Savoy
This article is about the historical region of Savoy. For other uses, see Savoy (disambiguation)Savoy (
French:
Savoie,
pronounced ;
Franco-Provençal:
Savouè;
Italian:
Savoia) is a region of western
Europe that emerged, along with the free communes of
Switzerland, following the collapse of the
Frankish Kingdom of
Burgundy. Installed by
Rudolph III, King of Burgundy, officially in 1003, the
House of Savoy maintained independence as counts (see
County of Savoy,
ca 1000 to 1416) and then dukes (see
Duchy of Savoy, 1416 to 1714), until Savoia was linked with the
Kingdom of Sardinia, which included
Piemonte in north-western
Italy. Savoy was largely absorbed into
France in 1860, as part of the political agreement with
Napoleon III that brought about the
unification of Italy.
In modern France, Savoy is part of the region
Rhône-Alpes. For details of the départements of Savoie and Haute-Savoie created after
annexation by France, see
Savoie and
Haute-Savoie. For the modern separatist / regionalist movements, see subsection "Annexation and Opposition" below.
The traditional capital remains
Chambéry (
Chiamberì), on the rivers
Leysse and
Albane, hosting the
castle of the
House of Savoy and the Savoyard
senate. The state included six districts:
*Savoy proper (capital Chambéry)
*
Chablais (capital
Thonon-les-Bains)
*
Faucigny (capital
Bonneville)
*
Tarentaise (capital
Moûtiers)
*
Maurienne (capital
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne)
*
Genevois (capital
Annecy).
|
Map of Savoy in the 16th century, white lines are modern borders |
The name Savoy stems from the
Celtic word
Sapaudia, referring to a forest or woodland. It is first recorded in 354.
In 1714, as a consequence of the
War of the Spanish Succession, Savoy was technically subsumed into the
Kingdom of Sicily, then (after that island was traded to
Austria for
Sardinia) the
Kingdom of Sardinia from 1720.
It is worth noting that the seat of the Savoyards remained in
Turin, in Piedmont, and the name change was really just a political maneuver designed to secure a change in the state's status from duchy to kingdom. Sardinia was economically and politically moribund in comparison to Savoy and Piedmont, but traditionally had the title "King" associated with its possession (
Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae), hence the renaming.
Savoy was occupied by France's revolutionary forces between 1792 and 1815. The region was first added to the département of
Mont Blanc, then in 1798 was divided between the départements of Mont Blanc and
Léman (French name of Lake Geneva.)
On
September 13,
1793 the combined forces of Savoy, Piedmont and
Valdot fought the occupying French forces at the
Battle of Méribel (Sallanches).
Savoy was annexed by France on
March 24,
1860. This followed a
plebiscite in which the people were offered the option of joining
France or joining the new
Italian state; the disallowed options of either joining
Switzerland (with which the region had close ties), or of regaining its independence, were the source of some opposition. With a 99.8% vote in favour of joining France, there were also allegations of
vote-rigging.
Some opposition to French rule was manifest when, in 1919, France officially (but contrary to the annexation treaty) ended the military neutrality of the parts of the region that had originally been agreed at the
Congress of Vienna, and also eliminated the
free trade zone - both treaty articles having been broken unofficially in
World War I.
For reasons such as these, there is currently a peaceful
separatist movement in the départements, as well as a faction in favor of greater regional powers.
The
Mouvement Région Savoie (
Savoy Regional Movement) was founded in December 1971 as a 'movement' (rather than a traditional political party) in favour or regional autonomy. In the 1996 local elections the Savoie Regional Movement received 19,434 votes.
In the March 1998 regional elections, 1 seat (out of 23) was won by
Patrice Abeille, leader of the
Ligue Savoisienne (
Savoie League, founded 1994) which two years earlier had set up a 'provisional Savoie government'. The League gathered a total of 17,865 votes across the two départements. In the same elections a further 4,849 voted in favor of the Savoie Movement.
As a result of the regional debate sparked by the political advances, the 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 départements with a regional government, separate from the
Rhône-Alpes region, with greater
devolved powers. According to surveys conducted in 2000, between 41% and 55% of the population are in favor of the proposal. 19% to 23% were in favor of separation from France.
*
House of Savoy*
List of active autonomist and secessionist movements*
Ligue Savoisienne (in English)*
La Savoie: entre mondialisation et repli tribal (in French)*
La Région Savoie, j’y crois ! (in French)*
Francia Media}: a territorial and genealogical disambiguation of Lorraine and Burgundy, with a section on Savoy
