Swiss Arms 62 (Patreon)

Swiss Arms

Chapter 62

-VB-

Early Expansions: Toggenburg

The joining of the County of Toggenburg to the Compact soon became a turning point in the entirety of Swabian Alps region. While it might not have changed the Compact’s status as a local power, it certainly started a cascade of events that saw other unsure fiefs, cities, and nobles seeking to join in on the alliance.

Count John I of Toggenburg quickly adopted much of the pragmatic ideas and tools used by Fluelaberg. In particular, he chose to adopt the usage of guerilla tactics and rangers Fluelaberg developed before the ****** War. Count John I would use these advantages that no one else in the region had adopted for the mountains and forested valleys, and waged war upon the County of Sargans. Toggenburg would double in size as a result of this war, and lead to their and Compact’s norhtern neighbor, County of Werdenberg, to seek member for protection as well.

This would lead to the ***** War where the new Holy Roman Emperor ******* of Habsburg would seek to prevent the rise of a regional power right next to Habsburg's homeland in the Swabian Alps, which was also a fief held by the emperor.

This, of course, completely ignored the conflict the Compact fought against the Dukes of Upper Bavaria years prior, which Toggenburg also took part in.

In this chapter, we will discuss the specifics of how Toggenburg’s induction into the Compact shifted the balance of power within and outside of the Compact.

Except from The Swiss High Medieval Wars by Professor Jennifer Awenschieder (2011).

-VB-

Deacon Benjamin

He took a long sip of his warmed honey water.

Honey was not rare but it was also expensive, especially in the quantities that he acquired lately. Or it would have been expensive had he not been in contact with the Baron of Fluelaberg.

Ah, the baron.

He was a noble who worked like a commoner yet created things so … beautiful.

Benjamin glanced down at his cup. It shined in the fall noon sunlight: a glass cup. Not a wooden cup. Not an iron cup. Not a silver or gold cup. A glass cup. To think that a mere deacon like him would be able to hold a glass cup like this and have it for personal use.

Of course, he didn’t gloat about it. It was a precious gift from the baron. He wouldn’t dare to use it to make his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ jealous over it! No, it was best used for quiet, personal time.

Knock knock.

He sighed. Downing the entire cup, he set it aside in his desk, stood up, and walked over to the door. He opened it and saw a man on the other side.

“Oh, Brother James. How can I help you?” he asked.

The older brother gulped. “The bishop wishes to see you, deacon.”

“The bishop?”

---

“Your Holiness, how may I be of service?” he asked after kissing the bishop’s ring.

“Please, take a seat, child,” the bishop asked and he did. “Just yesterday evening, a fast-track courier came by from Fluelaberg. He delivered a letter from the baron himself. From what I am told, seven other such letters have been sent out.”

“A request to all of the representatives of the Compact?”

“Indeed, and this is because there is a very good reason for such a request,” he said before taking a deep breath in and letting it out. “The new heir of Toggenburg has come of age as a ward of the baron, and on the day of his majority, he requested the baron for his County of Toggenburg to become a part of the Compact.”

“... I see,” Benjamin muttered. “I don’t see, however, how I can be of service to you regarding this, Your Holiness.”

“You met the count.”

‘Ah, I see. I am an eye witness to the count’s character.’ “I have.”

“Tell me, what kind of a young man is he?”

“... Do you wish to know his flaws first or his strengths?”

“Let us start with flaws and then finish with strengths.”

“Very well, Your Holiness. John, the first of his name, is a loud bo- young man. He is greedy but not overly so. He hates theology and abhors having to learn things that do not interest him. John is not a warrior, however, and wars do not interest him as much as women do.”

“Ah, I see. So a regular young man?”

“More or less. He is, however, a learned student of Hans of Fluelaberg,” Benjamin continued. “If there is one thing that the baron-in-denial drilled into his ward, then it is discipline. From what I have heard, Count John trains regularly with the baron’s rangers, a group of soldiers dedicated to mastering how Hans likes to fight his wars. I believe you are familiar with it?”

“Overwhelmingly powerful on the battlefield and scary outside of it?”

“Well, yes, but more on how he achieves it. He surprises everyone, Your Holiness. These rangers, as far as I saw and what Hans told me, would be the ghosts that stalk any enemies in the day and night. They use the forests and the trees as cover, rough cloak that can be used as cover to blend in with the rocks, and fast-firing crossbows that might need some preparation beforehand but can shoot many bolts before they disappear into the woods again.”

“I see. And John is familiar with these?”

“Yes. The boy often talked about how he will make his own rangers once he returns to his ancestral lands.”

“And the baron … let John learn of these tactics?”

He nodded. “That’s where the second part comes in, Your Holiness. Count John is very enamored by what the baron does.”

“How so? Is it his strength?”

“His strength is secondary, if not tertiary, to what the count sees. I would wager that it is how effectively and overwhelmingly powerful the baron shows he is outside of the battlefield.”

“The craftsmen and trade.”

Benjamin nodded. “Yes, Your Holiness. Count John is greedy. He wants more yet he seeks to have closer ties with the baron. If it wasn’t for Isabella of Gorizia, then he might even try to betroth his sister to the baron.”

“Betrothing to a baron instead of his peers?” the bishop hummed. “I could see it. If it was anyone else, I would not, but with Hans, I can see a count wishing to do so.”

“And perhaps most important to your role as the secular ruler of Chur… I may have overheard talks between the count and the baron about the count wishing to physically connect his lands with that of the Compact to facilitate trade. Or rather to remove a barrier to trade.”

And there was only one fief between Toggenburg lands and the Compact.

“Sargans,” the bishop hissed.

“Yes, Your Holiness. They struck you down when you were weak. I am personally inclined to allow the count into the Compact if it meant that Sargans, the treachery bastards who would bow their heads to you in prayer, would lose their holdings and titles.”

“That would be for the best, yes, even if they do not lose all of their titles.”

Benjamin could see that the bishop was already going to vote in favor of the young count.

-VB-

Rudolf II, Count of Sargans ***

Today, he had been looking over the reports of his castle’s budget and the tax the peasants working his lands had paid him.

So far, he was in the black. However, it was so slim of a margin that left him in the black that he may as well be in the red.

This had been part of the reason why he had taken part in the Unruly Year as even he himself came to call it. That year was a chaotic mess for those within these valleys as everyone scrambled for dominance and protection.

‘To think that the ones who came out on top was not any of my peers but peasants,’ he thought with a grumble. It still irked him that peasants who had no right to rise up above him and his peers stood above them, and he knew for a fact that this was because of that one man: Hans von Fluelaberg. The uppity peasant had been favored by the emperor for some reason, and only continued to gain favors as time went on.

Of course, Rudolf knew why; the baron found out how to replicate the ways of the Far East in the creation of those “porcelain” of his. It was beautiful. And then glass began to be sold.

He glanced at his glass cup. He too might have bought a few crates, kept a select few, and then sold the rest to nobles and merchants alike who did not have the means or the time to pass by Fluelaberg.

He might not have gotten those glasswares if it had not been for his spy embedded within the “mining cooperative” of Fluelaberg.

Hah! The baron was stupid. He allowed the miners to have ownership of what came out of the mines. Daily entry fees? Gemstone and ore buyback? Refining services?!

The peasant-baron was mad, and he would doom his tiny fief. Rudolf was sure of it.

“MILORD!”

The sudden shout surprised Rudolf and his quill gritted across the paper (a product that also came out of the Compact). The inked quill ruined the document he had been working on. Irritated, he looked up and glared at -.

“Karl? What are you doing here right now?” he asked his spy.

Karl of Walenstatt gasped as he stumbled into his solar without invitation and placed an envelope.

“P-Please. Read it. Important.”

“Did you run up five flights of stairs?” he asked the foolish minor noble before he did as he was asked. He opened the envelope, pulled out a letter (the letter said it was a copy of a letter sent to the village chief of Maienfeld), and read it.

And read it again.

And read it again.

Gritting his teeth, he glared at the spy.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded frantically through his fatigue.

“I cannot let Toggenburg join the peasants. They would have me cornered to a wall…!”

And they had more than enough reason, once they joined forces, to cut off trade coming to his lands, including food trade. He did, after all, attack the bishop multiple times. It would starve him and his peasants. “No, this cannot stand. Mansk!”

The tall man-at-arms walked into his solar.

“Yes, milord.”

“Prepare the men! And Karl, I want to know when that boy count is passing through Maienfeld’s lands. I want this to look like an accident that happened inside their own lands and not mine.”

-VB-

A/N:

*** This is not the Duke of Upper Bavaria. This is a wholly different person/character. He had a single screentime, less than 200 words, back in Chapter 26.