Description
Book SynopsisRené de Challant, whose holdings ranged from northwestern Italy to the Alps and over the mountains into what is today western Switzerland and eastern France, was an Italian and transregional dynast. The spatially dispersed kind of lordship that he practiced and his lifetime of service to the house of Savoy, especially in the context of the Italian Wars, show how the Sabaudian lands, neighboring Alpine states, and even regions further afield were tied to the history of the Italian Renaissance. Situating René de Challant on the edge of the Italian Renaissance helps us to understand noble kin relations, political networks, finances, and lordship with more precision. A spatially inflected analysis of René’s life brings to light several themes related to transregional lordship that have been obscured due to the traditional tendencies of Renaissance studies. It uncovers an ‘Italy’ whose boundaries extend not just into the Mediterranean, but into regions beyond the Alps.
Trade Review"This is a thoroughly researched study based on vast archival materials in over a dozen different archives in France, Italy, and Switzerland. And as a study of lordship—the exercise of noble privileges and responsibilities, or as the author puts it, the exercise of spatial politics—this is a fascinating and significant case study that deserves a wide readership."
- Mack P. Holt,
Renaissance and Reformation, 43.4 (Fall 2021)
"C’est donc un bel ouvrage qui, en plus de renouveler le regard sur un personnage important des guerres d’Italie et pour le duché de Savoie, propose de reconsidérer le rôle de l’État durant la Renaissance italienne en partant de la subsistance de liens féodaux étendus à l’échelle européenne."
- Jean Sénié,
Laboratoire italien, October 2020
"Specialists in the wide range of fields that Vester touches on, especially for those with interests in transregional connections, will find his work a treasure trove of useful information for comparative purposes. The breadth, depth, and thoroughness of Vester’s scholarship are truly impressive, and offer a good indication of what research in the history of smaller states and less well-known political actors might yet produce."
- James R. Smither,
Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 2
Table of ContentsAbbreviations
List of maps and tables
List of figures
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 On the edge of the Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance
The Renaissance nobility
Spatial analysis and mobility
Chapter 2 René's early career to 1536
René's early life
René and Sabaudo-Swiss politics prior to 1536
The lordship of Valangin and the counts of Neuchâtel
Before the storm, 1531-1534
Chapter 3 René's growing influence during the war years, 1536-1553
The invasions of 1536
Valangin, the Reform, and relations with the Countess of Neuchâtel
Political leadership and mobility during a time of uncertainty
Struggling for the sovereignty of Valangin, 1542-1565
Chapter 4 René and Duke Emanuel Filibert
René and Emanuel Filibert
Vercelli capture and efforts to get released
The twilight of a career
Family matters and René's last years
Historiographic perspectives of René's life
Chapter 5 Kinship and noble life
Kin relations
Relations with wives and children
Nobles and domestic life
Legal issues
Chapter 6 The Challant political networks
René's networks
-The regional scope of René's ties
-René's ecclesiastical network
-René's key subordinates
Mencia's network
Letters and information
Relations with officials
Chapter 7 Finance and brokerage
Nobles and finance
René as borrower and broker
-The financial situation inherited by René
-1526-1536: Finance and Swiss negotiations
-Finance during the war years to 1545
-From the 1545 'restructuring' to the second imprisonment
The financial implications of ransom
Financial recovery
Chapter 8 Lordship
Valangin during the war years
Beaufremont
René and the practice of lordship
-Fiefs and fiscality
-Sample castellany accounts: Châtillon, 1559-1560
-Administration of the fiefs
Chapter 9 The embodiment of spatial politics
Index
