Late as it was in November, the weather was still very mild, and as the emperor and duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter as he passed up the valley of the Moselle to that of the Ell, was hindered by autumn storms. The summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented heat and a prolonged drouth.1 Forest fires raged unchecked on account of the dearth of water and, for the same reason, the mills stood still. The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, but the vintage was not profitable because the wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains in September prepared the ground for an untimely fertility. Trees blossomed and, though some fruits withered prematurely, cherries actually ripened. Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance as Charles rode to Lorraine.
His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, where he stayed about a fortnight and received ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice, England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate, and Cologne.2 The result of his conference with the last named was a declaration on the duke's part which seriously affected his later career. The condition of Cologne must be touched on as an essential part of this narrative.
The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to pursue a line of policy in regard to the ecclesiastical elections in the diocese of Cologne that had succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463, he had tried to force the chapter to elect his candidate. They had refused to follow his leading, but their own choice, Robert, brother of the elector-palatine, did not prove a congenial chief, and the new prelate turned to Philip for aid when he found his chapter disposed to restrict both his revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in 1467, as the audacity of his opponents increased, the archbishop appealed to his brother, the elector, and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter was busy in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to Cologne, exhorting both chapter and city to be obedient to their chosen spiritual and lay lord. This intervention was resented. The breach widened between Robert and his people, culminating in actual hostilities. The chapter took possession of the town of Neuss, accepted Hermann of Hesse as their protector, and sent an embassy to Rome to state their grievances. The elector aided his brother and the belligerent parties grew in strength.
The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided which cause to espouse, and finally chose the chapter's side, signing a five years' alliance with that body, which had officially renounced allegiance to Robert, pending the judgment of pope and emperor on the dissension. Such was the state of affairs when Charles entered into possession of Guelders and manifested a disposition to interest himself in Cologne. He informed the chapter that he was greatly displeased with their contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral," but the burghers showed so little inclination to heed his neighbourly advice that he tried harsher measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be molested in his domains.
In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the hopes of imperial intervention.3 While Charles was still in Guelders, Robert paid him a visit, held long conferences with him, and probably received promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance when he returned from the interview. During the sojourn of duke and emperor at Trèves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone, arrived from Rome with plenary powers to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were endorsed by Charles in a letter from Trèves.
For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to refrain from interference, then something influenced him in another direction. When he arrived at Cologne in November, he received a warm welcome and costly gifts, which he repaid by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good city,"—cheap and easy benefits,—but he did not prove an efficient arbitrator, simply postponing any decision from day to day, though he was begged to settle all difficulties before Charles should attempt to relieve him of the trouble.
True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he no longer felt the need of conciliating the emperor, and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473, he issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert was entirely in the right, his opponents in the wrong.4 As these latter defied papal legate and arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of dispute, he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute himself defender of the insulted archbishop. At the same time, he despatched Ètienne de Lavin to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels. The declaration emboldened Robert to defy the emperor's summons to meet him and the papal legate. They both declared that they would take measures to bring him to obedience, but Frederic did not wish to tarry longer at Cologne. In January he took his departure, having directed Hermann of Hesse to protect that see against all aggression.
Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto, there was no formal treaty between Charles and Robert, but there are two drafts for such a treaty in existence,5 wherein the former pledged himself to force chapter, nobles, and city to submission, in consideration of the sum of 200,000 florins, while the archbishop gave permission to his ally to garrison all strongholds, including Cologne. Pending his autumn sojourn in the upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans regarding Cologne definitely in mind.
This duchy was even more interesting to Charles than Cologne, and there were many matters in its regard which demanded his urgent attention in 1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and conveniently adjacent to Burgundian lands. A natural means of annexation had been considered by Charles in the proposed marriage between Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. When that project was abandoned to suit Charles's pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected son-in-law until the latter's death in the spring of 1473. So unexpected was this event, that there was the usual suspicion of poisoning, and this crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly that monarch reaped no immediate advantage from the death, for the family to whom the succession passed was more friendly to Burgundy than to France.
The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt Yolande of Anjou, daughter of old King René of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate Margaret, late Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of Vaudemont. The council of Lorraine lost no time in acknowledging Yolande as their duchess. She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her son René, aged twenty-two, where they were received hospitably, and then Yolande formally abdicated in favour of the young man, who was duly accepted as Duke of Lorraine.
Now there was a large party of Burgundian sympathisers in Nancy, and it was probably owing to their pressure that very strong links were at once forged between Charles and the new sovereign of the duchy. The apprehension lest the former should protect the land as he had the heritage of his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was expressed by the timorous, but their counsels were overweighted, and, on October 15th, René accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable to Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"—an office that the emperor had already been asked to change into suzerainty,—René cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Charles, giving the latter full permission to march his forces across Lorraine. Further, he pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important places on the route "men bound by oath to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes, more, these were discharged from fidelity to Renè in case he abandoned Burgundian interests.
Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles by adding her signature to that of her son. Charles feared, however, that the provisions might not be adhered to by the Lorrainers—so humiliating were the terms—and exacted in addition the signatures of the chief nobles. On November 18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested their approval of an act that practically delivered their land to a stranger,—evidence that they doubted the ability of their hereditary chief, and preferred Burgundy to France.
There is a story that Charles tried other methods than diplomacy, before he got the better of the young duke in this bargain, that he actually had him stolen away from the castle of Joinville where he was staying with his mother.6 Louis promptly came forward and arrested a nephew of the emperor, a student in the University of Paris, and kept him as a hostage until the release of René. Rumour, too, asserts that there was a treaty of Joinville, wherein René asserted his friendship with Louis, which was intermitted by his relations with Charles, to be resumed later. That also seems to be improbable. The formal alliance with Louis did not come then, though the king took immediate care to build up a party in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself informed of the progress of the new regime.
From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to Nancy, where he was welcomed by his protégé, outside the city walls, and the two rode in together as the duke and the emperor had entered Trèves. Charles had been so long keeping up a show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that, undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first personage.7 He refused, however, to accept the young man's hospitality, and spent the two days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie, where he felt more at ease in his conferences with Lorrainers willing to proceed further to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.
The ally certainly became more exigeant. In various towns on the Moselle, Épinal, Charmes, Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were replaced by Burgundians. This immediate and arrogant use of the rights he had wrested from the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had been warm for Burgundy. René himself admired Charles as Maximilian had done. The strong man exercised a fascination over both youths, but the duke did not turn this admiration into real friendship, underestimating the character of his protégé. His measures, too, were taken without the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison after garrison was installed and commanded to obey his officers alone, while the soldiers were allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent to raids on a friendly country. As always, the agglomeration of mercenary companies was difficult to control. The duke did not succeed in having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in due restraint. Complaints began to pour into his headquarters. Public sentiment shifted day by day. The Burgundian became the personification of a public foe. Before Charles proceeded on his way to Alsace, René had begun to lose his admiration and it was not long before he impatiently awaited an opportunity to break with his too doughty protector.
During the four years that Charles had delayed in coming to look at the result of the bargain of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant, Peter von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason to regret the easy-going absentee Austrian seigneurs. Much had been done, undoubtedly, in restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons. The roads were well policed, and safety was assured to travellers. "I spy," was the motto blazoned on the livery of the forces led by Hagenbach up and down the land, until he had unearthed lurking vagabonds. It was acknowledged that gold and silver could be carried openly from place to place, and that night journeys were as safe as day. Still, this advantageous change had not won popularity for the man who wrought it. Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to make their own little bargains with highwaymen or petty nobles,8 a law unto themselves, than to meet the rigorous requisitions of the Burgundian tax collector.
It was the country that had profited most by the new administration. The small towns had long enjoyed great independence, and had shown ability in managing their own affairs. They wanted no interference. Not liked by those whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron hand, without acknowledging that its pressure had more good than evil in it.
Then there were the neighbours to be considered. The Swiss had hated Sigismund and all Austrians, and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy as a power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took no pains to win their friendship. His insolent fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or "rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked if not condoned by him, aroused bitter dislike to him in the confederated cantons,9 and in their allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there was a growing sentiment in Helvetia that they would be happier if Austria had her own again, while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone had greatly increased.
Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the opposition to his measures took a definite form long before the duke's arrival there. The various commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the quality of his bargain had all agreed in an urgent recommendation to the duke to redeem, at the earliest possible moment, all the troublesome mortgages honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach, too, was fully convinced of the necessity for this measure, but he was not provided with sufficient money to accomplish it.
In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to lay a new tax on wine. This impost, called the "Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for two reasons. The burden was oppressive to the vintners and it was an illegal measure, as no sanction had been given by the local estates. Three towns, Thann, Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were determined to refuse payment.
Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg, a stronghold dominating Thann, bombarded the town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous rebellion against the just orders of their lawful governor. Some of these, indeed, were pardoned, though their estates were confiscated, but five or six were publicly executed, and their bodies hung exposed to view on the market-place, as a hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting Burgundian orders.
One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim submissive, but Brisac proved more obstinate. The magistrates there did not resort to force. They declared there was no need, for they were fully protected by the article in the treaty of St. Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition of any tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined refusal made the lieutenant consent to refer the question to the Duke of Burgundy, and messengers were despatched to Trèves to represent the respective grievances of governor and governed. The collection of the tax was postponed until Charles could examine the situation.
A determined effort to bring the independent town of Mulhouse under Burgundian sway was another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white heat that forged organised resistance to any extension of Burgundian authority. For three years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince the burghers of that imperial city that they would be wise to accept the duke's protection and have their debts paid. The latter were, indeed, oppressive, but there was fear lest "protection" might be more so, and conference after conference failed to produce the acquiescence desired by Hagenbach.
In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared that if the burghers persisted in their refusal he would resort to force. Their reply was that Mulhouse could not take such an important step without consulting her friends, the Swiss. "Are the cantons going to help you pay your debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach. "Mulhouse is a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant that must be extirpated. Its submission would make a charming pleasure ground out of the Sundgau, Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew no city which he would prefer to Mulhouse for a sojourn," were his further statements.10
Two days were given to the town council for an answer. Hagenbach remarked that it was useless to think that time could be gained until the mortgaged territories should return to Austria. "Far from planning redemption, Duke Sigismund is now preparing to cede to Charles le téméraire as much again of his domain and vassals." Still Mulhouse was not convinced that the only course open to her was to let Charles pay her debts and receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming in the two days, but ready scribes had prepared many copies of Hagenbach's letter, which were sent to all who might be interested in checking these proposals of Burgundy.
On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne and there the matter was weighed. Hagenbach's letter was shown to those who had not seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from her dilemma were carefully considered. Years ago a union had existed between the forest cantons and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions to renew this alliance so as to present a strong front to their Burgundian neighbour. The cantons had enough to do with their own affairs, but the result of the discussion was that, on March 14th, a ten-year Alsatian confederation was formed in imitation of the Swiss.
The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse, Schlestadt, and two dioceses, and it is referred to as the Basse-Union or the Lower Union, the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights of the contracting parties, to meet for discussion on various questions, and, specifically, to help Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, March 19th, there was a fresh proposition to make an alliance between this Basse-Union and the Swiss confederation. This required a referendum. Each Swiss delegate received a copy of the articles to take back to his constituents for their consideration. No bond between the confederation and the union was, however, in existence at the time when Charles was approaching Alsace. Various conciliatory measures on his part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition to him, but, nevertheless, there were frequent conferences about affairs. Diets were almost continuous and there were strenuous efforts to raise money to free Mulhouse from her hampering financial embarrassments.
Hagenbach had not followed up his threats of immediate war measures, but it was known that he had obtained imperial authorisation to assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step which her allies hoped to forestall by settling her debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six hundred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, Basel four hundred, while Colmar, Schlestadt, Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to raise another four hundred. A diet was called at Basel for December 11th, and Zürich and Lucerne were expected to enter into the union. The tidings of the duke's approach were undoubtedly a stimulus to these renewed efforts to make the league strong enough to withstand him. The sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May God protect us from his mighty hand," voiced probably a wide-spread dread.
When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was large enough to inspire fear, but there was no opposition to his advance, though consultations, now at one city, now at another, were frequent. The duke paid little heed to their deliberations, under-estimating their importance, while he was gracious to any words of welcome offered to him. Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at Châtenois, and so did Colmar. The latter town expressed her willingness to receive him and an escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her refusal to admit a larger force within her walls. By this precaution, Charles was baffled in his plot to gain possession of the town, and so passed on his way.
On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal entry into Brisac, where a temporary court was established, and where audience was given to various embassies with the customary Burgundian pomp. Meanwhile the troops, forced to camp without the walls, were a burden to the land, and seem to have been more odious than usual to their unwilling hosts.
The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their knees and had their hopes raised high by their suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they failed to obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty of St. Omer should be observed in all respects. Among the envoys were many who undertook to remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and the over-severity of Hagenbach's administration. The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged, notably by Berne. The representations of these last envoys were received most courteously. The duke rather thought that the city could be detached from the league, and therefore gave himself some trouble to establish friendly relations.
To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory. He wrote a pleasant letter to the town and despatched a councillor thither, who would, he assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction. But an abortive coup d'état on the part of the Burgundians, which would have given them possession of Basel, destroyed the effect of these reassuring phrases. The burghers were warned in time, looked to their defences, and banished from their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully scrutinised before he was admitted within the walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The propriety of these precautions was soon proven.
Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the official capital of the landgraviate. Thither marched his troops from every quarter. Those from Säckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found their shortest route over the bridge at Basel, and there they appeared and begged to be allowed to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the least foothold on the city's territory was sternly refused then and a week later, when the request was renewed. The method of introducing friendly troops into a town and then seizing it by a sudden coup de main was what Charles had been suspected of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of this rather stupid stratagem was planned, only to fail again, and this time to be peculiarly disastrous in its reflex action.
The review took place and the strength of the Burgundian mercenaries was duly displayed to the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances were given to Brisac and the other towns that their suzerain would restrict his measures of taxation and administration to the stipulations of the contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all that he had not restricted the powers of his lieutenant in any respect, but rather had endorsed his general method of procedure.
One night was spent at Thann11 and then the duke took his leave of the annexed region whose people had hoped so much from his visit to them. In mid-January he arrived at Besançon, his winter journeying being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly mild weather.
Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the levying of the impost now approved by the duke, who had at the same time expressly ordered that the people were to be treated mildly, and that summary punishment was to check all excesses on the part of the eight hundred Picards employed by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector. The governor, however, saw no further need for gentle treatment or for respect to privileges. In Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set aside, and officers appointed by the governor. The corporation was curtailed of power, and the burghers were forced to prepare to march against Mulhouse.
Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction, Hagenbach proceeded to give himself some relaxation. His own marriage took place on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion with great fêtes. It is of this period in Hagenbach's life that the stories of gross excess are told.12 It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint towards the city, his personal passions, too, were permitted to run riot, and he spared no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.
As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad Penny" on the little independent landowners, he tried to extend it to the territory of the Bishop of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which was reported to the duke, who promptly ordered his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he had taken and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not ready to meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer an issue, but he was wholly ignorant of the real strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and waited for further action.
[Footnote 1: De Roye, p. 105.]
[Footnote 2: He also issued administrative orders. It was at this time that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of accounts at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland provinces. This measure was bitterly resented by the local authorities. (Fredericq. Le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne, p. 183.)]
[Footnote 3: Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey, p. 64.)]
[Footnote 4: Toutey, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]
[Footnote 5: See Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet, Urkunden, iv., 468, 470.]
[Footnote 6: Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story. Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (See Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, ii., 271.)]
[Footnote 7: Toutey's suggestion.]
[Footnote 8: All sons inherited their father's title, so that there were many landless lords.]
[Footnote 9: At this period there were eight in the confederation, which was a loose structure in which each member preserved her individuality.]
[Footnote 10: See Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the Cartulaire de Mulhouse, iv., et passim. This last furnishes the details for these passages.]
[Footnote 11: In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. The duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) does not agree with that of Knebel and others. But the facts of the narrative are little affected by the variations. The following is the itinerary accepted by Toutey:
|
Dep. from Ensisheim Stay at Thann Dep. from Belfort Besançon Auxonne, slept Dijon, a Dijon, d Auxonne, slept Dôle (Invested with the Franche Comté of Burgundy.) Besançon Vesoul and Luxeuil Lorraine Luxemburg Easter fêtes Fête of the Order of the Garter Brussels |
Jan. 8 " 9-10 " 11 " 17 " 18 " 23 Feb. 19, 1474 " 20 " 21-March 8 March 12 or 15 March 23-28 " 28 Apr. 4-June 9 " 10 " 23 June 27] |
[Footnote 12: Kirk considers that they are well founded and too indecent to repeat.]
"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?" These words in Latin, on scrolls fluttering from the hands of living angels, met the eyes of Charles of Burgundy at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle flattery of the implied comparison between him and the subject of the words of the prophet.1
The traveller had slept at Périgny, about a league from the capital of Burgundy, so as to make the last stage of his journey thither in leisurely state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday, January 22d, the appointed day, made postponement of the ducal parade necessary, out of consideration for the precious hangings and costly ecclesiastical robes that were to grace the ceremonies of reception and investiture. Fortunately, Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds rode through the city streets at an early hour, proclaiming the duke's gracious intention to make his entry on that day. Immediately, tapestries were spread and every one was alert with the last preparations.
A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century
Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like that cited, which were planted along the ducal way and on a succession of stagings erected for various exhibits. On the great city square, the platform was capacious and many actors played out divers roles. Here stood the scroll-bearing angels on either side of a living representation of Christ. In the background clustered three separate groups of people representing, respectively, the three Estates. Above their heads more inscriptions were to be read.2 "All the nations desire to see the face of Solomon," "Behold him desired by all races," "Master, look on us, thy people," were among the legends.
The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical, from other parts of the duke's domains participated, proceeded past all these soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy resembled Solomon in more ways than one, to the church of St. Benigne. Here pledges of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians and their ruler. The Abbé of Citeaux placed the ducal ring solemnly upon Charles's finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all the prerogatives of his predecessors.
From the church, the train wound its way to the Ste. Chapelle, past more stages decorated with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as "A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any," "The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold as a lion," etc.
Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of investiture were performed, and followed by a banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal robes, and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with gold, pearls, and precious stones. After a repast, prelates, nobles, and civic deputies were convened in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where first they listened to a speech from the chancellor. When he had finished, the duke himself delivered an harangue wherein he expatiated on the splendours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. Wrongfully usurped by the French kings, it had been belittled into a duchy, a measure much to be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the speaker broke off abruptly with an ambiguous intimation "that he had in reserve certain things that none might know but himself."3
What was the significance of these veiled allusions? It could not have been the simple scheme to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an ostrich-like quality of mind which made him oblivious to the world's vision but even he could hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours regarding the interview of Trèves, rumours flying north, east, south, and west. Might not this suggestion of secrets yet untold have had reference to the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and himself to divide France between them?
When his own induction into his heritage was accomplished, Charles was ready to pay the last earthly tribute to his parents. A cortège had been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the bodies of Philip and Isabella to their final resting-place in the tomb at Dijon, to which they were at last consigned.4
A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city of his birth, and then went to Dôle where he was invested with the sovereignty of the Franche-Comté and confirmed the privileges. Thus after seven years of possession de facto, he first actually completed the formalities needful for the legal acquisition of his paternal heritage. The expansion of that heritage had been steady for over half a century. Every inch of territory that had come under the shadow of the family's administration had remained there, quickly losing its ephemeral character, so that temporary holdings were regarded in the same light as the estates actually inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke, count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction in the natures of his tenures. But just as the last link was legally riveted in his own chain of lands, he was to learn that there were other points of view.
The statement is made and repeated, that the report of the duke's after-dinner speech at Dijon was a fresh factor in alarming the people in Alsace and Switzerland about his intentions, and making them hasten to shake off every tie that connected them with Charles and his ambitious projects of territorial expansion.5 As a matter of fact, there had been for months constant agitation in the councils of the Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union as to the next action.
Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent, antipathy to Austria was so deeply rooted that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably the arguments that came from France were what carried conviction. It was a time when Louis spared no expense to attain the end he desired, while he posed as a benevolent neutral.6 His servants worked underground. Their open work was very cautious. It was French envoys, however, who announced to the Swiss Diet, convened at Lucerne, that Sigismund was quite ready to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance and the redemption of his mortgaged lands.
That was on January 21, 1474, the very day when the mortgagee was preparing to ride into Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month and Sigismund's envoys were seated on the official benches at the Basel diet, ranking with the delegates from the cantons and the emissaries from France. On March 27th, the diet met at Constance, and for three days a debate went on which resulted in the drafting of the Ewige Richtung, the Réglement définitif, a document which contained a definite resolution that the mortgaged lands were to be completely withdrawn from Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This resolution was subscribed to by Sigismund and the Swiss cantons. Further, it was decided to ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St. Omer and to offer payment to Charles at Basel instead of Besançon.
Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in his own mind that the legends of his birthplace were correct in their rating of his character and his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was shortly after that festival, on April 17th, that a letter from Sigismund was delivered to him announcing in rather casual and off-hand terms that he was now in a position to repay the loan of 1469, made on the security of those Rhinelands. Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel 80,000 florins, 40,000 the sum received by him, 10,000 paid in his behalf to the Swiss, and 30,000 which he understood that Charles had expended during his temporary incumbency,7 and he, Sigismund, would resume the sovereignty in Alsace.
It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish was. The expressions employed in the paper were, however, so ambiguous, the language so involved, that Charles expended severe criticism on his cousin's style before he proceeded to answer his subject-matter. To that he replied that the bargain between him and Sigismund was none of his seeking. The latter had implored his protection from the Swiss, had begged relief in his financial straits. Touched by his petitions, Charles had acceded to his prayers and the lands had enjoyed security under Burgundian protection as they never had under Austrian. Charles had duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he had done nothing to forfeit his title. The conditions of redemption offered by Sigismund were not those expressly stipulated. If a commission were sent to Besançon, the duke would see to it that the merits of the case were properly examined.
"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose you have declared, in violation of the terms of the contract and of your princely word, we shall make resistance, trusting with God's help that our ability in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have used to repulse the attacks of the Swiss—those attacks from which you sought and received our protection."
Before this letter reached its destination, the duke's deputy in the mortgaged lands had already found his resources wholly inadequate to maintain his master's authority. After Charles departed from Alsace, Hagenbach's increased insolence and abandonment of all the restraint that he had shown while awaiting the duke's visit soon became unbearable. The deliberations in Switzerland concerning their return to Austrian domination also naturally affected the Alsatians and made them bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.
Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing admission to his garrisons. Brisac was in his hands already, and her fortifications held by mercenaries, but an order to the citizens to work, one and all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance with very serious results. It was at Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the Rhinelands, proved the final provocation to rebellion.
There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle, moreover, that this misuse of Easter Day was not Hagenbach's real crime. He simply wished to get all combatants out of the city before butchering the inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in time. That charge does not, however, seem substantiated by other evidence. But there is no doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a state of fury, fell upon the mercenaries, and killed many of them in spite of their own unarmed condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings, appeared at the window and offered various concessions, being actually humbled and intimidated by the unexpected turning of the submissive folk against him.
But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the reach of conciliatory words. Some of the more intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a show of propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing their own ancient council, arbitrarily abolished by Hagenbach, while taking a new oath to the Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of 1469. They also despatched envoys to the duke with explanations of their proceedings, stating further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone to which protest was made; that they were not in revolt against Charles. The latter answered, "Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional government, by the time they received this order, felt strong enough to disregard it and to continue to act on their own initiative.
Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but into irons. All fear of and respect for his authority was thrown to the winds, his offer of fourteen thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.
Deputations came from the confederation to congratulate the officials de facto and to promise aid. The next step gave the lie direct to the message sent to Charles upholding his authority while protesting against his lieutenant. Sigismund was urged to return to his own without further delay for legal formalities with his creditor. He assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the Austrian duke arrived in Brisac and picked up the reins of authority which he had joyfully dropped four years previously.
The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion, singing a ready parody of an Easter hymn:8
"Christ is arisen, the landvogt is in prison,
Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.
Kyrie Eleison!
Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,
But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.
Kyrie Eleison!"
Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the late governor was brought to trial. Instruments of torture sent from Basel were employed to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But there was nothing to confess. As a matter of fact the charges against him were for well-known deeds the character of which depended on the point of view. What the Alsatians declared were infringements of their rights, the duke's deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the terms of the treaty. In regard to his private career the prisoner persisted in his statement that he was no worse than other men and that all his so-called victims had been willing and well rewarded for their submission to him.
On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared over and the trial began before a tribunal whose composition is not perfectly well known, but which certainly included delegates from the chief cities of the landgraviate, and from Strasburg, Basel, and Berne.9
The trial was practically lynch law in spite of the cloak of legality thrown over it. Charles alone was Hagenbach's principal and he alone was responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic incompetence of the court was hotly urged by Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's self-appointed advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public opinion insisted upon extreme measures, and the sentence of capital punishment was promptly followed by execution.
Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by the sword and be permitted to bequeath a portion of his property to the church of St. Étienne at Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth was confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn to Fribourg during the progress of the trial. Even Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged that the late governor made a dignified and Christian exit from the life he had not graced.
Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger who brought him the news of this trial and execution, in the very presence of Sigismund who had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate, where he had appointed Oswald von Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus presuming to use sovereign power. This was not sufficient, however, to make the duke change his own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was entrusted with the commission of punishing the Alsatians for his brother's ignominious deposition, and he did his task grimly. According to the Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north, and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the south, did not have more than six or eight thousand men apiece, but they left Hun-like reputations behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in houses and churches, all in the name of the duke, contributed to the zeal with which the Austrian's return was ratified by popular acclamation, and with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the confederates were received.
Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone and obscure in phraseology. A statement presented somewhat later to the emperor by the Basse Union is more precise in the justification offered for the events and in the grievances rehearsed.10 That is, Sigismund treats the transaction as a purely financial one, naturally completed between him and his creditor by the offer to liquidate his debt. The plea made by the Alsatians and their friends is, that Charles had failed to keep his solemn engagements and that his appointed lieutenant had been peculiarly odious and had broken the laws of God and man, and that the mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians, Lombardians, and their fellows, had pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the Sundgau, and the diocese of Basel. The charges are itemised.11
"All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy, has neither been checked nor punished by him. In consequence, our gracious Seigneur of Austria has been obliged to restore the land and people to his sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he has done with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation and total destruction of land and people."
Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle matters in person, but pursued his intention of reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control, undoubtedly thinking that the base which would then be open to the archbishop's protector on the lower Rhine would facilitate his operations in the upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic had emphatically declared that he alone was the Defender of the Diocese, and that the unholy alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted him to abandon the enterprise and to accept mediation; those to the electors, princes, and cities of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against Burgundy until he himself arrived on the scene. There was a hot correspondence between all parties concerned, from which nothing resulted. Charles had various reasons for delay. There was trouble in other quarters of his domain. Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions for money, and the Franche-Comté was on the point of making active resistance to the imposition of the gabelle.
In view of all these complications, Charles decided to prolong his truce with Louis XI., to May 1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased to continue to pursue his own plans under cover of neutrality. The determination of the anti-Burgundian coalition in Germany to keep Charles within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant sight to the French king, and he felt that he could afford to wait.
In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg, forbidding all owing allegiance to the Duke of Burgundy to have any commercial relations with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with the cities of the Basse Union, and declaring the duke's intention to take the field at once, to reinstate the archbishop in his rightful see. This was a declaration of war and was speedily followed by the duke's advance to Maestricht, where he spent a few days in July, collecting a force which finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.
On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which had again emphatically refused entry to him and his troops. Three days the duke gave himself for the reduction of the town, but there he remained encamped for nearly a whole year! Neuss was resolved to resist to the last extremity, while Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers to the best of their ability. It was a period when Charles seemed to have only one sure ally, and that was Edward of England, whose own plans were forming for a mighty enterprise—no less than a new invasion of France.
On July 25th, the very day that Charles was on his march up to Neuss, his envoys signed at London a treaty wherein the duke promised Edward six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer his realm of France." Nothing loth to dispose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn, pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, without any lien of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers, Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories of Charles were to be exempt from homage. Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in France and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial interests forgotten; "to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and to carry thither foreign merchandise."
The year when Charles was waiting before the gates of Neuss was full of many abortive diplomatic efforts on the part of both the duke and Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to save something even from broken bargains. The Swiss not only counted on his friendship, but were constantly encouraged by his money, which emboldened them to send a letter of open defiance to Charles: "We declare to your most serene highness and to all of your people, in behalf of ourselves and our friends, an honourable and an open war." To the herald who delivered this document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"12 He felt that he had been betrayed.
This was on October 26th. The defiance was followed by a descent of the mountaineers upon Alsace, which Charles had not yet released from his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared to defend Burgundian interests at Héricourt, a good strategic position on the tiny Luzine. Here, the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the Count of Blamont arrived with two bodies of Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than twelve thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging force. His plan failed—the tables were turned. It was the Burgundians who were fiercely attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach was forced to surrender, obtaining honourable terms, however, and Sigismund put a garrison into Héricourt on November 16th.
This was a tremendous surprise to Charles. That cowherds could repulse his well-trained troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected. But he put aside all idea of punishing them for the moment, and continued to "reduce Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop," and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town in its determined resistance.
The opprobrious names applied to the would-be and baffled conqueror at this time are curiously similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon a few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ himself, with demoniac attributes added, when Alexander was felt to be too mild a comparison. There was still a terrible fear of the duke's ambition, even though, in the face of all Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his men, and Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, while the world wondered at the duke's obstinacy displayed in the wrong place. The belief expressed several times by Commines that God troubled Charles's understanding out of very pity for France, was a current rumour.
At the end of April an English embassy arrived at the camp, which was kept in a marvellous state of luxury, even though disease was not successfully curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the embassy was that Charles should raise this useless siege, fruitless as it promised to be, owing to the difficulty of cutting off the town's supplies. Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading army. He implored his dear brother to send him transports and to prepare to receive him when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a glimpse into the situation:13
"For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that the assege lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn affoor Nuse, and the Emperor hath besyged also not fferr from there a castill and another town in lykewyse wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water off Somme with 4000 spers; and sum men have that he woll, at the daye off brekyng off trewse, or else beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys heer. When I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.
"The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere and the Master off the Rolls be comyng homwards ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke I sholde be sek but iff I see it....
"For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde in to Flaundyrs to purveye me off horse and herneys and percase I shall see the essege at Nwse er I come ageyn."
There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick at the sight than for John Paston, and he did grow weary of the further waiting and anxious, for his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On May 22d, there was a skirmish between his troops and the imperial forces, wherein Charles claimed the victory. In reality, there was none on either side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe his amour propre, and to convince him that an accommodation with Frederic would not detract from his dignity.
A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched to help convey the English army, thirsting for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to meet Edward IV., and swell his escort as he marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other matters also demanded Charles's personal attention. Months had elapsed and Héricourt was unpunished—Berne had not been reproved.
René of Lorraine was formally admitted to the League of Constance on April 18, 1475, and was now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a touch of old King René's theatrical taste in his grandson's method of despatching the herald who rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet on May 10th. The man was, however, so overcome at the first view of le Téméraire that he hastily delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of war, without uttering a word. Then he fell on his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.14 Charles was so little displeased at the signs of the impression his presence made that, instead of being angry with the man, he gave him twelve florins for his good news. The terms of the declaration of war carried by the herald were as follows:
"To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the very high, etc., Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce defiance with fire and blood against thee, thy countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and other charge further have I not."15
The reply was straightforward:
"Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge, whereby thou hast given me subject for joy, and, to show you how matters are, thou shalt wear my robe with this gift, and shalt tell thy master that I will find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst not be afraid to return, I desire my marshal and the king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or to convoy thee in perfect safety, for I should be sorry if thou didst not make thy report to thy master as befits a good and loyal officer."
Thus was Charles pressed from the south and lured to the north. Excellent reason for obeying the order of the pope's legate that duke and emperor must lay down arms under pain of excommunication did either belligerent refuse! The armistice accepted on May 28th was followed by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It was a truce strictly to the advantage of Frederic and Charles. The Rhine cities, Louis XI., René of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed in the expectations they had based on Frederic.
[Footnote 1: Plancher, Histoire générale et particulière de Bourgogne, avec des notes et des preuves justificatives, iv., cccxxviii.]
[Footnote 2: Preparations for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set on foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One Frère Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures for appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every phrase indicating leonine strength was noted down. The good brother died before the anticipated event came to pass but the result of his patient labour was preserved.]
[Footnote 3: Dit qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de scavoir à nuls que à lui (Plancher, Preuves, iv., cccxxxiii.).]
[Footnote 4: Plancher, Preuves, iv., cccxxxiii. The document describing this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is evidently an error and not accepted.]
[Footnote 5: Toutey, p. 117.]
[Footnote 6: There are many records in theBibl. nat.. of the sums paid out to the Swiss at this time.]
[Footnote 7: Chmel, i., 92 et seq.]
[Footnote 8: Kirk, ii., 488.]
[Footnote 9: Toutey, p. 141.]
[Footnote 10: Text given by Toutey, Pièces justificatives, p. 442.]
[Footnote 11: The details are very brutal and untranslatable.]
[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 182.]
[Footnote 13: Paston Letters, iii., 122.]
[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 244.]
[Footnote 15: Bulletin de l'acad. royale de Belgique, 1887.]