- Burgundian Wars
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Burgundian Wars
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date=1474-1477
place=Lorraine and northwestSwitzerland
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result=Franco-Swiss victory
combatant1=flagicon|Bourgogne|size=80pxDuchy of Burgundy
combatant2=
flagicon|Switzerland|size=40px
Swiss Confederation
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notes=The Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, later involving theOld Swiss Confederacy , which would play a decisive role. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years, theDuke of Burgundy ,Charles the Bold , was defeated thrice on the battlefield and killed in theBattle of Nancy . TheDuchy of Burgundy and several other Burgundian lands then became part ofFrance , while theBurgundian Netherlands and theFranche Comté were inherited by Charles's daughter, and eventually passed to theHouse of Habsburg .The general situation
The dukes of Burgundy had succeeded, over a period of about 100 years, in establishing their rule as a strong force between the
Holy Roman Empire andFrance . Their possessions included, besides their homelands of theFranche-Comté and the Duchy of Burgundy, the economically strong regions ofFlanders and Brabant, and alsoLuxembourg .The dukes of Burgundy generally pursued an aggressive expansionist politics, especially in
Alsace and Lorraine, seeking to geographically unite their northern and southern possessions. Having already been in conflict with the French king (Burgundy had sided with the English in theHundred Years' War ), Charles' advances along the Rhine brought him in conflict with the Habsburgs and especially emperor Frederick III.The conflict
Initially in 1469, Duke Sigismund of Habsburg of Austria assigned his possessions in the
Alsace as a fiefdom to theDuke of Burgundy ,Charles the Bold , to have them protected better against the expansion of the "Eidgenossen". Charles' involvement west of the Rhine gave him no reason to attack the confederates as Sigismund had wanted, but his embargo politics against the cities ofBasel ,Strasbourg , andMulhouse , directed by his reevePeter von Hagenbach , prompted these to turn toBerne for help. Charles' expansionist strategy suffered a first setback in his politics when his attack on theArchbishopric of Cologne failed after the unsuccessfulSiege of Neuss (1473–1474).In a second phase, Sigismund sought to achieve a peace agreement with the Swiss confederates, which eventually was concluded in
Konstanz in 1474 (later called the "Ewige Richtung"). He wanted to buy back his Alsace possessions from Charles, which the latter refused. Shortly afterwards, von Hagenbach was captured and executed by decapitation in Alsace, and the Swiss, united with the Alsace cities and Sigismund of Habsburg in an "anti-Burgundian league", conquered part of the Burgundian Jura (Franche-Comté ) when they won theBattle of Héricourt in November 1474. The next year, Bernese forces conquered and ravagedVaud , which belonged to theDuchy of Savoy , which was allied with Charles the Bold. In theValais , the independent republics of the "Sieben Zenden", with the help of Bernese and other confederate forces, drove the Savoyards out of the lower Valais after a victory in theBattle on the Planta in November 1475. In 1476, Charles retaliated and marched to Grandson, which belonged to Pierre de Romont of Savoy, but which had recently been taken by the Swiss, where he had the garrison hanged or drowned in the lake despite their capitulation. When the Swiss confederate forces arrived a few days later, his army suffered a devastating defeat in theBattle of Grandson , and he was forced to flee the battlefield, leaving behind his artillery and many provisions and valuables. Having rallied a new army, he was again defeated by the confederates in theBattle of Morat . Charles the Bold fell in theBattle of Nancy in 1477, where the Swiss fought alongside an army of René II,Duke of Lorraine .Effects
With the death of Charles the Bold, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out. The Flemish territories of the Dukes of Burgundy subsequently became a possession of the Habsburgs, when Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who would later become
Holy Roman Emperor , married Charles' only daughterMary of Burgundy . The duchy ofBurgundy reverted to the crown ofFrance under king Louis XI. The Franche-Comté initially also became French, but was ceded to Maximilian's son Philip in 1493 by the French king Charles VIII in thetreaty of Senlis , in an attempt to bribe the Emperor to remain neutral during Charles's planned invasion ofItaly . The victories of the "Eidgenossen" (Swiss Confederation) over one of the most powerful military forces in Europe at the time gained them a reputation of near invincibility, and the Burgundian Wars marked the beginning of the rise ofSwiss mercenaries on the battlefields of Europe.Further reading
* Richard Vaughan, "Charles the Bold: The Last Valois Duke of Burgundy." London, Longman Group Ltd., 1973. ISBN
*Florens Deuchler, "Die Burgunderbeute: Inventar der Beutestücke aus den Schlachten von Grandson, Murten und Nancy 1476/1477", Verlag Stämpfli & Cie, Bern 1963.See also
*
External links
*HDS|8881|Burgundian Wars
*HDS|6624|Franche-Comté
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