The Savoyard state comprised the states ruled by the counts and dukes of Savoy from 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 ...

to the formation of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

. Although it was an example of

composite monarchy A composite monarchy (or composite state) is a historical category, introduced by H. G. Koenigsberger in 1975 and popularised by Sir John H. Elliott, that describes early modern states consisting of several countries under one ruler, sometimes ...

, it is a term applied to the polity by historians and was not in contemporary use. At the end of the 17th century, its population was about 1.4 million.

History

The multi-century history of

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 ...

included the period before the County of Savoy, then the County of Savoy, the

Duchy of Savoy The Duchy of Savoy (; ) was a territorial entity of the Savoyard state that existed from 1416 until 1847 and was a possession of the House of Savoy. It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy f ...

, the period from Savoy to Sicily and Sardinia before

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...

, and thereafter. From the

, the state comprised the

, the Principality of Piedmont, the Duchy of Aosta, and the County of Nice, all of which were formally part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

; however, the Savoyards often acted against the Emperor, repeatedly siding with the French during the Franco-Habsburg Wars. From 1708, it included the Duchy of Montferrat, then the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily (; ; ) was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula, Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Kingdom of Africa, Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was ...

from 1713 until 1720, the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

from 1720, and the Duchy of Genoa from 1815. The Final Act of the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

of 1815 refers to them as the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia". Among contemporaries, "Kingdom of Sardinia" and "Sardinia" were used as common short forms, even though they were confounded with the island. "Piedmont", "Savoy-Piedmont", and "Piedmont-Sardinia" are also sometimes used to emphasise that the economic and political centre of the Savoyard state was the Piedmont since the late Middle Ages. The seat of the rulers was in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. Each state had independent institutions and laws. These territories formed a

under 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 ...

until the Perfect Fusion in 1847. The Jews of the state were granted emancipation the next year. In 1860, Turin was made the official capital, and by 1861, this unified state had acquired most of the other states on the Italian peninsula and formed the

, while its territories north and west of the Alps, including Savoy proper, became part of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

Terminology

Scholarship has debated and used several different terms to reference the often disjointed possessions under control of the House of Savoy. Robert Oresko introduced the term "Sabaudian" in 1997.

Territory

File:Pagi rhônalpins.png, Savoy during the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

File:Savoie 12 13e siecles.GIF, County of Savoy during the 12th File:Savoie 15e siecle.GIF, Duchy of Savoy in the 15th File:Italy 1843.svg, Italian peninsula in 1843 File:Pays de Savoie relief location map.jpg, Proper Savoy today File:Map of region of Piedmont, Italy, with provinces-it.svg, Today's administrative Piedmont in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Flags

File:Königsbanner 14Jh.svg, The first counts used the

banner as proof of their loyalty to the Emperor File:Savoie flag.svg, Flag of the County of Savoy and Duchy of Savoy (1023–1783) File:Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia.svg, Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia used in the late 18th century (1783–1802) File:Flag of Kingdom of Sardinia (1848).svg, Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1832–1848), obtained by merging the flags of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

and

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

File:Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg, Flag of Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:States Of Savoy States and territories established in 1003 Savoy Former countries in Europe 1861 disestablishments in Europe