Savoyard state

Savoyard state
*Sabaudia* (lat)
*Stati di Savoia* (it)
*États de Savoie* (fr)
Savoyard state Sabaudia (lat); Stati di Savoia (it); États de Savoie (fr)
1003–1861
	Flag Coat of arms of Kings of Sardinia
	Motto: FERT
	The Savoyard state in 1839
Status	Former plurinational independent state; Former constituent territories of the Holy Roman Empire
Capital	Montmélian ; (1006–1295); Chambéry ; (1295–1562); Turin ; (1562–1792; 1815–1861); Cagliari ; (1792–1815)
Common languages	French, Italian, Piedmontese, Arpitan, Occitan, Latin
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Government	County, Duchy, and Kingdom
Count ; Duke ; King
• 1003–1048	Humbert I White Hands (first)
• 1849–1861	Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia (last)
Historical era	Medieval era; Modern era
• Humbert I became Count of Savoy	1003
• Kingdom of Sardinia became Kingdom of Italy	1861
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Kingdom of Burgundy
Kingdom of Italy
Today part of	France; Italy

Last updated December 23, 2024

The Savoyard state comprised the states ruled by the counts and dukes of Savoy from the Middle Ages to the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. Although it was an example of composite monarchy,^[1]^[2] it is a term applied to the polity by historians and was not in contemporary use. At the end of the 17th century, its population was about 1.4 million.^[3]^[4]^[5]

History

The multi-century history of Savoy included the period before the County of Savoy, then the County of Savoy, the Duchy of Savoy, the period from Savoy to Sicily and Sardinia before Italian unification, and thereafter. From the Middle Ages, the state comprised the Duchy of Savoy, the Principality of Piedmont, the Duchy of Aosta, and the County of Nice, all of which were formally part of the Holy Roman Empire; however, the Savoyards often acted against the Emperor, repeatedly siding with the French during the Franco-Habsburg Wars. From 1708, it included the Duchy of Montferrat, then the Kingdom of Sicily from 1713 until 1720, the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1720, and the Duchy of Genoa from 1815.

The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna of 1815 refers to them as the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia". Among contemporaries, "Kingdom of Sardinia" and "Sardinia" were used as common short forms, even though they were confounded with the island. "Piedmont", "Savoy-Piedmont", and "Piedmont-Sardinia" are also sometimes used to emphasise that the economic and political centre of the Savoyard state was the Piedmont since the late Middle Ages. The seat of the rulers was in Turin. Each state had its own institutions and laws.

These territories formed a composite state under the House of Savoy until the Perfect Fusion in 1847.^[2] By 1861, this unified state had acquired most of the other states on the Italian peninsula and formed the Kingdom of Italy, while its territories north and west of the Alps (including Savoy proper) became part of France.

Terminology

Scholarship has debated and used several different terms to reference the often disjointed possessions under control of the House of Savoy. Robert Oresko introduced the term "Sabaudian" in 1997.^[6]

Territory

Savoy during the Carolingian Empire
County of Savoy during the 12th
Duchy of Savoy in the 15th
Italian Peninsula in 1843
Proper Savoy today
Today's Administrative Piedmont in Italy

Flags

The first counts used the Holy Roman Empire banner as proof of their loyalty to the Emperor
Flag of the County of Savoy and Duchy of Savoy (1023–1783)
Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia used in the late 18th century (1783–1802)
Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1832–1848), obtained by merging the flag of Savoy, Sardinia and Genoa
Flag of Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861)

Related Research Articles

Savoy  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Valley in the east.

Amadeus IX, nicknamed the Happy, was the Duke of Savoy from 1465 to 1472. The Catholic Church venerates him with a liturgical feast on March 30.

Charles Emmanuel I, known as the Great, was the Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 30 August 1580 until his death almost 50 years later in 1630, he was the longest-reigning Savoyard monarch at the time, only for his record to be surpassed by his great-grandson Victor Amadeus II. He was nicknamed Testa d'feu for his rashness and military aggression.

Victor Amadeus II was the head of the House of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 12 June 1675 until his abdication in 1730. He was the first of his house to acquire a royal crown, ruling first as King of Sicily (1713–1720) and then as King of Sardinia (1720–1730). Among his other titles were Duke of Savoy, Duke of Montferrat, Prince of Piedmont, Marquis of Saluzzo and Count of Aosta, Maurienne and Nice.

The House of Savoy is an Italian royal house that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansions, the family grew in power, first ruling the County of Savoy, a small Alpine county northwest of Italy, and later gaining absolute rule of the Kingdom of Sicily. During the years 1713 to 1720, they were handed the Kingdom of Sardinia and would exercise direct rule from then onward as Piedmont–Sardinia, which is the legal predecessor state of the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn is the predecessor of the present-day Italian Republic.

The Duchy of Savoy was a territorial entity of the Savoyard state that existed from 1416 until 1847 and was a possession of the House of Savoy.

Emmanuel Philibert, known as Testa di ferro, was Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 17 August 1553 until his death in 1580. He is remembered for the recovery of the Savoyard state following the Battle of St. Quentin (1557), and for moving its capital to Turin.

The Ligurian Republic or Republic of Liguria was a French client republic formed by Napoleon on 14 June 1797. It consisted of the old Republic of Genoa, which covered most of the Ligurian region of Northwest Italy, and the small Imperial fiefs owned by the House of Savoy inside its territory. Its first Constitution was promulgated on 22 December 1797, establishing a directorial republic. The directory was deposed on 7 December 1799 and the executive was temporarily replaced by a commission. In 1802, a doge was nominated for a 5-year term, according to the second Constitution imposed by Napoleon, and a Senate was established.

Yolande of Valois, also called Yolande of France, was Duchess of Savoy by marriage to Duke Amadeus IX of Savoy, and regent of Savoy during the minority of her son Philibert I of Savoy from 1472 until 1478.

The Duchy of Aosta, originally the County of Aosta, was a realm ruled by the House of Savoy from the early 11th century until the late 18th, when its independent institutions were aligned with those of the Principality of Piedmont. The title "Duke of Aosta" continued to be used by the second sons of the Savoyard monarch and the current Count of Aosta is Thiago Lamont. The land of the duchy is today a part of Italy.

The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of this kingdom. The kingdom was a member of the Council of Aragon and initially consisted of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, sovereignty over both of which was claimed by the papacy, which granted them as a fief, the Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae, to King James II of Aragon in 1297. Beginning in 1324, James and his successors conquered the island of Sardinia and established de facto their de jure authority. In 1420, after the Sardinian–Aragonese war, the last competing claim to the island was bought out. After the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, Sardinia became a part of the burgeoning Spanish Empire.

Anne Christine of Sulzbach, Princess of Piedmont, also called Christine of the Palatinate, was a princess of the Bavarian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire and first wife of Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, heir to the throne of the kingdom of Sardinia. She died during childbirth at the age of 19.

Charles II or Charles John Amadeus, was the Duke of Savoy from 1490 to 1496 but his mother Blanche of Montferrat (1472–1519) was the actual ruler as a regent. In 1485 his father Charles I had received the hereditary rights to the Kingdoms of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia which were inherited by young Charles.

The Kingdom of Sicily was ruled by the House of Savoy from 1713 until 1720, although they lost control of it in 1718 and did not relinquish their title to it until 1723. The only king of Sicily from the House of Savoy was Victor Amadeus II. Throughout this period Sicily remained a distinct realm in personal union with the other Savoyard states, but ultimately it secured for the House of Savoy a royal title and a future of expansion in Italy rather than in France. During this period, the Savoyard monarch used his new title to affirm his sovereign independence.

The Duchy of Genoa was a state consisting of the territories of the former Republic of Genoa. It was formed when the former territories of the republic were given to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1815 as a result of the Congress of Vienna, and dissolved after the Perfect Fusion of 1848.

The titles of the Count of Savoy, and then Duke of Savoy, are titles of nobility attached to the historical territory of Savoy. Since its creation, in the 11th century, the House of Savoy held the county. Several of these rulers ruled as kings at one point in history or another.

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The flag of Piedmont is one of the official symbols of the region of Piedmont in Italy. The current flag was adopted on 24 November 1995.

The Kingdom of Sardinia was the Savoyard state of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1720 to 1861. The kingdom united the island of Sardinia with the mainland possessions of the House of Savoy. Before 1847, only the island of Sardinia proper was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, while the other mainland possessions were held by the Savoys in their own right, hence forming a composite monarchy and a personal union, which was formally referred to as the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia". This situation was changed by the Perfect Fusion act of 1847, which created a unitary kingdom. Due to the fact that Piedmont was the seat of power and prominent part of the entity, the state is also referred to as Sardinia–Piedmont or Piedmont–Sardinia, and sometimes erroneously as the Kingdom of Piedmont.

References

↑ Storrs, Christopher (January 13, 2000). War, Diplomacy and the Rise of Savoy, 1690–1720. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-139-42519-3. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
1 2 Vester, Matthew (March 25, 2013). Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Penn State Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0-271-09100-6. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
↑ Geoffrey Symcox. "Victor Amadaeus II: Absolutism in the Savoyard State, 1675-1730." Archived November 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine Page 245.
↑ Gregory Hanlon. "The Hero of Italy: Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, his Soldiers, and his Subjects in the Thirty Years' War." Routledge: May 2014. Page 87. Piedmont's population is given at 700,000, and Savoy's at 400,000 in 1630; Aosta and the County of Nice are not listed.
↑ Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Vol. 12. Penn State University Press. 2013. doi:10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2.7. ISBN 978-1-61248-094-7. JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
↑ Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Vol. 12. Penn State University Press. 2013. doi:10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2.7. ISBN 978-1-61248-094-7. JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.

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[1] Storrs, Christopher (January 13, 2000). War, Diplomacy and the Rise of Savoy, 1690–1720. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-139-42519-3. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.

[:0-2] 1 2 Vester, Matthew (March 25, 2013). Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Penn State Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0-271-09100-6. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.

[3] Geoffrey Symcox. "Victor Amadaeus II: Absolutism in the Savoyard State, 1675-1730." Archived November 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine Page 245.

[4] Gregory Hanlon. "The Hero of Italy: Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, his Soldiers, and his Subjects in the Thirty Years' War." Routledge: May 2014. Page 87. Piedmont's population is given at 700,000, and Savoy's at 400,000 in 1630; Aosta and the County of Nice are not listed.

[5] Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Vol. 12. Penn State University Press. 2013. doi:10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2.7. ISBN 978-1-61248-094-7. JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.

[6] Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Vol. 12. Penn State University Press. 2013. doi:10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2.7. ISBN 978-1-61248-094-7. JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.

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