142 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
there.623 On 18th January Fribourg made its position abundantly clear: free
passage but no damage.624
As a result, Bern issued the gravest warning that its troops should leave all
Fribourg villages unscathed, and urged the Fribourg council to ensure its coats
of arms were prominently on display.625 The Bernese commander, Hans Franz
Nägeli,626 managed to keep good order in the ranks,627 though on superior instruc-
tions castles were seized or destroyed.628 In contrast, the French plundered and
pillaged their way through the Tarentaise and the Maurienne; Chambéry,
Montmélian, Aiguebelle, and Conflans were laid waste, the population fleeing to
the high mountain valleys.629 The Catholic cantons were unsure whether to order
Bern to desist or to mediate; at all events, they called for a truce to be put in place
until the end of January.630 There was no likelihood of any such pause. The cam-
paign followed its own logic: once under way from Morat it traversed the Broye
valley as far as Payerne, then headed south-west to Échallens, Morges, and Rolle,
before pausing at Gex. On 2nd February the Bernese army entered Geneva.631
The troops found a city which had already taken vigorous steps to throw off the
Savoyard yoke. The previous December the Genevan council, in despair at receiving
any relief from Bern, was casting around for ways of escaping submission to France. 632
And in January one magistrate lamented to his brother in Lausanne that surrender
to the French monarch seemed unavoidable, notwithstanding his promise to
uphold their liberties, given that there was still no word from Bern.633 Yet by the
end of that month François Verey had redeemed himself in the eyes of the Genevans
623 SABE, Teutsche Missiven-Buch 24 W, pp. 110–12 (14 Jan. 1536); AEF, Diplomatische
Korrespondenz, Savoie 1511–1569 (29 Jan. 1536: Bernese commanders at Rolle to Fribourg).
The stand-off was only resolved in early February, when Fribourg changed its mind and allowed its
subjects at Morat to join the march to Geneva, and agreed to occupy Romont and Rue. SABE,
Teutsche Missiven-Buch 24 W, pp. 179, 180–3 (17 Feb. 1536).
624 Castella, ‘Mémoire inédit’, 508–9: Da ir nunmer mit üwerm vermogen bemelten Jenfern zu
entschüttung zuzüchen wöllen, können wir demselben nit zuwider. So aber semlichs ergienge und ir
über unser eigen und dero land und gebiet, so uns mit pünden, burgrechten und andren pflichtnüssen
verwandt sind, züchen wurden, [Bern should leave these lands] unbeleidiget und unbeschädiget.
625 EA IV, 1c, 609–10 (no. 372: 4; 7) (Jan. 1536); AEF, Diplomatische Korrespondenz a) Bern:
72 (19 Jan. 1536); Gilliard, Eroberung, 43–4 [68-9]. Equally, Bernese emblems were torn down at
Avenches and elsewhere. SABE, Teutsche Missiven-Buch 24 W, pp. 134–5 (26 Jan. 1536).
626 On Nägeli see HLS, s.v. Nägeli, Hans Franz. He was the son of Hans Rudolf Nägeli, Bernese
commander and alleged French pensionary, who died in 1522, and the brother of the eponymous
Hans Rudolf Nägeli, Bern’s treasurer (Säckelmeister) and sometime commissioner in Geneva.
627 There were isolated incidents of indiscipline and plundering. Gilliard, Eroberung, 51 [82], 57 [93].
628 The details are contained in the so-called ‘war diary’ (Kriegsjournal) of Hans Franz Nägeli.
See Vasella, ‘Krieg Berns’, cited in note 32 in Chapter 14, this volume.
629 De Crue, ‘Délivrance’, 291. The blame was laid at the door of Dauphiné mercenaries and
Italian troops.
630 EA IV, 1c, 606, 610 (no. 372: d; 8; 10) (Jan. 1536). Fribourg sent Bern a list of the places in
question, including those with whom it had Burgrechte. AEF, Diplomatische Korrespondenz, Savoie
1511–1569 (20 Jan. 1536).
631 Details in Gilliard, Eroberung, 62–74 [102–24]; Monter, Calvin’s Geneva, 55; von Muralt,
‘Berns westliche Politik’, 95. Strikingly, Nägeli’s Kriegsjournal does not mention the actual entry into
Geneva. Gilliard, Eroberung, 59–60 [97–8].
632 EA IV, 1c, 602 (no. 366: III) (Dec. 1535).
633 Gilliard, Eroberung, 30, 168–9 n 171 [45–6 n 3]; Monter, Calvin’s Geneva, 55.