154 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
the following May mediators were still suggesting that Bern give up its jurisdictional
claims there.729 As a final twist of the knife Bern sought to take over the lordship
of Vuippens in 1539, even though it had been among the first districts to pass to
Fribourg in 1536; its attempt failed.730 The frontiers between Bern and Fribourg
were not finally settled until the Treaty of Morat in May 1539.731
The apportionment of rents and revenues from the conquered territories also
caused predictable friction. Not until 1538 was an accommodation reached, after
months of bargaining.732 By contrast, the ‘ransom’ imposed on the towns, villages,
and lords of the Vaud was straightforward, since it was levied according to the two
cities’ possessions. There were, however, some anomalies. The common lordships
(Échallens, Orbe, and Grandson) were excused payment, as were the communes of
Lausanne and Payerne, and two Gruyère lordships, Aubonne and Oron. Communes
once in the bishopric of Lausanne, Lavaux, Lucens, and Avenches, were exempted,
along with the convents of Romainmôtier and Payerne.733 In total, the ransom of
the Vaud raised just over 6300 écus, with lords paying as much as the towns and
villages put together, though few of the former paid more than 100 écus.734 Perhaps
more was not to be had.735
729 EA IV, 1c, 838 (508: 4) (May 1537).
730 AEF, Missivale 11, fo. 86r (10 May 1539; Gasser, Territoriale Entwicklung, 163.
731 Cuendet, Traités, 111; EA IV, 1c, 1093–6 (no. 660) (May 1539). It is very telling that the
demarcation did not preclude local disputes over land and usufruct which ignored such frontiers. See
the wording of § III, 9 (p. 1095) on Orbe and Chavornay: the frontier was simply a Herrschaftsgrenze,
and had no relevance to lands and possessions, or to rights of pasturage.
732 AEF, Missivale 11, fo. 41r (13 April 1538); EA IV, 1c, 996–7 (no. 602) (July–Aug. 1538).
733 Charles Gilliard, ‘La rançon du Pays de Vaud’, in Festschrift Hans Nabholz überreicht zum 60.
Geburtstag am 12. Juni 1934 (Zürich, 1934), 171–91. (Also in Gilliard, Conquête, 276–9.)
734 Gilliard, ‘Rançon’, 182–3, 191; Vasella, ‘Krieg Berns’, 293–308; Paquier, Pays de Vaud, 2, 263.
735 The comparative totals for Vaud, Gex, and ‘Savoy’ (i.e. Chablais) were respectively: towns 2652
écus, 700 écus, 500 écus; villages 562½ écus, 40 écus, 273 écus; lords 3115 écus, 765 écus, 1295 écus.
Gilliard, ‘Rançon’, 176.