Savoyard state

History

The multi-century history of Savoy included the period before the creation of the County of Savoy, then the county, followed by the Duchy of Savoy, the period from Savoy to Sicily and Sardinia before Italian unification, and thereafter. From the Middle Ages, the state comprised the Duchy of Savoy, the Principality of Piedmont, the Duchy of Aosta, and the County of Nice, all of which were formally part of the Holy Roman Empire; 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 from 1713 until 1720, the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1720, and the Duchy of Genoa from 1815.

The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna 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. Each state had independent institutions and laws.

These territories formed a composite monarchy under the House of Savoy 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 Kingdom of Italy, while its territories north and west of the Alps, including Savoy proper, became part of the Second French Empire.