The first of these dates
back as far as 1444 between the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII., and
the different cantons. This Act was renewed in 1453, and the number of
soldiers to be furnished was fixed once for all, the minimum being
6,000, and the maximum 16,000. The Helvetians, who until 1515 had always
been faithful to their engagements, turned traitors in that year against
Francis I., who defeated them at Marignan. But the good feeling was soon
afterwards re-established, and a new treaty, almost similar to the
former, restored the harmony between the two nations.
Another document is extant, signed at Baden in 1553, by which the
cantons bind themselves to furnish Henry II. with as many troops as he
may want. It is particularly remarkable, inasmuch as it served as a
basis for all subsequent ones until 1671. These conventions have not
always been faithfully carried out, for the Swiss contracted engagements
with other nations, notably with Spain, Naples, and Sardinia, and even
with Portugal. At the commencement of the campaign of 1697, Louis XIV.
had, notwithstanding all this, as many as 32,000 Swiss in his service,
the highest number ever attained.
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