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Subject: more information
Name:
 Richter
Date: 6/21/2002 7:25:57 PM (GMT-7)
IP Address: 12.40.93.240
In Reply to: =) posted by
Richter
Message:
The following was lifted from google.com
Savoy was a "quasi-Italian" region until 1859. In fact, the House of
Savoy ruled both Savoy and some Italian regions (Piedmont, Liguria,
and Sardinia).
The founder of the dynasty, Count Humbert the Whitehanded (11th
century) held Savoy and acquired other areas south of Lake Geneva on
the western slope of the Alps. His successors expanded their
territories to include what are now parts of France, Italy, and
Switzerland. During the 15th century the dynasty's rule weakened,
enabling the French to occupy the territory in 1536. But the Treaty of
Cateau-Cambresis (1559) returned the duchy to Emmanuel Philibert, who
centralized the government and moved the capital from Chambery to
Turin (in Piedmont).
In the 17th century the dukes played the French against the Habsburgs
and emerged from the wars of that period with considerable territorial
gains. The Peace of Utrecht (1714) made Victor Amadeus II king of
Sicily, which he relinquished to Austria in exchange for Sardinia in
1720. Savoyard officials went to Italy and vice versa.
The Savoyard kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont spearheaded the Italian
"Risorgimento" (unification movement) of the 19th century. In 1859,
Cavour, in alliance with the French emperor Napoleon III, seized
Lombardy and gave both Savoy and Nice to France in exchange.
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