François de Bonivard

François Bonivard (or Bonnivard; 1493–1570) was a Geneva patriot, ecclesiastic and historian whose life was the inspiration for Lord Byron's 1816 poem The Prisoner of Chillon. He was a partisan of the Protestant Reformation, and by most accounts was a libertine, despite his vocation.

He was the son of Louis Bonivard, Seigneur de Lunes, and was born at Seyssel into an old family of Savoy. He was educated by various monks under the jurisdiction of his uncle, Jean-Aimé de Bonivard, who was prior of St.-Victor, a monastery just outside the walls of Geneva. At the age of seven, Bonivard was sent to study at Pinerolo, Italy; for most of his youth, he reportedly preferred amusements to learning. He attended the University of Turin and, on his uncle's death, succeeded him at St.-Victor in 1510.

After Charles III, Duke of Savoy, seized the Bonivards' property except for the priory, Bonivard sided with the patriots of Geneva who opposed the Savoy efforts to control the region. In 1519 he fled Geneva, disguised as a monk, upon news that the Duke was approaching. He was cozened by friends, the Lord of Varuz and a monk named Brisset, the Abbot of Montheron of the Pays de Vaud, who betrayed him. They turned him over to the Duke, who imprisoned him at Grolée, one of his castles on the Rhone, from 1519 to 1521. The Abbot of Montheron was given the monastery St.-Victor, but he was evidently poisoned by friends of Bonivard, who also worked to release him from prison. Bonivard returned to the priory in 1527.

The experience was not much of a deterrent; Bonivard continued his political activism. In 1530, he was set upon by Duke's men when he thought he could spend a safe night in Moudon, and he was again handed over to the Duke of Savoy. The Duke imprisoned him again, this time underground in the Castle of Chillon. Bonivard was released by the Bernese when they conquered Vaud in 1536. His priory had meanwhile been razed, but Geneva awarded him a pension. He was made bourgeois of Geneva in 1537, a position he felt compelled to renounce due to his precarious finances. The Genevese also awarded him a seat on the Council of Two Hundred in 1537, which granted him a salary. He lived chiefly in Bern and Lausanne after 1538, but returned to Geneva permanently in 1544.

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