pation in the impending conflict, stipulated that Savoy and the
Confederates should be included in the peace, provided that they
committed no single act of depredation or hostility for a period of
three months. Secretly subsidized by Louis with ample funds to
prosecute the war, the Confederates immediately sought a pretext for
the attack upon the possessions of Savoy, and found one ready to their
hand in the confiscation by Count Romont of the celebrated contraband
load of German sheepskins carried illegally through his country by some
Bernese carters. Calling to their aid the inhabitants of the Valais, who
had long resented the suzerainty of Savoy, they prepared to march
against the duchess and Count Romont. The frightened duchess now again
attempted to negotiate with this strong combination, when the news of
Duke Charles' advance with a splendid army dissipated her fears, and she
openly declared for Burgundy and sent her forces to join those of
Charles. Another cause involving the count of Gruyere precipitated the
internal quarrels of Savoy and the Confederates. Count Romont, incited
by the jealousy of the family of de Vergy, which (through their alliance
with the sisters of Count Antoine de Gruyere, had disputed the
inheritance of his legitimized successor Francois) pillaged and captured
the Gruyere chateaux of Oron, Aubonne and Palezieux, and Duke Charles
sent a force of Burgundian and Savoyard soldiers to invade Gruyere
itself. Calling his friends the Fribourgeois to his side, Count Louis
met and conquered this army, capturing a banner which is still preserved
in the church at Lessoc. No further hesitation was thereafter possible
for the ruler of Gruyere, who was thus compelled to take sides against
the duchess if he wished to preserve his country from dismemberment and
the cruel and ferocious devastation which the Confederates were now
inflicting upon the beautiful country of Romand Switzerland, and
particularly upon the country of Vaud, the apanage of Duke Charles'
marechal, Count Romont. For, fully supplied with funds by Louis, nothing
could arrest the German inhabitants of Fribourg and Berne, who, in a
three-weeks' campaign of murder, violence and pillage, utterly
devastated and conquered the above provinces, burning the chateaux,
decapitating their defenders and soiling the reputation of the Swiss
soldier by inexcusable acts of cupidity and ferocity. Never was so venal
and brutal a war waged at the will of a for