Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Sommaires, discours des pretentions des tres illustres duc de Savoye sur la ville franche et imperiale de Geneve

Call number

Ms. Codex 1207
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4322631
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4322631

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

French, with a few citations in Latin

Origin

Date

before 1650

Place

Geneva, Switzerland

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.

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).
   

Watermark

Circle with a half-moon at the bottom and a cross above the circle; initials [L.] G.

Extent

36 leaves : 267 x 175 (215 x 125) mm. bound to 270 x 180 mm

Foliation

Paper, i + (modern paper) + 36 + i (modern paper); [1-36]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.

Support

Paper

Binding

Modern boards (Zacour-Hirsch).

Layout

Written in 25-28 long lines.

Script

Written in a cursive script by a single hand.

Provenance

• Purchased, 1967.
   

Genres

• Codices
• Histories
• Treatises
• Manuscripts, French--17th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2016 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  All referenced images and their content are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/