Details

Subjects:

Charles III, Duke of Savoy, 1486-1553.
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, 1562-1630.
La Baume, Pierre de, 1477-1544.
Savoy, House of.
Geneva (Switzerland) -- History -- Early works to 1800.
Geneva (Switzerland) -- Politics and government.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Histories.
Treatises.
Manuscripts, French.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

French, with a few citations in Latin.

Summary:

Treatise arguing against the claims of the house of Savoy to the rule of Geneva. When the line of the counts of Geneva became extinct in 1394, the dukes of Savoy took over the territory and sought to gain political control over the city by promoting members of their family to the post of the Bishop of Geneva. During the Reformation, the bishops lost their political influence; the last Catholic bishop of the city and close ally of the Savoyards, Pierre de La Baume, fled Geneva in 1533. Having rid themselves of the Savoyard influence, the Genevans proclaimed themselves an independent state and in 1536 formally declared themselves a Protestant state to gain the support of Bern. The house of Savoy continued attempts to bring Geneva under their control through military campaigns until 1603, when they formally renounced all claims to the city by signing the treaty of St. Julien. The author begins with the city's earliest existence as a colony of the Romans. The text then discusses the sovereign rights that the city received from the Holy Roman Empire; under this loose confederacy, the bishops of Geneva held the title of prince of the Holy Roman Empire starting in 1154. The text then substantiates Geneva's historical ties to the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy and continuously seeks to establish its independence from the house of Savoy; it also enumerates various attempts by the house of Savoy to gain authority over Geneva, and provides documentary evidence to dispute the Savoyard claims. The author also discusses Geneva's complicated relationship with the Bernese, but does not address the Reformation in any specific detail. Although the author draws on evidence from wide-ranging periods in the city's history, the majority of the text focuses on the history of Geneva's internal politics and its relations with other Swiss cantons during the 16th century. The latest date mentioned in the manuscript is 1615, suggesting it was written in the early 17th century.

Contents:

1. f.1r-30r: Sommaires, discours des pretentions ...
2. f.30r-35r: Conclusions adioutees aux responses des seigneurs deputés.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from caption title (f. 1r).
Incipit: Les dicts seigneurs ducs demandent sur Geneve la haute souveraineté comme vicaires d'Empire, puis le vidonnat ... (f.1r); Explicit: ... de ce quil sera [e]scris et commande d[e]s a put. aux (f. 35r).
Foliation: Paper, i + (modern paper) + 36 + i (modern paper); [1-36]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.
Layout: Written in 25-28 long lines.
Script: Written in a cursive script by a single hand.
Watermarks: Circle with a half-moon at the bottom and a cross above the circle; initials [L.] G.
Binding: Modern boards (Zacour-Hirsch).
Origin: Written in Geneva, in the first half of the seventeenth century (Zacour-Hirsch).

Penn Provenance:

Purchased, 1967.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965). Supplement A (2). Library Chronicle 36 (1970), p. 25 (Ms. Lea 430).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1207

OCLC:

232625616