County of Savoy

County Of Savoy

For the later history of Savoy see Duchy of Savoy.

The Counts of Savoy (Italian: Savoia, French: Savoie) emerged, along with the free communes of Switzerland, from the collapse of the Burgundian Kingdom of Arles in the 11th century.

Humbert I the White-Handed from the noble House of Savoy had received the comital title from the last King of Arles, Rudolph III of Burgundy in 1003. He backed the inheritance claims of Emperor Henry II and in turn gained lands in the Aosta Valley. Upon King Rudolph's death in 1032, Humbert immediately accepted the rule of Henry's successor, Emperor Conrad II. In turn for his support in the conflict with Count Odo II of Blois he received the northern Maurienne part of the County of Vienne, then a fief of the Vienne archbishops, as well as territories in the Chablais region and in the Tarentaise Valley, a fief of the Tarentaise archbishops at Moûtiers.

While the Arelat remained a titular kingdom of the Holy Roman Empire, Humbert's descendants maintained their independence as counts. His younger son Otto in 1046 married Adelaide of Susa, daughter of Margrave Ulric Manfred II of Turin, and thereby acquired the adjacent Piedmontese lands of the Turin march (Susa).

The counts further enlarged their territory when in 1218 they inherited the Vaud lands north of the Lake Geneva from the extinct House of Zähringen. Count Thomas I in 1220 occupied the towns of Pinerolo and Chambéry (Kamrach), which afterwards became the Savoy capital. His younger son Peter II in 1240 was invited to England by King Henry III, who had married Peter's niece Eleanor of Provence. He was appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Earl of Richmond and had the Savoy Palace erected at London.

In 1313 Count Amadeus V the Great officially gained the status of Imperial immediacy from the hands of Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg. The superordinated Kingdom of Arles effectively ceased to exist, after the Dauphiné had passed to the French crown prince Charles V of Valois in 1349 and the "Green Count" Amadeus VI of Savoy was appointed Imperial vicar of Arelat by Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg in 1365.

The "Red Count" Amadeus VII gained access to the Mediterranean Sea by the acquisition of the County of Nice in 1388, his son Amadeus VIII the Peaceful purchased the County of Geneva in 1401. The extended Savoy lands were finally raised to a duchy in 1416 by the German king Sigismund of Luxembourg (see Duchy of Savoy 1416-1718).