or its beneficent and permanent
effects, the treaty was unique for its high and unselfish spirit of
conciliation, and the final words of exhortation which stilled the
waters tossed by two centuries of storm have the sacred accent of
heavenly inspiration.

"The parties in this present treaty shall in all sincerity forget all
bitterness, all offence and all resentment. Secret hate shall give place
to the old love, which, God helping, shall endure forever."

Although by this pact Count Pierre's private wars were ended, the old
warrior, unaffrighted by the anathema of excommunication, launched by
Pope Clement VI against the foes of the archbishop of Sion, joined the
barons who invaded the Valais at the instance of his father-in-law the
lord of La Tour Chatillon. But this was his last war and during the
remaining twenty years of his reign he and his people lived together,
happily free at last from danger of invasion or attack. Dying at eighty,
Count Pierre ended a reign, shared peacefully with his uncle and
brother, of over sixty years. Strong and tenacious of character,
hospitable and courageous as all his acts declare, he was the exemplar
of all the traits which have united to express the typical Gruyere
prince, and under him his pastoral domain blossomed into its climax of
idyllic prosperity. Loyal knight and brilliant comrade of his suzerain,
compassionate and kindly master, by his high unflagging gayety, his
frank and affectionate dealings with his adoring subjects, he was the
very soul and leader of the astonishing _epopee_ of revel and of song
which has made his reign celebrated in the history of Gruyere.

His brother-ruler Jeannod, as the years rolled by, became water to his
wine, as gravely sad as Pierre was gay. Three wives preceded him to the
grave, all childless, and after a fourth barren marriage he bestowed the
greater part of his inheritance upon the church, and when a few years
after his brother's death he was carried sumptuously in gold and silken
sheets to his prepared resting place in the cathedral of Lausanne, a
multitude of sacred lamps burning perpetually in shrines and monasteries
over all the land celebrated his pious memory and his disappointments.

CHAPTER IV

FOREIGN WARS

Rodolphe IV, eldest son of Count Pierre, although sole inheritor of the
title and authority of count, had two younger brothers Pierre and Jean,
who perpetuated the strongly contrasted traits of the elder Pierre and