The Story of Switzerland Part 8

[32] Von Greyerz still occurs amongst the Bernese aristocracy.

[33] Letzinen are walls constructed across a valley, and are peculiar to Switzerland.

XV.

THE BATTLES OF SEMPACH, 1386, AND NAEFELS, 1388.

Seldom, if ever, has Switzerland seen a more eventful month than that of July, 1386, for in that month she fought and won the ever-memorable battle of Sempach. To set down all the petty details as to the causes which led to this engagement would be tedious indeed. It is sufficient to point out--what is but a truism--that there is seldom much love lost between oppressor and oppressed, and Austria and the Swiss Confederation had for some time held that relation to each other. A ten years' peace had indeed been concluded between the two powers, but it was a sham peace, and the interval had been used by both to prepare for new conflicts.

Austria was secretly a.s.sisting the impoverished house of Kyburg in her ravis.h.i.+ng expeditions against the towns of the Confederation.

Ruthlessness was met by ruthlessness; Zurich laid siege to Rapperswyl with the intent to destroy the odious Austrian toll-house; Lucerne levelled with the ground the Austrian fort Rothenburg, and entered into alliances with Entlebuch and Sempach to overthrow the Austrian supremacy. This was equal to a declaration of war, and war was indeed imminent.

Duke Leopold III., of Austria, was most anxious to bring the quarrel to an issue, and to chastise the insolent Swiss citizens and peasantry. The Swiss cities had joined in league with the Southern German towns, which like themselves professed the policy of resisting the encroaching tendencies of princes and n.o.bles. Mutual help in case of need had been pledged amongst themselves by this league of cities, but the burghers of the German towns were mere puppets in the hand of Austria. She, dreading the rising of wealthy towns, cajoled them by fine promises, and they pleaded for submission, and sought to compose the differences between the Swiss and the Austrians. Of very different mettle, however, were the towns on this side the Rhine; they objected to the weak and wavering policy of their more northerly neighbours, and determined on fighting, if necessary, alone and unaided.

Leopold III., a descendant of that Leopold so disastrously defeated at Morgarten, possessed most of the virtues held of account in his day. He was manly, chivalrous, dauntless; he was possessed of dexterity and adroitness in both sports and the more serious business of war. His indomitable spirit and personal daring knew no bounds. He had once, clad in full armour, forded the Rhine at flood-time, and in the sight of the enemy, to escape being made prisoner. Like Rudolf of Habsburg he was vastly ambitious, and bent on securing wealth and greatness for the house of Austria. A clever manager of his estates and a generous master, he was yet neither politician nor tactician; as a man of action, and filled with hatred of the refractory towns, he spared no pains to check their struggles for independence. No wonder then that the n.o.bles of Southern Germany rallied round the gallant swordsman, and made him their leader in the expeditions against the _bourgeoisie_ and peasantry. And no sooner had the truce expired (June, 1386), than they directed their first attack on the bold Confederation; no fewer than one hundred and fifty n.o.bles sending letters of refusal (= a challenge) to the summons to war sent out by the Swiss Government.

Leopold's plan was to make Lucerne the centre of his military operations, but in order to draw away attention from his real object, he sent a division of five thousand men to Zurich to simulate an attack on that town. Whilst the unsuspecting Confederates lay idle within the walls of Zurich, he gathered reinforcements from Burgundy, Swabia, and the Austro-Helvetian Cantons, the total force being variously estimated at from twelve thousand to twenty-four thousand men. He marched his army in the direction of Lucerne, but by a round-about way, and seized upon Willisan, which he set on fire, intending to punish Sempach _en pa.s.sant_ for her desertion. But the Confederates getting knowledge of his stratagem left Zurich to defend herself, and struck straight across the country in pursuit of the enemy. Climbing the heights of Sempach on the side of Hiltisrieden, overlooking the town and lake of that name, they encamped at Meyersholz, a wood fringing the hilltop. The Austrians leaving Sursee, for want of some more practicable road towards Sempach, made their way slowly and painfully along the path which leads from Sursee to the heights, and then turns suddenly down upon Sempach. Great was their surprise and consternation when at the junction of the Sursee and Hiltisrieden roads they came suddenly upon the Swiss force, which they had imagined to be idling away the time at Zurich. The steep hillsides crossed by brooks and hedges looked a battlefield impracticable enough for cavalry evolutions, yet the young n.o.bles in high glee at the prospect of winning their spurs in such a spot pleaded for the place against the better reason of all men.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The Swiss, confident of success, and trusting in the help of G.o.d and the saints, as of old, drew up in battle order, their force taking a kind of wedge-shaped ma.s.s [Drawing of trapezoid] the shorter edge foremost and the bravest men occupying the front positions. The Austrians, on the other hand, relying proudly on the superiority of their high-born knights and n.o.bles, looked disdainfully on what they believed to be a mere rabble of herdsmen. And, in truth, the handful of fifteen hundred men, inadequately armed with short weapons or clubs, battle-axes or halberds, seemed but a sorry match for that steel-clad army of six thousand well-trained lancers, cavalry, and foot. But the possession of cavalry in such a spot could not in itself give any advantage to the Austrians, and their knights dismounted and handed their horses to the care of attendants. To avoid getting their feet entangled in the long gra.s.s of a meadow close by the n.o.ble cavaliers cut off the beaks or points of their shoes--then the fas.h.i.+on--and the spot is to this day called the "beak-meadow" (Schnabelweide). Claiming for themselves the right to win honour that day, they ordered their infantry to the rear.

According to another account, however their infantry were still at Sursee, the n.o.ble hors.e.m.e.n declining their aid. After ancient custom, the Austrians formed themselves into a compact phalanx, the n.o.blest occupying the front ranks, the preparations being necessarily hurriedly and somewhat indefinitely made.

The onset was furious, and the Austrian Hotspurs, each eager to outstrip his fellows in the race for honour, rushed on the Swiss, drove them back a little, and then tried to encompa.s.s them and crush them in their midst. The Swiss quickly fell back, but some sixty of their men were cut down before the Austrians lost a single soldier. The banner of Lucerne was captured; the Austrian phalanx was as yet unbroken, and all the fortune of the battle seemed against the Swiss, for their short weapons could not reach a foe guarded by long lances. But suddenly the scene changed. "A good and pious man," says the old chronicler, deeply mortified by the misfortune of his country, stepped forward from the ranks of the Swiss--_Arnold von Winkelried_! Shouting to his comrades in arms, "I will cut a road for you; take care of my wife and children!"

he dashed on the enemy, and, catching hold of as many spears as his arms could encompa.s.s, he bore them to the ground with the whole weight of his body. His comrades rushed over his corpse, burst through the gap made in the Austrian ranks, and began a fierce hand-to-hand encounter. Fearful havoc was made by the Swiss clubs and battle-axes in the wavering ranks of the panic-stricken enemy, whose heavy armour and long lances indeed greatly impeded their movements. Nevertheless the Austrians made a brave stand, and Leopold, who had been watching the issue, now rushed into the _melee_, and fell one of the bravest in the desperate struggle. The n.o.bles and knights, calling for their horses, found that the attendants had fled with them. Seeing that all was lost, the knights became panic-stricken, and rushed hither and thither in the greatest disorder.

There still remained the infantry, however, and these attempted to stay the flight of the hapless cavaliers, and restore order, but it was all in vain. A fearful carnage followed, in which no mercy was shown, and there fell of the common soldiers two thousand men, and no fewer than seven hundred of the n.o.bility. The Swiss lost but one hundred and twenty men. Rich spoils--arms, jewellery, and eighteen banners--fell into the hands of the victors.

This defeat of a brilliant army of horse and foot, of knights and n.o.blemen, all well-trained, by a mere handful of irregulars--citizen and peasant soldiers--was a brilliant military achievement, and attracted the attention and admiration of the civilized world. It brought to the front the _bourgeoisie_ and peasantry and their interests, and struck terror into the hearts of their oppressors. This great victory gained by the Swiss not only widened and established more firmly the career of military glory commenced at Morgarten, but it gave to the Confederation independence, and far greater military and political eminence. What Plataea had been of old to the Greeks, that Sempach was to the Swiss; it struck a deadly blow against an ancient and relentless foe. Austria, her rule on this side of the Rhine thus rudely shaken, was compelled to waive all rights of supremacy over the Confederation. Not that she relinquished those rights readily; it needed an equal disaster to her forces at Naefels, in 1388, before she would really and avowedly renounce her pretensions to rule the Swiss.

The story of Winkelried's heroic action has given rise to much fruitless but interesting discussion. The truth of the tale, in fact, can neither be confirmed nor denied, in the absence of any sufficient proof. But Winkelried is no _myth_, whatever may be the case with the other great Swiss hero, Tell. There is proof that a family of the name of Winkelried lived at Unterwalden at the time of the battle. But no Swiss annals referring to the encounter at Sempach were written till nearly a century later. The Austrian chronicle gives no account of Winkelried's exploit, and for good reason, say the Swiss: all the men of the Austrian front ranks, who alone could have witnessed the exploit, were killed, and the rear ranks fled at the very first signs of disaster in front of them. A fifteenth-century chronicle of Zurich, and the numerous songs and annals of the sixteenth century, are full of praise of Winkelried and his deeds. But whatever may be the real truth of the matter it is certain that the grand old story of Winkelried and his splendid self-sacrifice is indelibly written on grateful Swiss hearts. Whether it was a single man or a whole body of men that offered up life itself for their country, it clearly proves a dauntless spirit of independence, a hatred of wrong and tyranny to have been innate in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the old Switzers, and to have led to the deliverance of their country from foreign oppression. And in spite of the many and often bitter controversies of the past twenty years the memory of Winkelried will ever remain an inspiration and a rallying-point whenever the little fatherland and its liberties are threatened.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Winkelried's monument at Stanz (_From photograph by Appenzeller, Zurich._)]

The victory of Naefels forms a worthy pendant to that of Sempach, and as such cannot be pa.s.sed over in silence. The Austrians, having recovered their spirits after the terrible disaster, and the "foul peace" (_faule Friede_) hastily arranged having expired, they carried the game to its conclusion. Despite all prohibitions, Glarus had kept up its friends.h.i.+p with the Eidgenossen, and in conjunction with them had, in 1386, captured Wesen, the key to the district. To Glarus, therefore, Albrecht III. now gave his whole attention. But Glarus itself, feeling much more free after Sempach, a.s.sembled its inhabitants, in the spring of 1387, for the first time as a Landsgemeinde, and drew up for itself a const.i.tution. Wesen on Walensee was recaptured by the Austrians on their way to Glarus. This happened through the treachery of the inhabitants of the town, who, siding with their old masters, opened their gates. The federal garrison was surprised as they slept, and put to the sword (February, 1388). The Austrians a.s.sembled at Wesen a force of six thousand horse and foot, and on the 9th of April set out in two divisions. Count Hans von Werdenberg, the chief mover in the enterprise, climbed the opposite heights, with the intention of forming a junction at Mollis, whilst Count Donat von Toggenburg and other n.o.bles led the main force along the river Lint. Reaching Naefels, at the entrance of the Glarus valley they found their pa.s.sage barred by an Alpine fortification--a _Letzi_, as it is called--consisting of rampart and ditch. This, however, was stormed without difficulty, as the guard was insufficient for its defence. In truth, the Glarner were unaware of the Austrian movements, and though Ambuhl and his two hundred men fought with the utmost bravery, they were no match for the far superior numbers against them. Like a torrent the Austrians rushed into the open and defenceless valley, and, fancying no doubt there was no further opposition or danger to fear, dispersed in all directions, pillaging property, firing houses, driving cattle. Plunder and destruction seemed indeed to be now their sole aim; but meanwhile the tocsin was sounding through the valley to call the villagers to arms in defence of their country. Fast they flocked to the standard of Ambuhl, who had posted himself with his troops on the steep declivity of Rautiberg, waving high the banner of St. Fridolin to attract his friends. Here, six hundred men all told, including a handful of men from Schwyz, awaited the foe. At last, in straggling and disorderly fas.h.i.+on, the Austrians appeared in sight, many lingering behind for the sake of plunder. Their attempt to ascend the eminence occupied by the foe was met by a shower of stones, which threw the horses into confusion. With true Alpine agility the mountaineers now dashed down the slopes and fell on the cavalry. A fierce encounter followed, and then a terrible chase, during which the Austrians are said to have ten times stopped in their flight and attempted to hurl back their Swiss pursuers, but ten times were compelled to give way again before the terrible strokes which met them.

Darkness set in, and with it came on fog, and a sudden fall of snow. A superst.i.tious panic seized on the Austrians, and they fled in the utmost confusion to Naefels, and thence sought to regain their faithful Wesen.

But here a fresh catastrophe awaited them. Thronging the bridge spanning the outlet of the lake their weight broke down the structure, and hundreds of fugitives dragged down by their heavy armour sank with it, and were drowned. Count Werdenburg, who was watching the disaster from his eminence, fled as fast as he could. This disaster explains the loss by the Austrians of so disproportionate a number of men, viz., seventeen hundred, as against the fifty-four who fell of the Glarus force. The latter fell chiefly in defence of the Letzi.

Year after year the people of Glarus, rich and poor alike, Protestant and Catholic, still commemorate this great victory. On the first Thursday in April, in solemn procession, they revisit the battlefield, and on the spot the Landammann tells the fine old story of their deliverance from foreign rule, whilst priest and minister offer thanksgiving. The 5th of April, 1888, was a memorable date in the annals of the canton, being the five-hundredth anniversary of the day on which the people achieved freedom. From all parts of Switzerland people flocked to Naefels to partic.i.p.ate in the patriotic and religious ceremonies. A right stirring scene it was when the Landammann presented to the vast a.s.sembly the banner of St. Fridolin--the same which Ambuhl had raised high--and thousands of voices joined in the national anthem, _Rufst du mein Vaterland_, which, by the way, has the same melody as _G.o.d save the Queen_. If the Switzer has no monarch to love and revere, he has still his national heroes and his glorious ancestors, who sealed the freedom of their country with their blood.

In 1389 a seven years' peace was arranged, and Glarus returned to the Confederation. This peace was first prolonged for twenty years, and afterwards, in 1412, for fifty years. Finally, after a strife of more than one hundred years, Austria renounced her claims to rule over the Forest, and all her rights in Zug, Lucerne, and Glarus. In process of time the various dues were paid off in ordinary form.

XVI.

HOW SWITZERLAND CAME TO HAVE SUBJECT LANDS.

(1400-1450.)

In the fourteenth century the Eidgenossen established a _menage politique_ of their own, and fixed its independence; in the fifteenth they raised it to power and eminence, and obtained for it an important military position in Europe. Yet though their family hearth was established, all was not done. The allied states could not stop there.

They were still surrounded by lands ruled by Austria, by Italy, by Savoy; lands which could and did threaten the independence of the little infant republic. In fact, at a very early stage, the acquisition of additional territory became a vital question. This was to be done by means of new alliances, or by purchase or conquest. Zurich, for instance, had already, between 1358 and 1408, spent some two million francs in the buying of land. The struggles for independence had kindled a like desire for emanc.i.p.ation amongst the neighbouring Alpine states.

But the efforts resulting were not all equally successful. Some of the states drifted from monarchical subjection to that of the federation or canton as subject lands (_Unterthanen laender_); others became "connections" (_Zugewandte_), or allies of inferior rank; others, again, took the position of _Schirmverwandte_, or _proteges_. One might indeed go thus through a whole graduated scale of relations.h.i.+ps developed amongst the crowd of candidates seeking admission into the league. And though as yet kept outside they received a helping hand from the Eidgenossen. But it is not till the opening of the nineteenth century that we find the list of twenty-two cantons made up. Thanks to the mediation of Napoleon Bonaparte (1803), St. Gall, Thurgau, Grisons, Aargau, Vaud, and Ticino were added to the confederation of states. And by the Congress of Vienna, in 1814-15, were also added Valais, Geneva, and Neuchatel. The latter, however, still continued under the sway of Prussia, although partly a free state, till 1857. The reader will clearly see into what a complicated fabric of unions the league is growing, and that the Swiss fatherland did not spring at once into life as a _fait accompli_. Each canton had its separate birth to freedom, as was the case with the free states of ancient Greece, which joined into confederations for a similar end--protection against a common foe. Each little state has its own separate history, even before it amalgamates with the general league. We shall, however, notice only the leading features.

Appenzell opens the series of _Zugewandte_, or "connections." The shepherds and peasants scattered around the foot of Mount Santis, oppressed by the abbots of St. Gall, began a rising that partook of a revolutionary character. A succession of heroic feats followed--the battle of Vogelinseck in 1403, that of Am Stoss in 1405, and others[34]--and the prelate and his ally, Frederick IV. of Austria ("Empty Pocket"), were completely defeated. Somewhat curiously we find Graf Rudolf von Werdenberg throwing in his lot with that of the humble peasants, and stooping to the humiliating terms they insisted upon. He had been robbed of his lands by the Habsburgs, and hoped to recover them by the help of the Alpestrians, and actually did so. But the peasantry were somewhat diffident concerning him, and would not entrust him with command. So the n.o.ble knight of St. George put aside his fine armour and his magnificent horse, and donned the peasant's garb to be admitted into their ranks. Elated by their succession of triumphs the hardy Appenzeller rushed on to new victories. Bursting their bounds, like an impetuous mountain torrent, they spread into neighbouring lands, and even penetrated to the distant Tyrol. Serf and bondsman hailed them as deliverers, and whole towns and valleys along the Upper Rhine and the Inn came into alliance with them--_Bund ob dem See_, above Lake Constance--that was to be a safeguard in the East. At last the Swabian knighthood plucked up courage enough to oppose this mountain hurricane.

At the siege of Bregenz in 1407, they were, through carelessness, put to flight. The Bund collapsed, and its prestige departed, but the men had secured their object, viz., independence from control by the Abbey of St. Gall. By and by they bought off some of the taxes, and they met at their Landsgemeinde to consult respecting the weal of their country.

Down to our own days this inst.i.tution remains famous. Their application in 1411 for admission into the league was granted, but quite conditionally. Bern kept aloof from them, and Zurich found it necessary to checkmate their revolutionary tendencies, and they were received as _Zugewandte_, or allies of second rank. It was not till 1513 that the new-comer rose to the position of full member of the league. St. Gall, too, became "a connection"--and no more--in 1412.

The emanc.i.p.ation of the Valais (Wallis) is but one succession of feuds between the native n.o.bility and Savoy, the owner of Low Valais, on the one hand, and the bishops of Sion and the people, on the other. It was, in fact, a contest between the Romance and the German populations, the latter of whom the French had driven into a corner. The dynasts Von Turn had Bishop Tavelli seized in his castle and hurled from its very windows down a precipice. This foul murder was avenged in the great battle of Visp, where Savoy is said to have left four thousand dead (1388). The barons of Raron sustained a defeat at Ulrichen, in 1414, though a.s.sisted by Bern (of which town they were citizens) and Savoy. These powerful n.o.bles left the country, and the Valisians gradually secured autonomy, and, being helped in their quarrels by the Forest men, they finally drew nearer to the Confederation, as _Zugewandte_ (1488).

We must not pa.s.s over a singular custom which prevailed amongst the Valais folk. It was a custom observed as a preliminary to serious warfare. If a tyrant was to fall, he was attainted and doomed by the Mazze. This was a huge club on which was carved a distressed-looking face as a symbol of oppression, the club being wound round with bramble.

It was carried from village to village, and hamlet to hamlet, even to the remotest spots, and set up at public places to attract the attention of the people. One of the malcontents would then step forward and denounce the oppressor to the figure, and promise help. It was said that when the name of Raron was p.r.o.nounced the figure bowed deeply in token of a.s.sent, and the insurgents drove nails into the face as a declaration of hostility, and the instrument was deposited at the gate of the baron's castle.

Graubunden (Grisons), the land of ancient and mediaeval memories, of crumbling and picturesque castles, was, on account of its rugged surface and its almost countless dales, split up into numberless territorial lords.h.i.+ps. Here in this rocky seclusion held sway the Belmonts, the Montforts, the Aspermonts, the Sax-Misox, and many others whose sonorous names tell of their origin. Here also were found the families of Haldenstein, Werdenberg, Toggenburg, and many more--Italian, Romansch, and German mingling closely. Yet the lord-paramount of them all was the Bishop of Chur, who had attained the rank of _Reichsfurst_ or duke, who had a suite of n.o.bles attached to his quasi-royal household, and who held lands even in Italy. Quite contrary to the usual rule, n.o.ble and peasant in general lived amicably together. The political freedom of the state was due rather to remarkable coalitions than to acts of war or insurrection. In the fourteenth century, when the bishops of Chur revealed a strong leaning towards Austria-Tyrol, the Gotteshausbund sprang into existence as a check on the alien tendencies of the prince-bishops. This league was formed in 1367 by the _Domstift_ (chapter of clergy), the n.o.bles, and the common people. The bishops themselves ruled over people of three different nationalities. A glance at the place-names on the map of Bunden shows how the old Latin race (Romansch), the Italians, and the migrated German race, were mixed up pell-mell in the district. Yet the Walchen Romansch (Welsh) were slowly retreating before the Valser, or Germans of the Valais, who had a strong bent for colonization and culture. In 1397 the _Graue Bund_ (Grey League) was started in the valleys of the Vorder-Rhine by the Abbot of Disentis, some of the n.o.bles, and the people at large. On the death of the last of the Toggenburgs in 1436 his various domains of Malans, Davos, Prattigau, &c., dreading Austrian interference, united into a league known as the ten _Gerichte Bund_ (Jurisdictions), so called because each of the districts had its own place of execution. Gradually the three leagues formed a federal union (1471), and held their diets at one centre, Vazerol. Thus Bunden, developing after the manner of the Forest Cantons, grew into a triple and yet federal democracy which, threatened by the Austrian invasion during the Swabian wars, turned to the Eidgenossen for help, and joined with them in 1497 as "connections."

In 1414 met the famous Council convoked by the Emperor Sigismund to remedy the evils which galled the Church, that Council which by a strange irony of fate sentenced to death by fire John Huss, the staunch opponent of the very abuses which the Council was called to redress. The Council proved fatal to the Habsburg interests in Swiss lands. Frederick IV. of Austria--the enemy of Appenzell--refused his homage to the German monarch, and for material reasons espoused the cause of John XXIII., one of the three deposed popes. John gave a tournament to cover his departure, and during the spectacle fled in a shabby postillion's dress to the Austrian town, Schaffhausen, whither Frederick followed.

Excommunicated and outlawed--within a few days no fewer than four hundred n.o.bles sent challenges to him--Duke Friedel, as he was familiarly called by his faithful Tyrolese peasantry, who alone stood by him, was driven from his lands and from his people. On all sides German contingents fell upon his provinces. Sigismund called on the Eidgenossen in the name of the empire to march on Aargau, his ancestral land, promising them the province for themselves. As they had just renewed their peace with Austria, the Eidgenossen were unwilling to break it, but it was urged by the emperor that their promise to Frederick was not binding. Bern, ever bent on self-aggrandis.e.m.e.nt, and determined to secure the lion's share if possible, threw away her scruples, and within seventeen days took as many towns and castles.[35] Zurich, consulting with the Eidgenossen, followed suit and seized Knonau. Lucerne took some fragment, and the Forest did likewise. Aargau, the retreat of the Habsburg n.o.bles, offered no serious resistance; but Baden, which was seized by the Eidgenossen conjointly, the castle of Stein, the royal residence of the Habsburgs, was being stormed, when Sigismund tried to stop the siege; for Frederick in despair had in the meantime made an abject submission, and most of the confiscated lands were restored to him. However, the Eidgenossen were unwilling, because of the emperor's wavering policy, to relinquish so good a chance of adding to their territory. Matters were settled by their paying over a sum of money to Sigismund, who was ever in financial straits. Henceforth Friedel was nicknamed "With-the-empty-pocket."[36] Aargau was divided amongst the Eidgenossen as subject land, what they had seized separately becoming cantonal, and what conjointly federal, property. Baden and some other places became federal domains _(gemeine Herrschaften)_, over which each of the eight states in turn set a governor for two years. With this precedent we enter upon the curious period in which the Swiss cantons split into two sets, the governing and the governed.

Whilst the republics vied with each other in extending their borders, two, Uri and Unterwalden, were unable to increase their territory, being hemmed in by lofty mountains. They turned their eyes towards the sunny south, beyond St. Gothard, where they might find additional lands. Like the Rhaetians of old they had often descended into the Lombard plains, though for far more peaceful ends. When the St. Gothard pa.s.s was thrown open in the thirteenth century, there was a lively interchange of traffic between the two peoples--the cismontanes and the transmontanes.

The men of the Forest sold their cheese, b.u.t.ter, cattle, and other Alpine produce at the marts in the Lombardian towns, and got from thence their supply of corn and other necessaries. And they of the Forest acted as guides across the mountains, as they did down to the railway era.

Their youths, too, enlisted amongst the Italians soldiers, induced either by the prospect of gaining a living, or by a mere desire for amus.e.m.e.nt. Thus the Swiss a.s.sociated on friendly terms with the southerners. But all this pleasant social intercourse was suddenly cut off. Whilst the Eidgenossen under the aegis of a weakened empire secured independence, the mighty Lombard cities, which had objected to imperial fetters, however light, by a singular contrast sank beneath the tyrannies of ambitious native dynasts, and under the Visconti the duchy of Milan sprang up from these free Italian towns. Quarrels that broke out between the Milanese and the people of the Forest prepared the way for the acquisition of Ticino by the Swiss. In 1403 Uri and Unterwalden were robbed of their herds of cattle at the mart of Varese by the officials of the Visconti, on what pretext is not clear. Failing to get redress, they at once decided on resorting to force. They seized the Livinenthal or Leventina, which willingly accepted the new masters.

Fresh robberies in 1410 were revenged by the annexation of the Eschenthal, with Domo d'Ossola, which greatly preferred Swiss supremacy to that of the Duke of Milan. This is not much to be wondered at, seeing that Gian Maria Visconti was a second Nero for cruelty. The human beings who fell victims to his suspicion or revenge he had torn to pieces by huge dogs, which were fed on human blood. To strengthen their Italian acquisitions the Eidgenossen bought Bellinzona (1418) from the barons of Sax-Misox or Misocco of Graubunden. But the Milanese dukes would not brook the loss of these lands, and a long-protracted war ensued with varying success. Most of the more distant cantons being opposed to these Italian conquests declined to send help, but hearing that Bellinzona had been captured by the Visconti, some three thousand Eidgenossen marched to its relief in 1422. They were, however, no match for the twenty-four thousand troops gathered by the famous general Carmagnola. Lying in ambush for the Swiss he succeeded in completely shutting them in at Arbedo, with the exception of six hundred who had escaped into the valley of Misox. For six hours the small Swiss band fought to the utmost, refusing to give way, though opposed by a force of ten times their number, and well trained. Suddenly their brethren came to their relief, or they would have been crushed. The Swiss loss was two hundred, that of the enemy nine hundred. But the conquests were forfeited for the present. Yet the Swiss pushed on to new war to redeem their misfortunes under the Sforza. A brilliant victory was that of Giornico (Leventina), 1478, where six hundred Swiss under Theiling from Lucerne defeated a force of fifteen thousand Milanese soldiers. This tended greatly to spread Swiss military fame in Italy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMS OF URI.]

FOOTNOTES:

[34] It is related that Uli Rotach kept at bay with his halbert twelve Austrians, giving way only when the hut against which he leant was set on fire.

[35] To Bern fell the cla.s.sic spots Habsburg and Konigsfelden.

[36] As a retort to those who thus nicknamed him this extravagant prince built a balcony at Innsbruck whose roof was covered with gold, at the cost of thirty thousand florins--it would be twenty times more money now. Every visitor to that romantic city will be struck by the quaint _Haus zum goldenen Dachere_ (House with the golden roof).

XVII.

WAR BETWEEN ZURICH AND SCHWYZ.

(1436-1450.)

A gloomy picture in Swiss history do these civil wars present, marking as they do the chasm separating the Confederates, who were each swayed by a spirit of jealous antagonism. Yet it was clear that the town and the country commonwealths--citizens and peasants--formed such strong contrasts that they would not always pull together. Indeed, the smouldering discontent was suddenly fanned into flame by questions respecting hereditary succession that threatened to consume the whole Confederation. Feudalism was tottering to its fall in Switzerland, but it seemed as if the famous counts of Toggenburg were for a while to stay its ruin in the eastern portion of the country. Frederick III.