The Counts of Gruyère   By: Anna De Koven (1860-)

BY

MRS. REGINALD DE KOVEN

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK

DUFFIELD & COMPANY

1916

Copyright, 1916, by DUFFIELD & CO.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

PROLOGUE 3

I. ORIGIN OF THE PEOPLE 7

II. INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH 14

III. SOVEREIGNTY OF THE HOUSE OF SAVOY 25

IV. FOREIGN WARS 46

V. THE BURGUNDIAN WARS (COUNT FRANÇOIS I) 57

VI. THE BURGUNDIAN WARS (COUNT LOUIS) 67

VII. STRUGGLE FOR SUCCESSION 85

VIII. RELIGIOUS REFORM 94

IX. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF GRUYÈRE 105

X. GRUYÈRE WITHOUT ITS COUNTS 128

APPENDIX 139

BIBLIOGRAPHY 141

ILLUSTRATIONS

LA PLACE DE GRUYÈRE Frontispiece From a watercolour by Colonel R. Goff

THE CHÂTEAU Facing p. 10

GATEWAY " 22

LACE MAKERS " 38

FORTIFIED HOUSES NORTH WALL " 56

THE CITY ON THE HILL " 72

TERRACE OF THE CHÂTEAU " 90

CHURCH OF ST. THEODATE " 112

JOUSTING COURT " 132

THE COUNTS OF GRUYÈRE

BIS SEPTEM SEACULA CURRENT MOENIA FUNDAVIT BELLO FORTISSIMUS HAEROS VANDALUS ATQUE SUO SIGNAVIT NOMINE MUROS GRUS VIXIT AGNOMEN COMITE DEDIT ADVENA PRIMO RUBEA GRUEM VEXILLA AC SCUTI PILOSI SUSTENTENT QUORUM EUTIS PARRIDA RUGIS AC ARMATA MANUS VULSIS RADICIBUS ARAE EST HUIC CELEBRIS SERVES ET LONGA PROPAGO NEPOTUM DIVES OPUM OLIVES PIETA VESTIS AURIS EXTITIT ET NOSTRIS PER PLURIMA SAECULA TERRAS PRAEFUIT GRUERIUS SEXTAE LEGIONIS VANDALORUM DUX

ANNO 436

Behold now twice seven centuries. That a Vandal hero bravest among warriors. Founded this fortress. This fortified city has since preserved the name of the Grue. The stranger became the first count. His descendants carried the Grue on their scarlet banners. And on their hairy shields. To the Vandal hero succeeded a long line of illustrious descendants. Rich in fortune, rich in their piety. These Counts won the order of the golden vest. And for many centuries the posterity of Gruerius. Chief of the sixteenth Vandal legion who lived in the year 436 governed our country.

PROLOGUE

On the edge of a green plain around which rise the first steps of the immense amphitheatre of the Alps, a little castled city enthroned on a solitary hill watches since a thousand years the eternal and surpassing spectacle.

Around its feet a river runs, a silver girdle bending northward between pastures green, while eastward over the towering azure heights the sunrise waves its flags of rose and gold.