Part 4

“In consequence of the unshaken resolution displayed by the Swiss, an Austrian force passed the Glatt, and fortified Rapperschwyl, which Albert had purchased from the house of Lauffenburgh; and from that central post annoyed both the Swiss and the town of Zurich. Soon afterwards Charles himself summoned the contingents of the empire, and, accompanied by all his princes, spiritual and temporal, joined the army of Albert, which was encamped before Zurich. But the hopes of Albert were again frustrated; the garrison, though amounting to only four thousand men, were all animated by the same undaunted spirit; while the heterogeneous and unwieldy mass of the besieging army was agitated with disputes and jealousies. The imperial cities were unwilling to assist in reducing another city of the empire; the princes and states were jealous of the increasing power of Austria, and averse to enforce the maxims promulgated by Charles, that all confederacies were illegal which were concluded without the consent of their chief; Charles himself also was disinclined to support so unpopular a cause, and to waste his time in aggrandising a family, of which he dreaded the ascendancy. A frivolous dispute about precedence in the assault afforded a pretext for retiring; the besiegers struck their tents, and withdrew in such haste and disorder that, according to the expressions of an ancient chronicle, none knew who went first, or who last, and Albert was left to prosecute the war with his own forces.

“Albert, thus deserted, changed his plan of operations, devastated the country in the neighbourhood of Zurich, and let loose a lawless band of Hungarian auxiliaries, who, like the Croats and Pandours of modern times, committed the most horrible excesses, and spared neither friend nor foe. At length his own subjects, and the neighbouring barons, harassed and exhausted with perpetual depredations, unanimously clamoured for peace, and testified a resolution to terminate hostilities, even without his consent. Albert was reduced to make overtures of accommodation, and admitted, at the diet of Ratisbon, that the reservation of the Swiss league should be a preliminary of the future award, which was left to the decision of the emperor. He endeavoured, however, to gain by artifice what he could not effect by force. At his instigation the emperor drew up articles of accommodation, containing an ambiguous clause, which virtually annulled the alliance, and would have ultimately again subjected Zug and Glarus to the domination of the house of Austria. With this view the Austrian commissaries, instead of presenting the instrument to a general assembly of the confederates, endeavoured to divide them, and to extort their separate concurrence. Brun, bribed by Albert, exerted his powerful influence; and Zurich, which had been the principal cause of the war, not only ratified the imperial award, but entered into a defensive alliance with Austria, to enforce the execution even against the confederates.

“The people of Schwyz, however, refused to ratify the obnoxious clause, and resisted with firmness and indignation the urgent representations of Albert, and the mandates of the emperor. Nor did their firmness forsake them on the arrival of an Austrian commissary to demand the homage of Zug and Glarus, although Zurich remained neuter, and even Lucern, Uri, and Underwalden seemed inclined to shrink from the contest. A body of troops marched from Schwyz under the banner of their forefathers, which had triumphed at Morgarten, entered the two cantons, drove out the Austrian commissary, and renewed the reciprocal engagements of perpetual amity and mutual defence.

“At length Albert, worn out with age, afflicted by the increase of his paralytic disorder, which was aggravated by arthritic complaints, and the disappointment of his hopes, returned in disgust to Vienna, where he fell into such a state of despondency, that the very name of a Swiss was never mentioned in his presence. His son Rodolph, who was intrusted with the administration of the Suabian territories, agreed to an armistice of eleven years, which was mediated by the baron of Thorberg, the Austrian commissary in Helvetia, and thus terminated a ruinous and fruitless contest.

“This event was soon followed by the decease of Albert, who died on the 16th of August, 1358, after a reign of twenty-eight years.”

The successor of Albert II. was his son Rodolph IV., who had a fancy for antiquities; a fancy made important by his undertaking to assume all the titles which had ever pertained to his family, among the rest that of the Archduke Palatine; but the most important acquisition that marked his own reign was that of the Tyrol, ceded by Margaret Maultasch, whom he had laid under obligation to himself, by procuring from the Pope the legitimation of her son Meinhard. He also obtained various advantages in a contest with the patriarch of Aquilea; but, in the midst of his attempts to aggrandise his family, he died untimely, aged 26, in 1365.

As his brother Frederic had died immediately before this time, the administration of the family interests fell upon a younger brother, Albert III., who was only seventeen years of age. He also had a brother Leopold, two years younger than himself, and it was his ambition that divided the hitherto united territories of the family. With the sanction of the Emperor, Leopold II. took possession of all the provinces except Austria, and he then proceeded to add to his possessions from the world without. He succeeded in getting Trieste by taking part with Francis of Carrara against the Venetians, but he was disappointed of his hopes of procuring the crown of Poland for his son William, and he sunk into a depression of spirits which incapacitated him for bodily or mental exertion. “He neglected the administration of affairs, and his bailiffs and feudal chiefs, who were freed from his control, were guilty of great tyranny and excessive exactions. Symptoms of discontent soon broke out in Suabia, of which Leopold was imperial bailiff; above forty of the towns renewed the confederacy which they had formerly established against the oppressions of the princes and nobles, and were joined by Strasburgh, Mentz, and the principal cities on the Rhine. To strengthen their league, and to secure allies in the heart of the Austrian possessions, they sought the accession of the Helvetic confederates, whom they considered as the enemies of the House of Austria, from prejudice, interest, and situation.

“Many causes of misunderstanding had contributed to aggravate the natural jealousy between the House of Austria and the Helvetic states. Leopold had evinced an inclination to recover the authority of his ancestors, and had recently shackled the commerce of the Forest Cantons and Zurich, by the imposition of additional tolls at Rapperschwyl and Rotemberg; he had likewise taken part in a contest between Berne and a collateral branch of the family of Hapsburgh. The interference of Leopold in this instance disgusted the confederates, and Berne, Zurich, and Zug, with the town of Soleure, joined the union of the Suabian cities, and warmly solicited the accession of the other cantons.

“Alarmed with this formidable league, Leopold roused himself from his lethargy, and repaired to Zurich, pacified the people of Schwyz, by abolishing the tolls imposed at Rapperschwyl, and by their means gained the three other Forest Cantons; he also conciliated the burghers of Zurich, and detached them from the confederacy. He then appeased the discontents in Suabia, by repressing the exactions of the bailiffs, and by threats and promises dissolved the league of the cities on the Rhine. During these events he had smoothed and _amused the Swiss by offers of perpetual peace, and splendid promises_, but having pacified the imperial cities, he became less compliant, and his governors and bailiffs renewed their oppressions. The inveterate aversion which the Swiss people had fostered against the Austrian family again revived, and a trifling dispute soon occasioned an open rupture. Leopold had pledged the castle and town of Wolhausen, with the Entlibuch, to Peter of Thorberg, and Rotemberg to Herman of Graunberg. These lords oppressing the inhabitants, the latter, instead of appealing to the duke their sovereign, sent their deputies to seek the protection of Lucern, and were admitted into the co-burghership. The citizens of Lucern, also, who were aggrieved by imposition of heavy tolls at Rotemberg, seized this opportunity to attack and raze the castle and the walls of the town; and, instead of giving satisfaction for the outrage, admitted into their burghership the Entlibuch, with the Austrian towns of Sempach and Richensee.

“Leopold, irritated by the defection of his subjects and the loss of his territories, was still further exasperated by the clamors of the neighboring princes and nobles, who, being _alarmed lest their vassals should follow the example of those of Austria_, offered to assist in crushing so dangerous a confederacy. Both parties prepared for hostilities; and although Berne declined engaging in the contest, and the Suabian cities refused their assistance, Zurich, Zug, and the three Forest Cantons, armed in defence of Lucern. A desultory but sanguinary warfare took place; the confederates anticipated their enemies by razing the castles of Wolhausen, Meyenburgh, and Caffenberg, and placed garrisons in Sempach and Richensee; and, on the other side, the Austrians having recovered Richensee, sated their vengeance by demolishing the town, and putting the inhabitants to the sword, without distinction of sex or age.

“The crisis now rapidly approached, and twenty successive messengers arrived in one day, with the declarations of war from different lords against the confederates. Leopold soon collected a considerable army at Baden, and detached John de Bonstetten with a corps to Bruck, as if he meditated an attack on Zurich; but his views were in reality directed to penetrate by Sempach and Rotemberg, and make himself master of Lucern. The Forest Cantons, deceived by his dispositions, at first despatched 1,400 men for the defence of Zurich; but, being apprised of his plan, they prevailed on the burghers to undertake their own defence; and the greater part of the auxiliaries crossing the Reuss, directed their march towards Sempach. In their progress they were joined by bodies from Glarus, the Entlibuch, and the villages through which they passed, and on the 9th of July, 1396, arriving at Sempach, took post in the woods which skirt the lake and crown the neighboring eminences, with a force of only 1,300 men.

“On the evening of the preceding day, Leopold had occupied Sursee, and early in the morning advanced with a corps of 4000 horse and 1,400 foot, with the hope of surprising Sempach. Confident of success, his troops rode up to the walls, and insulted the citizens with taunts and threats. One held up a halter, exclaiming, ‘This is for your Avoyer!’ and others, alluding to the stragglers who were lying waste the fields, cried, ‘Send a breakfast to the reapers.’ The burgomaster, pointing to the woods, replied, ‘My masters of Lucern, and their allies, will bring it.’

“The duke, surprised at the appearance of the confederates, instantly held a council of war, to decide whether the attack should be postponed till the arrival of the other forces. But the nobles unanimously exclaimed, ‘God has delivered these peasants into our hands; it would be shameful, armed as we are, to wait for succors against an ill-armed and almost naked rabble.’ The baron de Hasenberg, an experienced veteran, who had often witnessed the prowess of the Swiss, in vain represented the folly of despising the enemy, expatiated on the uncertainty of the fortune of war, and urged the duke to wait the arrival of Bonstetten. But his prudence only drew from the younger knights the censure of cowardice: one of them, calling him a hare in heart, as in name, turned to the duke, and exultingly said, ‘This very noon we will deliver up to you this handful of rustics.’ His petulancy was received with applause, and preparations were made for an immediate attack.

“As the horses were fatigued by the march, and the woods were impracticable for cavalry, the knights dismounted, ordered the foot into the rear, and formed themselves into a solid and compact body. At this moment the Swiss, according to their custom, threw themselves on their knees, and with uplifted hands, implored the assistance of the Most High. Some of the Austrians observing this action, exclaimed, ‘They are supplicating for pardon!’ but they were soon undeceived, for the confederate troops instantly quitted the woods, and with shouts and exclamations poured down into the plain. A few only were in armour; some brandished the halberts which their forefathers had wielded at Morgarten; others bore two-handed swords and battle-axes, and instead of shields, wore boards fastened to their left arms; the Austrian host, on the contrary, covered from head to foot with blazing armour, presented a solid range of shields, and a horrent front of projecting spears.

“The Swiss drew up in the form of a wedge, and rushed with their usual impetuosity to the attack, but made no impression on this formidable phalanx; the banner of Lucern was exposed to imminent danger, and the landamman, with sixty of their most adventurous warriors, fell before a single enemy received a wound. They hesitated for a moment, regarding their enemies with a mixture of indignation and despair; while the flanks of the phalanx advancing in a crescent, endeavoured to close on their rear. At this awful crisis, Arnold de Winkelried, a knight of Underwalden, bursting from the ranks, exclaimed ‘I will open a passage into the line; protect, dear countrymen and confederates, my wife and children!’ Then throwing himself on the enemy, he seized as many pikes as he could grasp, and burying them in his bosom, bore them by his weight to the ground. His companions rushed over his expiring body, and forced themselves into the heart of the line, others with equal intrepidity penetrated into the intervals occasioned by the shock, and the whole unwieldy mass was thrown into confusion and dismay. The knights, oppressed with their ponderous armour, and incumbered with their long spears, were unable to withstand the impetuous assault of the Swiss, or to recover from their disorder; and their servants, perceiving the general consternation, mounted the horses of their masters, and left them no hope of safety by flight. The fight was for a while sustained by the efforts of personal valour, and the undaunted spirit of chivalry; but the havoc soon became general; numbers fell by the sword of the enemy; many perished by the pressure of their companions and the intense heat, and not less than 2,000, of whom almost one third were counts, barons, and knights, were numbered among the slain.

“Two hundred only of the confederates fell in this memorable battle, among whom were their most distinguished chiefs. Fatigued with slaughter, and the excessive heat, they did not pursue the fugitives; but returned their usual thanksgiving to Heaven on the field, and the following day agreed to an armistice for burying the dead. The remains of Leopold and twenty-seven of his most illustrious followers were conveyed to the abbey of Königsfelden, and the bodies of the lords of Argau were deposited in the tombs of their ancestors. Those of inferior note were buried on the spot; the two hundred confederates received funeral honours at Lucern, and as at Morgarten a solemn anniversary was established in commemoration of the victory.

“The defeat of Leopold and the battle of Sempach did not terminate the war, or depress the courage of the Austrian princes and their allies; for six days after the battle, not less than fifty nobles, among whom was the burgrave of Nuremberg, the archbishop of Mentz, and the bishop of Bamberg, sent declarations of war to the victorious confederates; and Leopold, second son of the late duke, though scarcely fifteen, hastened to superintend the preparations, to avenge the death of his father, and retrieve the honour of his family. A desultory war was continued in various parts of Helvetia; the Swiss, encouraged by their astonishing success, prosecuted hostilities with spirit and vigour, and by the accession of Bern, acquired additional strength. The important post of Wesen on the lake of Wallenstadt, which commanded the passes into the cantons of Glarus, and cut off the communication with Zurich, was surprised and garrisoned by the Swiss; and the men of Gaster and Sargens, subjects of Austria, accepted the protection of Glarus. The citizens of Bern repelled the aggressions of the people of Kyburgh, who had continued invariably attached to their sovereigns, and took several forts in the vicinity belonging to the vassals of the House of Austria. The sons of the deceased Leopold being dispirited by these reverses, distressed for the means of supporting the war, and weakened by the loss of their principal nobility at the battle of Sempach, concluded an armistice of eighteen months.

“During this interval of tranquillity, both parties employed their efforts in fortifying and securing the strong places, and preparing for the renewal of hostilities. The people of Glarus acknowledged the supreme authority of the abbess of Seckingen, and the rights of the family of Austria, as advocates of that abbey; but emulating the example of the Swiss, they established regulations which greatly reduced their power and influence. The innovation displeased the Austrian princes, and the truce was scarcely expired, before they renewed hostilities, and directed their principal efforts against Glarus. Early in the spring of 1388 their troops surprised the town of Wesen, massacred the garrison, and in April an army of 8000 men, commanded by the count of Tockenburgh, forced the intrenchments which protected the frontier, and devastating the country with fire and sword, penetrated as far as Naefels. Here only 350 men of Glarus, with 50 of Schwyz, who had crossed the mountains by night, waited their approach, on the hill of Ruti. Despising so inconsiderable a body, part of the Austrian troops dispersed themselves to plunder, and burnt Naefels; the remainder attacked the Swiss, and experienced the same fate as their forefathers at Morgarten. The Swiss hurled down on them large stones and fragments of rock, and having thrown the horse into confusion, rushed from the heights, and attacked them with their characteristic impetuosity. At this critical juncture, the mountains resounded with shouts of exultation, and a band of warriors descending from the Upper Valley, assailed the Austrians, already in confusion. Seized with a panic, they fled in all directions, and were pursued by the assailants with redoubled ardor; many were slain in the flight, and more drowned in the lake of Wallenstadt, by the breaking of the bridge of Wesen. One hundred and eighty knights, and two thousand soldiers perished in the conflict, or the flight; and eleven banners, with a thousand suits of armor, were preserved as trophies of the victory. The conquerors, after their customary devotions, passed the night on the field of battle, and advancing the next morning, sacked and burnt Wesen.

“The troops of Zurich, which had assembled too late for the succor of Glarus, joined the victors, and besieged Rapperschwyl: on the other side, Berne took the Austrian towns of Nidau, Buren, and Unterseven, and extended her conquest as far as Bruck, and the valley of Frick on the Rhine. The counts of Tockenburgh made a separate peace with the Swiss; and at length the dukes of Austria, apprehensive of the defection of the Thurgau, which was agitated with discontents, and dreading the loss of the Argau, which was threatened by the arms of Berne and Zurich, engaged in wars and troubles on the side of Austria, and disunited by family quarrels, concluded, in 1388, a truce for seven years. The Swiss were to maintain their alliances, and preserve their possessions during the continuance of the truce, with all their conquests, except Wesen; the dukes of Austria agreed to establish no fresh tolls or imposts, and the confederates were not to admit any subjects of Austria, not residing within their boundaries, into their co-burghership. Future disputes were to be adjusted by arbitration.

“This trace was prolonged in 1394, for twenty years, at the request of Leopold, who had succeeded to the dominions of his father in Helvetia; and on this occasion he renounced all claims to the conquests of the confederates, promised not to fortify Wesen, limited the contributions of Zug and Glarus, and confirmed their league with the Swiss, together with that of Entlibuch, and Sempach with Lucern.”

The children of Albert II. and Leopold II. made no additions to the family territories. But the consequences of the division of these territories between the two branches of the family were frightful for the Austrians.

“Both parties, by a species of legal tyranny, sated their vengeance and avidity with the treasures and lives of their opponents, and alternately sacrificed the adherents of each other as they gained the ascendancy. The nobles availed themselves of these contests to indulge the spirit of misrule and licentiousness, which had been repressed by the preceding sovereigns; robbers and banditti again infested the highways, insulted the towns and villages with impunity, and the whole country became a scene of pillage, devastation, and carnage.

“Such was the deplorable state of Austria, till the death of Leopold in 1411, at the age of forty.”

Albert V. procured the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, by marrying the daughter of the Emperor Sigismond, who was also King of these nations, and of whom he had gained the favor, by the effectual assistance he had given him in the Hussite war. He was crowned in Hungary by the Diet, after having promised by oath never to accept the imperial diadem. In Bohemia he was acknowledged by the capital and by the town of Kuttenburg; but the Hussites refused their assent, and falling back upon the privileges of the Bohemian constitution, they sent to Poland for Kasimir, brother of the Polish King. Albert nevertheless proceeded to Prague, and was crowned in the cathedral by the Catholic party. Then, assisted by some of the princes of the empire, he led an army of 30,000 men against the Hussites and Poles, and besieged Tabor.

“He would have compelled the fortress to surrender, had not George Podiebrad, who first distinguished himself on this occasion, by a successful sally, forced him to raise the siege, and retire to Prague, while Uladislaus made an irruption into Silesia. Notwithstanding this check, the margrave of Brandenburgh drove the king of Poland from Silesia; and the auxiliary Poles, after killing their horses for food, returned to their country on foot. In consequence of this success a congress was held at Breslau, and a truce concluded with Uladislaus; the Hussites agreed to a cessation of arms, and peace was once more restored to Bohemia.

“In the midst of these conflicts, Albert was chosen king of the Romans, as a prince who, by his extensive possessions and distinguished talents, was most capable of allaying the dissentions of Germany, and arresting the alarming progress of the Turks. He at first declined the proffered dignity from a regard to his oath, but being liberated from his engagements by the Hungarian states, and absolved by the council of Basle, he yielded to the exhortations of his relatives and the instances of the electors; and, though never crowned, obtained and deserved a place among the emperors.”