The plains of Piedmont are well supplied with canals, chiefly for the purpoee of irrigation, the principal of which are in the provinces of Aleasandria, Vercelli, Biella, Casale, Ivrea, Alba, and Turin. The river system of Piedmont is described ander Po.
The staple products of the continental Sardinian territories for exportation are—silk, rice, hemp, wiue, and oil. Most of the wine is consumed in the country. The principal manufactures consist of paper, silks, woollens, linen, glees, and cotton-yarn. The importation of coloolal articles and foreign manufactures takes place chiefly through the port of Chaos. A considerable trade is carried on with Switzer land and Germany by the Lego Maggiore, and the Bernardin road leading to the Orisons.
The Sardinian States have Switzerland on the north, France on the west, the Mediterranean on the south, Austrian Italy, Parma, and Tuscany on the east. They comprise the countries between the Var and the Magra, the Rhone and the Ticino. The Sardinian portion of the Lunigiana lies east of the Magra. The surface is covered on the west and north by the Alpe, on the south by the Apennines, cud between these two great mountaiu systems lies the most extensive and valuable portion of the country, comprising the slopes, valleys, and plains that form the basin of the Po to the junction of the Ticino. The face of the country la described in the articles Atm, Arra:stet:3, GENOA, PIEDMONT. Savor, and under the names of the several administrative divisions or provinces.
origin of the house of Savoy is Involved in the greatest obscurity. The first historical ancestor of the house of Savoy is Humbert, count of Maurienne and great vassal of Rudolf III., the last kiog of the second kingdom of Burgundy. As • reward of his services to Conrad the Salle, Humbert was confirmed in his extensive flef of Maurienne, and obtained military jurisdiction over other party of Savoy, the lower Valid', and also the valley of Aosta, on the Italian aide of the Alps, which was part of the kingdom of Burgundy. Count Humbert died about A.D. 1049, and was buried in the cathedral of St.-Jean de Maurionne. His eldest son Amadeus I. succeeded him, but, dying shortly after, was succeeded by his brother Oddo, who, by his marriage (A.D. 1045) with Adelaide of Sum, daughter and heiress of Odelrio Manfred, count of Turin and marquis of Italy, extended the dominion of his house to the bloke of the Po. Oddo by his
marriage became marquis of Italy and count of Turin, and master of the principal passes of the Western Alps ; for, In addition to that of Great StAlernard and Little St.-Bernard, which were already within his ancestral territory, which extended over the valley of Aosta, he became possessed of those of Mont Conte and Mont Genbere. Oddo died about A.D. 1060. lie left by Adelaide three SOON Peter, who Is styled marquis, Amadeus, who is called count, amid Oddo, who became • bishop; besides two daughters, Bertha, who married Henry, afterwards Henry IV. of Germany, and Adelaide, who married Rudolf, duke of Suabie. Adelaide, the mother, appears to have governed, after the death of her husband, as regent or colleague of her sons, the extensive territories belonging to them on both sides of the Alps. After the death of Peter about 1078, his brother, count Amadeus or Amedeus H., succeeded, who at his death (1080) left by his wife Joan, daughter of the count of Geneva, an infant son, who is styled Humbert II. The Marehlonese Adelaide continued to administer her dominion., as guardian to her grandson, eleven years longer, till she died at a very advanced age in 109l.
Iturnbert I I., count of Mau rien ne, succeeded to hie fa ther's Bu rgund ian estates In Savoy, and even increased them by the acquisition of Tama With, but those on the Italian side of the Alps had been seized upon during his minority by several claimants. At the same time the great towns, Turin, Asti, and others, availed themselves of the general eonfosion occasioned I/ the long struggle between the pope and the emperor to avert their Independence of all vassalage except the nominal we to the empire. Humbert crossed the Alps in 1097; and not being strong enough to attack all his opponents, he made a treaty of alliance with the town or commune of Asti and its bishop, by confirming the newly acquired liberties of the citizens of Asti, and by ceding to them several villages and territories, and ensuring to them free passav and protection throughout his Burgun dian or Transalpine territories. Humbert died in Savoy in 1103, and was buried in the cathedral of Moutier, in Taraotasis. By his wife Gisla of Burgundy be had a son, who succeeded him by the name of Amadeus III., and a daughter Adele or Adelaide, who married Louis VI., king of Frame.