Polity · 1003 – 1416
County of Savoy
薩伏依伯國
Polity · 1003 – 1416 · Century precision · 45.57° N, 5.92° E
The County of Savoy was the Alpine cradle of the house that would one day rule Italy, a state of the Holy Roman Empire lasting from 1003 to 1416. It emerged, with the Swiss communes, from the wreck of the Kingdom of Burgundy: Humbert Whitehands, a count with lands astride the Mont Cenis pass, founded a line that married, bought and fought its way down both slopes of the Alps. From Chambéry the counts gathered Savoy proper, then reached for Turin and the Piedmontese plain, turning a toll-keeper's pass into a principality. The counts played emperor against pope and France against Milan with mountain skill, growing too grand for a county's title. In 1416 Emperor Sigismund raised Savoy to a duchy, and the story of the county ends where the story of ducal, then royal Savoy begins, the long road from Chambéry to Rome and the Italian crown.
Key facts
- The county emerged from Burgundy's collapse in the 11th century
- Humbert Whitehands founded the Savoyard line around 1003
- The county was raised to a duchy in 1416
Record
Sources
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