situated below the Kernwald, between Stans and Oedwil, upon a high hill,) a servant girl, who was betrothed to a man of Stans, who belonged to the league. They had agreed, that he should visit her in the night of new-year's eve, about midnight, and that she should let down, from her window, a cord which he showed her. The maiden was glad, for she loved the youth. When the night arrived, he secretly took twenty confederates with him. They stole to the wall of the castle, that the maiden should not see them. She bound the rope to the window sill, and let it down to the ground. The youth climbed up into the castle, and went with the maiden into a room, to converse with her, an hour or two. In the mean time, one of the confederates, after another, climbed up the rope, until all were in the castle. Quickly they took the commander and four of his people, prisoners, together with the servants, kept them in the castle, and allowed no one to go out until noon, so that no hue and cry should be given, until the castle of Sarnen were likewise taken. But they sent immediately one of their own number secretly, to Stans, to inform the confederates, there, that Rotzberg was in their power, that they might quickly inform the confederates above the forest.

Now the landvogt von Landenberg, who lived in the castle of Sarnen, above the forest, had, by force, accustomed the people to bring him presents on new-year's day, one a couple of fowls, another a capon, a hare, a kid, a lamb, a calf, or other thing, according as every one could afford it, which they were obliged to carry into the castle. About fifty confederates, therefore, had resolved, that thirty of them should, well-armed, hide themselves, before the break of day, under the castle, below the mill, in the elder-wood, and the other twenty should cut and sharpen sticks, so that pointed irons might be fixed to them, and each should carry an iron with him, in the bosom of his dress. These should carry the new-year's presents into the castle, (for no one was allowed to enter it with arms,) and when they were all entered, one of them should blow the horn. Upon this, the twenty should quickly fix the iron, and take possession of the gate; and

ers.

so soon as those in the elder-wood should hear the horn, they should hasten up to the castle gate, to aid the othNow, when the twenty men went with the presents to the castle, the landvogt came out, with two companions, to go to church, for it was morning, at the time the people go to the church; and, when he saw that all were unarmed, he was not afraid, trusting that they were bringing presents, and told them, to carry them into the castle, and he went on, into the church.

Soon after, the horn was heard, and the castle was taken, in the mentioned manner; all the guards and other people were taken prisoners; all the furniture was thrown out, and the castle was razed. In the same manner was Rotzberg destroyed. And when the landvogt heard the same, in the church, with his servants, they meant to take flight over the mountain, but could not, on account of the snow. They then fled toward Alpnach, down to Lucerne. They were seen, but allowed to proceed without molestation, as had been agreed; so the castle-guards and servants of Sarnen and Rotzberg were allowed to draw off, with all their property, and no harm was done them, neither to their limbs nor property, only they were obliged to leave the land. And when this was done, all the people, noble and common, young and old, above and below the Kernwald, swore a mutual oath, that they would advise and aid one another against the tyranny.

At the same time, those of Uri likewise cleared their country, and destroyed the castle which had been begun, which the tyrant Gessler would have called, Force Uri under the Stick ;' and there, likewise, all swore, noble and common, to help and protect one another. In the same manner, things proceeded in Schwytz. There, Wernherr of Stauffach, and the confederates, destroyed the castle of Lowers in the Lower Lake. It was not in good condition; nor mounted. It had been used as a prison, in which to confine those who were tried for life. The people, there, took the same oath. All this happened in one day, on new-year's day; that was on a Monday, Anno Domini, 1308, as had been before agreed upon.

THE BATTLE AT SEMPACH, IN 1386

BY JOHANNES VON MÜLLER.

JOHN VON MÜLLER was born in 1752, at Schaffhausen, in Switzerland, and died in 1808. The first volume of his History of the Swiss Confederacy, from which the following account of the battle of Sempach has been translated, appeared in 1780. This battle was fought on the ninth of July, 1386, between the confederated Swiss on the one side, and Austria on the other; Austria making an obstinate effort to maintain her power in Switzerland See History of the Swiss Confederacy, Vol. ii. p. 431.

THE Duke, [of Austria,] leaving the Stein, at Baden, crossed the Rüss, and marched through the free bailiwicks, to Argan, and thence through Sursee, toward Sempach. This little town is situated about three leagues' distance from Lucerne, at the head of a lake of two leagues in length, bordered with fertile and picturesque meadows. Above the meadows, lay cornfields; and above these, rose a wood. This wood was occupied by the troops of the confederates.

On the ninth of July, they saw the enemy, a numerous force, well mounted, and in complete armor. The vassals were drawn up under their respective barons; the people of each town under their avoyer; and the companies of every noble of the different countries, each under the banner of its country. The Landsknechts, vassals, and mercenaries, served as infantry. There were no fieldpieces; though some heavy blunderbusses were slowly advancing, to be used in the siege of Sempach. There were seen the lords of Argan, the bailiffs of Austria, authors of the war; Hermann Grimm of Grunenberg, from whom Rotenburg had been wrested; Thuring and John of Hallwyl, zealous, above others, for the house of Austria, in peace and war. There were the Gesslers, cherishing an inborn hatred against Switzerland; Egloff and Ulrich of

Ems, the first, the noblest knight in the wars of his time Kraft of Lichtenstein, with many distinguished lords from Inner Austria, under the banner of the arch-duchy, which was borne by the Lord Henry of Escheloh; Rudolph, Count of Sulz; Count John of Furstenberg; Montfaucon of Mumpelgard, and many lords of Upper Burgundy. Above all the army, shone Duke Leopold of Austria, himself, now in the thirty-fifth year of his age, and in the pride of manly beauty. Magnanimous, full of courage and heroic fire, and adorned with the laurels of many a victory, he burned with revenge, and thirsted for battle.

It was the time of the harvest; the Duke's people were reaping the corn; the nobles galloping up to the walls [of Sempach] to taunt the burghers, with a firm resolution to beat the Swiss peasants with their own knightly force, unaided by the infantry. When the Duke espied the enemy in the upland, he forgot (if, indeed, he had ever known) that cavalry can attack with more effect upon an ascent, than on a declivity; and he believed it necessary to dispense with cavalry, although the nobles, encumbered with their heavy armor, were ill adapted to act on foot. Welldrilled cavalry has often, by a violent and rapid shock, turned the flank of bodies of foot, broken and beaten them; but never has heavy-armed infantry withstood an attack of infantry made from higher ground. The Duke commanded the nobles to form in the closest order; and to this strong phalanx he gave an impenetrable and terrible front by the lances, which were of such length, that even those of the fourth line reached the front. This arrangement was almost the same as that which his grandfather had employed, successfully, against Bavarian cavalry, in the battle at the Hasenbühel. Lord John of Ochsenstein, under the Duke himself, had command of this phalanx; while Reinhard of Wehingen, a man well skilled in the affairs of peace and war, and high in favor of the Duke, commanded the shooters. A body of fourteen hundred men, commanded by Frederick of Zollern, the black Count, and John of Oberkirch, knight, and composing, usually, the van, was on this day placed, by the Duke, in the rear; for he was anxious that the field

should be clear before the infuriated nobles, whom he commanded in person. In thus assuming a defensive position, he was taking, with superior numbers, a course more befitting the inferior force; but probably he was led to fight on foot, by an opinion of the knights and nobles of that age, that he who is victorious in any struggle, by superiority of equipments or by stratagem, leaves the fairest prize of valor undecided. They considered such advantage dishonorable; and Leopold himself was rather an ornament of a gallant chivalry, through his noble virtues, than a great general, through his extensive knowledge of the art of war.

When John of Hasenberg, baron, a gray-haired warrior, who had seen the enemy's position and order, warned the exasperated nobility, that "vanity leads to no good end, and that it would be well to send word to Hans of Bonstetten, that he should hasten to join them," they considered his sage counsel to be ignoble. So, when others made timely propositions to the Duke himself, and warned him, "that battle-fields are the native soil of unforeseen emergencies; that it was befitting a prince, to watch for the general safety, and themselves, to fight for the common cause; and that it would be vastly more ruinous to the army to lose its head, than some of its members," he replied, at first, with a smile, but, at length, impatiently, Shall Leopold look on, from a distance, and see his knights die for him? Here, in my country, for my people, with you, will I conquer or perish."

The confederates stood on the wood-covered declivity. So long as the knights were mounted, they believed it difficult to resist their shock in the plain, and safer to expect the attack in their position, which they believed to be advantageous. If they were victorious, they hoped that the victory, by the encouragement it would afford the nation, would prove decisive of the whole war; death they considered as a path to undying glory, and as an incentive to others, to avenge their loss upon the enemy. When the knights had dismounted, the confederates marched from out the wood down into the plain; for they feared some stratagem, or sudden manœuvre, of the