And oft he tempts the patriot Swiss
Amid the groves to linger,
Till all is dim, save this bright stone,
Touched by his golden finger[29].
The league of the three Cantons was successively joined by Lucern, Berne, and the rest of the Helvetic body, not without exciting the deep ill-will and jealousy of Austria and all the surrounding nobles, of whom some claimed feudal rights over the revolted districts, others dreaded lest the spirit should spread to their own vassals, and work, as in effect it did, the destruction of their hereditary power and privileges. Hostilities were constantly recurring between neighbours so ill-mated; and the battles of Laupen, Tafwyl, Sempach, Næfels, Morat, and others of less note, bear testimony to the steadiness of purpose with which the feudal chiefs strove to crush a rising power diametrically opposed to their own interests and prejudices, and to the skill, courage, and constancy with which the Swiss maintained a contest apparently most unequal. The most remarkable perhaps is that of Sempach, in which another Leopold of Austria advanced with no less confidence against the audacious burghers of the Alps than had his predecessor seventy-one years before. His standard was followed by 167 lords spiritual and temporal, and a numerous and well-appointed army. The four Forest Cantons, with Zuric, Zug, and Glaris, were opposed to this force. Berne, the most powerful of the confederates, being herself at peace with Austria, declined to take any part in their defence.
The Duke directed his main attack on Sempach, a small town, which, in anticipation of the contest, had revolted from him and joined the Swiss. At the same time a division of his army, under the Baron de Bonstetten, threatened Zuric. In addition to the burghers of the city, 1600 men of the Forest Cantons, Zug and Glaris, were collected there; but the enemy’s plan of operations rendered it necessary to divide their force: and leaving the men of Zug and Zuric to defend their own territory from invasion, the rest of the Swiss, about 1400 in number, marched to meet the Austrian prince.
“Sempach, a small town about nine miles from Lucern, lies at the head of a lake nearly six miles in length, the country round it rising into meadows, thence into corn-fields, and lastly into extensive woods which crowned the hills. The Confederates occupied these woods.
“Early on the 9th of July they reconnoitered the enemy’s army; they saw a numerous well-appointed host, each band led on by an illustrious baron, an avoyer, or one of the duke’s substitutes, whose pride or avarice had occasioned this war. A large body of cavalry, consisting entirely of nobles, who were emulous to achieve the reduction of the Swiss peasants without the aid of the infantry, bore the most formidable aspect. Among all the chiefs none was more conspicuous than Duke Leopold, at that time five-and-thirty years of age; manly, high-minded, full of martial ardour, elate with former victories, revengeful, and eager for the combat. It was harvest-time; his people reaped the corn: the nobles approached the walls of Sempach, and upbraided the citizens: one of them held up a halter, and said, ‘This is for your avoyer:’ others demanded that breakfast should be sent out to the reapers; these were answered, ‘The Swiss are bringing it.’ The duke seeing the Confederates on the eminences, forgot, or perhaps never knew, that cavalry attack with far greater advantage on an ascent than on a declivity; he unadvisedly ordered the nobles, whom their heavy armour rendered very unfit for the evolutions of infantry, to dismount, and sent their horses to a distance in the rear. He formed them in such close array that the long spears of the rear ranks reached the front of the line, and formed a thorny fence that was deemed impenetrable. John, Lord of Ochsenstein, commanded this formidable phalanx. The vanguard, consisting of fourteen hundred foot, headed by Frederick, Count of Zollern, was sent into the rear. If the duke actually meant to wait for the attack, he erroneously adopted the plan that becomes a commander who opposes a small to a superior force. To this he may have been induced by the romantic gallantry of his nobles, who scorned advantages gained by stratagem, or a manifest superiority of numbers, and deemed that a victory thus gained would leave the palm of valour undecided; and the bright qualities of Leopold fitted him much more for high feats of chivalry than for the command of an army.
“John, Baron de Hassenberg, an experienced veteran, after examining the position and appearance of the enemy, intimated to the nobles that presumptuous hardiness often proves fatal, and recommended that the Baron de Bonstetten might be sent for without delay; but they reprobated his caution: and thus also, when the duke was admonished that in all engagements unforeseen accidents do happen; that the province of a chief is to conduct the army, and of the army to defend its chief; and that the loss of a commander is often more ruinous than that of half his force, he at first answered with a smile of indifference; but being urged with still greater solicitude he replied with warmth, ‘Shall Leopold look on from afar and see how his brave knights combat and die for him? No; I will conquer here on this land, which of right is mine, or perish with you for the advantage of my subjects.’
“The Confederates drew up on the eminence under cover of the wood. As long as the knights were mounted, they thought it scarce possible to stand the brunt of their attack in the plain and open country, and deemed it safer to abide their approach in their present position. No sooner, however, did they see the nobles dismount, than, suspecting a stratagem which they might not be able to guard against in the wood, they advanced towards the plain. Their contracted line consisted of four hundred men from Lucern, nine hundred from the other Forest Cantons, and about one hundred from Glaris, Zug, Gersau, Entlibuch, and Rotenburg. Each band, under its proper banner, was commanded by the landamman of its valley, and the Lucerners by their avoyer: they were armed with short weapons; some held the halberts which their fathers had wielded at Morgarten; several instead of shields had small boards tied round their left arms. According to ancient custom they knelt and implored a blessing from on high. The nobles closed their helmets; the Duke created knights; the sun stood high; the day was sultry.
“The Swiss, after their devotion, ran full speed, and with loud clamour, across the plain, seeking an opening where they might break the line and spread havoc on each side of them; but they were opposed by a solid range of shields as by a wall, and by the numberless points of spears as by a thick fence of iron thorns. The men of Lucern, more exasperated than the rest at the unexpected impediments, made many fierce attempts to break the line, but all of them ineffectual. The knights moving with hideous rattle, attempted to bend their line into a crescent, meaning to outflank and surround the assailants. The banner of Lucern was now for a time in imminent danger, the avoyer having been severely wounded, and several of the principal leaders slain. Anthony du Port, a Milanese, who had settled in the valley of Uri, cried out, ‘Strike the poles of the spears, they are hollow:’ this was effected; but the broken spears were immediately replaced by fresh ones, and Du Port himself perished in the conflict. The knights, partly owing to their unskilfulness, and more to the unwieldiness of their armour, found it impracticable to form the intended crescent; but they stood firm and unshaken. The Confederates, who had now lost sixty men, became apprehensive of a movement of the vanguard from the rear, and did not think themselves altogether secure against a surprise from Bonstetten.
“This anxious suspense was at length decided by one heroic deed. Arnold Struthan de Winkelried, a knight of Underwalden, burst suddenly from the ranks. ‘I will open a passage,’ he cried, ‘into the enemy’s line. Provide for my wife and children, dear countrymen and confederates; honour my race!’ He threw himself instantly on the enemy’s pikes, grasped as many of them as he could reach, buried them in his bosom, and being tall and large of limb, bore them to the ground as he fell. His companions rushed over his body; the whole army of confederates followed, and their close files penetrated with irresistible force. The enemy, struck with amazement, fell one over another in endeavouring to avoid their shock; and the pressure, heat, and confusion thus produced proved fatal to many knights, who died without a wound, stifled by the weight of their armour. Others of the Swiss meanwhile had mustered in the woods, and now hastened to reinforce the conquerors.