Jacob of Savoy

Portrait of Jacob of Savoy by Hans Memling , ca.1470

Jacob of Savoy (born November 12, 1450 ; † January 30, 1486 in Ham ), Count of Romont and lord of the barony of Vaud , was the tenth son of Duke Louis I of Savoy and Anna of Lusignan . As part of Charles the Bold, he played an important role during the Burgundian Wars . Jacob married Marie de Luxembourg (1462–1546) in 1484 . He had a daughter, Françoise Louise of Savoy (1485–1511).

Savoy baron on the Vaud

Coat of arms of Jacob of Savoy

As Amadeus IX. , Jacob's eldest brother, who became Duke of Savoy as a minor after the death of Ludwig I in 1465 , Jacob received the Savoy barony of Vaud and the title of Count of Romont with the cities of Murten , Avenches , Payerne , Romont , Moudon , Rue and Yverdon as Apanage . Amadeus' wife Jolande of France took over the reign of the Duchy of Savoy until 1478.

While his two brothers Peter of Savoy , Prince-Bishop of Geneva , and Philip II "Ohneland" , Count of Bresse , joined France and Burgundy as allies in alternating coalitions , Jacob was entirely at the service of the aspiring Duke Charles "the Bold" of Burgundy . He was soon in a conflict with Jolande, as he appropriated rights and territories that were actually due to Duke Amadeus. In an arbitration ruling in 1471, the cities of Bern and Freiburg decided that he could keep these areas.

In 1473, in the service of Duke Charles, Jakob rose to become Governor of Burgundy, Grand Marshal and Supreme Commander of a third of the Burgundian armed forces. For this reason he stayed mainly at the Burgundian court.

In the service of Burgundy

Locations of the Burgundian Wars

After the declaration of war by the Lower Association and the Confederation against Charles the Bold in 1474, Jakob suddenly stood in opposition to the Confederation, although Savoy was traditionally allied with Bern. When the troops of the Upper Alsatian cities and the Confederation besieged the city of Héricourt in the Free County, Jakob gathered Burgundian troops in November and wanted to relieve Héricourt with Heinrich von Neuchâtel-Blamont . By the time he got there, the city had already fallen and the Burgundian troops were defeated in the battle of Héricourt .

In the spring of 1475 that followed, the Bernese set out on a raid and conquest in Vaud, on the one hand against the Savoy fiefdoms of Burgundian origin and against Jacob himself. In the extremely hard and brutal campaign, Bern captured Grandson , Orbe and the Jougne fortress in the Jura. In the summer there was a campaign against Blamont , Grammont and L'Isle in the Free County , and in August Bern invaded Vaud again, this time because the Savoy had allowed Charles's Italian mercenaries to pass through.

On October 14, 1475, Bern finally declared war on Jakob personally because his subjects had taken action against the Bernese troops in Vaud. Until the end of October, the Bernese raged with extremely cruel warfare in Vaud and conquered 16 cities and 43 castles. In the end only Grandson, Yverdon and Murten remained occupied by Bernese troops. In the spring of 1476, Jakob was able to take back most of his possessions when Duke Charles the Bold also turned to the Swiss Confederation and moved with a large army to Vaud via Jougne . In preparation for the Burgundian campaign, Jakob surprisingly attacked the Bernese in Yverdon on January 13th. However, the Bernese occupation managed to escape to the castle. Since the Bernese relief troops arrived the next day, Jakob retreated.

After the defeats of Charles the Bold at Grandson and Murten against the Confederates, Bern and Freiburg again threatened Vaud, which was now definitely lost to Jakob. Only when Louis XI. of France intervened as the new guardian of Duke Amadeus, the Confederates withdrew. Nevertheless, in the Peace of Freiburg i. Ü. make major territorial concessions on August 14, 1476. Until a large sum of money was paid, Vaud remained with Bern and Friborg for the time being. A special clause of peace precluded the barony of Vaud from being awarded as an apanage in the future and stipulated that Jacob of Savoy would be banished from the country forever.

In the service of Mary of Burgundy

After the loss of his fiefdom in Savoy and the death of Charles the Bold near Nancy in 1477, Jakob entered the service of Maria of Burgundy and her husband, the German King Maximilian I of Habsburg . He received the Order of the Golden Fleece in Bruges in 1478 and distinguished himself as commander in chief of the Flemish troops at the Battle of Guinegate in 1479 . Then he sided with the rebellious Dutch cities and had to flee to France. In 1484 he married Maria von Luxemburg, the granddaughter of Ludwig I of Luxemburg , who was executed as a high traitor . King Charles VIII of France therefore lent the fiefdom of Louis to Jacob, who thereby became Count of Saint-Pol and received further possessions in Flanders and Brabant. He died in 1486 in Ham Castle in Picardy .

literature

• Raphael de Smedt (ed.): Les chevaliers de l'ordre de la Toison d'or au XVe siècle. Notices bio-bibliographiques. 2nd improved edition. Peter Lang, Frankfurt 2000, ISBN 3-631-36017-7 , pp. 201f., No. 84 ( Kieler Werkstücke. D 3).
• Blanche Bauchau: Jacques de Savoie (1450–1486). Histoire d'un portrait et portrait historique. In: Raphaël de Smedt (ed.): De Orde van het Gulden Vlies te Mechelen in 1491. International symposium, Mechelen 7 September 1991. Koninklijke Kring voor Oudheidkunde, Letteren en Kunst, Mechelen 1992, pp. 117-147 ( Handelingen van de Koninklijke Kring voor Oudheidkunde, Letteren en Kunst van Mechelen. Boekdeel 95, 2, ISSN  0776-2976 ).
• Bernard Andenmatten: Savoyen, Jakob von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .