Battle of Grandson

In 1475, the town of Grandson in Vaud, which belonged to Charles the Bold's ally Jacques of Savoy, had been brutally taken by the Old Swiss Confederacy, led by the Canton of Bern. After negotiations for the restitution of Vaud failed in January 1476, Charles left Lorraine with the bulk of his army, consisting of about 12,000 men, and advanced through the Jura Mountains towards Vaud. == Battle ==

After taking Grandson, Charles set up his camp north of the town and protected it by establishing two garrisons nearby. The Swiss initially had little idea of the value of their loot. A small surviving part of this fantastic booty is on display in various Swiss museums today, and a few remaining artillery pieces can be seen in the museum of La Neuveville, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. == Aftermath ==

After the battle, the Swiss troops came upon the bodies of their countrymen still hanging from trees in Grandson. An eyewitness, Peterman Etterlin, described the scene: {{Blockquote Charles had attempted to break the will of the Swiss by killing any of their countrymen whom he could apprehend. Instead, he united them as never before. When the Burgundians met the Swiss at the Battle of Morat (Murten in German) in June 1476, the Swiss annihilated his army. ==See also==

• Heinrich Brennwald, Schweizerchronik, (Basel: Basler Buch- und Antiquariatshandlung, 1910) 2: 244–249. • Philippe de Commynes, Memoirs: the Reign of Louis XI, (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1972), pp. 280–282. • Gerald Edlibach, Chronik, (Zurich: Meyer, 1847), pp. 150–151. • Petterlin Etterlin, Kronika von der loblichen Eidgnoschaft, (Basel: Eckenstien, 1752), pp. 89–91. • Johannes Knebel, Chronik aus den Zeiten des Burgunderkriegs, (Basel: Bahnmaier, 1851) 2: 357–360. • "Panigarola and den Herzog (Galeazzo Maria Sforza) von Orbe," 4 March 1476 as cited in Wilhelm Oechsli ed. Quellenbuch zur Schweizergeschichte, (Zurich: Schulthess, 1901), pp. 232–234. • Diebold Schilling, Die Berner-Chronik, (Bern: Wyss,) 1: 373–375. • Alberto Winkler, The Swiss and War: the Impact of Society on the Swiss Military in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, unpublished PhD dissertation, Brigham Young University, 1982, pp. 73–76. • Richard Vaughan, Charles the Bold: The Last Valois Duke of Burgundy. London, Longman Group Ltd., 1973. • Florens Deuchler, Die Burgunderbeute: Inventar der Beutestücke aus den Schlachten von Grandson, Murten und Nancy 1476/1477, Verlag Stämpfli & Cie, Bern 1963.