Lot Essay
The de Salis family are described as 'amongst the most ancient of Germany' in the 1853 edition of Burke, Peerage and Baronetage. Throughout the middle ages they held positions of importance in the Republic of the Grisons. They held larges tracts of land in the Maira well into the 19th century. However, the line we have to treat came to England in 1709. Peter de Salis, father of Jerome, cited above, was envoy and Minister-Plenipotentiary of Emperor Joseph I of Germany to the court of Queen Anne and was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1748. His son Jerome, had been nautralized as a citizen of Britain by act of Parilament in 1730 and married the sister and heiress of the last Viscount Vane, in 1734.