At the same time as the French and Burgundians fought over the Low Countries, there was hard fighting in the Burgundian heartland to the south – both the Duchy and County (Franche-Comté) of Burgundy were eventually conquered by France, but the process took over three years.
1477
The French army sent to Burgundy in 1477 was led by Georges de La Trémoille, Lord of Craon, and Jean de Châlon-Arlay, Prince of Orange. They had orders to bring both the duchy and county back into French rule, even though the latter was actually an Imperial territory which Louis XI certainly had no right to. His claim to it was supposedly based on the planned marriage between his son the dauphin and Mary of Burgundy, though by this point this was clearly not going to happen.
Though the house of Châlon-Arlay had been supporters of the dukes of Burgundy, the Prince of Orange had fallen out with Charles the Bold, whom had favoured the former’s uncles in a family inheritance dispute. Thus the Prince of Orange served Louis XI at the start of 1477 – he had been promised the disputed estates and the governorship of Burgundy if he could deliver the region to France. Due to his diplomatic efforts the duchy was persuaded to return to French rule by the end of January. The county in turn signed an agreement on 18 February, even though much of the nobility still remained loyal to the House of Burgundy. Nevertheless the cities of Dole, Gray and Salins admitted French garrisons.
Things soon went awry though, as Louis XI awarded the governorship to La Trémoille instead. Worse still, La Trémoille seemingly refused to hand Châlon’s promised estates over to him. Offended and disenchanted, Châlon was invited to meet with the Burgundian nobility who still held out for Duchess Mary, including his own uncle Hugues de Châlon – the same uncle he was in dispute with over his grandfather’s inheritance. What passed between them we can only guess at, but the result was that the Prince of Orange dramatically switched sides shortly after delivering Burgundy over to the French, and became the head of the loyalist Burgundian faction. He was soon appointed lieutenant-general of Burgundy by Duchess Mary herself.
The Free County of Burgundy (or Franche-Comté) was part of the Empire, and had been reminded of such by Frederick III himself (though he notably failed to offer any military support, a recurring theme). The Comtois soon came to regret their agreement with France, as the countryside was cruelly oppressed by La Trémoille, who did himself no favours and subsequently helped foment revolt. The first act of rebellion came from the city of Dole, which evicted its new French garrison. By the end of February other towns had followed its example, supported by the local nobility. Among the names of the Comtois lords who led the rebellion, one of the most prominent was Claude de Vaudrey, Lord of L’Aigle. Other members of the Vaudrey family are also known to have fought on his side, most notably his uncle Guillaume. Other nobles mentioned include Claude de Toulongeon, Simon de Quingey, Chrétien de Digoine, Charles and Leonard de Châlon (cousins of the Prince of Orange), Louis de Vienne, Marc de Ray and Guillaume de la Baume.
La Trémoille was quick to act, and besieged the town of Vesoul, where Guillaume de Vaudrey led the defence. But in what would prove to be not the only time, La Trémoille was humiliated – on the night of 17 March, he was surprised by a sortie led by de Vaudrey and his army was routed. As the French fled they found themselves attacked by the local population, keen to take out their anger on their hated oppressors. La Trémoille retreated to Gray, where he attempted with great difficulty to gather his people back together.
Louis XI heard of the revolt as things were going in his favour in the Low Countries. Enraged, he condemned the Prince of Orange as a traitor and had him hanged in effigy. His house in Dijon was razed to the ground, and La Trémoille was ordered to ensure he was captured and executed.
The Prince of Orange himself meanwhile was looking for military support, as he knew he would be outmatched by the French if it ever came to open battle. He appealed to the Swiss cantons for aid, though they claimed they wished to remain neutral in the dispute. The Swiss of course had just months previously fought and defeated the Duke of Burgundy at the Battle of Nancy, but any enmity they had for the Burgundian regime seemed to have been reserved for Charles the Bold himself, and they were happy to make peace with their neighbours in the Franche-Comté following his death. At the same time they wished to keep the agreement they had made with Louis XI, hence their supposed neutrality. Nevertheless there were still plenty of restless Swiss soldiers who were eager for money and plunder, regardless of any agreements that had been made, and the Prince of Orange was able to recruit several thousand of them. Many of these adventurers would have actually been returning from the Nancy campaign, and were apparently happy to fight for Mary of Burgundy soon after having destroyed her father!
Under the leadership of the Prince of Orange and Claude de Vaudrey, and with their newly recruited Swiss mercenaries, the Comtois rebels were able to take the fight to the enemy. By the end of March the French were almost completely driven out of the county – only the town of Gray remained in French hands, where La Trémoille gathered his strength.
The Prince of Orange intended to besiege Gray, but La Trémoille moved first and rode out to meet him. Outnumbered, Orange was forced to retreat to his castle of Gy, where he soon found himself the one under siege. However his allies were mobilising to help him, with several thousand Swiss on their way under the leadership of the Vaudreys and his uncle Hugues de Châlon. Le Trémoille moved to intercept them, and the two hosts found themselves facing each other on either side of the river d’Ognon. The French attempted to cross the bridge at the village of Magny, though they suffered heavy losses in doing so. Eventually they did manage to make their way across and form up for battle. After much hard fighting they gained the advantage, Hugues de Châlon was captured and the Comtois were forced to retreat back to Besançon. The city was well defended and not intimidated by La Trémoille’s threats, and so he withdrew to Gray.
La Trémoille next planned to besiege the city of Dole, but it was then he heard news of trouble in the Duchy of Burgundy to the west. Here the rebellion was led by Claude de Toulongeon, who had been provided with Swiss mercenaries by the Prince of Orange. At the same time the people of Dijon had risen up and murdered the president of their parliament, newly appointed by the French. Here though it seems the rebellion was short-lived, as fresh French armies arrived in time to prevent certain towns from opening their doors to the rebels. Toulongeon instead entered the County of Charolais, where he ravaged the countryside and captured several fortresses. Nevertheless La Trémoille was able to pacify the region with little trouble.
In August La Trémoille moved against Dole with an army of 14,000 men. His confidence was bolstered by a letter he had received from one of his captains, who boasted of having defeated 1,000 Swiss in front of the city after having lured them outside. Dole was in fact very well defended by a garrison led by Simon de Quingey. La Trémoille began the siege with the customary artillery bombardment, and after eight or ten days had successfully made a breach in the walls. However it was stubbornly defended, and two attempted assaults were thrown back, apparently at the cost of 1,000 men. Soon La Trémoille had changed tactics and blockaded the city, hoping to starve it out.
With French manpower focused on the siege of Dole, Claude and Guillaume de Vaudrey were able to ride the countryside at will, harassing the French wherever they found them. The opportunity was presented to them to retake Gray, the only French-held town left in the county, whilst La Trémoille was occupied at Dole. Gray was garrisoned by 1,800 men under the command of the veteran captain Jean de Salazar (not to be confused with the Burgundian captain of the same name). On the night of September 29, Claude de Vaudrey led 1,000 Swiss to Gray, where they were able to scale the walls undetected. Fierce fighting broke out in the streets, with the citizens joining in to help oust the French. Eventually the French garrison was forced to withdraw to the castle. At some point during the night fires broke out, and the Swiss turned to drunkenly looting. Jean de Salazar was able to escape with a few companions, though he was wounded and badly burned.
Two days later La Trémoille suffered a repeat of his earlier failure at Vesoul. A nocturnal sortie from Dole took his camp by surprise, routed his army and captured his artillery. La Trémoille himself fled back to the duchy, and the French were driven out of the Franche-Comté entirely. Uprisings started anew in the duchy, as the Prince of Orange and Claude de Vaudrey led an army to the gates of Dijon, before they were driven back by a force led by the recently wounded Jean de Salazar.
Louis XI was understandably not pleased with how things had turned out, and blamed La Trémoille. He was seen as responsible for losing everything, and was criticised for his pride, recklessness, and ill treatment of the local populace. He was dismissed as governor of Burgundy, lost command of his ordonnance company, and was sent home in disgrace (though he did return rich from his excessive plundering). He was replaced as governor by Charles d’Amboise, Lord of Chaumont, who was seen as wiser and more diligent in his duties. He persuaded the duchy that under his leadership the plunder would end, and planned to recall the francs-archers who presumably were mostly responsible for the disorder.
1478
February 1478 saw the emperor writing to the city of Dole to encourage it to remain faithful, but again no actual assistance was forthcoming. As things remained quiet in the Franche-Comté, Maximilian took the opportunity to send a small army into the French-held duchy which managed to take a number of towns including Beaune, Châtillon-sur-Seine and Semur.
D’Amboise had not been idle however, and had managed to recruit several thousand Swiss into French service. Negotiations had continued with the Swiss cantons, who still professed their neutrality. Nevertheless there was a surplus of soldiers looking for work, and d’Amboise was able to offer them higher pay than the Prince of Orange had the previous year – this was eased by Louis XI effectively bribing the cantons to allow these adventurers to fight for him, despite their supposed peace with the County of Burgundy.
This effective change of allegiance from the Swiss, combined with d’Amboise’s leadership, shifted the power over to the French. All of the towns recently captured in the duchy were soon retaken. In one instance Simon de Quingey led a host of 600 Germans to reinforce Beaune, but they unfortunately stayed too long at Verdun on their way – d’Amboise attacked the town and they were overwhelmed, de Quingey being captured. Beaune was retaken shortly afterwards, and had to pay a large sum to avoid being sacked. By the end of the year all of the duchy was back in French hands, though the Franche-Comté remained Burgundian.
At some point a plot was uncovered to poison Louis XI, and the Prince of Orange was named as the instigator. Whether this was the truth, or if it was all just part of a French plan to discredit him, is not quite clear.
1479-80
The French planned to retake the Franche-Comté in 1479, and d’Amboise was sent reinforcements in the form of francs-archers, Swiss infantry and artillery. His campaign began in May, and the central target was the defiant city of Dole, which had by now incurred the king’s wrath. Without Swiss support and with aid from the Prince of Orange failing to materialise, it was lightly garrisoned, though its defenders had courage and a hatred of the French.
D’Amboise approached the city more cautiously than his predecessor had done. He began by capturing all the surrounding castles, taking great care not to be surprised. At Rochefort Claude de Vaudrey was taken prisoner, another blow to the rebels. At Arbois the defenders fought fiercely, but were eventually overwhelmed (though a few days later they did rise up and drive out their new French garrison). D’Amboise used his wits to further weaken Dole’s defences. Men were sent to seize the herds of oxen which grazed just outside the city walls, and a large party of citizens (supposedly students of the university) sallied forth to drive off the small number of French. Unfortunately they were being lured into a trap, and were promptly massacred.
Ultimately it was another underhand tactic that saw Dole fall. The defenders managed to see off more than one assault, but they were sorely undermanned. Though they no longer had access to the Swiss, they had managed to recruit a number of Germans from Alsace and Ferette. This proved to be their downfall. When the Germans arrived, d’Amboise did not prevent them from entering the city because, unknown to the defenders of Dole, he had already approached them and enticed them into his pay. The Germans were made to swear their loyalty before they were allowed to enter the city, but clearly the oath meant little to them. No sooner had they been permitted to enter than they seized the gates and opened them for the French, who promptly made their way inside. The defenders were overwhelmed, and the city cruelly sacked and set ablaze.
The sack of Dole served as an example, and other towns across the Franche-Comté soon capitulated. Salins, Poligny and Auxonne all surrendered. Vesoul resisted under the leadership of Hermann de Vaudrey, but it too was eventually taken. Arbois was retaken and pillaged for a second time, though its people retreated to the mountains. The imperial city of Besançon signed a treaty with the French on 3 July which respected its privileges and freedoms but established Louis XI as their ‘guardian’. The Swiss mercenaries now ravaged the countryside, though whether this was on d’Amboise’s orders or not is not clear. The Prince of Orange could not help, nor could Maximilian assist as his attentions were focused in the Low Countries. And Hugues de Châlon, having been ransomed after his capture at the bridge of Magny, was persuaded to denounce Duchess Mary and enter French service.
Not all of the Comtois nobility gave up the fight however. Guillaume de Vaudrey, Claude de Toulongeon, Marc de Ray and Chrétien de Digoine were among those who continued to defy the French and retreated to fortresses in the mountains. The fighting became increasingly bitter and fierce as it dragged on through the winter into 1480. The odds were set against the Comtois though, and both Guillaume de Vaudrey and Chrétien de Digoine were captured and promptly executed. The remaining rebels could not hold out forever, and by May 1480 all had finally surrendered.
The war for Burgundy was over, and both the duchy and county were in French hands. It had not been without dreadful cost though, as the Franche-Comté was utterly devastated. The conquest was confirmed by the treaty of Arras in December 1482, though with the clause that the county would return to Maximilian should the marriage of his daughter Margaret and the dauphin not take place. After Charles d’Amboise died in 1481 he was replaced by Jean de Baudricourt, under whose governorship the region became accustomed to French rule, and both the duchy and county swore fealty to the new king Charles VIII in 1483.
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