The Burgundians were laying seige to the Swiss city of Morat [Murten]. Aware that a relieving army was approaching the Burgundians created an entrenchment which they failed to man sufficiently. When this was outflanked and in danger of being overrun Charles the Bold threw more troops into the line. These did not arrive in sufficient numbers as a cohesive force and were defeated piecemeal.

Approximately 16 miles due West of Berne.

Although Charles the Bold of Burgundy had been heavily defeated by the Swiss Confederation [Swiss, Germans and Austrians with significant French funding] in the previous year he returned to the attack in June 1476. His army of over 20,000 men laid seige to the Swiss city of Morat. The garrison was approximately 2000 men. The Swiss Confederation quickly raised a relieving force of 25,000 men. Charles planned to counter this threat with a strong entrenchment placing infantry in the centre, archers on both flanks and artillery enfilading fire from the extreme left flank and a strong cavalry force on the extreme right flank. He continued to invest the city of Morat.

On the 22nd June 1476 the Swiss began their attack on the Burgundians. Charles had underestimated the strength and professionalism of the Swiss. He incorrectly assumed that they could be dealt with by approximately 2,000 infantry and archers with 1,200 cavalry in support, even less than he had originally planned to have in the entrenchment. The experienced Swiss [pikemen, halberdiers, handgunners and crossbowmen] initially took some casualties in their frontal assult but were able to manoeuvre and, while their pikemen held the centre, they outflanked the defensive line.
Troops, from Charles' seige army, were fed into the battle piecemeal only to be defeated as they arrived. A well timed sally by the defenders of Morat took Charles' army in the rear and the Burgundians totally collapsed. They lost about 12,000 men

The Swiss Confederation advanced into Burgundian territory finally defeating Charles at the battle of Nancy on 5th January 1477.
This series of battles established the Swiss infanttry,particularly the pikemen, as 'the best in Europe' their services were much sought after as mercenaries for the next hundred years.

Swiss Confederation

Number engaged :

27,000

Casualties :

n/a

Burgundians

Number engaged :

n/a

Casualties :

n/a