35. In 1315 Leopold, second son of Albert, determined to punish the
confederate cantons for their revolt, and accordingly marched against
them at the head of a considerable army, accompanied by a numerous
retinue of nobles. Count Otho, of Strasberg, one of his ablest
generals, crossed the Brunig with a body of four thousand men,
intending to attack Upper Unterwalden. The bailiffs of Willisan, of
Wodhausen, and of Lucerne meantime armed a fourth of that number to
make a descent on the lower division of the same canton, while the
emperor in person, at the head of his army of reserve, poured down
from Egerson on Mogarten, in the country of Schwytz, ostentatiously
displaying an extensive supply of rope where with to hang the chiefs
of the rebels.
36. The confederates, in order to oppose this formidable invasion,
occupied a position in the mountains bordering on the convent of Our
Lady of the Hermits. Four hundred men of Uri, and three hundred of
Unterwalden, had effected a junction with the warriors of Schwytz, who
formed the principal force of the little army. Fifty men, banished
from this latter canton, offered themselves to combat beneath their
banner, intending to efface by their valor the remembrance of past
faults. Early on the morning of November 15, 1315, some thousands of
well-armed Austrian knights slowly ascended the hill on which the
Swiss were posted, with the hope of dislodging them; the latter,
however, advanced to meet their enemies, uttering the most terrific
cries.
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