The Bugey (, ; Arpitan: ''Bugê'') is a historical region in the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Ain, eastern France, located between Lyon and Geneva. It is located in a loop of the

Rhône River The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

in the southeast of the department. It includes the foothills of the

Jura mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...

, and the highest point is the Grand Colombier. Bugey is divided into two sub-regions: Haut Bugey and Bas Bugey. The inhabitants of Bugey are known as ''Bugistes'' or alternatively as ''Bugeysiens''.

History

The Bugey was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. When

Emperor Henry IV Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son ...

received the much-needed support of Adelaide of Susa, marchesa of Turin, when he came to Italy to submit to

Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII ( la, Gregorius VII; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana ( it, Ildebrando di Soana), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint ...

and

Matilda of Tuscany Matilda of Tuscany ( it, Matilde di Canossa , la, Matilda, ; 1046 – 24 July 1115 or Matilda of Canossa after her ancestral castle of Canossa), also referred to as ("the Great Countess"), was a member of the House of Canossa (also known as th ...

at Canossa, in return for her permission to travel through her lands, Henry gave Bugey to Adelaide. Previté-Orton, ''The Early History of the House of Savoy (1000-1233)'' (Cambridge, 1912'', pp. 237f. Henceforth it belonged to the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

until 1601, when it was ceded to France by the Treaty of Lyon.

Geography

Bugey is delimited by the Rhone in the south and east and by the Ain in the west. The northern boundary of Bugey is disputed. In 1867 Baron Achille Raverat declared the Valserine to be the northern border of Bugey, but contemporary definitions generally include the entire

Ain department Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

as part of Bugey. The region of Revermont has never been considered part of Bugey.

History

Geography

Culture

See also

References

External links