The Romandie Reconfigured 159
lordship, namely Bern, Solothurn, and Luzern, alongside Fribourg.753 This was an
altogether risky business, financially and politically. Bern’s officials on the ground
doubted whether the procurator had the necessary power of attorney to make such
an offer.754 The Fribourg magistrates were conscious of the enormity of the situ-
ation and thought it prudent to consult the Great Council and to take soundings
of Bern.755 The council was certainly tempted, offering not only to meet the sum
demanded in full but to take over Johanna’s debts as well. Moreover, it consented
to the margravine remaining in Neuchâtel under its protection and in receipt of
the county’s revenues; only when the purchase price of 60,000 écus had been
exhausted was the county to pass to Fribourg.756
All this turned out to be shadow-boxing: Margravine Johanna (old, infirm, but
not senile) indignantly denounced the provost of Valangin for acting far beyond
his powers; at no time, she insisted, had she contemplated selling the county of
Neuchâtel.757 For its part, Bern expressed reservations: these were couched in
terms of the testatory disposition after Louis d’Orléans’s death, whereby Johanna’s
three sons were to inherit Neuchâtel,758 and recalled its Burgrecht with the county
and the margravine,759 but in truth it was concerned about the future of Reformed
adherence in Neuchâtel (and Valangin). That, in turn, offers an insight into
Fribourg’s motives. While the inhabitants of Neuchâtel and Valangin had been
won for the evangelical cause—not without resistance, it must be said, particularly
from Le Landeron,760 which was under Biel’s protection, a Catholic associated
member of the Confederation—their rulers’ Catholicism encouraged them to
regard Fribourg as a suitable partner, though Solothurn and Luzern (likewise
Catholic) appear to have been approached as well.761 The hope must have been
that under Fribourg the county would be reconverted to Catholicism.
But there was another less obvious yet crucial aspect: the very large purchase sum
constituted no deterrent at all for Fribourg, since it received substantial pensions
from France, which in the period from 1531 to 1540 totalled over 44,000 écus.762
753 EA IV, 1d, 254 (no. 127) (May 1543).
754 EA IV, 1d, 255 (no. 128) (May 1543); 258 (no. 132) (May 1543).
755 AEF, Ratsmanuale 60, pp. 193, 196, 200 (April 1543).
756 EA IV, 1d, 257–8 (no. 131) (May 1543); AEF, Ratsmanuale 60, p. 204 (9 May 1543).
757 EA IV, 1d, 278 (no. 137: to II) (June 1543); 280–1 (no. 139: I; II) (July 1543).
758 EA IV, 1d, 276–8 (no. 137: I; II) (June 1543); 322–3 (no. 157) (Nov. 1543). After Johanna’s
death Bern argued—correctly—that the procura (power of attorney) normally lapsed on the death of
the issuer.
759 EA IV, 1d, 258–60 (no. 133) (May 1543); 283–4 (no. 142: II) (July 1543); AEF, Ratsmanuale
60, pp. 204, 210 (May 1543): [Bern’s envoys] in namen irer obern angezeigt, das sy nit konnen noch
wollen mit minen g. H. in den kouff der graffschafft nuwenburg gan [not even jointly, on account of
the Burgrecht].
760 EA IV, 1d, 320–2 (no. 156) (Nov. 1543). On Le Landeron see Lionel Bartolini, Une résistance
à la Réforme dans le Pays de Neuchâtel: Le Landeron et sa région (1530–1562) (Neuchâtel, 2006).
761 EA IV, 1d, 284–5 (no. 143: I; II; III) (Aug. 1543); 302 (no. 150) (Aug. 1543). Luzern was not
interested; Solothurn requested further and better particulars.
762 Martin H. Körner, ‘Les répercussions de l’expansion territoriale sur les finances publiques
fribourgeoises au XVI siècle’, in Gaston Gaudard, Carl Pfaff, and Roland Ruffieux (eds), Fribourg: ville
et territoire. Aspects politiques, sociaux et culturels de la relation ville-campagne depuis le Bas Moyen Âge
(Fribourg, 1981), 124–38, here at 133.