The reign of Count Thomas, however, which is far more fully known to us, gives greater opportunities for selection than the preceding period. The lines of social development are becoming specialized, and in particular the Count's gifts to religious foundations, mainly to the recluse Carthusians, have only an occasional interest for his history. I have therefore made no attempt at a complete commentary on these unpolitical documents of his. In like manner, since the narrative sources become here and there quite lengthy, a full transcript of the texts concerning Savoy has not been given for his reign. They are easy to find and no longer absolutely buried in other matter. Still even with these deductions I trust that everything essential to enable the reader to test the history has been provided. The history of a country like Savoy, which owed its im portance to its being on a border and traversed by two European highroads, is naturally in frequent connection with the general history of the Holy Roman Empire. Consequently, I have been obliged from time to time to insert fragments of the imperial annals; but I have done so only when they coincided with those of Savoy, as seemed most advisable in a study with such a definite object as this. In fact, the history of surrounding lands has been introduced but in so far as it explains the events and conditions of Savoy.