(1343-1383), son of Aimone, the Peaceful, and known as the Conte Verde or Green Count because of the costume he habitually wore at tourneys, succeeded at the age of nine. He won a reputation as a bold knight in the fields of chivalry and inaugurated a new policy by devoting more attention to his Italian possessions than to those on the French side of the Alps and in Switzerland. In 1366 he led an expedition to the East against the Turks; and he arbitrated between Milan and the house of Montferrat (1379), between the Scaligeri and the Visconti, and between Venice and Genoa after the "War of Chioggia" (1381). Amadeus was the first sovereign to introduce a system of gratuitous legal assistance for the poor. He espoused the cause of Louis, duke of Anjou, and while aiding that prince in his attempt to recover the kingdom of Naples he died of the plague, leaving his realm to his son, Amadeus VII., the Conte Rosso or "Red Count" (1383-1391) ; the latter added Nice (1388) and other territories to his domains.
(1391-1451), count, extended his territories both in Savoy itself and in Italy, and in 1416 was created duke by the emperor Sigismund. In 1430 he promulgated a general statute of laws for the whole duchy, in spite of the opposition of the nobles and cities whose privileges were thereby curtailed. In 1434 he retired to the hermitage of Ripaille on the Lake of Geneva, but continued to conduct the chief affairs of the State and to mediate between foreign Powers, leaving matters of less importance to his son Louis. Five years later the council of Basel elected Amadeus pope, in spite of his not being a priest, and deposed Eugenius IV. Amadeus accepted the dignity, assum ing the style of Felix V. (q.v.). In 1449 Amadeus abdicated and returned to his hermitage at Ripaille, where he died two years later. (See FELIX V.) 15th Century.—Under Louis, Savoy began to decline, for he was indolent, incapable, and ruled by his wife, Anne of Lusignan, daughter of the king of Cyprus, who induced him to fit out an expedition to Cyprus, which brought him no advantage save the barren title of king of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. He went to France to seek aid of King Louis XI. against his nobles, and died there in 1465. In spite of his incapacity he acquired the city of Freiburg and the homage of the lords of Monaco. He was succeeded by his son, Amadeus IX. (1455-1472), who on account of ill-health left the duchy in the hands of his wife, Yolande, sister of Louis XI. During the minority of his son Philibert I. (1472-1482) Savoy lost Freiburg and many other territories. Philibert was succeeded by his brother Charles I. (1482-1490), who, freed by Louis XI. from the dangerous protection of Philip of Bresse and by death from that of the French king, crushed the rebellious nobles and seized Saluzzo (1487). He did much to raise the fortunes of his house, but died at the age of 31. Under his suc cessors the duchy lost ground until the accession of Emmanuel Philibert in 1553.
At the time of his accession, Em manuel Philibert was serving in the Spanish armies. Em manuel could not take possession of the duchy at once, but con tinued to serve the emperor as governor-general of the Low Countries. By his victory at St. Quentin over the French in 1557 he proved himself one of the first generals of the day, and by the terms of the subsequent treaty of Cateau Cambresis he was rein stated in most of his hereditary possessions (1559). Under Em manuel Philibert Savoy lost all traces of constitutional government and became an absolute despotism of the type then predominating throughout the greater part of Europe. At the same time he raised his country from ruin and degradation into a prosperous and powerful monarchy.
I.—His son and successor, Charles Em manuel I. (q.v.), surnamed the Great, strengthened the tendency of Savoy to become less of a French and more of an Italian Power. In 1588 he wrested Saluzzo from the French, but his expeditions to Provence and Switzerland were unsuccessful. In the war be tween France and Spain after the accession of Henry IV., he took the Spanish side, and at the peace of Lyons (16o1), although he gave up all his territories beyond the Rhone, his possession of Saluzzo was confirmed. His attempt to capture Geneva by treachery (1602) failed, and although on the death of Francesco Gonzaga, duke of Mantua and Montferrat, he seized the latter city (1612) he was forced by Spain and her allies to relinquish it. The Spaniards invaded the duchy, but after several years of hard fighting the peace of 1618 left his territory almost intact. In 1628 he sided with Spain against France ; the armies of the latter over ran the duchy, and Charles Emmanuel died in 1630. (See CHARLES EMMANUEL.) His son, Victor Amadeus I. (163o-1637), suc ceeded to little more than a title, but by his alliance with France —his wife, Christina, being a daughter of Henry IV.—he managed to regain most of his territories. He proved a wise and popular ruler, and his early death was much deplored. He was succeeded by his second son, Charles Emmanuel II., who, being a minor, re mained under the regency of his mother. That princess, in spite of her French origin, resisted the attempts of France, then dominated by Cardinal Richelieu, to govern Savoy, but her quarrels with her brothers-in-law led to civil war, in which the latter obtained the help of Spain, and Christina that of France. In the end the duchess succeeded in patching up these feuds and saving the dynasty, and in 1648 Charles Emmanuel II. assumed the govern ment. The war between France and Spain continued, and Savoy, on whose territory much of the fighting took place, suffered severely in consequence. By the treaty of the Pyrenees (1669) Savoy regained most of the towns occupied by France.