Kinship and noble life

Abstract

The formal and informal political authority of René de Challant was rooted in his kin relations. He inherited titles, lands, and relationships through the ancestors of both of his parents, and through affinal kin. The territorial dimension of the connections spread from northern Italy to the transalpine Sabaudian lands, and from Iberia to the Swiss lands and the Franche-Comté. René’s family interacted socially with other nobles in the Valle d’Aosta and elsewhere, consolidating their shared position as members of the elite but also engaging in sharp legal conflicts when their landed or jurisdictional interests collided.