Savoy 1504-1559 History of Italy Savoy 1610-1660






The Duchy of Savoy-Piemont 1559-1610



According to the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis 1559, the French occupation forces evacuated Savoy-Piemont (except Turin, Chieri, Pinerolo, Chivasso and Villanova d'Asti), and Duke Emmanuel Philibert assumed government. In 1564 the Swiss canton of Bern ceded Gex and the western Chablais to Savoy (Treaty of Lausanne), in 1569 the Swiss canton of Wallis (Valais) ceded eastern Chablais to Savoy. Savoyard territory encircled Geneva, the center of Calvinist reformation; the Treaty of Lausanne stipulated religious toleration - within the ceded territories.
Savoy proper had her separate parliament, referred to as the Senate, organized in three estates - clergy, nobility, third estate; it was reorganized by Emmanuel Philibert, after the long period of French occupation (1536-1559).
The Jesuits were called into the duchy and established a college at Chambery (1568). At schools, instruction in the catechism was made obligatory. Publications were scrutinized to eliminate Calvinist propaganda etc. With the political situation in France becoming turbulent in 1562, Emmanuel Philibert succeeded in regaining Turin and three other cities still held by the French. The last French stronghold, Pinerolo, was ceded by Henry III., when, on his way back from Poland, he travelled through Savoy in 1574.
Emmanuel Philibert made Turin his capital; he moved his residence here from Chambery. He reorganized the army, the finances, the administration and the jurisdiction. In 1580 he established a Chamber of Audit at Turin, modelled after the one existing in Chambery.
In the Battle of Lepanto of 1571, several Savoyard galleys participated.
In 1580, Emmanuel Philibert died; he was succeeded by his son, Charles Emmanuel I, the Great (1580-1630). In 1588 an attempt to take Geneva by surprise failed. War with Switzerland followed; peace was signed in 1589 (Treaty of Noyon). In that year the Provence rebelled against the King; the Provençal parliament at Aix declared Charles Emmanuel of Savoy Count of the Provence; Savoy-Piemont got involved in the French civil war; for Savoy the war lasted about 9 years. In 1594, François de Sales began a (successful) campaign aiming at the recatholization of the Chablais (in violation of the Treaty of Lausanne).
In 1600, King Henri IV.'s rule in France had been established; he invaded Savoy-Piemont; French forces occupied major cities and fortresses in Piemont. In 1601 the Treaty of Lyon was signed; Savoy ceded Bresse and Le Bugey to France; the French in turn evacuated the cities and fortresses they held in Piemont, as well as the county of Saluzzo, which Charles Emmanuel had acquired in 1588.
In 1602 yet another attempt to take Geneva by surprise (escalade) failed. The Treaty of St. Julien (1603) reestablished normal relations.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article Piedmont, from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition
Article St. Francis de Sales, from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909 edition
Storia di Torino, dal Regno di Sardegna, all'Unita d'Italia, from a-torino.com, in Italian
Donne nella Storia (Women in History), from Italia Donna, scroll down for Stato Sabaudo; has six clickable Italian-language biographies
I Savoia, illustrated biographies of Dukes / Kings of the house of Savoy, in Italian
Lo Stato Sabaudo, from Olevano, tra realta e leggenda, in Italian
History of the Waldensians : Chapter 12, the Year of the Plague (1561), from J.A. Wylie, History of Protestantism (1878) the chapter tells the story of the Piemontese Waldensians (Vaudois) 1561-1631.
E. Armstrong, Tuscany and Savoy, (in the later half of the 16th century), posted by MATEO
DOCUMENTS Coat of Arms, from International Civic Heraldry
World Statesmen : Italian States 1760-1860, by Ben Cahoon, scroll down for Sardinia; Regnal Chronologies : Northern Italy, scroll down for Piedmont, Savoy
REFERENCE Book Reviews : Savoy-Piemont, from History Book Reviews

Henri Menabrea, Histoire de la Savoie (History of Savoy), Les Marches : Curandera 1990. 399 pp. (in French)
M. le Gallais, Histoire de la Savoie et du Piemont (History of Savoy and Piemont), new edition, Tours : Alfred Mame 1879, 237 pp.; in French



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on March 27th 2006

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