In the course of 1499 the Swiss from their headquarters at Schwaderloh in the
Thurgau, just south of Konstanz, mounted three separate raids into the Hegau,
with further sorties to the Alpine Rhine, the eastern Black Forest, and the Klettgau.
Although Diessenhofen had been instructed to wall up one its gates, initial prepar-
ations on the Swiss side seem to have been desultory, but Bishop Hugo’s agreement
in January to hand over Gottlieben castle on Konstanz’s doorstep to the Swabian
League acted as a wake-up call, for it promptly installed a garrison there, as rumours
were flying that the Thurgau peasants were intending to occupy Gottlieben,
Kreuzlingen, and Münsterlingen themselves.163 The Swiss immediately ordered
the Thurgau bailiff to take possession of his castles of Klingnau and Kaiserstuhl;
Bischofszell, Arbon, and other strongholds followed over the next few months.164
Konstanz in turn set about strengthening its own defences. While the sorties
appear to reflect a collective will, there were nevertheless palpable divisions over
strategy, principally between Zürich and Bern. At the outset the latter had hoped to
avoid war altogether, and remained reluctant to venture beyond the Rhine.165
Moreover, the repetitive nature of the raids suggests that no consistent or long-term
strategy underlay the Swiss expeditions, unless it was simply to sow confusion.
In early 1499 the cantons were planning to advance on several fronts. The Inner
cantons were given the task of guarding the Rheintal in the east, while defence on
the Hochrhein was primarily the responsibility of Zürich and Luzern.166 In February
a contingent was despatched to guard the Sarganserland, while preparations were
under way to engage the league at its supposed weakest point by attacking the
Hegau nobility. This expedition was the work of four urban cantons, Zürich, Bern,
Fribourg, and Solothurn.167 The latter two, as recently admitted full members,
were clearly anxious to show their commitment by their presence in the Thurgau,
since they nursed hopes of being allowed to share in the administration of its com-
mon lordship. That internal Confederal politics also played a role may be inferred
from Solothurn’s surprising unwillingness to launch an attack on the Frick valley,
the one remaining Austrian territory of any size south of the Rhine, even though it
163 Meyer, ‘Thurgau’, 19; StAKN, Ratsbuch I, 19, p. 11, 5 Feb. 1499.
164 Niederhäuser, ‘Kampf ums Überleben’, 20; EA III, 1, 597–600 (no. 540: hh). The town of
Arbon then agreed to open itself to Swiss troops. EA III, 1, 601–2 (no. 642: i); Meyer, ‘Thurgau’, 74.
In mid-April Bishop Hugo further protested that Swiss troops had seized his castles of Moosburg and
Güttingen in the Upper Thurgau. SAZH, Akten 159, 63, 13 April 1499.
165 Meyer, ‘Thurgau’, 24. 166 Meyer, ‘Thurgau’, 13.
167 Meyer, ‘Thurgau’, 29; Carl, ‘ “Schwabenkrieg” ’, 120.