88 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
By contrast, the other Estates paid next to nothing! The Vaud Estates grudgingly
stumped up 8000 fl during the Dufour affair (see Chapter 18), and in 1511 the
Estates of Bresse and Chambéry made a grant so paltry that lawyers, officials, and
ecclesiastics there were ordered to make up the shortfall, much to their annoyance.163
In 1534 the Vaud Estates again proved unwilling to grant aid.164 In other words,
the Piedmont Estates in effect carried the burden of extraordinary taxation through
subsidy entirely on their own. That gave them considerable bargaining power. No
wonder that they petitioned to have a separate treasury established for Piedmont
alone in 1530!165
In the light of these subsidies it might appear that the ducal finances were not as
perilous as might be supposed. Yet Duke Charles was repeatedly obliged to raise
loans on the Basel capital market and from other cities and wealthy individuals,
and found himself after 1530 having to mortgage the leading towns of the Vaud
such as Romont, Yverdon, Cudrefin, and Estavayer.166 His arrears to the Swiss cit-
ies grew appreciably.167 There may be a good case for arguing that Charles’s finances
were not finally ruined until the French campaigns in Italy in 1521–2, when Savoy
was plundered and ransomed.168 But that would be to ignore the bizarre chain of
events from 1508 onwards surrounding one of Charles’s longest-serving officials,
Jean Dufour. Not only did they bring the duchy to its knees; they shed a remark-
able light on Savoy’s relations with Bern and Fribourg, and indeed the X cantons
as a whole.
163 Tallone, Parlamento Sabaudo, XIII, 2, 246.
164 Tallone, Parlamento Sabaudo, XIII, 2, 466.
165 Marini, Savoiardi e Piemontesi, 378. 166 Gilliard, ‘Créanciers bâlois’, 197.
167 Marini, Savoiardi e Piemontesi, 387. 168 Freymond, ‘Politique’, 71.