François Bonivard was a nobleman, ecclesiastic, historian, and Geneva patriot at the time of the Republic of Geneva. His life was the inspiration for Lord Byron's 1816 poem The Prisoner of Chillon. He was a partisan of the Protestant Reformation, and by most accounts was a libertine, despite his vocation.

Charles III of Savoy, often called Charles the Good, was Duke of Savoy from 1504 to 1553, although most of his lands were ruled by the French between 1536 and his death. Ruling for nearly 49 years, he is the third longest reigning Savoyard monarch, behind Charles Emmanuel I and Victor Amadeus II.