The history of Savoy from 1416 to 1792 begins with the elevation of the County of Savoy to a duchy in 1416 and ends with the annexation of the territory by French Revolutionary troops in 1792. This period corresponds to what is commonly called the early modern period.
During this time, the Savoyard principality asserted its power and control over the western Alpine passes. However, it also suffered setbacks against its powerful neighbor, the Kingdom of France, notably in 1601 when it lost the territory of Bresse. The period was also marked by occupations of the duchy by France in 1536–1559, 1600–1601, 1689, and again between 1703 and 1713. These French threats made the dukes of Savoy aware of the vulnerability of their capital, Chambéry, located relatively close to the Franco-Savoyard border. Duke Emmanuel Philibert, known as Ironhead, decided in 1562 to transfer the capital to the Italian side of the Alps, beyond the mountains, to the city of Turin. Savoy was no longer the heart of the principality. Spanish troops also occupied the region between 1742 and 1749. This early modern period ended with a new occupation in 1792 by Revolutionary forces.
Savoy in the 15th century
Expansion of the duchy
Most authors, such as Robert Avezou, consider the reign of Amadeus VIII (1416–1451) to be the apogee of the Savoyard state. On , the County of Savoy was elevated to a duchy by Emperor Sigismund, who, while passing through Chambéry, rewarded the noble spirit, uprightness, and prudence of the valiant knight Amadeus VIII.De Saint-Genis, ibid., p. 390. This hereditary title was transmitted to his male descendants by primogeniture, eventually leading to the titles of King of Sicily, then King of Sardinia, and finally King of Italy.
In 1418, the ducal domain expanded with the definitive attachment of Piedmont, following the death without issue of Louis of Achaea, who designated his brother-in-law Amadeus VIII as his heir. By 1430, the State of Savoy included, in addition to Savoy proper (the Chambéry region), Bugey, Bresse, Chablais, Faucigny, Genevois, Geneva , and the Pays de Vaud, Maurienne and Tarentaise, the valleys of Aosta and Susa, the appanage of Piedmont, and the County of Nice. The court of Amadeus VIII was brilliant, with around three hundred dignitaries, and the Château de Chambéry displayed its full splendor, except perhaps for its chapel, which was not yet completed. The House of Savoy controlled the Alpine passes from Valais to the Mediterranean Sea. Positioned between French, German, Spanish, and Austrian monarchies, the Savoyard rulers became key players in European diplomacy through their alliances.
On , at Ripaille, Amadeus VIII announced that he was renouncing sovereignty in favor of his son Louis and would retire to a hermitage with six companions. On the same day, he received the habit and hood of a hermit from the prior. Nevertheless, he continued to advise and effectively govern until 1440. He formally abdicated in favor of Duke Louis I on .
Amadeus VIII was elected pope on under the name Felix V. However, Eugene IV continued his pontificate until his death on , after which he was succeeded by Nicholas V. Most Catholic rulers rejected Felix V as an antipope. He abdicated by a bull dated and retired once more to Ripaille. Pope Nicholas V later appointed him administrator of the dioceses of Geneva and Lausanne. Amadeus VIII died in Geneva on .
Reforms: Statuta Sabaudiae After being elevated to ducal rank, Amadeus VIII asked jurists to revise and unify the various laws in force across the territories of the duchy. This new constitution became known as the (“Statutes of Savoy”) or the Universal Reforms of Savoy.
The Chancellor of Savoy was the second-ranking figure in the state after the sovereign. He presided over the Itinerant Council, a kind of senate responsible for diplomatic, financial, and judicial affairs. Its members were appointed for life by the duke from among the nobility and senior officials. The Assemblies of the Three Estates were intended to link the duke and the people. These functioned somewhat like Estates-General, meeting in various locations and voting on taxes, which still retained an extraordinary character. A Resident Council seated in Chambéry formed the highest judicial authority. In the provinces, justice was administered by magistrates, while at the local level it was handled by ordinary judges and castellans. This state justice coexisted, until the mid-18th century, with seigneurial justice.
While the Statutes codified institutions and affirmed that all justice derived from God, they left aside what is now called civil law. Obligations were left to the discretion of the parties involved, and their formalization was handled by notaries, who were ubiquitous. In the town of Rumilly alone, forty notaries have been identified.
Amadeus VIII also advanced civilization by abolishing the Judgment of God, recalling the case of Othon III of Grandson, who had been unjustly accused and, on , paid with his life for a crime he had not committed.
Public services in the 15th century What we today call public services, foremost among them education and public assistance, did not fall within the responsibilities of princes and lords in the 15th century. When they did contribute, “one might be tempted to attribute the character of private generosity to the expenditures of princes in these areas, if one did not know how indistinct the boundaries were between their personal wealth and the profits of their government”. The Church, however, regarded education as part of its mission. In Savoy, in particular, before the 15th century, both clerics and educated laypeople were trained in episcopal schools and monasteries. At the village level, some zealous priests also provided instruction.
Alongside ecclesiastical institutions, towns such as Chambéry and Montmélian also paid “schoolmasters.” From the 15th century onward, private patronage also developed: a custom that lasted until the 18th century encouraged the wealthiest individuals to bequeath part of their property to support the education of youth. Thus, small colleges appeared, funded by towns and private individuals. These institutions supplied the large numbers of notaries required in Savoy, but also produced more prominent figures such as Guillaume Fichet, who became rector of the University of Paris and was educated at the college of La Roche-sur-Foron.
In general, however, the intellectual elite—that is, the magistrates, and members of the Councils and the Chamber of Accounts—had to complete their education at major European universities such as Paris, Pavia, or Avignon. The general population remained largely illiterate, as was the case throughout Europe. Despite the admiration that may be felt for the archaeological remains of the period and the relative prosperity of the States of Savoy, in cultural terms, Savoy remained, at the beginning of the Renaissance, provincial—dependent on and imitative of developments in France or Italy. A very large number of hospitals were scattered throughout historic Savoy.
Decline of the Savoyard state (1440–1553)
Reign of Duke Louis I of Savoy (1440–1465) Duke Louis I of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, succeeded his father, Duke Amadeus VIII (1383–1451), following the latter's abdication on .
During the reign of Louis I, the government of the Duchy of Savoy was subject to the “caprices” of Anne of Lusignan (1418–1462), his wife. The latter, daughter of King Janus of Cyprus, was surrounded at the court of Chambéry, and later at Ripaille Castle (Thonon), by Cypriot courtiers whose influence over political decisions is considered by historiography to have contributed to a certain decline of the state. Intrigue and corruption at the Savoyard court led to growing disaffection among the Savoyard people, the nobility, and even the third son of Duke Louis I, Philip Without Land, the future Duke Philip II of Savoy. He notably became implicated in the murder of the chancellor, Jacques de Valpergue (de Valperga), who was drowned in a sack in Lake Geneva.
The participation of Duke Louis I in the Milanese succession war in 1447—when the duchy fell into the hands of his ally Francesco Sforza—and in the expedition to Cyprus exhausted the state's finances.
In 1452, Duke Louis I and his wife acquired the Holy Shroud, which was carefully deposited in the Franciscan church of Chambéry. It was later transferred to the Sainte-Chapelle of Chambéry in 1502. In 1578, the Shroud was permanently installed in Turin by Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy.
During the twenty-six years of his reign, Duke Louis I relinquished the rights of his house over the Diois and the Valentinois. He sold the principality of the Dombes to the Duke of Bourbon, the barony of Gex to the Count of Dunois, and restored Domodossola to the Duke of Milan.
Despite these considerations, one characteristic feature of the reign of Louis I of Savoy should be noted. Through a policy of marital alliances, he secured the protection of the Kingdom of France. However, this powerful neighbor would sometimes prove burdensome, even invasive, for future generations: his daughter Charlotte of Savoy married in 1451 the Dauphin of France, the future King Louis XI. She became the mother of King Charles VIII. His son and successor, Amadeus IX, married in 1452 Yolande of France, daughter of King Charles VII and sister of Louis XI. Duke Louis I thus became the maternal great-grandfather of King Francis I, son of Louise of Savoy.
Reign of Duke Amadeus IX of Savoy (1465–1472) Amadeus IX succeeded his father Louis I of Savoy, who died on in Lyon.
Duke Amadeus IX suffered from epilepsy. He entrusted the government to his wife, Yolande of France. She faced opposition from her brother-in-law, Philip Without Land, who sought to replace his ailing brother. However, Yolande, a strong-willed woman, retained political control of the States of Savoy. She limited concessions to granting her brother-in-law the appanage of the county of Bresse, after which he became known as Philip of Bresse.
Faced with threats from Philip of Bresse, she decided to move with her court to Vercelli, under the protection of her neighbor, the Duke of Milan. Amadeus IX died in Vercelli in 1472 at the age of 35. His life was regarded as exemplary. Saint Francis de Sales obtained his beatification from Pope Paul V in 1677.
Regency of Yolande of France The young Duke Philibert I of Savoy, son of Amadeus IX, succeeded his father in 1472 at the age of seven. The barons assembled at Vercelli and appointed his mother, the duchess, as regent of the States of Savoy.
Philip of Bresse, who coveted power, secured the protection of King Louis XI against his rival, the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, an ally of Savoy. After suffering a heavy defeat at the Battle of Morat on against the Swiss Confederates allied with Louis XI, he feared a reversal of alliances. He abducted the duchess at Gex, while the young Duke Philibert, taken in by an officer of the Savoyard court, was placed under the protection of his uncle John Louis of Savoy, Bishop of Geneva.As a consequence of the Burgundian Wars, the Bernese occupied part of the eastern Chablais—the Government of Aigle|Four Mandements—on August 11, 1475, in order to block the Rhône Valley and prevent troops crossing the Great St Bernard Pass from joining the armies of Charles the Bold.
In the absence of the duchess, King Louis XI assumed the regency of the States of Savoy and sent Philip of Bresse to Turin as lieutenant-general. In , Duchess Yolande managed to escape from Burgundy. She withdrew to Chambéry before going to Piedmont, where she died in 1478.