Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, 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. Savoy, formerly a part of the

Kingdom of Burgundy Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various successive Monarchy, kingdoms centered in the historical region of Burgundy during the Middle Ages. The heartland of historical Burgundy correlates with the border area between France and Switze ...

, emerged as the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

County of Savoy ruled by the House of Savoy during the 11th to 14th centuries. The original territory, also known as "ducal Savoy" or "Savoy proper", is largely co-terminous with the modern French Savoie and Haute-Savoie ''départements'' in the region of Rhône-Alpes, but the historical expansion of Savoyard territories, as the Duchy of Savoy (1416–1860), included parts of what is now western

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and southwestern

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The current border between France and Italy is due to the Plombières Agreement of 1858, which in preparation for the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...

ceded western Savoy to France, while the eastern territories in

and Liguria were retained by the House of Savoy, which was to become the ruling dynasty of Italy.

Geography

In modern France, Savoy is part of the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

region. Following its annexation to France in 1860, the territory of Savoy was divided administratively into two separate departments, Savoie and Haute-Savoie. The traditional capital remains

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...

(in Italian, ''Ciamberì'', from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''Camberia'') on the rivers Leysse and Albane, hosting the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

of the House of Savoy and the Savoyard senate. The state included six districts: * Savoie Propre, sometimes known as Ducal Savoy (capital Chambéry) * Chablais (capital Thonon-les-Bains) * Faucigny (capital Bonneville) * Tarentaise (capital Moûtiers) * Maurienne (capital Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne) * Genevois (capital

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

) The County and Duchy of Savoy incorporated

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and other territories in

, a region in northwestern Italy that borders Savoy, which were also possessions of the House of Savoy. The capital of the Duchy remained at the traditional Savoyard capital of

until 1563, when it was moved to Turin.

History

Early history

The region was occupied by the Allobroges, a Gallic people that the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

subdued in 121 BC. The name ''Savoy'' stems from the

Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...

'' Sapaudia'', referring to a fir, or upland, forest.Modern French ''sapin''; ''sapinière'' signifies "fir forest". The word is likely ultimately from Gaulish – sapin itself is a blend of Gaulish ''sappos'' (fir tree) and Latin ''pinus'' (pine tree). It is first recorded in Ammianus Marcellinus (354), to describe the southern part of '' Maxima Sequanorum''. According to the ''Chronica Gallica'' of 452, the

Burgundians The Burgundians were an early Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared east in the middle Rhine region in the third century AD, and were later moved west into the Roman Empire, in Roman Gaul, Gaul. In the first and seco ...

were settled in the territory of Sapaudia in 443, after the Burgundian defeat by

Flavius Aetius Flavius Aetius (also spelled Aëtius; ; 390 – 21 September 454) was a Roman Empire, Roman general and statesman of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most inf ...

Early and High Middle Ages

By the 8th century, the territory that would later become known as Savoy was part of

Francia The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...

, and at the division of Francia at the

Treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun (; ), agreed to on 10 August 843, ended the Carolingian civil war and divided the Carolingian Empire between Lothair I, Louis the German, Louis II and Charles the Bald, Charles II, the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the ...

in 843, it became part of the short-lived kingdom of Middle Francia. After only 12 years, at the death of

Lothair I Lothair I (9th. C. Frankish: ''Ludher'' and Medieval Latin: ''Lodharius''; Dutch and Medieval Latin: ''Lotharius''; German: ''Lothar''; French: ''Lothaire''; Italian: ''Lotario''; 795 – 29 September 855) was a 9th-century emperor of the ...

in 855, Middle Francia was divided into Lotharingia north of the Alps, Italy south of the Alps, and the parts of Burgundy in the Western Alps, inherited by Charles of Provence. This latter territory comprised what would become known as Savoy and Provence. For a short time, this province fell to the Arabs. From the 10th to 14th century, parts of what would ultimately become Savoy remained within the Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles. Beginning in the 11th century, the gradual rise to power of the House of Savoy is reflected in the increasing territory of their County of Savoy between 1003 and 1416. The County of Savoy was detached ''de jure'' from the Kingdom of Arles by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor in 1361. It acquired the County of Nice in 1388, and in 1401 added the County of Geneva, the area of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

except for the city proper, which was ruled by its prince-bishop, nominally under the duke's rule: the bishops of Geneva, by unspoken agreement, came from the House of Savoy until 1533.See the career of the last prince-bishop Pierre de La Baume.

Duchy of Savoy

On 19 February 1416 Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, made the County of Savoy an independent

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important differe ...

, with Amadeus VIII as the first duke. Straddling the Alps, Savoy lay within two competing spheres of influence, a French sphere and a North Italian one. At the time of the Renaissance, Savoy showed only modest development.Henry S. Lucas, ''The Renaissance and the Reformation'' (Harper & Bros. Publishers: New York, 1960) p. 42. Its towns were few and small. Savoy derived its subsistence from agriculture. The geographic location of Savoy was also of military importance. During the interminable wars between France and Spain over the control of northern Italy, Savoy was important to France because it provided access to Italy. Savoy was important to Spain because it served as a buffer between France and the Spanish held lands in Italy. In 1563 Emmanuel Philibert moved the capital from

, which was less vulnerable to French interference. Vaud was annexed by

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

in 1536, and Savoy officially ceded Vaud to Bern in the Treaty of Lausanne of 30 October 1564. In 1714, as a consequence of the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

, Savoy was technically subsumed into the Kingdom of Sicily, then (after that island was traded to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

for Sardinia) the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1720. While the heads of the House of Savoy were known as the Kings of Sardinia, Turin remained their capital.

French Revolutionary Wars

Savoy was occupied by French revolutionary forces between 1792 and 1815. The entire region was first created to form the département of

Mont-Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the France-Italy border, Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the List of European ultra-prominent peaks ...

. In 1798, it was then divided between the departments of Mont-Blanc and Léman (French name of Lake Geneva). In 1801, Savoy officially left the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. On 13 September 1793 the combined forces of Savoy, Piedmont and Aosta Valley fought against and lost to the occupying French forces at the Battle of Méribel (Sallanches). Two-thirds of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia in the First Restoration of 1814 following Napoleon's abdication; approximately one-third of Savoy, including the two most important cities of Chambéry and Annecy, remained in France. Following Napoleon's brief return to power during the Hundred Days and subsequent defeat at Waterloo, the remaining one-third of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

to strengthen Sardinia as a buffer state on France's southeastern border.

Modern history

Annexation to France

The

French Second Republic The French Second Republic ( or ), officially the French Republic (), was the second republican government of France. It existed from 1848 until its dissolution in 1852. Following the final defeat of Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle ...

first attempted to annex Savoy in 1848. A corps of 1,500 was dispatched from Lyon and invaded Savoy on 3 April, occupying Chambéry (capital city) and proclaiming the annexation to France. On learning about the invasion countrymen rushed to Chambéry. The corps were chased away by the local population. Five Frenchmen were killed and 800 captured. On 21 July 1858 in Plombières-les-Bains, Vosges, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, met in secret with Napoleon III to secure French military support against the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

during the conflicts associated with the Italian unification. During the discussion, Cavour promised that Sardinia would cede the County of Nice and Duchy of Savoy to the Second French Empire. Though this was a secret arrangement, it quickly became widely known. The treaty annexing Nice and Savoy to France was signed in Turin on 24 March 1860 ( Treaty of Turin). In the northern provinces of the Chablais and Faucigny, there was some support for annexation to neighboring Switzerland, with which the northern provinces had longstanding economic ties. To help reduce the attractiveness of Switzerland, the French government conceded a Free-Trade Zone that maintained the longstanding duty-free relationship of northern Savoyard communes to Geneva. After the treaty was already signed, a plebiscite was held on 22–23 April. Employing universal male suffrage, voters in the ceded provinces were offered the option of voting "Yes" to approve the treaty and join

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

or voting "No" and rejecting the treaty. Voters were not permitted the options of either joining

, remaining with

, or regaining its independence, were the source of some opposition. With a 99.8% vote in favour of joining France, there were allegations of vote-rigging, notably by the British government, which opposed continental expansion by its traditional French enemy. The correspondent of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' in Savoy who was in Bonneville on 22 April called the vote "the lowest and most immoral farce(s) which was ever played in the history of nations". He finished his letter with those words:

I leave you to draw your own conclusions from this trip, which will show clearly what the vote was in this part of Savoy. The vote was the bitterest irony ever made on popular suffrage. The ballot-box in the hands of those very authorities who issued the proclamations; no control possible; even travellers suspected and dogged lest they should pry into the matter; all opposition put down by intimidation, and all liberty of action completely taken away. One can really scarcely reproach the Opposition with having given up the game; there was too great force used against them. As for the result of the vote, therefore, no one need trouble himself about it; it will be just as brilliant as that in Nice. The only danger is lest the Savoy authorities in their zeal should fare as some of the French did in the vote of 1852, finding to their surprise rather more votes than voters inscribed on the list.

In his letter to the ambassador of Vienna Lord Augustus Loftus, the then– Foreign Secretary, Lord John Russell, said, "Voting in Savoy and Nice a farce ... we are neither entertained or edified". The annexation was promulgated on 14 June 1860. On 23 August 1860 and 7 March 1861, two agreements were signed between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia to settle the remaining issues concerning the annexation. This was part of a secret agreement ( the Plombières Agreement) brokered between the French emperor Napoleon III and the Count Camillo of Cavour (Prime Minister of Sardinia at that time) that allowed the final steps in the process of

. Victor Emmanuel's dynasty, the House of Savoy, retained its Italian lands of

and Liguria and became the ruling dynasty of Italy. File:Rattachement de la Savoie à la France 1860 (tableau).JPG, People of

with French flags celebrating the annexation in 1860. File:Italy 1843.svg, Map of Savoy in the 19th century and other Italian states in 1843. File:Italia 1843-fr.svg, French annexation in 1860 (black) after the signing of the Treaty of Turin and a regional

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

in favor of the attachment to France (French) Image:ChâteauChambéry1.JPG, The Château de Chambéry, seat of government, was given a grand new façade following annexation

20th century

In 1919, contrary to the annexation treaty, France officially ended the military neutrality of the parts of the country of Savoy that had originally been agreed to at the

, and also eliminated the free trade zone – both treaty articles having been broken unofficially in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. France was condemned in 1932 by the international court for noncompliance with the measures of the Treaty of Turin regarding the provinces of Savoy and Nice. In 1960, the term ''annexation'' having acquired negative connotations in France, particularly after Germany's 1871 annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, the annexation was renamed ''Rattachement de la Savoie à la France'' (Incorporation of Savoy to France). It was the latter term which was used by the French authorities during the festivities celebrating the 100th anniversary of the annexation. Daniel Rops of the French Academy justified the new title with these words:

Savoy has begun to solemnize the feasts in 1960, commemorating the centenary of its incorporation (''rattachement'') to France. It is on purpose that the word incorporation (''rattachement'') is highlighted here: the Savoyards attach great value to it, and it is the only one they have resolved to use in the official terminology of the Centenary. In that, they are infinitely right. Yesterday another term that was used: annexation. Looking at it more closely it was wrong! Can we say annexation when we talk about a decision which was approved by 130,889 voters over 135,449? .. Savoy was not annexed ..but actually incorporated freely and by the will of its inhabitants.

A former French deputy, P. Taponnier, spoke of the annexation:

In late March 1860, the betrothal ceremony of Savoy to France took place in Tuileries Palace .. a ceremony which was a pact of love and fidelity ..it is with free consent that she avoygave itself to France by a solemn plebiscite of which our leaders can ignore neither the terms nor the commitments. ..May the bells of our cities ..in Savoy vibrate in unison to glorify, in this magnificent Centenary, the indefectible commitment of Savoy to France. The Savoyards did not feel Italian. Besides, they spoke French. This explains why in 1858–1859 when rumours ran of the Plombières secret agreement, where Napoleon III and Cavour decided of the fate of Savoy, the Savoyards themselves took the initiative to ask for the incorporation (''rattachement''). ..Incorporation, not annexation ..The incorporation was an act of free will, in the logical order of geography and history ..

Politics

Modern regionalist politics

Since the mid-20th century, regionalist movements have appeared in Savoy much as in other historic provinces of France. The '' Mouvement Région Savoie'' (Savoy Regional Movement) was founded in December 1971 as a 'movement' (rather than a traditional political party) in favour of regional autonomy. Unlike other historic provinces, including

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

and

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, Savoy does not currently have its own

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

within France and is part of the

region. In the 1996 local elections, the Savoy Regional Movement received 19,434 votes; it received 4,849 in the 1998 regional elections. A new non-party organisation, ''La Région Savoie, j'y crois !'' (''I believe in the Savoy Region!''), was founded in 1998. The organisation campaigns for the replacement of the Savoie and Haute-Savoie departments with a regional government, separate from the

, with greater devolved powers. A very marginal separatist movement has also appeared in Savoy within the past twenty years, most prominently represented by the '' Ligue Savoisienne'', founded in 1994. In the March 1998 regional elections, 1 seat (out of 23) was won by Patrice Abeille, leader of the Ligue, which won a total of 17,865 votes across the two departments. In 2004, ''Waiting for Freedom in Savoy'' was founded to promote the peaceful separatist cause to young people. According to surveys conducted in 2000, between 41% and 55% of the population were in favour of the proposal for a separate Savoy region. Towards the end of 2005, Hervé Gaymard called for Savoie to be given special status, similar to a French region, under his proposed "Conseil des Pays de Savoie".

Modern historiographical debates

In recent years, sparked by the tiny Savoyard separatist movement, much attention has been focused on questioning the validity of the 1860 annexation. The Ligue Savoisienne, for example, rejects the Treaty of Turin and subsequent plebiscite as null and void, arguing that the plebiscite did not meet the standards of a free and fair vote. Today, historians generally acknowledge that the plebiscite of 1860 did feature irregularities, but they also affirm that the annexation instrument was the Treaty of Turin and not the plebiscite, whose main purpose was to demonstrate favorable public opinion in Savoy for the annexation after the signature of the treaty. In an interview for the newspaper ''

Le Dauphiné Libéré ''Le Dauphiné libéré'' is a provincial daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on local news and events. The paper is published in Grenoble, France. History and profile Founded in 1945, it takes the name from the former province of D ...

'', Sylvain Milbach, a historian at the University of Savoy, qualifies the vote as Napoleonic, but also argues that a completely free and fair vote would not have dramatically changed the outcome, as the majority of Savoyards wished to become French.Savoie Française: Sylvain Milbach: "Le 'oui' était acquis"
This is today the official stance of the General Council of Savoie.

Notes

References

External links

Universal Suffrage under Napoleon III by Adams, Charles Kendall

Savoy Region Movement

Ligue Savoisienne

* ttp://sites.google.com/site/savoyannexation/ The History of the Annexation of Savoy and Nice to France according to the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the others {{Authority control Allobroges Members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization Duchy of Savoy Historical regions