76 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
the intervention of the Bernese councillor, Niklas von Scharnachtal, to get them
to withdraw.84
In April 1475 an army under von Diesbach comprising troops from Bern and
Fribourg, along with reinforcements from Luzern, Solothurn, and Basel (as a
member of the Lower Union), sought to make good the failure of the previous
autumn. It began by securing the western Vaud, capturing Grandson, Échallens,
Orbe, and Jougne as the gateway to the Franche-Comté, though no formal declar-
ation of war on Savoy was made, given its membership of the League of Moncalieri.
In the meantime some irregulars had been persuaded to divert their energies
towards the Franche-Comté, where they succeeded in taking Pontarlier, but then
had to be rescued by a relieving force under von Diesbach in the face of imminent
Burgundian attack.85 The April campaign was very much von Diesbach’s work,
determined to go it alone.86
Bern found itself the target of hostility from the other cantons. Zürich observed
sourly that Bern should have sought endorsement from the Confederal diet for
retaining troops in Pontarlier. Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Zug also argued that
a speedy withdrawal after the town had been razed would have been appropriate.87
Even in Fribourg and Bern it transpired that an aggressive strategy was not fully
accepted. In the former a majority was against offering Bern unconditional sup-
port, while in the latter the Small Council also urged circumspection. If there were
to be attacks, they should be directed against Burgundy itself, not the Vaud.88
Only the Lower Union was unswervingly in favour of pressing on regardless. It was
indeed an artillery battalion from Basel which had helped to take Grandson, and
went on to seize the Jougne pass.
A new campaign was planned for June, but its chances of success without sup-
port from the other Confederates were slim. The leading cities of the Lower Union,
Basel and Strasbourg, were prepared to offer a douceur of 10,000 fl (though the
small cities refused).89 Even the arrival of French pensions in May did not moder-
ate the cantons’ hostility: they argued that the money could be better deployed by
conquering Sargans and establishing control of the Alpine Rhine up to the
Arlberg!90 When the army finally mustered at Basel in July (only Luzern joined
Bern and its western allies), the declared aim was to destroy Blamont, one of
the Franche-Comté’s strongest fortresses, then held as a fief by the counts of
Neuchâtel.91 Von Diesbach was eager to lead the army northwards to counter
Charles the Bold’s threat to Lorraine, but the Bernese council flatly refused. Before
he could embark upon any further escapades, von Diesbach succumbed to the
plague in August, only days before Blamont at last surrendered.92
In these operations we hear little of the Vaud, apart from those fortresses held
by the counts of Chalon as Burgundian vassals. Bern’s proposals at Lausanne in
84 Bittmann, Memoiren, 796.
85 Stettler, Eidgenossenschaft, 248; Bittmann, Memoiren, 799, 806.
86 Bittmann, Memoiren, 833. 87 EA II, 538–9 (no. 788) (April 1475).
88 Bittmann, Memoiren, 836. 89 Bittmann, Memoiren, 843.
90 Bittmann, Memoiren, 847–8, 856. 91 Bittmann, Memoiren, 864.
92 Bittmann, Memoiren, 876–7.