Gugler
Encyclopedia
The Gugler were a body of mostly English
and French
knight
s who as mercenaries
invaded Alsace
and the Swiss plateau
under the leadership of Enguerrand VII de Coucy
during the Gugler War of 1375.
indicates that the term Gugler is derived from the appearance of the knights dressed for winter, wearing pointed helmets and cowl-like hoods, Gugle (or Gügle) being a Swiss German term for cowl
or point.
relatives. The French king Charles V
encouraged and financed de Coucy as he hoped also to move these free companies off the French lands. There is disagreement about the size of the army De Coucy put together, Tuchman estimates them to be a force of about 10,000 men, a contemporary Alsacian document names 16,000, and other writings place the numbers much higher. As the army was plundering in groups it may not have presented a unified entity. De Coucy's plan was to gain the Sundgau
, Breisgau
and the county of Ferrette
. Accoding to a treaty they had belonged to his Habsburg
mother Catherine of Bohemia but were retained by her relatives, Albrecht III, Duke of Austria and Leopold III, Duke of Austria
.
on the Rhine. After Engerrand's arrival in November some dissension arose about the further course of action. The Alsace had been plundered, winter was approaching, and the knights were unwilling to cross the Rhine. Coucy then led the army south.
In December 1375 the Gugler army crossed the Jura mountains, entered the Aare valley and proceeded in three units. Enguerrand de Coucy led the main army that headquartered at the abbey of St. Urban, Jean de Vienne
led the second unit and was stationed at the abbey of Gottstatt
, and Owain Lawgoch
, the leader of the third unit, stayed at the abbey of Fraubrunnen
. Some local nobles left their castles and fled to join Leopold, leaving the countryside open to the Guglers. Others resisted, among them Rudolph IV of Nidau, who was killed as the last of the Nidau counts. Resistance was also given by Petermann I von Grünenberg whose attempt to displace the Guglers from St. Urban was thwarted. The pillage by the roaming Guglers affected the western part of the Aargau, where the towns of Fridau and Altreu were completely destroyed. However the populace of the area organized to strike back and, although outnumbered, were able inflict significant damage at Buttisholz
on December 19, where 300 knights were killed. The Bernese subsequently formed a citizen army, killed another 300 Guglers with apparently only minor losses at Ins on Christmas night, and led a decisive attack at the Guglers at the abbey of Fraubrunnen on December 27. Owain barely escaped, but another 800 knights were slain. These setbacks, the cold weather, and the obvious resolve of the Swiss populace led to the retreat of the Guglers; their main army and Enguerrand were not even involved in any pitched battle along the line of retreat.
and part of the town of Nidau
which he lost after only one year to the citizen army of Bern and Solothurn
. The successful defense of their lands against foreign invaders helped the local people in strengthening their budding independence. They confirmed, after their previous successes at the battles of Morgarten
(1315) and Laupen
(1329), that well organized armies of common men could defeat knightly armour, a feat they would repeat a decade later at Sempach
on their route to Swiss
independence. The encounters at the Gugler War showed that the epoch of the medieval knight was coming to a close. When questioned by the chronicler Froissart many years later, Enguerrand de Coucy flatly denied he had been in Switzerland at all.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s who as mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
invaded Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
and the Swiss plateau
Swiss plateau
The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of the Swiss surface...
under the leadership of Enguerrand VII de Coucy
Enguerrand VII de Coucy
Enguerrand VII de Coucy, KG , also known as Ingelram de Coucy, was a 14th century French nobleman, the last Sieur de Coucy, and the son-in-law of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
during the Gugler War of 1375.
Origin of the term
Barbara TuchmanBarbara Tuchman
Barbara Wertheim Tuchman was an American historian and author. She became known for her best-selling book The Guns of August, a history of the prelude to and first month of World War I, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1963....
indicates that the term Gugler is derived from the appearance of the knights dressed for winter, wearing pointed helmets and cowl-like hoods, Gugle (or Gügle) being a Swiss German term for cowl
Cowl
This article is about the garment used by monks and nuns. For other uses, see Cowl or Cowling .The cowl is an item of clothing consisting of a long, hooded garment with wide sleeves. Originally it may have referred simply to the hooded portion of a cloak...
or point.
Background
During the lulls of the Hundred Years War unemployed knights and soldiers of free companies often rampaged and plundered the French countryside until they were again engaged and paid by French or British overlords to do their bidding. De Coucy gathered a mercenary army of such knights to enforce his inheritance rights versus his HabsburgHabsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
relatives. The French king Charles V
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
encouraged and financed de Coucy as he hoped also to move these free companies off the French lands. There is disagreement about the size of the army De Coucy put together, Tuchman estimates them to be a force of about 10,000 men, a contemporary Alsacian document names 16,000, and other writings place the numbers much higher. As the army was plundering in groups it may not have presented a unified entity. De Coucy's plan was to gain the Sundgau
Sundgau
Sundgau is a geographical territory on the eastern edge of France that was once a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. The name Sundgau derives from Alemannic German, which means "South County" ....
, Breisgau
Breisgau
Breisgau is the name of an area in southwest Germany, placed between the river Rhine and the foothills of the Black Forest around Freiburg im Breisgau in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, which partly consists of the Breisgau, is named after that area...
and the county of Ferrette
Ferrette
Ferrette is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is situated close to the Swiss border. Its main attraction is the Château de Ferrette.-County of Ferrette:...
. Accoding to a treaty they had belonged to his Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
mother Catherine of Bohemia but were retained by her relatives, Albrecht III, Duke of Austria and Leopold III, Duke of Austria
Leopold III, Duke of Austria
Duke Leopold III of Austria from the Habsburg family, was Duke of Austria from 1365 to 1379, and Duke of Styria and Carinthia in 1365–1386.-Life:...
.
Course
The mercenary forces assembled in the Alsace and plundered the Sundgau in October and November 1375. Forty villages were wrecked, and people were killed or raped. Leopold was unable to defend the Alsace and retreated to BreisachBreisach
Breisach is a town with approximately 16,500 inhabitants, situated along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about halfway between Freiburg and Colmar — 20 kilometres away from each — and about 60 kilometres north of Basel near the...
on the Rhine. After Engerrand's arrival in November some dissension arose about the further course of action. The Alsace had been plundered, winter was approaching, and the knights were unwilling to cross the Rhine. Coucy then led the army south.
In December 1375 the Gugler army crossed the Jura mountains, entered the Aare valley and proceeded in three units. Enguerrand de Coucy led the main army that headquartered at the abbey of St. Urban, Jean de Vienne
Jean de Vienne
Jean de Vienne was a French knight, general and Admiral of France during the Hundred Years' War.-Early life:Jean de Vienne was born at Dole, in what is now Franche-Comté. As a nobleman, he started his military career at the age of 19, and was made a knight at 21.-Career:By the age of 24, de Vienne...
led the second unit and was stationed at the abbey of Gottstatt
Monastery Gottstatt
Monastery Gottstat is a former Premonstratensian monastery in the Orpund community in Canton of Berne, Switzerland.- Establishment :It was established in 1255 by Count Rudolf I von Neuchâtel-Nidau. A previous attempt to establish a monastery on the site in 1247 there had been unsuccessful.-...
, and Owain Lawgoch
Owain Lawgoch
Owain Lawgoch, , full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri , was a Welsh soldier who served in Spain, France, Alsace and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War...
, the leader of the third unit, stayed at the abbey of Fraubrunnen
Fraubrunnen
Fraubrunnen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-History:Fraubrunnen is first mentioned in 1267 as Frouwenbrunnen. There are Hallstatt era tumuli in the Rüdtligenwald and Binelwald near Fraubrunnen. In the middle of the 13th...
. Some local nobles left their castles and fled to join Leopold, leaving the countryside open to the Guglers. Others resisted, among them Rudolph IV of Nidau, who was killed as the last of the Nidau counts. Resistance was also given by Petermann I von Grünenberg whose attempt to displace the Guglers from St. Urban was thwarted. The pillage by the roaming Guglers affected the western part of the Aargau, where the towns of Fridau and Altreu were completely destroyed. However the populace of the area organized to strike back and, although outnumbered, were able inflict significant damage at Buttisholz
Buttisholz
Buttisholz is a municipality in the district of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.-Geography:Buttisholz has an area of . Of this area, 73.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 17% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 7.5% is settled and the remainder is non-productive...
on December 19, where 300 knights were killed. The Bernese subsequently formed a citizen army, killed another 300 Guglers with apparently only minor losses at Ins on Christmas night, and led a decisive attack at the Guglers at the abbey of Fraubrunnen on December 27. Owain barely escaped, but another 800 knights were slain. These setbacks, the cold weather, and the obvious resolve of the Swiss populace led to the retreat of the Guglers; their main army and Enguerrand were not even involved in any pitched battle along the line of retreat.
Aftermath
In January 1376 the Guglers dissolved and returned to plunder the French countryside. Enguerrand compromised with Albrecht III in 1387 and received domain over BürenBüren an der Aare
Büren an der Aare is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:...
and part of the town of Nidau
Nidau
Nidau is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.- Population :Nidau, located at the language boundary, although the official language is German, a high minority of French speakers live in the city, which has since long been offering them the...
which he lost after only one year to the citizen army of Bern and Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...
. The successful defense of their lands against foreign invaders helped the local people in strengthening their budding independence. They confirmed, after their previous successes at the battles of Morgarten
Battle of Morgarten
The Battle of Morgarten occurred on November 15, 1315, when a Swiss Confederation force of 1,500 infantry archers ambushed a group of Austrian soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire near the Morgarten Pass...
(1315) and Laupen
Battle of Laupen
The Battle of Laupen in 1339 was fought between the Bern and its allies on one side, and Freiburg together with feudal landholders from the County of Burgundy and Habsburg territories on the other. Bern was victorious, consolidating its position in the region...
(1329), that well organized armies of common men could defeat knightly armour, a feat they would repeat a decade later at Sempach
Battle of Sempach
An armistice was agreed upon on 12 October, followed by a peace agreement valid for one year, beginning on 14 January 1387.The battle was a severe blow to Austrian interests in the region, and allowed for the further growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy....
on their route to Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
independence. The encounters at the Gugler War showed that the epoch of the medieval knight was coming to a close. When questioned by the chronicler Froissart many years later, Enguerrand de Coucy flatly denied he had been in Switzerland at all.