Transregional Lordship and the Italian Renaissance

Matthew Vester is Professor of History at West Virginia University and the author of Renaissance Dynasticism and Apanage Politics: Jacques de Savoie-Nemours, 1531-1585 (Truman State, 2012). He is the editor of Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400-1700) (Truman State, 2013) and co-editor of Tra Francia e Spagna: Reti diplomatiche, territori e culture nei domini sabaudi fra Tre e Settecento (Carocci, 2018).

Abbreviations
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