François Bonivard

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François Bonivard (also Bonnivard; 1493–1570) was a nobleman, churchman, historian and Geneva patriot during the time of the Republic of Geneva. His life inspired Lord Byron’s 1816 poem The Prisoner of Chillon. He supported the Protestant Reformation and, by many accounts, lived a free, lavish life for someone in the clergy.

Bonivard was the son of Louis Bonivard, Seigneur de Lunes, born at Seyssel in Savoy. He was educated by monks under his uncle, Jean-Aimé de Bonivard, the prior of St.-Victor near Geneva. At seven, he went to study in Pinerolo, Italy. He studied at the University of Turin and, after his uncle’s death in 1510, took his place at St.-Victor.

When the Duke of Savoy, Charles III, seized Bonivard’s property, he joined the Geneva patriots who opposed Savoy’s rule. In 1519 he fled Geneva, disguised as a monk, but was betrayed by friends and handed over to the Duke. He was imprisoned at Grolée from 1519 to 1521. The Abbot of Montheron, who had received St.-Victor, was said to have been poisoned by Bonivard’s friends, who helped to win his release. Bonivard returned to the priory in 1527.

He was captured again in 1530 when the Duke’s men attacked him in Moudon, and he was imprisoned underground in the Castle of Chillon. He was freed when Bernese forces conquered Vaud in 1536. Geneva gave him a pension, and in 1537 he became a citizen and sat on the Council of Two Hundred, though he often lived in Bern and Lausanne. He finally moved back to Geneva in 1544.

Bonivard married four times. His first wife, Catherine Baumgartner, died soon after their marriage (around 1543). His second wife, Jeanne Darmeis, the widow of Pierre Corne, was with him from 1544 to 1552 and they did not live well together. His third wife, Pernette Mazue, was the widow of 1550–1562. She left her fortune to her son. His fourth wife was Catherine de Courtaronel, an unfrocked nun; they married when he was 69. Catherine was later arrested for immorality and drowned in the Rhone; her lover was beheaded. Bonivard was often in debt because of his extravagant lifestyle.

In 1542 he began writing a history of Geneva, Chroniques de Genève, covering the city up to 1530. He sent the manuscript to John Calvin for corrections in 1551, and it was published much later, in 1831. He also worked with Antoine Froment on the chronicle. Other works include Advis et Devis de la Source de l’Idolatrie et Tryannie Papale, Advis et Devis de Langues (1563), and Advis et Devis sur l’Ancienne et Nouvelle Police de Genève. In 1551 he donated his library to the public and left everything to Geneva in his will. He died in 1570 at the age of 77, though the exact date is unknown because city death records have a gap.