SAVOY, House: or. The small territory of Savoy formed a part Of ancient Gaul, and after the decline of the Roman power was seized by the Burgundians (407 A.D.), and along with Burgundy passed .under the Franks (534). On the breaking up of the Frankish empire, Savoy was joined to Transjurane Burgundy, and along with that kino.
dom was united to Cidurane Burgundy, or Arles. On the accession of the last king of Arles to the imperial throne as Conrad IL, the great lords of north-western Italy, such as the lords of Suza, Cliablais, and Turin, became vassals direct of the empire. The counts of Maurienne, the ancestors of the house of Savoy, arc generally believed by most historians who have investigated their genealogy to have descended directly in the male line from a son of Wittekind the great, the last independent king of the Saxons; and CouRT HUMBERT, Me white-handed, was the first of the family who, by the addition of Chablais and Valais (grants from the emperor Conrad the Salic) to his hereditary lordship of Manrienne, rose to high position among the princes of northern Italy. One of his descendants. HUMBERT IL (1078-1103), succeeded to the marquisate of Suza (which included the greater part of Piedmont), and further increased his little territory by the conquest of Tarantasia. The family now commenced to form alliances with the royal houses of France, Portugal, England, Naples, Spain, and Germany, which added greatly to its political importance. AMADEUS III. (1103-49) received from the emperor Henry V. the title of COUNT OF SAVOY (1111), and his grandson, THOMAS I. (1188-1233), obtained important accessions in Chamhery, Turin, the country of Valid, and many other lordships. Count Thomas was the initiator of the policy so long and successfully adopted by his successors, " of preserving armed neutrality in all contests between France and the empire, and of vigorously supporting the empire against the papacy." From this time the counts of Savoy became the arbiters of all quarrels in north, and occasionally in south Italy, and their bravery in the field and keen political sagacity* increased at once their political influence and their territorial jurisdictinn. After the death of count Boniface, in 1263, without .heirs, his uncle, PIETRO, the earl 9f Richmond and lord of Essex, usurped the crown; but in 1285 the rightful heir, AMADEUS V. (1285-1323), the grandson of Pietro's elder brother, obtained the succes sion; and his grant to his brother THOMAS of the principality of Piedmont as a hereditary fief, founded the two lines of Savoy and Piedmont, which continued to rule over their respective territories till, on the latter becoming extinct in 1418, Piedmont reverted to the elder line. (See AMADEUS V., VI., and VIII.) Amadens VIII. was the first DUKE OF SAVOY, being so created by the emperor Sigismond in 1416. CHARLES I. (1482-89)
obtained from Charlotte of Lusignan, queen of Cyprus, the transference of her rights, and from this date (1485) the dukes of Savoy also claimed to be kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem. The elder male line becoming extinct in 1496, the next collateral heirs were PummEnT II. (1496-1504) and CHARLES III. (1504-53); but the latter, having sided with Charles V. against Francis I. of France, was deprived of the duchy of Savoy in 1533, the countries of Valais and Geneva placed themselves under the protection of Switzerland, and in 15E6 the country of Vaud was seized by the people of Bern. But his son, PHILIBERT EMMANUEL, who was the Spanish governor in the Netherlands, succeeded, at the peace of Cateau-Carnbresis (1559), in obtaining repossession of Savoy. It was this duke who attempted to convert the Vaudois (q.v.), and who founded the now important silk-production in Piedmont, besides, to the utmost of his power, en couraging the prosecution and development of other branches of industry. He rean nexed (1576) the principality of Oneille, and conquered the county of Tende. His suc cessor, CHARLES EMMANUEL I. (1580-1630), was celebrated as a scholar, statesman, and warrior, but he was cursed with an inordinate ambition, which involved hint in unfortu nate contests with Geneva (a former town of Savoy, of which he wished to regain pos session), with the French, who in revenge took possession of his dominions, and with the Spaniards. His two sons, VICTOR AMADEUS T. (q.v.) (1630-37) and Thomas, were the respective founders of the two lines of Savoy and Savoy-Carignan. Victor Ama deus speedily regained the dominions which his father had lost; and with the consent of France added to them Montferrat, Alba, and some other places, relinquishing Pig nerol, La Perouse, Angrone, and Lucerne to the French. As generalissimo of the in Italy, he gained two victories over the Spaniards, but died soon after His grandson, VICTOR AMADEUS II. (1675-1730), was one of the elannants for the Spanish throne on the extinction of the Spanish-Hapshurg dynasty (see SUCCESSION, WAR OF THE Srmasu); and by his adroit policy in the contest between the Hapsburgs and Bourbons for the possession of this crown, he succeeded in obtaining extensive additions to his little territory,. the chief of these being Alessandria, Val-di-Sesia, and other portions of the Milanese, the island of Sicily, in 1713, and along with this latter the title of king. He and his descendants were also recognized as the legitimate heirs of the Spanish throne, should the Bourbon dynasty ever become extinct. But in 1720 he was compelled to surrender Sicily to Austria, in exchange for the island of Sardinia, which, along with Savoy, Piedmont, and his other continental possessions, was then erected into the Kingdom of Sardinia, (q.v.)