Faucigny (; ) is a commune in the

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...

department in 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 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 ...

in south-eastern

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 ...

. Historically, Faucigny was a region in

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

which included the area of the modern ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of Haute Savoie and the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (), is a communes of France, commune in the departments of France, department in the regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It was the site of the f ...

, Argentière, and Les Houches.

Geography

In the Faucigny region, the river Arve flows through the low-lying, agricultural Arve Valley. The village of Faucigny is at an elevation of approximately 639 m., northeast of

La Roche-sur-Foron La Roche-sur-Foron (; Arpitan: ''La Roche'') is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is located about 23 km (14.2 mi) southeast of Geneva, Switzerland. La Roche-sur-Foron sta ...

, and about 20 km. southeast of the city of Geneva. The village lies on a river terrace on the eastern side of the

Arve Valley The Arve Valley (La vallée de l'Arve) is an alpine valley located in the French Haute-Savoie department. The namesake of the valley is the river at the bottom: the Arve. The valley as a whole makes up the majority of :fr:Faucigny (province), Fau ...

History

The fertile valley of the Arve and the area around Faucigny were already settled in

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times, and there are numerous Roman ruins. Legend suggests that the area was the estates of the Roman family Falcinius. It was known by various names in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

: Falciniacum, Fociniacum and Fossiniacum, but the first documented name was Fulciniaco. Around 930 a castle was built on a rocky promontory overlooking the Arve. The castle was the regional governmental seat from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. The barons of Faucigny dominated the valley of the Arve and its tributary the Giffre, the Arly as far as Flumet, and the valley of Doron de Beaufort (Beaufortain). During this time, suzerainty over Faucigny was contested between the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

and the Dauphin de Viennois. In 1253, Pierre II of Savoy acquired Faucigny by marrying Agnès, the daughter of the Baron de Faucigny. Their daughter, Béatrix, inherited the province in 1268. Béatrix married Guigues VII and the lands came under the Dauphin de Viennois. Savoy fought to regain the Faucigny region, but was unsuccessful and Faucigny became part of France in 1349 as part of the purchase from Humbert II de La Tour du Pin, Dauphin de Viennois of the Dauphiné lands. Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, challenged this purchase and defeated the French in 1354. Then Faucigny was transferred to the

as part of the peace Treaty of Paris (1355). Recently Faucigny has come up in the news again as twelve cars were burned in the 2005 French riots.

Twin towns — sister cities

Faucigny is twinned with: * Camandona, Italy (2011)

References

* Collectif (1998), ''Découvrir l'Histoire de la Savoie'', Centre de la Culture Savoyarde * ''Dictionnaire d'Amboise. Pays de Savoie''. Editions Amboise. 1989. 2e édition

External links

Gazetteer Entry for Faucigny

Faucigny website
{{authority control Communes of Haute-Savoie

Geography

History

Twin towns — sister cities

See also

References

External links