Note on Sources
- The Amtliche Sammlung der ältern eidgenössischen Abschiede (EA) is the official compilation
of the proceedings of the Helvetic diet (Tagsatzung) from 1291 to 1798. Its nineteenth-
century editors included much ancillary material, some of which is printed verbatim. It is
important to understand that the printed EA is only a redaction of the manuscript proceedings
of the diet held by each of the XIII cantons. These, taken together, are much more volumin-
ous. The deficiencies of the printed EA are well recognized, but the huge expenditure of
time and money necessary to compile a new edition make such an undertaking highly
unlikely. Where appropriate, references to the ancillary material have been checked against
the original sources (but not the manuscript EA volumes). For the period covered by the
present book the EA are broadly reliable. Alas, citation of the EA by scholars is not uniform;
here page numbers are given first, followed by the document number in brackets. Many
documents contain subsections and even sub-subsections, identified by numerals (Roman
or italic) or by letters. Here subsections are separated by semicolons, and sub-subsections
by commas.
- The Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) contain nineteenth-century transcripts of docu-
ments relating to Switzerland contained in foreign archives, especially Milan and Turin. For
reasons of time it has not been possible to check the transcripts against originals in the
Archivio di Stato Torino, particularly materials relating to the Savoy official Jean Dufour.
However, there are further unpublished documents in German relating to Dufour in SABE,
Unnütze Papiere, Savoyen-Sardinien-Buch, and in SAZH, Akten Savoyen 1, which permit
scrutiny and amplification of Dufour’s testimonies.
- The essential account of the conquest of the Vaud remains that of Charles Gilliard
(French edn 1935; German transl. 1941). It is based on extensive research in cantonal and
communal archives, as well as the EA. There is, however, one remarkable omission: the
Archives de l’État de Fribourg are ignored (as is the Staatsarchiv Solothurn). The omission
of Fribourg gives Gilliard’s account an even greater weighting towards Bern than is justi-
fied. It is partially compensated by use of the series of articles by the Fribourg archivist
Jeanne Niquille on the conquest of individual communes, especially Fribourg ones, which
were published in the local daily newspaper La Liberté, but the fundamental works of
Henri Naef are overlooked. Although nowhere explicitly acknowledged, the German
translation constitutes a revised 2nd edn; moreover, it has an index. Its use is therefore to
be preferred.
- The edition of the Bernese commander Hans Franz Nägeli’s ‘war diary’ by Oskar
Vasella rests upon transcripts in SABE; the original is in ACV. The edition contains not
only the war diary but further protocols by Bernese officials in the aftermath of the con-
quest, together with a description of the ‘ransoms’ (that is, the fines or penalties) levied on
Vaud towns, villages, and lords. The latter are also tabulated in the French edition of
Gilliard, Conquête, 276–9. Bern’s own self-justificatory account of the conquest published
some months later, Newe zeytung... , is cited from the copy in the University Library Basel.
- Many accounts of Swiss history in the period covered by this book draw heavily upon
contemporary or later chronicles. These are invariably parti pris and can at best give only an
impression of the mood of the participants. I have taken a conscious decision in almost all
cases not to cite them, even to provide background colour, except in the case of Fribourg,