known and popular the names and achievements of Rome. Hannibal was the hero whose prowess then caught the fancy of Charles; and to surmount the Alps, like the Carthaginian general, was now his glorious aim. The patriotism and valour that armed the Swiss in their own defence was equally enthusiastic, though unlearned and indigenous. Still they sent envoys to avert the wrath of Burgundy, and to offer amends and submission in return for justice. "You have little to gain with us," said the Swiss ambassador to the duke; "the golden bits of your bridles, the spurs of your knights, are more in value than all our land contains." The duke would neither listen to counsel nor hear of submission. He marched into Switzerland through the valley of the Arve, in the month of February, 1476. He besieged Granson, the first place that made resistance. The garrison, though brave, were tricked by a renegade Swiss called Ramschwag, then in the duke's service, to surrender. They were in number about 500. Charles instantly ordered them to be put to death; some were hanged, some drowned. This cruelty exasperated the Swiss. Each canton furnished its contingent, and an army of 20,000 men marched against the Burgundians. The duke had a strongly entrenched camp at Granson, but scorning such advantage against the Swiss peasants, he advanced to meet them on the road to Neufchatel; thus offering battle in a hilly region, where his numerous cavalry could prove of no advantage. The two armies met on the 2d of March. The Swiss foot, embodied in large masses, and armed with long halberds, bore down the Burgundian knights, who in vain resisted. Charles had a few archers, and no infantry in the advance; thus committing the usual mistake of the French, in deeming mounted gentlemen able to repel twice their number of peasants on foot. The Burgundian flank was soon turned by other bands of the Swiss mountaineers, amongst whom the huge and terrific horns of Uri and Unterwalden were heard to blow. The battle became instantly a rout: the Burgundians and their duke fled;

1476.

DEFEAT AT GRANSON.

157

losing, indeed, few of their numbers, as the Swiss had no cavalry to pursue, but leaving to the conquerors the plunder of a camp which rivalled that of Xerxes in luxury and splendour. Silken tents attached with cords of golden wire, velvets, tapestry, pearls, and jewels in profusion, became the property of the amazed victors. Plate was flung away as pewter. The large diamond which the duke wore customarily at his neck was found in a box of pearls; it was at first rejected as a bauble, then taken up again, and sold for a crown. It was afterwards purchased by the pope for 20,000 ducats, and still adorns the papal tiara. Another equally beautiful diamond, won at Granson, was bought by Henry VIII., afterwards given by his daughter Mary to her husband, Philip II., and now belongs to Austria. As duke Charles fled from the Alps and their fierce inhabitants in the rout of Granson, his fool cried to him, "Ha! my lord, are we not finely Hannibalised ?"

The king of France had taken up his residence at Lyons, in order to watch the motions of the duke and to profit by his reverses. One of Charles's schemes for aggrandisement was to induce Réné d'Anjou, who was dissatisfied with Louis, to make a bequest of Provence and his other possessions in favour of Burgundy. Réné had shown himself obsequious in this respect, as did the duchess of Savoy and the duke of Milan; but on the disaster of Granson all the allies of Charles forsook him, and Louis secured to himself the rich succession of the house of Anjou, then about to be extinct: he at the same time encouraged the Swiss with subsidies and fair words.

Charles was during this period at Lausanne, recruiting his shattered army. He was so dreadfully dejected, that he allowed his beard to grow; and, though constitutionally of that hot temperament which forbids all vinous indulgence, his chief refection being conserve of roses, yet he now took copious draughts of wine to drown and dissipate his chagrin. By degrees, however, he remoulded his army, recovered his spirits, his cou

rage, and almost his confidence; and in June of the same year, three months after the defeat of Granson, Charles marched with a fresh army into the heart of Switzerland. He encamped at Morat, within six leagues of Berne, and instantly invested the place. The Swiss collected their forces and marched to its relief. Réné de Vaudemont duke of Lorraine had now joined his aid to theirs, and brought them what they most wanted, a formidable body of cavalry. The force of the Swiss exceeded 30,000: the duke's force was scarcely so numerous, and was far inferior in confidence and hardihood; but, like a desperate gamester, he would play his stake although every chance was against him.

The captains of Burgundy counselled Charles to lead his force into the plain, where his cavalry might act; but he was now impatient of dictation. Near the lake of Morat he stationed his left, chiefly composed of Italian mercenaries; the centre was commanded by Crèvecœur ; he himself kept the right, with a body of English under the duke of Somerset, and his archers on horseback. The Swiss, as was customary with them, knelt down in line, uttered a short prayer, and then rushed against their enemies. On this occasion the redoubtable infantry of the mountains were kept in check by the Burgundian knights, fighting under cover of their artillery and camp entrenchments. The action was for a time doubtful; but the cavaliers of Burgundy having all dismounted to defend their entrenchments, the Lorraine horse swept the right wing; and a body of Swiss, being thus enabled to turn it, attacked the camp in flank and rear whilst it was still vigorously assaulted in front. Cannon and entrenchments here became useless; the struggle was hand to hand. Somerset and his English, together with the best knights of Burgundy, perished; and victory was completely in the hands of the Swiss: they were merciless in their triumph; they took no prisoners, and spared not an enemy. All were massacred; and the vanquishers being now provided with cavalry, the flight was more destruc

1477.

BATTLE OF MORAT.

159

tive than the action. Many sought refuge in the lake ; and even thither they were pursued by their merciless enemies. The Swiss were resolved that the Burgundians should not rally a second time, to attempt a third invasion. "Cruel as at Morat," was for a long while a Swiss proverb. When time had decomposed the bodies of the slain, the bones were collected in a chapel called the Ossuary of Morat, which for ages remained as a trophy to Swiss valour and independence. The French revolutionary army destroyed it in 1798.

Charles escaped this field also, and for a long time concealed his grief and mortification at Salins. Like Napoleon in his reverses, neither humbled nor schooled, but merely angered by ill fortune, he called on his subjects for levies, for armies; not to secure their safety, but to avenge his own disgrace. Every where, in Burgundy as in Flanders, he found discontent and lack of zeal. Réné de Vaudemont seized the opportunity of recovering his heritage of Lorraine: though he was unable to raise an army, yet such was the discouragement of the Burgundians that he still met with success; and Nancy, the capital of the province, surrendered to him. This roused the duke of Burgundy; he quitted Salins, and with such force as he could muster, amounting to about 6000 men, laid siege to Nancy in October of the same fatal year, 1476. Réné de Vaudemont flew to the Swiss, his allies and comrades, for aid. Although interest and gratitude urged them to support him, still the soldiers of the confederacy would not stir till large payments and larger promises were made to them. This barter of their valour for gold is the great blot on the Swiss character. Charles in the mean time was losing his temper and his little army before Nancy in vain, during one of the most rigorous winters ever known. It was not till January, 1477, that Réné with his allies could come to the relief of the town. Charles was counselled, in the present weak state of his army, to avoid his formidable enemies; but he scorned to retreat. He was attacked by the Swiss and by Réné, in a me

lancholy day of snow and frost. The knights of Burgundy here for the last time supported their character for valour; but when the dreadful horns of Uri and Unterwalden sounded, the courage of the duke's infantry succumbed. Campo-Basso, who commanded the veteran auxiliaries, had turned traitor to his master. Men appointed by him set the example of flight: treachery is supposed to have consummated the destruction of the unfortunate duke. Charles was several days missing; at last his corpse was found, stripped and scarcely recognisable, half immersed in a frozen pool. Thus in one brief year did the potent house of Burgundy fall from its pride and perish. It struck against the rock of Swiss freedom and went to pieces;—a fruitful theme for reflection to the men of that age, although its writers took care to draw from it none save a pious moral.

Louis, who had not long before established regular posts throughout his dominions, was soon informed of the death of his rival and enemy. He could scarcely conceal his joy; yet his doubt and irresolution were great. The most obvious policy for the king to follow, was to secure the espousal of Mary, the late duke's daughter and heiress, to his son Charles, or to one of the princes of his house.

But Charles the dauphin was at that time only eight years of age; and a marriage, the consummation of which must necessarily be for a long time retarded, seemed insecure. As to the marriage of Mary to a French prince, the duke of Orleans for example, Louis dreaded and avoided such a measure. He had too dear experience of the danger of raising nobles, especially of the blood royal, to territorial dignities and power. He, consequently, preferred seizing on the heritage of the deceased duke by force. Burgundy and Artois, the king pretended, must revert to the crown as male fiefs. Of the former he obtained possession, by gaining to his interests the prince of Orange, the principal nobleman of the duchy. The towns on the Somme, as well as Boulogne, Arras, and Tournay, surrendered to him.