tenor of the late alliance and union made between them, howbeit on
payment."

A Bernese messenger carried this announcement to the Burgundian camp
before the fortress of Neuss, and delivered it into the hands of Duke
Charles himself, whose only remark, as he ground his teeth, was, "Ah!
Berne! Berne!" At the be-ginning of January, 1476, he left Nancy, of
which he had recently gained possession, returned to Besancon, and
started thence on the 6th of February to take the field with an army
amounting, it is said, to thirty or forty thousand men, provided with a
powerful artillery and accompanied by an immense baggage-train, wherein
Charles delighted to display his riches and magnificence in contrast with
the simplicity and roughness of his personal habits. At the rumor of
such an armament the Swiss attempted to keep off the war from their
country. "I have heard tell," says Commynes, "by a knight of theirs, who
had been sent by them to the said duke, that he told him that against
them he could gain nothing, for that their country was very barren and
poor; that there were no good prisoners to make, and that the spurs and
the horses' bits in his own army were worth more money than all the
people of their territory could pay in ransom even if they were taken."
Charles, however, gave no heed, saw nothing in their representations but
an additional reason for hurrying on his movements with confidence, and
on the 19th of February arrived before Granson, a little town in the
district of Vaud, where war had already begun.

Louis XI. watched all these incidents closely, keeping agents everywhere,
treating secretly with everybody, with the Duke of Burgundy as well as
with the Swiss, knowing perfectly well what he wanted, but holding
himself ready to face anything, no matter what the event might be. When
he saw that the crisis was coming, he started from Tours and went to take
up his quarters at Lyons, close to the theatre of war and within an easy
distance for speedy information and prompt action. Scarcely had he
arrived, on the 4th of March, when he learned that, on the day but one
before, Duke Charles had been tremendously beaten by the Swiss at
Granson; the squadrons of his chivalry had not been able to make any
impression upon the battalions of Berne, Schwitz, Soleure, and Fribourg,
armed with pikes eighteen feet long; and at sight of the mountaineers
marching with huge strides and lowered heads upon their foes and
heralding