Biblioteca della Società Storica Subalpina

Title page of volume 40, 1907

The Biblioteca della Società Storica Subalpina (abbreviated as BSSS^[1]) is a series of volumes that collects and presents monographic studies and documentary sources from the territories of the Savoyard states.

The initiative was launched in 1899 by the Turin historian Ferdinando Gabotto within the Deputazione Subalpina di storia patria, which he had founded three years earlier^[2][3]. Since 1956, it has been known as Biblioteca Storica Subalpina, abbreviated as BSS^[4].

The volumes are grouped into series: Cartari (Corpus Chartarum Italiae^[5]), Memorie, Miscellanea, Regesti, and Testi^[2].

The publications from the early decades, corresponding to the first hundred volumes, are largely digitized and made freely available through the European Library of Information and Culture platform, in the section Medieval and Modern European Law^[6][7].

The idea of making documentary sources for historical studies accessible and user-friendly was not new. In the 18th century, the Modenese Ludovico Antonio Muratori compiled the famous Rerum Italicarum Scriptores and Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevi, but largely overlooked Piedmont. In 1833, King Charles Albert established the Deputazione Subalpina di storia patria^[8], whose series Historiae Patriae Monumenta aimed to fill Muratori’s gap; however, for a long time, its publications neglected many documents and cartularies, especially those from municipal and private archives^[9].

The Royal Deputation’s contribution to source publication was heavily influenced by the perception of these sources until the 19th century: documentary collections were seen as mere containers of material, relevant only for the facts they recorded. Thus, it was logical to select the most important elements at the user’s discretion, often chronologically reorganized for ease of consultation. The historical interest in the documentary collections themselves, appreciable only in their integrity and original form, was still far from being recognized^[4].

During the first congress of the Subalpine Historical Society, held in Cuneo in 1898, the issue resurfaced, and there was a call to undertake the systematic publication of regional documentary sources, a true "cartulary of the ancient mainland states"^[4]. Over time, this activity became the Society’s primary objective, a true mission, alongside the dissemination of studies based on it, published in the Bollettino storico-bibliografico subalpino^[4]. Ferdinando Gabotto, supported by a group of enthusiastic associates, realized the proposal in 1899 by launching the series. Gabotto also secured financial support from credit institutions and local administrations, both provincial and municipal, as well as from prominent figures such as members of the royal family and nobility^[2]. The series’ significance was immediately evident and recognized even abroad^[10].

Top of the title page during the direction of Ferdinando Gabotto, from 1899 to 1918

From the outset, Gabotto advocated a highly pragmatic editorial selection policy, based on the strong preparatory value of the publications for the congresses: since local administrations were generally willing to fund works concerning them, choices were oriented toward themes related to future congress venues, creating a virtuous cycle that brought prestige to the hosting venue while fostering the Society’s growth and recognition^[4]. This policy was one of the reasons why, in the early years, the publication of regional cartularies was favored, i.e., monographs on a single area, due to the greater ease of securing funding compared to mixed cartularies^[4][11].

The mechanism based on promoting publications in conjunction with annual congresses was quickly consolidated, simultaneously resolving the issue of funding. Thus, the geographical progression of the first ten volumes faithfully reflected the correspondence with the respective congress venues (Pinerolo in 1899, Ivrea in 1900, Saluzzo in 1901). However, by 1902, the Society’s resources proved insufficient to sustain the intense pace of work required: editions were postponed year after year, losing the correspondence between themes and congress venues, and the list of works in preparation published in the Bollettino underwent frequent changes in numbering, titles, and editors, to the point that in 1909 Gabotto deemed it necessary to publicly declare that this list should be considered a statement of intent^[4].

Gabotto’s personal archive provides numerous details on the Society’s daily life. Among various points of interest, the relationship with printers stands out, characterized by frequent disputes: on one hand, the series director, extremely demanding and perpetually dissatisfied with the results and high costs, accused printers of incompetence and lack of professionalism; on the other hand, printers, struggling with his pressing demands, sometimes refused to take on BSSS editions due to low profits and the slow, laborious typesetting. Gabotto even considered bypassing printers and directly hiring the necessary workers, but Carlo Patrucco managed to dissuade him^[4].

Between 1914 and 1915, Gabotto’s worsening health (a dominant figure within the Society, almost identified with it) and Italy’s entry into war halted the itinerant congresses, and the series’ publications significantly slowed^[4].

In 1918, the city indicated on the title page changed from Pinerolo to Turin^[12].

Top of the title page during the direction of Armando Tallone, from 1919 to 1935

Ferdinando Gabotto died in November 1918, and the Society’s activities came to a complete halt until the following April, when a new statute was drafted, and the board of directors was renewed, with Armando Tallone as the series director^[4]. In this context, the new series of the collection was launched, maintaining the numbering but updating the title page: the wording "directed by Ferdinando Gabotto" was changed to "founded by Ferdinando Gabotto"^[13][12]. During Carlo Patrucco’s presidency, in 1924, the itinerant congresses resumed, with Vercelli as the first hosting venue. On this occasion, the publication of municipal documentary sources began, with the 13th-century libri iurium of the same Eusebian city^[4].

Top of the title page after the merger of the Subalpine Historical Society into the Regia Deputazione Subalpina di Storia Patria, from 1935

From 1935, following the merger of the Subalpine Historical Society into the Royal Subalpine Deputation for Homeland History, willed by President Cesare Maria De Vecchi, the series’ publications no longer bore the Society’s name on the title page, replaced by the wording "Regia Deputazione Subalpina di Storia Patria - Continuation of the Biblioteca della Società Storica Subalpina". The volume numbering was maintained^[4].

With the publication of volume 175 in 1943 (Cesare Maria De Vecchi, Le carte di Giovanni Lanza, XI - Appendice e indici), the catastrophe of World War II led to the suspension of the series^[4].

In the early post-war years, the Deputation faced various practical problems, such as rebuilding its headquarters, library, and book collections, alongside more specific issues related to budgeting and drafting the new statute (1949)^[4]. Not least among the issues, the war had caused the "collapse of that synergy of cultural institutions, local administrations, and individuals on which any major publishing project depends"^[4]. The series’ resumption was thus delayed until 1952, with the publication of volume 176 by Giuseppe Barelli, Statuti e documenti di Carrù - Statuti e "Liber franchisiarum et libertatum" di Dogliani.

In those years, the series was at serious risk of closure: inherited from the Subalpine Historical Society, it was seen as a competitor to the Historiae Patriae Monumenta, the Deputation’s flagship series since its foundation; moreover, the Deputation’s dire economic situation led to allocating limited resources to select projects. Confirming this, the BSSS was not included among the Deputation’s official publications in the 1949 statute, unlike the Bollettino storico-bibliografico subalpino. However, internal disagreements within the Deputation about the role of the BSSS allowed it to be maintained and gradually perceived as a proper publication of the Deputation, no longer an unwieldy legacy of the Subalpine Historical Society^[4]. Notably, in the volumes published in the early 1950s, the wording "Continuation of the Biblioteca della Società Storica Subalpina" was removed from the title page and relegated to the guard page preceding it^[4].

Francesco Cognasso, supporter of the series in the post-World War II period

The situation changed in 1954 with the appointment of Francesco Cognasso, previously a member of the Subalpine Historical Society, as president of the Deputation. During his tenure, scientific activities resumed at full capacity, the centrality of documentary editions was reaffirmed, the itinerant congresses of the Gabotto era were restarted, and the BSSS was revitalized, considered from that moment a "debt of honor toward the Subalpine Historical Society". In this context, in 1956, the series adopted its current name, Biblioteca Storica Subalpina (abbreviated as BSS)^[4].

Top of the title page after the renaming of the series in 1956

However, the pace of publications was far from that of the early decades, mainly for financial reasons: the series heavily relied on local contributions, but administrations were no longer as prompt as before; publication costs were also higher than those of study series, especially given the very limited sales volume^[4].

The Subalpine Historical Society established clear criteria for including documentary sources in the series. However, in the preface to the first volume, Gabotto emphasized that editors would have full discretion in compiling the works^[14].

The temporal selection criteria for sources to be included in the series were established at the Saluzzo congress in 1901^[4].

Like the Subalpine Deputation for Homeland History, the year 1300 (sometimes 1313) was chosen as the upper temporal limit, despite heated discussions lamenting the potential exclusion of smaller municipal archives. Several reasons supported this: after this date, documents increase significantly, often losing importance; the death of Henry VII and the downsizing of the two major contending medieval powers (the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire) mark a significant watershed for Subalpine history; in those years, 1313 was increasingly considered the end of the Middle Ages by scholars^[4].

At the same meeting, it was decided to publish sources up to 1200 in their entirety, as they were older and less numerous; documents up to 1300/1313 would be published systematically but with greater flexibility; for later sources, regests would suffice^[4].

This temporal criterion led to a preference for ecclesiastical documentary sources, which are older than municipal ones^[4].

At the second congress held in Pinerolo in 1899, the geographical scope of the Society’s activities was discussed. The main doubt concerned the eastern Piedmontese area (Novara, Casale Monferrato, Tortona, and Alessandria), perceived as not entirely Piedmontese due to its historical developments. It was thus decided to base the scope on the term subalpine, which allowed for expansion beyond the narrow and somewhat vague concept of Piedmont, including the eastern territories up to the Lomellina and Oltrepò Pavese and south to Liguria^[4].

On the occasion of the merger into the Royal Subalpine Deputation for Homeland History in 1935, the scope was redefined as "Savoyard States, with particular regard to the provinces of Alessandria, Aosta, Asti, Cuneo, Novara, Turin, and Vercelli"^[4].

The 1949 statute reconsidered the geographical scope, primarily including Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, with the possibility of extending to all territories within the sphere of influence of the Savoyard states^[4].

Following the principles of scholars such as Benedetto Baudi di Vesme and Cornelio Desimoni, Gabotto immediately advocated for complete adherence to the format, order, duplications, spelling, and punctuation of the originals in the series, as historical information was also embedded in their form. To address the resulting consultation difficulties, appropriate indexes would accompany the sources^[4].

After Gabotto’s death, in 1924, the series director Armando Tallone relaxed the content management criteria, aligning them with those of the Italian Historical Institute, characterized by greater flexibility in rendering spelling and punctuation^[4].

Due to the dissatisfaction among scholars caused by the previous decision, in 1934, the editorial guidelines were revised, restoring scrupulous adherence to the originals. The only exception, advocated by Tallone himself, concerned the handling of duplicates, which could be relegated to an appendix^[4].

Since there is no comprehensive list of the volumes in the series available online, below is a list of external links to digitized versions, where available^[4][15].

In 1921, a new series of the collection began under the direction of Armando Tallone, coinciding with the reestablishment of the Società Storica Subalpina after the death of Ferdinando Gabotto.^[4]

• Luigi Cesare Bollea (1911). "La Biblioteca della Società Storica Subalpina, diretta da Ferdinando Gabotto, nei suoi primi undici anni di vita" [The Library of the Subalpine Historical Society, directed by Ferdinando Gabotto, in its first eleven years of life]. Rivista Storica Italiana (in Italian). XXVIII (III, fasc. 2). Turin: 137–167.
• Flavia Negro (2016). "Storia di un'edizione: il liber iurium dei Biscioni dalla Società Storica Subalpina alla Deputazione Subalpina di Storia Patria" [History of an edition: the liber iurium of the Biscioni from the Subalpine Historical Society to the Subalpine Deputation for Homeland History]. In Rinaldo Comba (ed.). Rosaldo Ordano - L'uomo, l'organizzatore di cultura, lo storico [Rosaldo Ordano - The man, the cultural organizer, the historian] (PDF) (in Italian). Vercelli: Società Storica Vercellese. pp. 97–150. Retrieved 2023-11-19 – via IRIS-AperTO - Università di Torino.

• Historiae Patriae Monumenta