It is one of the jewels of the departmental archives of Haute-Savoie: a parchment dated 1022! In good condition, it is the main attraction of the “Archives and Emotions” exhibition, a journey through the feelings left by 1000 years of correspondence and writings: all preserved in the Savoyard collection.
The Festival of Lights 2022 in Lyon
“We have about 27 kilometers of documents in the departmental archives of Haute-Savoie. Sometimes, we can say to ourselves that these are trivial things. But when we think about it, we realize that these are all lived testimonies of inside, of what happened before us“.
At the time of initiating a reflection on the expansion of the archives based in Annecy, Myriam Lhuillier, the vice-president of the Departmental Council, delegate for Culture and Heritage, does not hide her emotion in evoking the importance given by the institution to the exhibition which is held throughout the year 2023.
An emotion that adds to all those that visitors are invited to feel during their wanderings.
Anger, fear, sadness, shame, joy, or even wonder can thus be associated with the written heritage exhibited in the hall of the departmental archives. “Available to all, there are truly treasures in our archives”explains Myriam Lhuillier.
As witness this “wonder”, a parchment of more than 1000 years, taken out for the first time from the Haute-Savoie fund. “It must be admitted that it is essentially his great age that is exceptional. Because his content is not rare”.
In animal skin (beef or sheep), the parchment is written in Latin. Written with good quality ink, particularly solid, it is miraculously still in very good condition.
The document only reports a simple transaction between the Bishop of Langres (Haute-Marne) and Count Humbert, known as the “white hands”, founder of the House of Savoy. Established for rights relating to property located in Ambilly (Haute-Savoie), it traveled from the north-east of France to Annecy, passing through Chambéry and Turin… before returning to be finally brought to the fund Haute-Savoie archives.
The authentic parchment was presented during the inauguration, at the end of last December. But it has since returned to shelter from light and it is a reproduction that currently opens the exhibition: like a gateway for a public in search of other local emotions.
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Because these parchments, manuscripts, prints and iconographic documents are linked to many traces of journeys, lives, times and behaviors.
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They evoke both the drama of foundlings in the 19th century and the wonders of nature in Northern Savoy. By talking about the tyrannical behavior of a lord in the 17th century or even the collective joy at sporting events, the “Archives and Emotions” exhibition is a large open book on the intimate history of Haute-Savoie.