Uncertainty and instability affected Geneva and the Duchy of Savoy since the mid-fifteenth century. French and Swiss expansionism had turned Savoy into part of a long geopolitical fault line, running from the North Sea to the Mediterranean along the border between France and the Empire. In Geneva, and partially in other towns of Piedmont and the Pays de Vaud, this instability fuelled urban factionalism, confessional conflicts, but also wider discussions about the ways in which society could be reformed. Conflicts were, in the end, the consequence of a struggle about the best political and religious option to reduce uncertainty. The Uncertain World of Renaissance Geneva and Savoy looks at how political life worked in a time of great instability, seeking to answer a straightforward—but not easy—question: how did people face and react to political and religious uncertainty?

Mathieu Caesar is Associate Professor in medieval history at the Université de Genève. He mainly works on social, cultural and political history, and has published on Renaissance Geneva and Savoy, taxation and public finances, revolts, late medieval preaching, princely legislation, early printing, and reversals of fortune.

Table des matières :

Abbreviations
Prologue
Chapter 1 – An uncertain world: from prosperity to instability
Chapter 2 – Regional alliances and urban factionalism
Chapter 3 – Princely policies amidst rising uncertainty
Chapter 4 – Genevan confessional struggles: factions and criminal trials
Chapter 5 – Competing reforms
Epilogue
Maps
Tables
Bibliography
Index

Informations pratiques :

Mathieu Caesar, The Uncertain World of Renaissance Geneva and Savoy. Political Life, Factional Conflicts and Religious Turmoil, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2025 ; 1 vol.,, 302 p. (Renaissance History, Art and Culture). ISBN : 978-9-04856-639-6. Prix : € 134,00.

Source : Amsterdam University Press