Savoy

Savoy, or SAVOIE, a district in the S. of France, bounded N. by the Lake and Canton of Geneva, E. by the Valais, S.E. by Piedmont, S. by the Hautos-Alpes and Isere, W. by the Rhone. Forming in Roman times the provinces of the Graian and Pennine Alps, this tract of country acquired in the 4th century A.D. the name of Sapaudia, whence its present designation. Conquered by Charlemagne, it passed to the Emperor Conrad, who gave it as a county to Humbert the Whitehanded, founder of the House of Savoy. It was erected with Piedmont into a duchy in 1416 under Amadeus VIII, whose dominions extended to Nice on the sea and to the Sesia in Italy. In 1720 Victor Amadeus 11., obtaining the throne of Sicily, exchanged it for that of Sardinia, and thus became the first king. His successors headed the Italians in their resistance to Napoleon, and in 1848 Charles Albert took up the cause of the nation against Austria, was defeated at Custozza and Novara, and resigned in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel II., under whom Italy was united, but at the cost of Savoy, which was paid to France as the price of her aid in 1860, remaining, however, exempt from French taxation.