mperor
Ferdinand of Germany, Louis XI of France, the Duchess Yolande and their
magnificent cousin Charles the Bold of Burgundy. Sent by his father,
Charles VII of France, at the head of the redoubtable Armagnacs, to help
the German emperor to subdue the Confederated Cantons, the dauphin Louis
XI had such a taste of the quality of the Swiss soldier as he was never
afterwards to forget, when, at the battle of St. Jacques, fighting as
heroes never fought before, snatching the arrows from their bleeding
wounds, battling to the last, fourteen hundred Swiss despatched eight
thousand French and Austrians with eleven hundred of their horses. Such
soldiers Louis XI preferred as allies rather than antagonists and, when
he succeeded to the throne made haste to attach them to his cause. He
was wiser in this than his sister Yolande, who assured of the precious
alliance with the leading cities of the Swiss Confederates, lately so
ably negotiated by the count of Gruyere, paid less attention to
preserving their friendship, than to her ambitious designs upon the vast
territories and untold wealth of Burgundy. These territories she dreamed
of annexing to Savoy through a marriage with Marie, daughter and heiress
of Duke Charles and her young son Philibert, and for this reason took
sides with the duke against France and her treacherous brother. Taking
Hannibal and Alexander as his models, the duke of Burgundy, already
ruler of the Flemish provinces and the richest potentate in Europe,
dreamed of a kingdom which should extend from the Atlantic to the
Mediterranean and as far as the borders of the Rhine. With the alliance
of the German emperor, he saw the possibility of a still further
extension of his power, and for this reason promised his daughter to the
heir of the empire, Maximilian. With the passing of her hopes for this
coveted marriage alliance, the Duchess Yolande was content to maintain
her alliance with Duke Charles, and to preserve her regency under his
protection and support, little dreaming of the swift and terrible
destruction which awaited him in the shadow of the Alps.

That destruction stealthily prepared by all the arts at the command of
the most malevolently skilful monarch who ever wore a crown, was not at
the outset so lightly defied by the great duke of Burgundy, who had no
mind to alienate the country of Romand Switzerland, which had originally
formed a part of his own domain, and was still allied to its divided
half