Battle of Coffrane
Map of the parish of Coffrane, site of the battle
| date | February 28, 1296 |
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| place | Coffrane in the canton of Neuchâtel , Switzerland |
| output | Victory of the county of Neuchâtel |
| Parties to the conflict | |
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| Commander | |
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Johann I. von Aarberg
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The Battle of Coffrane describes a military conflict between the County of Neuchâtel and the Counts of Aarberg and the Duchy of Basel in 1296 over the rule of Valangin . The battle marks the climax of a conflict that dragged on for a further 13 years as a guerrilla war between Neuchâtel and the Basle Principality.
prehistory
In 1260 a conflict broke out between Neuchâtel and the Basel Bishop Berthold II von Pfirt , which ended with the complete destruction of the Nugerol settlement, which had market rights earlier that year. This conflict remained unsolved, so that relations between the Neuchâtel rule and the Duchy of Basel remained tense. In 1290, Rudolf IV of Neuchâtel (also called Rollin , † 1343), lord since 1288 and first Count of Neuchâtel since 1296 , concluded an offensive alliance with the city of Freiburg against the lords of Aarberg.
The rule of Valangin came to the Counts of Aarberg , a branch of the Lords of Neuchâtel , around 1215 . Their relations with the rulers of Neuchâtel had also been strained for years; the points of contention were of a legal, economic and financial nature. The Aarbergers tried to shake off the feudal lordship of the lords of Neuchâtel, who in turn had been vassals of the Counts of Chalon-Arlay since 1288 . For these reasons, in December 1295 the gentlemen at that time Johann I († before 1334), Dietrich and Ulrich († 1329) von Aarberg in connection with the Basel Bishop Peter I. Reich von Reichenstein († September 1296) to take their position strengthen. The latter was accommodated by an alliance, as it offered him an opportunity to expand the prince-bishopric to the south.
On December 12, 1295, the Aarbergers handed over the town of La Bonneville (southwest of Engollon ) and the Bussy farm (municipality of Valangin) in the Val de Ruz to the bishop , in order to receive them back as a fief. On January 6, 1296, this contract was supplemented: Valangin Castle was also to fall to the bishop by fief in 1299. The bishop owned these properties for three years on the condition that a fortress be built on the hill next to the Valangin Castle. The intentions were clearly military in nature. The alliance of Valangin and the Principality of Basel angered and worried Count Rudolf, because he knew that it was a danger to him and saw his rights violated by it. He reacted to this fairly promptly and sharply.
Events
On February 28, the Neuchâtel troops invaded the Val-de-Ruz and met the troops from Aarberg-Valangin and the Principality of Basel (from Elsgau , St. Ursanne and Delémont ) near Coffrane . The Allied troops were routed, Johann and Dietrich von Aarberg were taken prisoner.
The Count of Neuchâtel took advantage of his victory and imposed heavy contributions, which, however, are not very precisely recorded. It is known that the lords of Aarberg-Valangin had to recognize the feudal lordship of the Neuchâtel. Furthermore, they had to pay the costs of the war, buy their own lives and hand over the village and castle Valangin to Neuchâtel. The Aarbergers thus effectively withdrew from the war, and their duty of loyalty to the Prince-Bishops of Basel was gradually being forgotten.
When the Basel Bishop Peter II von Aspelt († 1320), successor to Peter Reich von Reichenstein, continued the war against Neuchâtel on his own initiative and tried to take control of Valangin despite the military defeat, Rudolf von Neuchâtel destroyed it on April 28th 1301 the town of La Bonneville, which finally ended the war.
consequences
For Count Rudolf IV, the Vaud governor since 1300, the victory meant a consolidation and strengthening of his position. In 1308 he legalized himself with Bern and in 1308 also received the village of Boudevilliers from the possession of Johann von Chalon-Arlay , which formed a Neuchâtel exclave in the territory of Valangin for the next five hundred years . In 1309 he expanded his rule with the preservation of Vaumarcus Castle .
In 1312, La Neuveville was laid out by Basel Prince-Bishop Gerhard von Wippingen as a new bulwark on the border with the county of Neuchâtel. This new city foundation, built on the ground of the Nugerol, which was destroyed in 1260, served in particular as a reception camp for refugees from La Bonneville, which had been destroyed eleven years earlier. The name of the city is explained by the fact that La Neuveville was intended as a new founding of La Bonneville, "Neustadt" (called Neuveville or villeneuve ), which is why the city was initially called (New) La Bonneville. Count Rudolf IV responded by founding and building the town of Le Landeron, a few kilometers to the south, in 1328/29 to control the Zihl and the associated access to Lake Neuchâtel , which solidified the border between the two lords on Lake Biel .
The Aarberg lordship was divided into the Aarberg-Aarberg lines (extinct in 1386) and Aarberg-Valangin , with Johann I being considered the founder of the Aarberg-Valangin branch line. The rule of Valangin itself belonged partly to the Counts of Neuchâtel and partly to the Counts of Montbéliard . Relations between Neuchâtel and the lords of Aarberg-Valangin gradually improved; after a substantial increase in their fiefs in 1360, Ludwig von Neuenburg granted them almost complete autonomy in 1373. In 1383, during the Burgdorf War , the lords of Aarberg-Valangin made an alliance with Bern and the Valangin rule became part of the (later so-called) Burgundian Confederation . Failure to comply with the agreement of 1373 led to new conflicts at the beginning of the 15th century , which in 1425 led to a restriction of the high judiciary of the Valangin rule. Despite multiple refusals after 1450 to take the oath of homage to the Counts of Neuchâtel , Valangin finally came to the county (from 1643 principality) of Neuchâtel in 1592.