Savoy Strikes Back 105
renewed in 1517, with Solothurn as a third signatory.291 But in 1519 Fribourg
concluded a bilateral Burgrecht with Geneva,292 which infuriated Duke Charles,293
for it was based on the premise that Geneva was indeed an independent city
and that any provisions banning its inhabitants from acquiring citizenship in
Fribourg—as of course had happened on some scale—were ultra vires, since they
were not Savoy subjects and therefore not covered by the existing Burgrechte.
In 1521, when these agreements were again up for renewal Bern and Solothurn
were prepared to sign, but Fribourg refused, as it had already done in 1517.294
The bilateral Burgrecht of 1519 provoked a diplomatic crisis, even though
Fribourg maintained that it was not directed against Savoy.295 Confederal medi-
ation initially did nothing to calm the situation, only eliciting from Fribourg the
tart rejoinder that its Burgrecht was nothing new (an evasive half-truth).296 By
April hostilities had begun. Duke Charles entered Geneva at the head of a small
army, whereupon Fribourg announced that it would send its own troops to relieve
Geneva.297 Bern was aghast, and threatened to mount an expedition of its own
against Fribourg.298 A fresh attempt at mediation in mid-April brought some eas-
ing of tension. Under considerable pressure Fribourg now agreed to abandon its
Burgrecht with Geneva,299 though it added that if Geneva chose to abide by it of
its own accord then it should be allowed to do so. Meanwhile, it agreed to call its
troops to a halt at Morges and Rolle.300
Fribourg then demanded substantial compensation from Savoy.301 When the sum
proffered was deemed insufficient, Geneva volunteered to make up the difference,
only to be rebuffed by Fribourg, which insisted that it would only accept recompense
from Duke Charles himself; if that were not forthcoming Fribourg would insist of
taking over lordships in the Vaud as a surety.302 The old sense of inferiority and
291 The treaty does not survive, but it is recapitulated in the Burgrechte of 1521. See footnote 294.
292 EA III, 2, 1134–6 (no. 769: l) (Feb. 1519).
293 EA III, 2, 1138 (no.770: m) (Feb. 1519). Bern had already reacted to rumours of the Burgrecht
in January by pointing out that not only would Savoy be outraged but that it would provoke dissension
within Geneva itself. SABE, Teutsche Missiven-Buch 17 O, fo. 137r (Jan. 1519). Bern was correct.
294 EA IV, 1a, 3–4 (no. 2: to a) (Feb. 1521). In 1519 Bern enquired of Geneva when it had alleg-
edly told the Savoy envoys that all three cities were prepared to sign the Burgrecht. SABE, Ratsmanuale
180, p. 123 (Feb. 1519).
295 This was a position which Fribourg upheld throughout all the negotiations up to 1521. EA IV,
1b, 1 (no. 1: 2) (Jan. 1521).
296 EA III, 2, 1143–4 (no. 773) (March 1519). Details in Henri Naef, ‘L’occupation militaire de
Genève et la combourgeoisie manquée de 1519’, Zeitschrift für schweizerische Kirchengeschichte,
52 (1958), 48–86.
297 AEF, Missivale 8, fo. 72v, 73v–74v, 75r (April 1519).
298 AEF, Missivale 8, fo. 77r (April 1519); SABE, Teutsche Missiven-Buch 17 O, fo. 176r–177r,
177v–178v (April 1519). The Confederal diet at Zürich also condemned Fribourg’s action. Documenti
di Storia Sabauda dal 1510 al 1536, ed. Arturo Segre (Miscellanea di Storia Italiana, 3rd series, 8)
(Turin, 1893), 13.
299 EA III, 2, 1156 (no. 776) (April 1519).
300 EA III, 2, 1159–63 (no. 777: A; B) (April 1519). It is worth noting that the mediators came
entirely from Swiss cities (Zürich, Bern, Luzern, Zug, and Solothurn); Paquier, Pays de Vaud, 2, 235.
301 Savoy had to pay 18,000 fl, 14,000 fl of which was owed to Fribourg. Caesar, Pouvoir, 211.
Any default would entail the mortgage of 5 Vaud castellanies to Fribourg. Paquier, Pays de Vaud, 2, 235.
302 EA III, 2, 1159–63 (no. 777: B); AEF, Ratsmanuale 37, fo. 3r (June 1519).