{{Unsourced, date=February 2014
The battle of Schosshalde was fought between the
imperial city
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
of
Bern and the
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
on 27 April 1289 just outside Bern (between Bern and
Ostermundigen
Ostermundigen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
The city is the birthplace of an actress, Ursula Andress.
Most of the buildings in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Old Ci ...
).
The background of the conflict is Bern's refusal to pay taxes to Habsburg, and turning to the anti-Habsburg alliance of
Burgundy and
Savoy for protection. Burgundy declared war on Habsburg in 1287, and Rudolf of Habsburg treated Bern as a Burgundian city, laying siege to it twice without success.
The son of Rudolf of Habsubrg, duke Rudolf of Swabia moved towards Bern with 300 cavalry in April 1289 and prepared an ambush outside of the city while harassing the landscape in an attempt to draw out a sortie.
The plan worked, and the Bernese were surrounded and defeated outside the gates of their city.
Count Louis I of
Homberg, a cousin of duke Rudolf, fought on the side of the Bernese and fell, to the consternation of the duke.
In the following negotiations, Bern was forced to again accept taxes and reparation payments, but it retained its imperial immediacy and did not fall to the House of Habsburg.
Within Bern, the defeat led to a political crisis, resulting in a constitution that gave more rights to the craftsmen's guilds.
Medieval Switzerland
History of Bern
1289 in Europe
Schosshalde
Conflicts in 1289