The Savoyards were a faction in the royal court of

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of John, King of England, King John and Isabella of Ang ...

made up of relatives and retainers of his queen

Eleanor of Provence Eleanor of Provence ( 1223 – 24/25 June 1291) was a Provence, Provençal noblewoman who became List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the wife of King Henry III of England, Henry III from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served ...

, who was the daughter of

Beatrice of Savoy Beatrice of Savoy (c. 1198 – c. 1267) was Countess consort of Provence by her marriage to Ramon Berenguer V, Count of Provence. She served as regent of her birth country Savoy during the absence of her brother in 1264. Beatrice was the daugh ...

. The primary reason for the marriage between Henry and Eleanor was political, as Henry stood to create a valuable set of alliances with the rulers of the south and south-east of France. The most prominent of these were Eleanor's uncles particularly

William of Savoy William of Savoy (died 1239 in Viterbo, Italy) was a bishop from the House of Savoy. He was a son of Thomas, Count of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva. He was elected bishop of Valence in 1224. He negotiated the weddings of queens, and was an ad ...

, Henry's chief adviser for a short period who had originally suggested the marriage and established Eleanor in England. Another uncle was the later Archbishop Boniface of Canterbury. Her uncle

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

was given the

Honour of Richmond The Honour of Richmond (or Richmondshire) was a feudal barony in what is now mainly North Yorkshire, England. The honour was two tiers below Yorkshire, the middle tier being the North Riding. Before the honour was created, the land was held ...

and was granted land between the Strand and the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

, where Peter built the

Savoy Palace The Savoy Palace, considered the grandest nobleman's townhouse of medieval London, was the residence of prince John of Gaunt until it was destroyed during rioting in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The palace was on the site of an estate given t ...

in 1263, on the site of the present

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1 ...

and

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy ...

. As well as her uncles Eleanor brought in her retinue a large number of cousins and other retainers, known as the Savoyards. At least 170 Savoyards arrived in England after 1236, coming from

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 ...

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

, and

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

of whom around 70 settled. Henry arranged marriages for many of them into the English nobility, a practice that initially caused friction with the English barons, who resisted landed estates passing into the hands of foreigners. They would later be opposed to the

Lusignan The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries du ...

faction of Henry's Poitevin half brothers. Many Savoyards, probably including Eleanor, backed a 1258 coup d'état by a coalition of English barons who expelled the Poitevins from England, reforming the royal government through a process called the

Provisions of Oxford The Provisions of Oxford ( or ''Oxoniae'') were constitutional reforms to the government of late medieval England adopted during the Oxford Parliament of 1258 to resolve a dispute between Henry III of England and his barons. The reforms were de ...

. The Savoyard's influence with the King created friction with the English barons during Henry's reign. The Savoyards were careful not to exacerbate the situation and became increasingly integrated into English baronial society, forming an important power base for Eleanor in England. When Henry seized power from the barons in 1261 his government relied primarily on Eleanor and her Savoyard supporters, although it proved short-lived. Henry and Eleanor's son

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

was close to many Savoyards. During his reign he would rely on a number of Savoyard knights in the Welsh Wars, largely due to his childhood friendship with the Savoyard

Otto de Grandson Otto de Grandson (–1328), sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the clos ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{Cite journal , last=Ridgeway , first=Huw , title=Foreign Favourites and Henry III's Problems of Patronage, 1247-1258 , date=1989 , journal=English Historical Review *