The Counts of Gruyère

A concise regional history traces the development, fortunes, and eventual dissolution of a medieval comital house centered on a castle-dominated alpine district. The narrative moves from early origins and pastoral customs through the church’s social influence and shifting feudal loyalties to neighboring powers, recounting armed conflicts, Burgundian and other wars, succession disputes, and the strains of religious reform. It describes civic and domestic life—festivals, architecture, craft traditions—and the disruptive effects of plague, popular ritual, and persecution, closing with the loss of comital authority and the district’s condition after the family’s fall; supporting material and illustrations are appended.