After the capture of Castle Granson
(After a woodcut in an old Swiss chronicle)
Life Stories for Young People
SWISS HEROES
AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE TIME
OF CHARLES THE BOLD
Translated from the German of
A. A. Willys
BY
GEORGE P. UPTON
Translator of “Memories,” etc.
WITH THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1907
Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1907
Published September 21, 1907
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
Translator’s Preface
The period of the “Swiss Heroes” romanceis in the days of Charles the Bold,Duke of Burgundy; and the sentimentof its title is to be found in the careersof the three heroes, Hans Vögeli, his brother HeinrichVögeli, who gave his life to establish his Swisscitizenship, and Walter Irmy. A short sketch ofthe relations of Charles the Bold to the Swiss is allthat is needful as a preface to the stirring storywhich the German author has told so well and soaccurately.
Charles the Bold, son of Philip the Good, ofBurgundy, and Isabella of Portugal, one of themost conspicuous figures at the close of the MiddleAges, was born in 1433. He became Duke ofBurgundy in 1467 and shortly afterwards took ashis second wife Margaret, the sister of Edward IVof England. After years of war with Louis ofFrance, which eventually ended in his success, andurged on by his inordinate ambition, he determinedto erect an independent kingdom under his ownsovereignty. With this end in view he entered intonegotiations with Emperor Frederick, offering tomarry his daughter to the Emperor’s son, in casehe himself were elected king of the Romans. TheEmperor proposed, however, to make him king ofBurgundy at Treves, but the scheme was thwartedby the Electors, who persuaded the former to leavethe city secretly. Four years previously (1469),Sigismund, Duke of Austria, had sold Alsace toCharles, and the latter appointed Peter von Hagenbachits governor. His career of cruel oppressionand the vengeance which the people wreaked uponhim are vividly described in this little romance.Charles was so enraged that he gave up the countryto waste and slaughter. But meanwhile powerfulallies were united against him. Louis of Francehad secured the alliance of the Swiss; and Sigismund,who was anxious to get Alsace back, joinedthe French. The English deserted him and signeda treaty of peace with Louis. Battle after battlewas fought, in which the Swiss were victorious;and at last the troops of René, the dispossessedduke of Lorraine, aided by the Swiss troops, wona great victory under the walls of Nancy, January5, 1477. The Burgundians were routed and Charleswas killed. The heroism of the Swiss stands o