The Siege of Murten Charles the Bold ordered his dispersed troops to assemble in Lausanne, following defeat in Grandson. He rebuilt his army with fresh troops, and then led them through the Broye valley, direction Bern, at the end of March. On 9 June he confronted the Bern-Fribourg occupational forces commanded by Adrian von Bubenberg. Charles the Bold completely surrounded the city on dry land but could not shut down communication lines on the lake’s waterways Even though Charles the Bold’s troops bombarded the town walls and continued their artillery attacks, Charles failed to over-take Murten. The Bern forces alerted the Confederate Vanguard who had gathered in Ulmiz in the protective surroundings of the Galm Forest. Later, the vanguard proceeded in the direction of Murten.

The Battle of Murten The armament and battle strategy adopted by the two armies could not have been more different, with the Confederates’ prospects of victory looking very grim. Charles’s army comprised some 22,000 men, including 5,700 archers, 5,100 infantry and 2,100 heavy cavalry. The mercenaries hailed mainly from Italy and Savoy, with 900 archers from England. The artillery used in Murten consisted of older models, given that Charles had lost his modern ordnance with its cast brass canons to the Swiss Confeder-ates in his defeat at Grandson. The Confederates and their allies are said to have numbered 24,000. Most were armed with pikes, halberds and battle axes, with small groups also brandishing bows, crossbows or arquebuses. They also included 1,800 horsemen, mainly from Austria and Lorraine. Charles wanted to conduct the battle on open ground to the north and west of Salvenach. His plan was to let the Confederates, who were advancing out of Galm Woods, run up against the Grünhag, and then decimate them with artillery from the left and with cavalry from the right. The Confederates formed three blocks for a frontal attack launched in several waves. While the vanguard comprised skirmishers (bows and arquebuses) and pikemen, the main body was made up of pikemen supported by halberdiers; the rearguard consisted of halberdiers. With the Confederates attacking unexpectedly, only some 2,000 men from Charles’s troops were in position. At first the frontal attack on the Grünhag and the artillery failed, but then a contingent of Swiss found a breach through the Burggraben (rift near Burg) and was able to overrun the Burgundian artillery and the archers through the flank. Finally the vanguard succeeded in breaking through the Grünhag and into the various camps. Only now was the Burgundian army in full alarm. Those, unlike Charles the Bold, who were unable to save themselves by taking flight, were killed in battle, in their camps or on the run. The Burgundian army lost 10,000 to 12,000 men (out of approx. 22,000); the Confederates, lost around 400 out of an army of some 24,000, most of then killed in the frontal attack on the top of the Grünhag.

Signification Murten was decisive in preserving the independence of the Swiss Confederates. Indeed, for a short period in history the Confederates became a great power and were much sought-after as mercenaries. Their territorial gains were, however, modest. Berne acquired Erlach and Aigle, and - together with Fribourg - Murten, Grandson, Orbe and Echallens. Fribourg and Solothurn joined the Confederacy At the same time the course of European history was influenced significantly. The real victors were France and Austria. Burgundy and Picardy went to France, while the territories in the Black Forest and Upper Alsace returned to Austria.