliance
between the Confederates and Savoy was amicably regulated, he was also
present, receiving from the Genevan delegates rich donations for his
invaluable services. For Duke Charles, also Count Louis was as before
willing to negotiate a peace with Fribourg, but when a second deputation
of the same messengers whom the duke had before despatched to him, was
again unable to furnish the written authority he required, he was once
more unable to mediate on the duke's behalf. But when his friend and
co-arbitrator, Duke Rene of Lorraine, appealed for assistance to the
Swiss to repel Duke Charles' final attack upon his duchy, no answer was
forthcoming from Gruyere, and among the German-Swiss confederates at
whose hands Duke Charles suffered his cruel death before the walls of
Nancy, Count Louis' soldiers had no part. Small benefit was destined to
accrue, as the history of Europe unrolled through the succeeding years,
from the fall of the house of Burgundy. For while Louis XI by his evil
plotting had enlarged his kingdom, by obliterating the barrier of
Burgundy between France and Austria he had at the same time made way for
centuries of wars. "Here," said the 15th Louis before the tomb of the
last duke of Burgundy, "is the cradle of all our wars." As for
Switzerland, the system of mercenary service inaugurated by Louis
debased its honor and divided its sons, who, fighting in the opposing
armies of Europe, delayed for many years the development and the
independence of their country. For a few years only, Savoy and Romand
Switzerland enjoyed peace. Duchess Yolande, although still threatened by
the Savoy princes, was sustained upon the throne by her brother who in
this one instance was faithful to his promises. She reestablished the
customs of the ducal court and organized plays and festivities; and
surrounding herself with a train of musicians, with the soothing sounds
of flutes and harps, attempted to forget the fierce trials and tumults
of her reign. But her spirit and her strength were broken, and,
succumbing to an early death, she left her young son Philibert to
succeed to the duchy under the governorship of the Count de la Chambre,
who had been chosen by King Louis. The influence of this agent, however,
became too great for the designing king who intended to preserve his
jurisdiction over Savoy. He, therefore, instigated a revolt in the
Piemontaise provinces of the duchy with the connivance of its ruler the
Savoyard prince, Count Philippe de la Bresse. Realizing the necessity at
once to control this revolt, which favored the never slumbering desires
of the Count de la Bresse to grasp the control of Savoy, the Count de la
Chambre, accompanied by the Count de Gruyere and his brother, journeyed
to Piemont. The Count de la Bresse, on the arrival of these
representatives of his nephew, caused the Count de la Chambre to be
arrested in his bed and by acts of dangerous violence imperiled the
lives of the Count of Gruyere and his brother. The lately renewed
alliance with the powerful cities of Berne and of Fribourg now proved of
invaluable assistance to the threatened duchy of Savoy, for at the
appeal of the count de la Chambre they exacted an indemnification for
these injuries, and reduced the Count de la Bresse to submission.
After the death of Duke Philibert, his brother and successor Duke
Charles III renewed the useful alliance with the confederated cities,
and confirmed the appointment of Count Louis de Gruyere as "conseiller"
and "chambellan" of his court with the grant of additional pensions.
It was not long before Count Louis had a fresh opportunity of proving
his loyalty to Savoy, an opportunity doubtless welcomed by him to
obliterate the memory of his former and enforced opposition; for when
the warlike margrave of Saluzzo revolted from his allegiance to Savoy,
Count Louis practically organized an army of Bernois and Savoyards to
reduce him to submission, supplying a far greater number of Gruyeriens
than was required of him, and financing the expedition with loans from
Fribourg for which he was personally liable. Before the walls of
Saluzzo, it was he who led the assaults, preserved the assailants from
destruction when the garrison made an unexpected sortie, dispersed a
relieving army, and at last made a triumphant entry into the city behind
the allied banners of Berne and Gruyere. Engaged thus in the mutual
support of Savoy, Count Louis, always working heart and soul for peace
if he could, for war if compelled, so merited the approbation of the
Bernois that their captain wrote that "Count Louis de Gruyere and his
brother had conducted themselves as faithful and valorous friends of
their allies." Count Louis was also enthusiastic over this new alliance
of the Confederates with his beloved Savoy, and declared that "he was
resolved to live and die with his allies and that with God's help their
united strength would prevail against all foes."
Count Louis' new allies warmly appreciated the chivalry, generosity and
independence for which he was justly renowned, and in the various
differences which arose among the restless subjects of Gruyere, advised
them to trust to the justice of their ruler. Preserving to his last day
the enthusiasm and the frank amenity of a singularly charming and
well-balanced character, Count Louis was wise in the management of his
estates, encouraged printing at Rougemont, and sharing the love of pomp
and beauty of the Savoy court, was an amateur in architecture and as
enthusiastic in his religion as he was in all things else. When a
tornado followed by a disastrous fire destroyed a part of the city and
the chateau of Gruyere, he planned and partially executed an extensive
enlargement of his ancestral manor, rebuilding it in the later style of
the fifteenth century. He also rebuilt the adjoining chapel of St. Jean,
asking and receiving from the pope a grant of indulgence for the
faithful who should communicate therein on the anniversary of its second
foundation and on the fete of its patron saint. The chapel richly
furnished with sacred books, chalices, luminaries, and ecclesiastical
ornaments still preserves with its commemorative inscription the name
and fame of Count Louis.