Voyage pittoresque en Suisse Romande en Savoie et sur les Alpes by Emile BéguinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having grown up in Ticino, I learned about the local history, as well as Swiss-german history here and there, but this book taught me more about Swiss-French history than I ever learned in school (Calvin notwithstanding).
There were some odd typos in this book, starting with the author's name (Bégin, although even in the preface it calls him Béguin). Also, "Chateau des Vidames" instead of "Chateau des Vidomnes" in Sierre.
Also, many, if not most, of the places mentioned in the book are long-gone by now (I hadn't realized this book was written in 1852). For example, he recommended meandering around the Parc du Bois-de-la-Batie, where you can stumble upon medieval ruins. Unfortunately now it is an animal park with goats and geese. And for some reason I couldn't find any mont Alire, Oculus Helvetiae, or Paqui (all p.188). Also no chateau de Saint-Jean. (p. 276)
Some interesting tidbits:
In 1479 a swarm of 'beetles' (probably actually cicadas or locusts) plagued Lausanne and its surroundings, destroying much of the vegetation. So they were tried in court and excommunicated. Apparently this didn't do much to drive them away.
Avenche has quite a history, including having been the capital of the Helvetii(??)
A bridge to connect the two sides of Fribourg was only built in 1834 (construction started in 1832)
Apparently the Swiss used to kneel and pray on the battlefield before battle, and at least once this confused the Burgundians (Battle of Grandson), who thought they were surrendering. Burgundy lost that battle.
Linguistic tidbits:
In the patois of Charmney they apparently call a lover 'merchant', which seems to come from the word "merch" which means woman in Celtic.
Why does he refer to Neuchatel as Neufchatel throughout the book?
This is supposedly in Fribourg dialect: "Quan l'è-s-aoutrou mezéron, no voiterin
Quan l'è-s-aoutrou riretron, no plioterin" (p. 200)
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