Last modified: 2005-03-19 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Chablais]](../images/f/fr-savch.gif)
by Pascal Gross & Ivan Sache
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The presentation of the history of Chablais given below is based on the lecture Vous avez dit Chablais ?, given by Bernard Sache on 14 May 2002 in Douvaine, and unfortunately unpublished. Bernard Sache is a retired teacher in history and geography currently doing research on the history of Chablais. He already published a book entitled Meillerie, ou les caillous de la gloire (Editions Le Vieil Annecy, 2003) and is preparing a more ambitious study on Chablais under the great Amédées.
Until the VIIIth century BC, human settlements were set up on the shore
of the Lake Léman, mostly between Tougues and Thonon; the lakeside villages built on piles sticked into the lake are called palaffites.
These early settlers knew how to work bronze, which was not available
locally but was easily shipped via the lake. This was the only period
in the history where industrialization really existed in Chablais.
During the late Age of Bronze, settlement moved inland, along the line
Veigy-Douvaine-Thonon until the foothills of the Voirons massif, and
even to Lullin, beyond this massif.
There are very few remains of these settlers, who were replaced by new
Celtic settlers classified among the Ligurians. The newcomers came from
the East of Europe, spoke an Indo-European language and worked iron.
They came in two waves, the first one between 900 and 500 BC, the
second one between 500 and 50 BC. The latter wave is the only
significant for Chablais. The settlers, called the Allobroges, most
probably colonized the lower territories whereas the earlier settlers
moved up into the mountains and developed a civilization based on
cattle breeding. The Allobroges were subjected by the Romans in 121 BC
and helped them to held the Hevetes in check.
During the Gallo-Roman period, Chablais was mostly settled by villae
(big estates) and a few urban centers, the most significant being
Douvaine, Bons and Thonon. The river Dranse constituted a natural
border to colonization: no significant settlement seems to have existed
beyond the Dranse, including in Evian, which is one of the few French
thermal cities without a Gallo-Roman history.
After the Great Invasions, Chablais was incorporated into the Kingdom
of Burgundy, which was one of the most stable "states" at that time. In
1032, King Rodolphe died without a male heir and was succeded by German
Emperor Konrad, who claimed to defend the interests of Rodolphe's
widow. Count Humbert, who owned domains near the cities of Chambéry and Bellay, in Lower Dauphiné and in Val d'Aosta, supported Konrad, who
awarded him "gatekeeper of the Alps", with the title of Count of
Chablais. Humbert was also the protector of the Christian religion,
which had flourished in Chablais since King of Burgundy Sigismond
founded the St. Maurice's abbey in Agaune in 515 to emphasize his
conversion.
Humbert's successor, Pierre I, increased his position by helping
Emperor of Germany Henri IV to cross the Alps on his way to Canossa. He
was rewarded the permanent protection of the St. Maurice's abbey and
the domain between the cities of Martigny and Vevey (today in
Switzerland, shared between the cantons of Valais and Vaud). A place called Pennoslacos, located on the lakeshore on the road linking the rivers Rhône and Rhine, was part of this domain. The Celtic toponym
Pennoslacos, meaning the lake's head (end) was latinized by clarks
into Caput Lacis, which later gave Chablais. Caput Lacis was then
used to designate the St. Maurice's abbey domain, which equaled the
territory granted by the Emperor to Pierre I.
The further history of Chablais is linked to the big ambitions of the
Counts of Savoy, who attempted to become Kings as the "natural heirs"
of the Kingdom of Burgundy and to reunify their domains scattered all
over the Alps.
In the XIth and XIIth century, the abbey of Agaune set up daughter
abbeys in Abondance, whereas the Cistercians founded an abbey in the
Val d'Aups. In the same time, the Counts of Savoy, from their castles
of Chillon and Villeneuve (today in Switzerland) attempted to control
the valley of Rhône, lake Léman and the neighbouring areas. Count
Pierre II (1263-1268) set up the balliwick of Chablais; in 1325,
Chablais included the châtellenies of Entremont, Saint-Maurice, Saxon, Saillon, Conthey, la Tour de Peilz, Vevey, Châtel-Saint-Denis, Payerne, Morat/Murten, la Corbière, Versoix, the Island's Castle in Geneva
(all of them consituting significant parts of the modern cantons of
Geneva and Vaud, a part of Valais and a part of Fribourg), Yvoire, Thonon-Allinges and
Evian-Féternes (the three of them constituting the modern French
Chablais). The build-up of Chablais was made through marriages,
agreements, debt paiements and pressures, but did not involve war
actions.
However, the Counts of Savoie had strong challengers in Western
Chablais, that is the Count of Genevois, who hold the fortresses of
Hermance and Beauregard on the lakeshore and of Ballaison and Langin
inland, and the Sire of Faucigny, who hold the fortresses of Rovorée, Nernier, Avully and Allinges-le-Vieux. In the beginning of the XIVth
century, the Count of Savoy suppressed the fortress of Rovorée and took
the control of most other fortresses owned by Faucigny. The treaty of
Paris (1355) confirmed the leadership of Savoy on Chablais, and the
fortresses lost their strategic importance, allowing the development of
the cities.
During the reigns of the three great princes of Savoy Amédée VI (1343-1383), Amédée VII (1383-1391) and Amédée VIII (1391-1451), Chablais was the political center of Savoy. Since Savoy then completely controlled lake Léman, the court moved from Chillon to Thonon, which became the prefered residence of the princes (at that time, Savoy had no capital city). Bonne de Bourbon, Amédée VII's wife, made of the castle of Ripaille her main residence. Marie de Bourgogne, Amédée VIII's wife, set up beautiful castles in Ripaille, Thonon, Amphion and Evian. Chablais was also a center of art and science: the cloister of the abbey of Abondance was decorated with frescos, whereas laboratories were set up in the castle of Ripaille in order to find control measures against the black plague.
The decline of Chablais started at the end of the XVth century, under the reign of the nefarious Du