Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/824

 788 SWITZERLAND [HISTORY. 22, after the arrival of the Zurich contingent under Hans Waldmann. English archers were in Charles's army, while with the Swiss was Rene, the dispossessed duke of Lorraine. After facing each other many hours in the driving rain, a body of Swiss, by outflanking Charles's van, stormed his palisaded camp, and the Burgundians were soon hopelessly beaten, the losses on both sides (a contrast to Granson) being exceedingly heavy. Vaud was reoccupied by the Swiss, Savoy having overrun it on Charles's advance ; but Louis now stepped in and procured the restoration of Vaud to Savoy, save Granson, Morat, Orbe, and F,challens, which were to be held by the Bernese jointly with the Freiburgers, Aigle by Bern alone, Savoy at the same time renouncing all its claims over Freiburg. Thus French-speaking districts first be- came permanently connected with the Confederation, hitherto purely German, and the war had been one for the maintenance of recent conquests, rather than a purely defensive one against an encroaching neighbour desirous of crushing Swiss freedom. Charles tried in vain to raise a third army ; Rene" recovered Lorraine, and on January 5, 1477, under the walls of Nancy, Charles's wide-reaching plans were ended by his defeat and death, many Swiss being with Renews troops. The wish of the Bernese to overrun Franche Comte was opposed by the older members of the Confederation, and finally, in 1479, Louis, by very large payments, secured the abandonment of all claims on that province, which was annexed to the French crown. Internal These glorious victories really laid the foundation of disputes gwlss nationality ; but soon after them the long-standing League J ea l us y between the civic and rural elements in the Con- federation nearly broke it up. This had always hindered common action save in case of certain pressing questions. In 1370, by the "Parsons' ordinance" (Pfaffenbrief), agreed on by all the Confederates except Bern and Glarus, all residents, whether clerics or laymen, in the Confederation who were bound by oath to the duke of Austria were to swear faith to the Confederation, and this oath was to rank before any other ; no appeal was to lie to any court spiritual or lay (except in matrimonial and purely spiritual questions) outside the limits of the Confederation, and many regulations were laid down as to the suppression of private wars and keeping of the peace on the high roads. Further, in 1393, the "Sempach ordinance" was accepted by all the Confederates and Solothurn; this was an attempt to enforce police re- gulations and to lay down " articles of war " for the organization and discipline of the army of the Confede- rates, minute regulations being made against plundering, women, monasteries, and churches being in particular protected and secured. But save these two documents common action was limited to the meeting of two envoys from each member of the Confederation and one from each of the "socii" in the diet, the powers of which were greatly limited by the instructions brought by each envoy, thus entailing frequent reference to his Government, and included foreign relations, war and peace, and common arrangements as to police, pestilence, customs duties, coin- age, &c. The decisions of the majority did not bind the minority save in the case of the affairs of the bailiwicks ruled in common. Thus everything depended on common agreement and goodwill. But disputes as to the division of the lands conquered in the Burgundian war, and the proposal to admit into the League the towns of Freiburg and Solothurn, which had rendered such good help in the war, caused the two parties to form separate unions, for by the latter proposal the number of towns would have been made the same as that of the " Lander," which these did not at all approve. Suspended a moment by the campaign in the Val Leventina, these quarrels broke out after the victory of Giornico; and at the diet of Stanz (December 1481), when it seemed probable that the fail- ure of all attempts to come to an understanding would result in the disruption of the League, the mediation of Nicholas von der Flue (or Bruder Klaus), a holy hermit of Sachseln in Obwald, though he did not appear at the diet in person, succeeded in bringing both sides to reason, and the third great ordinance of the League the " compact . of Stanz " was agreed on. By this the promise of mutual aid and assistance was renewed, especially when one mem- ber attacked another, and stress was laid on the duty of the several Governments to maintain the peace, and not to help the subjects of any other member in case of a rising. The treasure and movables captured in the war were to be equally divided amongst the combatants, the territories and towns amongst the members of the League. As a practical proof of the reconciliation, on the same day the towns of Freiburg and Solothurn were received as full members of the Confederation, united with all the other members, though on less favourable terms than usual, for they were forbidden to make alliances, save with the con- sent of all or of the greater part of the other members. Both towns had long been allied with Bern, whose influence was greatly increased by their admission. Frei- burg, founded in 1178 by Berthold IV. of Zaringen, had on the extinction of that great dynasty (1218) be- come a free imperial city, but had bowed successively to Kyburg (1249), Austria, the sons of Rudolph (1277), and Savoy (1452); when Savoy gave up its claims in 1477 Freiburg once more became a free imperial city. She had become allied with Bern as early as 1243. The ancient Roman city of Solothurn (or Soleure) had been associated with Bern from 1351, but had in vain sought admission into the League in 1411. Both the new mem- bers had done much for Bern in the Burgundian war, and it was for their good service that she now procured them this splendid reward, in hopes perhaps of aid on other important and critical occasions. The compact of Stanz strengthened the bonds which joined the members of the Confederation ; and the same centralizing tendency is well seen in the attempt (1483- 89) of Hans Waldmann, the burgomaster of Zurich, to assert the rule of his city over the neighbouring country districts, to place all power in the hands of the guilds (whereas by Bran's constitution the patricians had an equal share), to suppress all minor jurisdictions, and to raise a uniform tax. But this idea of concentrating all powers in the hands of the Government aroused great resistance, and led to his overthrow and execution. Peter Kistler succeeded (1470) better at Bern in a reform on the same lines, but not of such a sweeping character. The early history of each member of the Confederation, Practice and of the Confederation itself, shows that they always free< lom professed to belong to the empire, trying to become im- ' mediately dependent on the emperor in order to. prevent the oppression of middle lords, and to enjoy practical liberty. The empire itself had now become very much of a shadow ; cities and princes were gradually asserting their own independence, sometimes breaking away from it altogether. Now, by the time of the Burgundian war the Confederation stood in a position analogous to that of a powerful free imperial city. As long as the emperor's nominal rights were not enforced, all went well; but, when Maximilian, in his attempt to reorganize the empire, erected in 1495 at Worms an imperial chamber which had juris- diction in all disputes between members of the empire, the Confederates were very unwilling to obey it, partly because they could maintain peace at home by their own authority, and partly because it interfered with their practical independence. Again, their refusal to join the