Faucigny ( it, Fossigni) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...

department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in south-eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Historically, Faucigny was a region in Savoy which included the area of the modern ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

'' of Haute Savoie and the municipalities of

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

Argentière Argentière () is a picturesque skiing, alpine walking and mountaineering village in the French Alps, part of the commune of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, at an altitude of .Les Houches Les Houches () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Eastern France. In 2017, it had a population of 2,943. Overview Les Houches, located 6 kilometres from Chamonix, is a ski resort with a domain wh ...

Geography

In the Faucigny region, the river Arve flows through the low-lying, agricultural Arve Valley. The village of Faucigny is at an elevation of approximately 639 m., northeast of La Roche-sur-Foron, and about 20 km. southeast of the city of Geneva. The village lies on a river terrace on the eastern side of the

Arve Valley The Arve Valley (La vallée de l'Arve) is an alpine valley located in the French Haute-Savoie department. The namesake of the valley is the river at the bottom: the Arve. The valley as a whole makes up the majority of Faucigny, one of the Natural ...

History

The fertile valley of the Arve and the area around Faucigny were already settled in

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

times, and there are numerous Roman ruins. Legend suggests that the area was the estates of the Roman family Falcinius. It was known by various names in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

: Falciniacum, Fociniacum and Fossiniacum, but the first documented name was Fulciniaco. Around 930 a castle was built on a rocky promontory overlooking the Arve. The castle was the regional governmental seat from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. The barons of Faucigny dominated the valley of the Arve and its tributary the Giffre, the Arly as far as Flumet, and the valley of Doron de Beaufort (Beaufortain). During this time, suzerainty over Faucigny was contested between the House of Savoy and the

Dauphin de Viennois The counts of Albon (''comtes d'Albon'') were members of the medieval nobility in what is now south-eastern France. Guigues IV, Count of Albon (d. 1142) was nicknamed ''le Dauphin'' or ''the Dolphin''. His nickname morphed into a title among ...

. In 1253, Pierre II of Savoy acquired Faucigny by marrying Agnès, the daughter of the Baron de Faucigny. Their daughter, Béatrix, inherited the province in 1268. Béatrix married Guigues VII and the lands came under the

. Savoy fought to regain the Faucigny region, but was unsuccessful and Faucigny became part of France in 1349 as part of the purchase from Humbert II de La Tour du Pin, Dauphin de Viennois of the Dauphiné lands. Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, challenged this purchase and defeated the French in 1354. Then Faucigny was transferred to the House of Savoy as part of the peace Treaty of Paris (1355). Recently Faucigny has come up in the news again as twelve cars were burned in the 2005 French riots.

Twin towns — sister cities

Faucigny is twinned with: * Camandona, Italy (2011)

References

* Collectif (1998), ''Découvrir l'Histoire de la Savoie'', Centre de la Culture Savoyarde * ''Dictionnaire d'Amboise. Pays de Savoie''. Editions Amboise. 1989. 2e édition

External links

Gazetteer Entry for Faucigny

Faucigny website
{{authority control Communes of Haute-Savoie

Geography

History

Twin towns — sister cities

See also

References

External links