The medieval period in Savoy extends from the concession of Sapaudia (or Sapaudie) to the Germanic people of the Burgundians in the 5th century, through the Carolingian-era Saboia, to the emergence of a County of Savoy in the 11th century, which became a duchy in 1416, considered the apex of the Savoyard territory. This period is marked by the integration in 1032 of the Sapaudia territories into the Holy Roman Empire, and by the assertion of feudal power over these lands, with the rise of major noble houses.
The regional political game binds and unbinds, up to eventual absorption, the major lords of Savoy and Geneva and their vassals, as well as representatives of spiritual authority—the bishops of Belley, the , the bishops of Geneva, and those of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
Feudalism in Savoy (9th–12th centuries)
From the Burgundian kingdom to feudal assertion Around 443, the Roman general Aetius granted Sapaudia to a Germanic people, the Burgundians, according to a brief 5th-century account: “Sapaudia is given to the remnants of the Burgundian people to be shared with the natives.” They had crossed the Rhine around 407 and originated from the Main region. At that time, the territory of present-day Savoy corresponded to the city of Geneva, part of the Pays de Gex, the north of Savoy (Genevois, Faucigny), and the western half of the Swiss Plateau. The Burgundians formed a first kingdom, Burgundy, from 435 to 534, establishing their capital in Geneva, a religious center since the 4th century, which they burned and rebuilt. In 502, the Burgundian king Gundobad wrote a legal code known as the Lex Gundobada (a collection of Germanic laws influenced by Roman law).
In 534, during the construction of their kingdom, the Franks, through Childebert and Chlothar, sons of Clovis, annexed Burgundy, before later conquering Provence. However, the Merovingians left the management of the territory to the first counts, whether Burgundian or Gallo-Roman. Burgundy even regained a kind of autonomy during the reign of Guntram (561–593). His death, however, led to anarchy and territorial fragmentation.
Under the Carolingians, Savoy began to take shape. A charter from 806 mentions a region called Sabaudia. It held strategic importance due to the Mont-Cenis pass,The Mont-Cenis pass is a strategic crossing point where the Via Francigena (the pilgrimage route between Canterbury and Rome) passes, serving as a gateway to Italy. used by pilgrims, merchants, and the military. Charlemagne used it, as did Pepin the Short before him, to subdue the Lombards. The powerful bishopric of Moûtiers,The Roman city of Darantasia became a bishopric in the 5th century, initially a suffragan of Arles, then of Vienne. In the 8th century, the bishop of Moûtiers was elevated to the rank of metropolitan, with authority over Aosta, Valais (including the Abbey of Saint-Maurice), and Susa. corresponding to the former Roman province of the Pennine Alps, became an archbishopric. Charlemagne also divided Savoy into counties, whose names and boundaries correspond to the traditional provinces of the Genevois, Savoie Propre, Maurienne, Tarentaise, Chablais, Faucigny, Albanais, and Bugey.The pagus Genevensis corresponded to the pagus minor Genevensis (Diocese of Geneva, Pays de Gex, Genevois), the pagus minor Albanensis (Pays de l'Albanais), the pagus minor Allingiensis (), the pagus minor Falciniacus (upper valleys of the Arve), the pagus Savogensis (Savoy Proper), the comitatus caput Lacensi (Chablais), the pagus Bellicensis Bugey, the Tarentaise, and the pagus Maurianensis (Maurienne). During inheritance preparations in 811, Louis the German received this Sabaudia, known as Saboia, along with Maurienne, Tarentaise, Mont-Cenis, and the Susa Valley.
Following the division of the Empire (Treaty of Verdun, 843), Savoy was assigned to the kingdom of Lothair. Amidst difficult succession disputes, the counties of Savoy were split between Boson of Provence and Rudolph II of Burgundy. A degree of unity returned during the reign of Rudolph III of Burgundy around 993, marking the rise of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy.
During this period, Savoy endured Saracen invasions. Novalaise and Geneva were pillaged and burned. “If the Saracen invasions hold a real place in the annals of Western Europe, the romantic role they play in the annals of this region is even broader,” wrote the historian . In Maurienne, a few legends circulate, especially concerning the etymology of the province's name. The Burgundian kingdom survived these incursions.
The last king, Rudolph III of Burgundy, brought his kingdom closer to the Holy Roman Empire. He chose a descendant of Otto as his successor, Conrad II, to whom he sent the Lance of Saint Maurice, a mystical symbol of Burgundian royalty. In 1032, Savoy became imperial territory. This territory ensured control of the Western Alps and the Mont-Cenis pass for the Empire. However, the end of the reign of the last king of Burgundy marked the rise of feudalism in the lands of Savoy—a confusion between property and sovereignty (as noted by François Guizot)—and powerful families took advantage of the rivalries between the Empire and the Counts of Champagne.
The lords
According to Léon Ménabréa (1839), there were about thirty feudal lords in the 11th century in the province of Sapaudia: “At the top of the list: the , the , the , the counts of Maurienne (the future House of Savoy), the counts of Geneva (who controlled the city of Geneva and the pagus Genevensis), the barons of Faucigny; in the second tier: the viscounts of La Chambre, of Briançons, of Chambéry, the lords of , , , , , La Rochette, , , , , Lucinges, , etc.” The bishops of Belley must also be added to this list.
With the integration into the Empire, the lords in Savoy's territories claimed a certain political autonomy. Savoy had around 250 noble families.The presents some of the main noble families of Savoy.
However, “little by little, the small feudal lords fade away; a star rises and blazes at the center of the feudal firmament—it is the star of the House of Savoy.”
Between the counts of Geneva and the Humbertians Two families came to dominate the region: the Counts of Geneva in the north, around the city of Geneva, and the Humbertians, counts in Maurienne and future Counts of Savoy, starting from the Maurienne.
The Genevas. The origin of the comes gebennensis (Count of Geneva, not to be confused with Count of Genevois, as is sometimes mistakenly translated) is uncertain but attested from the 11th century onward. However, it is known that they held lands between Lake Geneva and Lake Bourget, as well as in the Pays de Vaud, Gex, and the town of Michaille, the Genevois, and the city of Annecy. They also controlled the Chamonix Valley, which they gave to the Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-la-Cluse around 1090. Only the Chablais escaped their control. Although they controlled the city of Geneva, they conflicted with the bishops of Geneva and, starting in the 12th and 13th centuries, they were opposed to the Counts of Savoy.
The Humbertians. The origin of the Humbertians—Counts of Maurienne—is controversial. Twentieth-century historians confirm the hypothesis of Georges de Manteyer, who attributes a Burgundian origin to the House of Savoy and the first of its line—Humbert Whitehands (c. 980–c. 1048), Umbertus Comes. Henri Ménabréa thus explains: “These princes, originating from Champagne and Burgundy, succeeded, through skillful politics, in seizing the ecclesiastical fiefs of the region by exploiting the fragmentation of sovereignty and by contracting advantageous marriages.” According to the legend preserved in the Grandes chroniques de Savoie by Jean Servion, commissioned by Philip of Bresse, the family supposedly had an imperial and German origin: Berold is said to have descended from the son of King Ezeus of Cologne, who had married Ysobie, daughter of the emperor of Constantinople. However, the cathedral of Aosta mentions donations from Humbert, Count of Maurienne, son of the illustrious Bérold of Saxony.
In any case, Humbert held high-ranking positions—serving as advisor—to the last king of Burgundy, Rudolf, and especially to Queen Hermengarde or Ermengarde. As a result, he controlled all or part of the counties of Savoy and in 1003, then that of Belley and Nyon in 1018, and finally Aosta in 1024. He dominated the northern part of the County of Viennois before 1025. He took an oath for these various counties at the Council of Anse in 1025. Through his marriage, he acquired rights in Valais and in the Chablais. In 1043, he obtained the County of Maurienne. Tarentaise, the domain of the bishop of Moûtiers, did not escape Humbertian control, nor did the March of Turin. The expansion he initiated quickly encountered limits in the north with the Genevois and in the south with the Dauphins. However, he alone controlled the main Alpine passes that allowed access to Italian lands (the Mont Cenis pass, and the Little and Great St. Bernard passes). This role gave rise to the title "Gatekeepers of the Alps," which future Counts of Savoy would bear, in rivalry with the Counts of Albon in Dauphiné.
The rise of the first counts of Savoy
Over the following centuries, the Savoyard dynasty strove to expand its fiefs through marriages and treaties. Humbert’s son, Amadeus, received the city of Asti from the emperor. His son, Odo or Otto, married Countess Adelaide of Susa in 1045, which enabled control over the March of Turin, specifically the Susa Valley and Piedmont. Upon the count's death, she became regent of the fiefs. Their sons, Peter I (who acquired Bugey and the Margraviate of Ivrea) and Amadeus II did not reign for long. Adelaide, as regent, maintained control over the family’s political affairs. She thus welcomed her son-in-law, Emperor Henry IV—who had married Bertha of Savoy, Adelaide’s daughter—to Chignin (in the Combe de Savoie) in 1077 and received a “fair province of Burgundy,” undoubtedly the Chablais, in exchange for granting passage over the Mont Cenis on his way to Canossa.
Upon his death in 1091, Humbert II became count but lost the inheritance of Piedmont due to its dismantling by Emperor Henry IV, who sought to curb the rise of powerful feudal families. However, he retained control over the Susa Valley and Pinerolo. He also succeeded in marrying his daughter Adela to Louis VI the Fat, thereby positioning Savoy in a diplomatic balancing act that his descendants would maintain between the Kingdom of France and the Empire. He asserted his authority over Tarentaise—mainly the upper Isère Valley—and established continuous communication between his possessions along the Rhône and the Aosta Valley.
Upon Humbert’s death in 1103, the future Amadeus III was too young to rule, and his mother, Gisela of Burgundy-Ivrea, governed the states of Savoy as regent. He was married to the daughter of the Count of Geneva, Mathilde or Mahaut of Albon of Viennois, daughter of Guigues III of Albon.