144 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
Bernese) had marched through the Franche-Comté ‘on unusual paths’ to reach
their Savoy opponents.644
Meanwhile, in Geneva itself the Bernese quickly showed what they meant by
‘liberation’. On 5th February Hans Franz Nägeli demanded that the city cede to
Bern all the rights which had pertained to the bishop and the office of justiciar
(vidomne). The syndics and council were given ten days to comply, during which
interval the Bernese army went about taking control of the Chablais. Geneva’s
response was one of outrage: should it have suffered so much to retain its liberty,
only to be faced with what amounted to a capitulation?645 When Geneva’s Council
of Two Hundred convened in response to the army’s request after the ten days had
elapsed it wished to know what the point of the Burgrecht had been if the city were
now to be treated in such a manner. Bern’s reply spoke the language of conquest:
it was laying claim to rights which the duke and the bishop possessed; over
these Geneva had no jurisdiction!646 Nevertheless, Geneva was in the end spared
submission to Bern, unlike the fate of Lausanne, possibly because Swiss envoys
were present.647 Bern never gave an explanation for its peremptory behaviour.
Leaving aside the unlikely possibility that Nägeli had misunderstood or exceeded
his instructions, we can only conjecture that Bern wanted to teach Geneva a lesson:
time and again, as we have seen, Bern expressed its exasperation at Geneva and
showed little sympathy for its predicament. It is also likely that Bern intended to
send the French a signal that Geneva was not theirs for the taking. That is why the
Bernese council was so insistent in acquiring the erstwhile rights of the bishop,
above all the office of vidomne. Nägeli’s diary, which mentions the demands almost
in passing, rather lamely states that, if Bern were to retain lands already or about to
be occupied, it would be useful to have a Bernese official in Geneva, without prejudice
to the city’s rights.648
How far southwards the Bernese army planned to march is unclear. Ninety years
ago Karl Meyer suggested that, if not hindered, it would have occupied Savoy as
far as the Lac de Bourget.649 It may even have hoped to reach Chambéry itself.650
But there was an obstacle. The direct route involved marching through the duchy
of Genevois-Nemours which (as we have earlier noted) was an apanage of the
house of Savoy and under the protection of the French king. Envoys from its
regent, Duchess Charlotte d’Orléans, appeared in the Bernese camp at St-Julien on
3rd February, urging that the territory should remain unmolested. Their entreaty
644 EA IV, 1c, 643 (no. 391: I) (Feb. 1536). See the army’s reply in Vasella, ‘Krieg Berns’, B 18.
645 EA IV, 1c, 623 (no. 379) (Feb. 1536). 646 EA IV, 1c, 635–6 (no. 387: I; II) (Feb. 1536).
647 Monter, Calvin’s Geneva, 55–6; Monter, ‘De l’Évêché’, 135.
648 Vasella, ‘Krieg Berns’, A 271: Wyter wil man ouch den Jennfern abvordern das widonat ampt,
so der herzog mit recht behalten unnd deßglichen alle herligkheit, die der bischof alls ein fürst zu
Jennf, jren gerechtigkheiten unschädlich, dann, so man dise lannd behalten, jst vast nüzlich hie einenn
jnnamen u. g. h. zehabenn.
649 Meyer, ‘Geographische Voraussetzungen’, 232. On its western shore stood the abbey of
Hautecombe, the ancient necropolis of the house of Savoy.
650 Bern later claimed it would have attempted to do so, but desisted in view of the French advance.
EA IV, 1c, 634–5 (no. 385: 2) (Feb. 1536). In reality, it acknowledged that to reach Chambéry the
army would have had to traverse difficult and dangerous passes. SABE, Teutsche Missiven-Buch 24 W,
p. 204 (2 Feb. 1536).