160 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
As Martin Körner has observed, pensions and alliances played a far greater role
in Fribourg’s public finances than in any other canton, amounting to anywhere
between forty and fifty per cent of total revenue.763 No wonder that after the
margravine’s death Fribourg sought to press ahead with the proposed purchase,
subject to Bern’s agreement.764 To no effect: the transaction was stymied (by Bern,
one supposes), for the next year Neuchâtel’s long-standing Burgrechte with Bern,
Fribourg, and Solothurn were renewed; Luzern let its alliance lapse since it had
not received the protection money it was due.765 In 1550 there was a final twist
to the tale: Bern was now rumoured to wish to purchase Neuchâtel itself; in that
case, said Solothurn, it reserved the right to bid for Le Landeron.766 But after
Duke François III’s demise in 1551, a meeting of the three cities confirmed the
status quo.767
With Gruyère we are entitled to speak of unfinished business, for the outcome
had been foreshadowed in the immediate aftermath of the conquest of the Vaud.
Count Jean II de Gruyère died in 1539, to be succeeded by his feckless and spend-
thrift son Michel. All the questions left hanging in 1536—the counts as vassals of
Bern, the duration and nature of their dependence, the double allegiance to both
Bern and Fribourg—surfaced once more. In 1541 Bern demanded that Count
Michel swear homage,768 whereupon Fribourg (flush with funds, as we have just
seen) offered to pay the count’s Burgrecht recognition fee, and trusted that the
count remain associated with both cities.769 Simultaneously, Fribourg sought to
ascertain the attitude of the Gruyère communes; Saanen and Château d’Oex,
which had Burgrechte with Bern, gave evasive responses.770
There matters stood until 1545, when Count Michel approached citizens of
Fribourg for a loan of 6400 écus, pledged against his lordship of Corbières. The
Great and Small Councils of Fribourg resolved to keep the matter under wraps.771
From its own angle, Bern sought to chip away at the count’s territory (well aware
of his financial exigency) by buying the castle and lordship of Palézieux (which
had been a Savoy fief ), but leaving Count Michel in possession and in receipt of
763 Körner, ‘Répercussions’, 127. That view may need to be qualified. Thomas Reitze has shown that
up to 1500 French pensions to Solothurn were also considerable, though they fluctuated more widely.
Thomas Reitze, ‘Die Seckelmeisterrechnungen der Stadt Solothurn im 15. Jahrhundert’ (Lizenziatsarbeit,
Universität Zürich 1996), 55. Unfortunately the Seckelmeisterrechnungen from 1500 to 1550 have
not been analysed, but the archivist of Solothurn, Dr Silvan Freddi, was kind enough to take a sample
probe for 1534 which revealed an income from that year of £2933, a sizeable sum. I am indebted to
Dr Freddi for his assistance.
764 EA IV, 1d, 323 (no. 157) (Nov. 1543).
765 EA IV, 1d, 374–5 (no. 177: I; II; III) (May 1544). Bern’s Burgrecht was renewed in 1550: EA
IV, 1e, 296 (no. 118) (June 1550).
766 EA IV, 1e, 377–8 (no. 133: a) (July 1550).
767 EA IV, 1e, 562 (no. 187) (Oct.–Nov. 1551); 600–1 (no. 200) (Feb. 1552). After long negoti-
ations involving both Bern and King Henry IV of France the county of Valangin in 1592 under Marie
de Bourbon, widow of Léonor d’Orléans, was incorporated into the county of Neuchâtel for 70,000
gold écus. HLS, s.v. Valangin (Herrschaft).
768 EA IV, 1d, 88 (no. 47: a) (Dec. 1541). 769 EA IV, 1d, 98–9 (no. 55: I; II) (Jan. 1542).
770 EA IV, 1d, 102 (no. 58: I) (Jan. 1542); 103 (no. 60) (Jan. 1542).
771 EA IV, 1d, 478 (no. 223: 1; 2) (May 1545). The pledge was to be redeemed within 3 years;
in fact, Corbières was eventually ceded to Fribourg in 1553.