ited. They had, however, rallied, obtained reenforcements at
Bruges and at Ghent, and in three weeks appeared to the number of fifty
thousand before the King's camp at Lille, crying for battle. Philip
called a council, and observed that "even a victory would be dearly
purchased over a party so desperate."

The Duke of Brabant and the Count of Savoy therefore undertook to
negotiate with the Flemings, and Philip consented to grant them fair
terms. He recognized their independent rights, agreed to liberate
Robert, eldest son of Guido, Count of Flanders, as well as all those in
captivity. He granted Robert and his son the fiefs which belonged to him
in France, especially that of Nevers, and promised to give him
investiture of the County of Flanders. The Flemings, on their side,
consented to pay two hundred thousand livres, and to leave the King of
France in possession of the three towns of Lille, Douai, and Bethune,
that part of Flanders in which French was spoken. It was thus, at least,
that the French interpreted the treaty, while the Flemings afterward
alleged that French Flanders was merely a pledge for the payment of the
money, not an alienation to the crown of France.

FIRST SWISS STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY

A.D. 1308

F. GRENFELL BAKER

Owing to the fact that the house of Hapsburg had its origin
in Switzerland, the accession of Rudolph I, founder of the
Hapsburg dynasty, to the throne of Germany (1273), with the
virtual headship of the Holy Roman Empire, was an event of
great importance in the history of the Swiss cantons. To
this day the paternal domains whence the Hapsburg family
takes its name are a part of Swiss territory. The local
administration, as well as such imperial offices as still
remained in the free communities of Switzerland, were
largely in the hands of this family long before it gave
sovereigns to the empire itself. Its chiefs were the chosen
champions or advocates of the district.

Of the Swiss communities Uri seems to have first established
its freedom within the empire, and in that canton liberty
was most completely preserved from the perils that always
threatened Switzerland in this period. Under Rudolph it was
at first the policy of the empire to secure the attachment
of the Swiss by making the two other cantons, Schwyz and
Unterwalden, similarly independent. But toward the end of
his reign the policy of Rudolph was so influenced by
ambition