Hagenbach had not followed up his threats of immediate war measures, but it was known that he had obtained imperial authorisation to assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step which her allies hoped to forestall by settling her debts.  Strasburg offered to contribute six hundred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, Basel four hundred, while Colmar, Schlestadt, Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to raise another four hundred.  A diet was called at Basel for December 11th, and Zuerich and Lucerne were expected to enter into the union.  The tidings of the duke’s approach were undoubtedly a stimulus to these renewed efforts to make the league strong enough to withstand him.  The sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, “May God protect us from his mighty hand,” voiced probably a wide-spread dread.

When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was large enough to inspire fear, but there was no opposition to his advance, though consultations, now at one city, now at another, were frequent.  The duke paid little heed to their deliberations, under-estimating their importance, while he was gracious to any words of welcome offered to him.  Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at Chatenois, and so did Colmar.  The latter town expressed her willingness to receive him and an escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her refusal to admit a larger force within her walls.  By this precaution, Charles was baffled in his plot to gain possession of the town, and so passed on his way.

On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal entry into Brisac, where a temporary court was established, and where audience was given to various embassies with the customary Burgundian pomp.  Meanwhile the troops, forced to camp without the walls, were a burden to the land, and seem to have been more odious than usual to their unwilling hosts.

The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their knees and had their hopes raised high by their suzerain’s pleasant greeting, but they failed to obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty of St. Omer should be observed in all respects.  Among the envoys were many who undertook to remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition of the “Bad Penny” tax on the Alsatians, and the over-severity of Hagenbach’s administration.  The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged, notably by Berne.  The representations of these last envoys were received most courteously.  The duke rather thought that the city could be detached from the league, and therefore gave himself some trouble to establish friendly relations.

To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory.  He wrote a pleasant letter to the town and despatched a councillor thither, who would, he assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction.  But an abortive coup d’etat on the part of the Burgundians, which would have given them possession of Basel, destroyed the effect of these reassuring phrases.  The burghers were warned in time, looked to their defences, and banished from their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian sympathies.  Every newcomer was carefully scrutinised before he was admitted within the walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly.  The propriety of these precautions was soon proven.