Duchy of Savoy

Duchy of Savoy
  • 1416–1792
  • 1814–1847
Motto: FERT
(Motto for the House of Savoy)
States of the Duke of Savoy around 1700; Savoy proper is in the northwest.
States of the Duke of Savoy around 1700;
Savoy proper is in the northwest.
Status
Capital
Common languages
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Demonym(s)Savoyard
GovernmentMonarchy
Duke 
• 1416–1440
Amadeus VIII
• 1831–1847
Charles Albert
Historical eraModern Era
• County of Savoy raised to duchy
1416
• Occupied by France
1536–59, 1630, 1690–96, 1703–13
• Acquired Sicily and parts of Duchy of Milan
11 April 1713
• Acquired Kingdom of Sardinia in exchange for Sicily
1720
• Annexed by Revolutionary France
1792–1814
1847
Preceded by
Succeeded by
County of Savoy
Duchy of Montferrat
Holy Roman Empire
First French Republic
Kingdom of Sardinia
Today part of

The Duchy of Savoy (Italian: Ducato di Savoia; French: Duché de Savoie) was a territorial entity of the Savoyard state that existed from 1416 until 1847 and was a possession of the House of Savoy.

It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy for Amadeus VIII. The duchy was an Imperial fief,[1][2][3][4] subject of the Holy Roman Empire, until 1792, with a vote in the Imperial Diet. From the 16th century, Savoy belonged to the Upper Rhenish Circle.

Its territory included the current French departments of Savoie, Haute-Savoie, and the Alpes-Maritimes, the current Italian region of Aosta Valley, a large part of Piedmont and the County of Geneva in Switzerland, which was then lost to the Old Swiss Confederacy.[5] The main Vulgar languages that were spoken within the Duchy of Savoy were Piedmontese and Arpitan.

  1. ^ Olaf Asbach, Peter Schröder, The Ashgate Research Companion to the Thirty Years' War, Routledge, 2016, p. 140
  2. ^ Geoffrey Treasure, Mazarin: The Crisis of Absolutism in France, Psychology Press, 1997, p. 37.
  3. ^ Derek Croxton, Anuschka Tischer, The Peace of Westphalia, Greenwood Press, 2002, p. 228.
  4. ^ Daniel Patrick O'Connell, Richelieu, World Publishing Company, 1968, p. 378.
  5. ^ "formazione del ducato dei Savoia". digilander.libero.it. Retrieved 22 July 2022.