34 1 ] THE PLEBISCITE IN ANCIENT AND FEUDAL TIMES 43 



Philippe le Hardi to Roger Bernard, had stipulated a time 

 of seven years to elapse before the transfer should become 

 effective.*" The King of France died less than a month 

 after the agreement of Villanueva was effected. The heir 

 to the throne confirmed the pact.*^ Roger Bernard, who 

 would not wait his allotted seven years, then moved to gain 

 possession of Pamiers by the consultation and the consent 

 of the people in the manner described. The Abbot resisted 

 his attempt. Roger Bernard, in spite of his pact and agree- 

 ment, was compelled to wait. In February, 1295, ten years 

 after the first agreement and the popular expression of 

 consent, " Parliament ordered that ' the hand of the king 

 be lifted from the city and the castle of Pamiers.'"** It 

 seems, then, that the consent of the people of Pamiers was 

 appreciated and heeded by no one except Roger Bernard 

 himself, whose interest would be directly furthered by it. 

 The conditions of the royal patent, approving the transfer 

 of Pamiers without the consent of the free inhabitants, and 

 the opposition of the Abbot to the transfer were both held 

 superior to and more effective than the expressed desires 

 or consent of the people. It should be mentioned, however, 

 that the royal letter of approval of 1285 admonished the 

 Abbot, the Conventus, and the people of the city to prove 

 themselves tractable and favorably and benevolently in- 

 clined towards an agreement with Roger Bernard.*^ While 

 this request tends to show a certain amount of considera- 

 tion for the people of Pamiers on the part of the king, it 

 does, on the other hand, rob the supposedly free choice in 

 favor of the new master of that vestige of spontaneity which 

 Soliere wishes to attribute to it. 



In 1420 Amedec VII, the first duke of Savoy, having 

 bought the Comtc dc Gcnevois, planned to annex also the 

 city itself. However, the Conseil general of Geneva suc- 



*" Lcttres ineditcs de Philippe le Bel. . . . Avec uiie introduction 

 par Ad. liaudouiii, Paris, 1887, pp. xxii, ij6. 

 *'' ll)id., pp. xxiii, 129. 

 *^ Ibid., p. xxiii. 

 *»ll)id., p. 127. 



