162 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
the count refused to hand over Corbières on the grounds that it was a Savoy
fief.783 Bern brushed Fribourg’s demand aside and stuck firmly to its demand
for the count’s homage. Were the count to comply, Bern would cede feudal
superiority over Gruyère to Fribourg. Count Michel himself preferred—for
confessional reasons—to see his lordship pass to Fribourg, or else be shared
with Bern.784 The Gruyère communes shared that preference, and agreed that
Corbières should be given up.785
There ensued tough and protracted negotiations between Bern and Fribourg: at
stake was not only the confessional future of the county of Gruyère but, just as
pressing, the apportionment of Count Michel’s debts. For a time it looked as if
Fribourg might recoup some of its debt since the count’s spouse, Madeleine de
Miolans, countess of Montmajour, whom he had only wed a year previously,
promised to deposit 15,000 écus in Fribourg (from her dowry, presumably).786
Just when the end seemed to be in sight, Count Michel was rumoured to be threat-
ening to convert to Protestantism in order to sequester the church property of his
county and from the proceeds discharge his debts at one fell swoop.787 Nothing
came of this madcap scheme. It is doubtful whether the sequestration would have
sufficed, for the count’s debts turned out to be colossal.788
Confederal arbiters were called in by the count’s creditors to sort out the financial
mess, the sordid details of which need not detain us here. They rapidly established
that the count’s possessions were insufficient to cover the debts, whereupon the
various creditors dumped the responsibility on Bern and Fribourg. It transpired
that Fribourg was owed far the largest amount, 35,000 écus, with Bern a mere
2,000 écus to the bad. The mediators determined the purchase price at 80,500
écus; of that sum Fribourg was to pay 53,500 écus and Bern 27,000 écus (though
Fribourg’s share could be offset against Gruyère’s debts to the city and its citizens).
The discrepancy is explained by the fact that although Fribourg’s territorial gain
was smaller than Bern’s the land was much more fertile. Indeed, Bern complained
that by comparison it had acquired a mountainous wilderness.789 The mediators
then calculated the deficit at 27,000 écus, which prompted further debate over its
apportionment. Fribourg initially suggested an almost equal split, but Bern held
out for a one-third/two-thirds division in its favour.790 In the deed of sale half-and-
half carried the day.791
And so came to pass what had been tacitly adumbrated in 1537: the division
of the county whereby Fribourg gained the francophone Lower Gruyère and
Bern the largely germanophone Upper Gruyère to the south (the Pays d’Enhaut),
783 EA IV, 1e, 764–5 (no. 256: III) (Feb. 1553).
784 EA IV, 1e, 813–16 (no. 273: IV) (Aug. 1553); 840–1 (no. 279: V) (Sept.–Oct. 1553).
785 EA IV, 1e, 813–16 (no. 273: IV) (Aug. 1553); 840–1 (no. 279: V) (Sept.–Oct. 1553).
786 EA IV, 1e, 924–6 (no. 310: 1) (May 1554).
787 EA IV, 1e, 1011 (no. 331: k) (Oct. 1554).
788 EA IV, 1e, 1033 (no. 336: to 11) (Oct.–Nov. 1554). They were put at 120,000 écus; 22,375 fl;
7,782 florins, and 5,380 Rhenish florins. How these amounts related to each other is not clear.
789 Feller, Geschichte Berns, 2, 399–400.
790 EA IV 1e, 1283 (no. 398: 1) (July 1555); 1299, 1308–9 (no. 406: I; II) (Aug.–Oct. 1555).
791 EA IV, 1e, 1358–63 (Oct. 1555); 1368–71 (no. 419) (Nov. 1555).