63 - [HISTORY - LIÈGE] - [VILLENFAGNE D'INGIHOUL, Hilarion-Noël de]

[HISTORY - LIÈGE] - [VILLENFAGNE D'INGIHOUL, Hilarion-Noël de] Research on the history of the former Principality of Liège; covering the origin, formation, and successive expansions of this great state; an overview of its constitution; an account of the civil wars waged by the people of Liège against their princes, etc., etc.; and biographical notes on several artists and a few authors of the same nation. Liège, P. J. Collardin, 1817, 2 volumes In-8°. Water-green half-percale. Normal wear and tear. Interior fresh. First edition of this scholarly and monumental study of Liège’s past. Conceived at the end of the Napoleonic Empire but published at the beginning of the Dutch period, this work by the historian and bibliophile Hilarion-Noël de Villenfagne d’Ingihoul (1753–1826) constitutes a first-rate historiographical source. The text offers a rigorous synthesis of medieval and modern chronicles to trace the political evolution of the episcopal principality, its constitutional charter, and the numerous civil conflicts pitting the people of Liège against their prince-bishops. The extensive biographical and artistic notes at the end also make it a valuable cultural dictionary for the region. References: De Theux, Bibliographie liégeoise, 786; Pirenne, Bibliographie de l’histoire de Belgique, 1007. Provenance: from the library of Philippe Kervyn of Volkaersbeke (bookplate)