Burgundian Wars
Burgundian Wars | |
---|---|
Lorraine and northwest Switzerland | |
Result | Franco-Swiss victory |
Territorial changes |
Extinction of Valois Burgundy and division between Valois France and Habsburg heirs |
Duchy of Savoy
Duchy of Lorraine
The Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) were a conflict between the Burgundian State and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies. Open war broke out in 1474, and the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the battlefield in the following years and was killed at the Battle of Nancy in 1477. The Duchy of Burgundy and several other Burgundian lands then became part of France, and the Burgundian Netherlands and Franche-Comté were inherited by Charles's daughter, Mary of Burgundy, and eventually passed to the House of Habsburg upon her death because of her marriage to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Background
The
The dukes of Burgundy generally pursued aggressive expansionist politics, especially in
According to a Cambridge publication on Swiss history, both the Swiss and the Burgundians had made aggression a significant impact on the region's foreign affairs. In the effort of consolidating the Swiss Confederacy and for independence from Habsburg rule, Swiss forces gained control of the Habsburg town of Thurgau in an effort to expand its borders and influence.[6] The Bernese people were more frequently being attacked by Charles the Bold's Lombard mercenaries. That raised concern to the Bernese as they began to call on their Swiss allies for assistance in the conflict with Burgundy. The aggressive actions of Charles the Bold would eventually culminate in the Swiss giving him the nickname, "the Turk in the West", and make Burgundy as fierce a rival as the Ottomans in the East.
Conflict
Initially in 1469, Duke
In the conflict's second phase, Sigismund sought to achieve a peace agreement with the Swiss confederates, which eventually was concluded in
In the
Near the end of 1476, the Swiss Confederacy began receiving orders from Pope Sixtus IV, who called for an end of the war and the signing of peace between the Swiss and Charles.[10] Although that seemed to be a peaceful resolution to the war, the Pope's aspirations for Charles to divert his attention away from the Swiss and onto the Muslims in a crusade began to show. The papal pressure was eventually ignored by the Swiss, who refused to end the war unless Charles left the Duchy of Lorraine, whose lands were controlled by René II. It is evident through contemporary writings that espionage and censorship played an influential role in both Swiss and Burgundian actions throughout the war. Professional spies were hired by both sides to recover information of enemy movements and weak points. However, this profession proved to be extremely lethal, as some Swiss cities suffered heavy losses, and obtaining information of the opposing side continued to be a difficult task throughout the war.[11]
The Burgundian Wars also assisted in the shift of military strategy across Europe after the Swiss victories over the numerically-superior Burgundians. The Gewalthaufen proved to be an effective Swiss military strategy against the superior Burgundian forces. Until that point, battles had been dominated by cavalry, which could easily overpower infantry troops on the battlefield. However, the Gewalthaufen tactic used long spears to counter cavalry with remarkable success. That marked a key shift in military history and tipped the balance in favour of infantry troops over mounted soldiers.[5]
Aftermath
The results of the conflict would prove to have significant repercussions for the future of the Duchy of Burgundy and for the regional stability of Western Europe. With the death of Charles the Bold, the Valois dynasty of the
The victories of the Eidgenossen (Swiss Confederation) over what was one of the most powerful military forces in Europe gained it a reputation of being nearly invincible, and the Burgundian Wars marked the beginning of the rise of
See also
Further reading
- Vaughan, Richard (1973), Charles the Bold: The Last Valois Duke of Burgundy, London: Longman Group, ISBN 0-582-50251-9.
- Deuchler, Florens (1963), Die Burgunderbeute: Inventar der Beutestücke aus den Schlachten von Grandson, Murten und Nancy 1476/1477 (in German), Bern: Verlag Stämpfli & Cie.
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-875710-8.
- ISBN 1-4039-0283-6.
- ISBN 0-415-92715-3.
- ISBN 0-8122-1382-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8014-4853-9.
- ISBN 978-0-521-14382-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-582-50251-9.
- ^ Beck, Sanderson. "France in the Renaissance 1453–1517". san.beck.org.
- ISBN 0-396-08955-0.
- ISBN 9788867282661.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-668-1.
External links
- Burgundian Wars in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- Franche-Comté in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.