Thomas III, Marquess of Saluzzo

Thomas III. del Vasto (* 1356, † 1416), also called Thomas III. de Saluces or Tomas d' Alderan was 1396-1416 Thomas III. Margrave of Saluzzo. He is the author of the allegorical novel Le chevalier errant, a significant example of medieval courtly epic.

Life

Family

The del Vasto, a branch of the Aleramiden, were of French origin. The family produced from the mid-12th century, the Marquis of Saluzzo. Thomas was the son of Federico del Vasto, Marquis of Saluzzo (1332-1396) and Beatrice de Genève. In 1403 he married a native of the French nobility Margherita di Roussy. The marriage was four daughters and two sons, of whom the firstborn already died at the age of two years. Thomas ' successor as Margrave was son Ludovico (1406-1475), the Ludovico I. succeeded his father at the age of nine years. Regent until the coming of age his mother and his older, illegitimate half-brother, Valerano Bastardo di Saluzzo were.

Policy

1394 Thomas III was. gefangenommen by Savoyard troops and imprisoned in Savigliano and later in Turin. Only after payment of a large ransom, he was released and was able to succeed his now deceased father as Margrave of Saluzzo. Thomas at first continued the pro-French policy of his father. In France, he hoped for an ally against the threats posed by the aggressive expansion policy of the dukes of Savoy, who wanted to unite the whole Piedmont under its suzerainty.

Thomas was Knight of the Annunziaten Order.

Le chevalier errant

The written in prose and verse novel of encyclopedic proportions is written in French. It tells the adventurous travels of an anonymous knight who, starting from the realm of Dieu d' Amours ( the god of love), in which he receives the accolade through Christ, over the realm of Lady Fortune finally into the realm of Lady Cognoissance ( the knowledge) gets to where he is informed about the meaning of his long journey.

The novel is available in two illuminated manuscripts

This manuscript is richly provided with illuminations, which are the " Maître de la Cité des dames " attributed to that of 1403-1404 at the court of Charles VI. worked in Paris.

The Turin manuscript is less luxurious and parts of it were destroyed in the fire of the library in 1904.

A third manuscript, which is mentioned in the 18th century, is considered lost.