A Contested Outcome 83
the Vaud would be administered jointly by the X cantons (Fribourg and Solothurn
already included in their number!).132
That was by no means the end of the story. The agreement at Chambéry should
have removed Cudrefin and Grandcour from the equation, since they were undis-
puted Savoy possessions. Yet Bern was still laying claim to them two years later and
refusing the other cantons any share in their governance.133 Morat, by contrast,
had been firmly established as a common lordship with Fribourg after 1476. In
1480 further negotiations between the two cities over the conquered territories
took place, but infuriatingly the records do not survive.134
The fiefs of the counts of Chalon passed silently under joint Bernese and Fribourg
control, but there were still difficulties to be ironed out.135 Eventually in 1484, in
a deal brokered by the bishop of Geneva, Grandson (with Montagny-les-Monts)
and Orbe-Échallens formally took their place alongside Morat as common lord-
ships.136 In Stettler’s judgement these common lordships imperceptibly paved the
way for Bern’s conquest of the Vaud in 1536.137 That judgement will in due course
require careful scrutiny; for the moment it is important to repeat the fact that
Bern’s territorial interests stretched north-westwards as well as south-westwards, as
may be seen from its attempts to absorb the provostry of Moutier-Grandval in
1486.138 As a codicil to the bishop’s settlement, Bern gained sole control of Aigle,
Les Ormonts, and Erlach, while Fribourg received Illens. Solothurn for its part
wished to turn both Erlach and Illens into common lordships, but was given the
brush-off since it had not taken part in the conquest of either town (see Map 5).139
132 EA II, 669–71 (no. 884: a; b; f ).
133 EA III, 1, 9–12 (no. 13: p) (July 1478); 43–5 (no. 44: p) (July 1479).
134 EA III, 1, 86 (no. 93) (Nov. 1480).
135 Feller, Geschichte Berns, 1, 413; EA III, 1, 157–60 (no. 188: p) (July 1483). Their fate was to be
discussed in the light of the Compact of Stans.
136 EA III, 1, 180 (no. 212) (June 1484). Feller, Geschichte Berns, 1, 435.
137 Stettler, Eidgenossenschaft, 253. He cites the venerable comment of Frédéric de Gingins-La
Sarra, Épisodes des guerres de Bourgogne 1474 à 1476 (Mémoires et Documents publiés par la Société
d’Histoire de la Suisse Romande, 8) (Lausanne, 1849), 384: Dès lors les deux villes exercèrent sur ce
pays une prépondérance qui balançait l’autorité précaire des ducs de Savoie. Elles devinrent les
arbitres de toutes les dissensions intérieures, ells intervinrent dans tous les démêlés de la Savoie avec
les états voisins.
138 Barras, ‘Combourgeoisies’, 153, 159. After 20 years Bern was content to retain it as an affiliate
by Burgrecht, a relationship which continued until the end of the ancien régime.
139 Hans Sigrist, ‘Solothurn und die VIII Alten Orte. Ihre Beziehungen von den Anfängen bis zum
Bunde von 1481’ (Diss. phil. Bern, 1944), 20, 121. It had, however, taken part in the second Vaud
campaign which led to the capture of Yverdon. In July 1477 Solothurn joined with the eastern cantons
in demanding that Bern and Fribourg should make all their conquests common lordships of the entire
Confederation. Ibid., 137.