Humbert I, better known as Humbert the White-Handed or Humbert Whitehand, was the founder of the House of Savoy. Of obscure origins, his service to the Holy Roman Emperors Henry II and Conrad II was rewarded with the counties of Maurienne and Aosta and lands in Valais, all at the expense of local bishops and archbishops; the territory came to be known as the county of Savoy.
Otto was count of Savoy from around 1051 until his death. Through marriage to Adelaide, the heiress of Ulric Manfred II, he also administered the march of Susa from around 1046 until his death.
Amadeus II was the count of Savoy from 1078 to 1080. His life is obscure and few documents mention him. During his rule, he was overshadowed by his mother, but he had good relations with the papacy and, for a time, the Holy Roman emperor.
Humbert II , nicknamed the Fat, was Count of Savoy from 1080 until his death in 1103. He was the son of Amadeus II of Savoy.
Amadeus III of Savoy was Count of Savoy and Maurienne from 1103 until his death. He was also known as a crusader.
Humbert III, surnamed the Blessed, was Count of Savoy from 1148 to 1189. His parents were Amadeus III of Savoy and Mahaut of Albon. He ceded rights and benefits to monasteries and played a decisive role in the organisation of Hautecombe Abbey. It is said that he would rather have been a monk than a sovereign. On the death of his third wife, he retired to Hautecombe, but then changed his mind and, by his fourth wife finally had a son, Thomas. He sided with the Guelph party of Pope Alexander III against the Ghibelline emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The result was an invasion of his states twice: in 1174 Susa was set on fire, and in 1187 Henry VI banished him from the Holy Roman Empire and wrested away most of his domains. He was left with only the valleys of Susa and Aosta. He died at Chambéry in 1189. He was the first prince buried at Hautecombe. His memorial day is 4 March.
Thomas Ι was Count of Savoy from 1189 to 1233. He is sometimes numbered "Thomas I" to distinguish him from his son of the same name. His long reign marked a decisive period in the history of Savoy.
Amadeus V was Count of Savoy from 1285 to 1323.
Aymon, nicknamed the Peaceful, was Count of Savoy from 1329 to 1343.
Amadeus VI, nicknamed the Green Count was Count of Savoy from 1343 to 1383. He was the eldest son of Aymon, Count of Savoy, and Yolande Palaeologina of Montferrat. Though he started under a regency, he showed himself to be a forceful leader, continuing Savoy's emergence as a power in Europe politically and militarily. He participated in a crusade against the Turks who were moving into Europe.
Adelaide of Maurienne, also called Alix or Adele was Queen of France as the second wife of King Louis VI (1115–1137).
The County of Savoy was a state of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged, along with the free communes of Switzerland, from the collapse of the Burgundian Kingdom in the 11th century. It was the cradle of the future Savoyard state.
Rudolph III, called the Idle or the Pious, was the king of Burgundy from 993 until his death. He was the last ruler of an independent Kingdom of Burgundy, and the last male member of the Burgundian group of the Elder House of Welf.
William I of Geneva was Count of Geneva from 1178 to 1195. He was the son of Amadeus I, Count of Geneva and Matilda de Cuiseaux.
The County of Geneva, largely corresponding to the later Genevois province, originated in the tenth century, in the Burgundian Kingdom of Arles (Arelat) which fell to the Holy Roman Empire in 1032.
Lucienne de Rochefort was the first wife of Louis VI of France. She was married to him before he became king, from 1104 to 1107.
Gisela of Burgundy (1075–1135) was a Countess consort of Savoy and a Marchioness consort of Montferrat. Gisela was the spouse of Humbert II, Count of Savoy and later of Rainier of Montferrat whom she married after Humbert's death. Gisela was the daughter of William I, Count of Burgundy and his consort Stephanie.
Burchard was the archbishop of Vienne from 1001 until his death. He was also the count of the Viennois from 1023, the first bishop of Vienne to hold secular power in the county simultaneously.
Ermengarde was a medieval noblewoman. Through her first marriage, to Rotbold II, Count of Provence, she was countess of Provence, and from 1011 to 1032 Ermengarde was the last queen of independent Burgundy by virtue of her second marriage to Rudolf III of Burgundy.
Aymon de Briançon was a Burgundian nobleman and Carthusian monk who served as the archbishop of Tarentaise from around 1175 until his death. From 1186, he was a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. He took part in the Third Crusade in 1189.
