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an old document with writing on it sitting on top of a table
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143 - Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de SISMONDI (1773–1842), Swiss …
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Estimate €800 - €1,000
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Description
Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de SISMONDI (1773–1842), Swiss historian and economist. Autograph manuscript signed ‘J.C.L.S-i’, *Condottieri*; 5 pages, quarto, on bluish paper. An article probably intended for a historical dictionary or an encyclopaedia. ‘Condottieri. This is the name by which the captains of mercenary soldiers were known in Italy, who placed themselves for a time in the pay of independent governments’… Sismondi recounts their history, citing the most notable figures (Albéric de Barbiano, Braccio da Montone, Sigismondo Malatesta…), emphasising that the condottieri took no interest in the wars they fought and ‘were primarily concerned with preserving the lives of their soldiers’, right up to the Italian Wars of Charles VIII, before concluding: ‘Machiavelli therefore urged the Florentines to reorganise their militias once more, and to entrust the defence of the city solely to its citizens. It was too late; the struggle between France and the Holy Roman Empire on Italian soil had already begun; the forces of the peninsula were no longer sufficient to resist all of them at the same time, and the truly independent states—the republics and the condottieri—disappeared from Italy at that very time’.
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part I
Auction location
Auction time 10/13/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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