Last modified: 2005-03-19 by ivan sache
Keywords: savoie | savoy | cross (white) |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
![[Flag of Savoy]](../images/f/fr-savoi.gif)
by Arnaud Leroy
See also:
The Roman times
The region known today as Savoy was conquered by the Roman Consul Domitius Ahenobarbus in 122-118 BP, and incorporated into the Provincia narbonensis. Among the local Gallic tribes, the Allobroges resisted to the invaders until the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.
In 380, the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330 - c. 400) coined the word Sabaudia, or Sapaudia, which is the origin of the name of Savoy. However, the meaning of the word Sabaudia and the exact limits of the region it designated are unknown.
Savoy before Savoy: the Burgundian - Merovingian - Carolingian times
Very little is known on Savoy before the Middle Ages due to the lack of written sources and archeological remains. In 443, Burgundian tribes defeated by the Roman General Aetius (d. 454), were allowed to settle in Savoy and conversion of the region to Christianity began. The capital city of the Burgundian Kingdom was Geneva. King Gondebaut unified the Kingdom between 480 and 500. His son Sigismond rebuilt the St. Peter's cathedral in Geneva and founded in 515 the abbey of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune in Valais.
In 534, the sons of Clovis, King of the Franks, conquered the Kingdom of Burgundy, which was incorporated to the Merovingian Kingdom. A new Burgundian Kingdom appeared, which was in permanent struggle with its neighbours, the Alamans and the Lombards.
This period was characterized by the dispersion of power and the local emergence of strong powers, such as the Bishopric of Geneva and the abbey of Agaune.
In 843, Charlemagne's Empire was shared by the treaty of Verdun, and Savoy was allocated to Lotharingia, the median part of the former Empire. Lotharingia was rapidly dismembered. The southern part of Savoy was incorporated to the Kingdom of Provence, whereas its northern part was incorporated in 888 to the Kingdom of Transjurane Burgundy. The two kingdoms were merged in 947.
The ascension of the House of Savoy
Rodolphe III, the last King of Burgundy, died in 1032. The German Emperor Konrad II inherited the Burgundian domain in 1032. Humbert Blanches-Mains (White-Hands), a local lord of Burgundian origin, maybe already Count of Savoy, wisely supported Konrad and founded a feudal state. The Humbertians had to cope with the Counts of Geneva, whose root Gerold opposed to Konrad. The Genevois lineage ended in 1394.
The ascension of the Humbertians has been compared to the ascension of the Capetians in Ile-de-France. Humbert, and later his son Odon I allied with the Susa family and increased their domain on both sides of the Alps. In the end of the XIth century, Amédée I crossed the river Rhône and ruled Bugey. The princes of Savoy had powerful neighbours: the Dolphin of Viennois, the Count of Geneva, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France. However, the princes of Savoy were able to preserve the independence of their domain.
Amédéee VI (1343-1383, the Green Count) incorporated Faucigny in 1355 and accepted the homage of the Count of Geneva. In 1365, he proclaimed himself perpetual and hereditary 'Vicar' of the Emperor, which placed Savoy under the official protection of the Empire and allowed Amédée to accept the homage of all the bishops of the region located between Grenoble and Geneva. His son Amédée VII (1383-1391, the Red Count) incorporated the County of Nice to Savoy.
Amédée VIII (1391-1440) was appointed Duke in 1416.
The Duchy of Savoy then included Faucigny, Bresse, the Duchy of
Chablais, the Duchy of Aosta (now in
Italy), the Bishop's castle of l'Ile in Geneva,
Moudon (now in Switzerland), a great part
of the country of Bern (now in Switzerland),
Nice and Genevois (Albanais, Annecy and Saint-Julien).
Amédée bought in 1401 the County of Geneva and
eventually incorporated Piedmont (now in
Italy) to Savoy. Amédée created a Resident Council and
a Chamber of Accounting, and released the Statuta
Sabaudia, a compendium of laws and administrative texts. In
1439, Amédée was elected Pope as Felix V by the Council
of Basle. Considered as an anti-Pope, he
resigned ten years later in order to help the solution of the Great
Western Schism, ending his career as Bishop of Geneva and Pontifical
Legate.
At that time, Savoy controlled the roads and passes of the Alps, and the Duke was nicknamed 'the gatekeeper of the Alps'.
The dismantling of Savoy
From 1439 to 1536, Savoy was ruled by young and unexperienced dukes. Charles III (1504-1553), François I's oncle and Charles V's brother-in-law, took the Austrian party. Geneva allied with Bern and Fribourg and forbid the Catholic religion in 1535. The Bishopric was transfered to Annecy, which became one of the capital cities of the Counter-Reformation. François I invaded Savoy in 1536. Valais invaded the country of Evian, and Bern invaded Chablais and a great part of Genevois. Having lost his entire domain, Charles III ran away to Vercelli, in Piedmont.
In 1559, the Duchy of Savoy was restored by the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, with Emmanuel-Philibert as the Duke. He created in Chambéry a Senate, on the model of the French parliaments and set up an organized tax system to support the rebuilding of the state. Chablais, the country of Gex and the bailiwicks of Ternier and Gaillard were reincorporated to Savoy in 1567. Believing that Chambéry