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Louis I de Savoie
2nd Duc de Savoie
(1415–65)

Biographical

2nd Duc de Savoie 1439–65†
Principe di Piemonte, substantive 1431–39; 1439–65†
Titular Prince of Achaia 1439–65†
Duc de Chablais 1439–65†
Duca d'Aosta 1439–65†
Marchese di Susa 1439–65†
Marchese in Italia 1439–65†
Marchese di Ivrea 1439–65†
Comte de Nice 1439–65†
Conte di Ventimiglia 1439–65†
Comte de Baugé, substantive 1424; 1439–65†
Comte de Romont 1443-60
Comte de Genevois 1444–60
Comte de Valentinois 1439–45
Comte de Maurienne 1439–65†
Comte de Diois 1439–45
Baron de Faucigny 1439 –60
Baron de Vaud 1439 –60
Baron de Gex 1439–55 sold
Signore di Vercelli 1439–65†
Seigneur de Bugey 1439–65†
Seigneur de Beaufort-sur-Doron –1460
Signore di Pinerolo 1439–65†
Seigneur de Fribourg 1452-65†
Signore di Chiasso 1436

Lieutenant general of the Duchy of Savoy, 1434–39

When his father took the religious habit in 1434, Louis was in charge of the management of affairs as lieutenant general, although his father continued to control important state matters, even when he was elected pope. Louis' wife, Anna of Cyprus, wielded considerable influence over him, and she played an active role in the affairs of Savoy. She bestowed favours on members of the nobility of Cyprus who had joined the court of Savoy with her which gave rise to a movement amongst members of the dissatisfied Savoyan nobility in 1446. An attempt was soon made on the life of Jean de Compey, Seigneur de Thorens, member of the Cypriot faction and a favourite of Louis. Louis' attempts to punish the perpetrators were thwarted by intervention of the Pope, his father. His relations with his father were already strained, but Louis continued to bestow favours and protection on Compey, and made him lieutenant general of Piedmont. After his father's death in 1451, Louis commenced his revenge on the conspirators who then sought assistance from France and Burgundy. Relations between Louis and Charles VII of France were already difficult because of Louis' support of Charles' wayward son, the Dauphin, and because Louis had given the Dauphin the hand in marriage of his daughter, Charlotte, in 1451 without Charles' consent. Charles used the pleas of the conspirators as a pretext to assert control over Savoy. By 1454, Louis had all but abdicated and was obliged to free the conspirators and restore them their rights and privileges. His son, Philippe, had become the leader of the movement opposing Louis, the Cypriots, and the loss of Savoy's independence which culminated in the deaths of Marshal Varax, and Duchess Anna's favourite, Valperga. By 1463, Louis, who had was suffering from gout, left Savoy for Paris and entered talks with the king concerning his son Philippe who had been imprisoned in the castle of Loches. His stay in France continued for some months and he signed a new treaty with Duke Charles of Burgundy over the borders of Beaujolais, and he was later able to regain control of Savoy.

Place of birth: Geneva
Place of marriage: Chambéry
Place of death: Lyon
Place of burial: Saint-François, Geneva

Son of Amédée VIII de Savoie and Marie of Burgundy (Valois). He married Princess Anne of Cyprus in 1433, and had issue.

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