County of Geneva
Comté de Genève (fr)
Grafschaft Genf (de)
10th century–1401
Coat of arms of Genevois
Coat of arms
Arelat (yellow) with Geneva, about 1200
Arelat (yellow) with Geneva, about 1200
StatusCounty
CapitalLa Roche
Annecy (1219–1320)
GovernmentCounty
Historical eraMiddle Ages
 County established
10th century
 Line extinct
1394
 Purchased by Savoy
1401
 Genevois province
1659
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Kingdom of Arles
County of Savoy County of Savoy

The County of Geneva, largely corresponding to the later Genevois province, originated in the tenth century, in the Burgundian Kingdom of Arles (Arelat) which fell to the Holy Roman Empire in 1032.

History

Several nobles had held the title of a Count of Geneva in Upper Burgundy (Bourgogne transjurane) from the 9th century. The progenitor of the Counts of Geneva was Conrad I, possible count palatine of Burgundy, in Vienne. Count Cono/Conrad died about 1003 in exile, during the Hermann II's rebellion (his brother duke of Swabia, of Conradines lineage).[1] Their son, Robert, count of Geneva, was born about 970 and died about 1020.

Annecy Castle

The county never played a major part as a feudal entity. The city of Geneva and its environs were retained, but the approaches to the western end of Lake Geneva, which had made the position strategic, were soon lost. In 1124, the Bishops of Geneva had their rule over the city acknowledged and continued to make themselves an independent force, while the Counts of Savoy encircled the territory and controlled the trade routes. From 1219 on, the counts' stronghold and capital was Annecy.

At a moment when the male line of the counts was near exhaustion, Robert of Geneva was raised to a shadow papacy by the French cardinals who seceded from the College of Cardinals and wished to rescind their part in the election of the irascible Urban VI; elected 20 September 1378, Robert took the title of Clement VII. Unexpectedly, with the death of his brother, he succeeded as count in 1392. As count, Robert was virtually dependent on the cooperative graces of the count of Savoy. With his death in 1394, the House of Geneva was extinguished and the title passed to the husband of the heiress, Humbert VII of Thoire and Villars who died in 1400.

Eventually in 1401, the year after Humbert's death, his heir Odo of Thoire-Geneva sold the comté to Count Amadeus VIII of Savoy. Though other members of the Genevan House protested, and the House of Chalons (and, after its extinction, the House of Orange-Nassau) remained the strongest claimant, Amadeus successfully completed the integration of the county with his territories, which were raised to a duchy by Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg. The title Count of Geneva passed securely into the House of Savoy, where it is maintained as a courtesy title.

List of counts

Legendary counts

Medieval historians connected the literary figures of Reynier and Olivier from the late-12th-century Girart de Vienne to the Genevois, but this is pure fiction.

  • c. 770 : Reynier
  • c. 770–800 : Oliver, his son[2]

Early counts

  • c. 890 : Manasses, may be count of Geneva[3]
  • ...
  • c. 1002 : Manasses[4]
  • c. 1012 : Robert, his nephew, son of count Cono/Conrad I (possible Cono count palatine of Burgundy)[5]

Unconfirmed counts

By Samuel Guichenon, in Histoire généalogique de la royale maison de Savoie (1660)[6]

  • 880 (?) : Ratbert (870/880 – † 901)
  • 931 (?) : Albitius (900 – † 931/932), his son
  • (?) : Conrad (930 – † c. 963), his son
  • c. 963–974 (?) : Robert († 974), his son[7]
  • 974–1001 (?) : Albert
  • 1004 (?) : Renaud
  • 1016 (?) : Aymon
  • c. 1060 : Robert

House of Geneva

  • c. 1045–c.1061 : Gerold of Geneva
  • c. 1061–1080: Conrad, his son
  • c. 1080–1128 : Aymon I, his brother
  • 1128–1178 : Amadeus I, his son
  • 1178–1195 : William I his son
  • 1195–1220 : Humbert I, his son
  • 1220–1252 : William II, his brother
  • 1252–1265 : Rudolf, his son
  • 1265–1280 : Aymon II, his son
  • 1280–1308 : Amadeus II, his brother
  • 1308–1320 : William III, his son
  • 1320–1367 : Amadeus III, his son
  • 1367–1367 : Aymon III, his son
  • 1367–1369 : Amadeus IV, his brother
  • 1369–1370 : John I, his brother
  • 1370–1392 : Peter, his brother
  • 1392–1394 : Robert, his brother as Clement VII he was Antipope at Avignon from 1378

House of Thoire

House of Thoire
  • 1394–1400 : Humbert VII of Thoire and Villars (died 1400), son of Humbert VI, Lord of Thoire and Villars, and Maria of Geneva, daughter of Amadeus III
  • 1400–1401 : Odo of Thoire and Villars

In 1401, Odo sold the County to Amadeus VIII of Savoy. His heirs, however, contested this and the legal processes were not completed until 1424.

House of Savoy

From 1424 the County of Geneva was joined to the House of Savoy, although at times it was granted as appanage to cadet branches of the family.

Subsequently, the County of Geneva was joined to the Duchy of Savoy.

References

  1. Donald C. Jackman, The Konradiner: a study in genealogical methodology, Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1990, p. 206.
  2. Henri Baud, Jean-Yves Mariotte, Jean-Bernard Challamel, Alain Guerrier, Histoire des communes savoyardes. Le Genevois et Lac d'Annecy (Tome III), Roanne, Éditions Horvath, 1981, 422 p. (ISBN 2-7171-0200-0), p.11.
  3. Henri Baud, Jean-Yves Mariotte, Jean-Bernard Challamel, Alain Guerrier, Histoire des communes savoyardes. Le Genevois et Lac d'Annecy (Tome III), Roanne, Éditions Horvath, 1981, 422 p. (ISBN 2-7171-0200-0), p.11.
  4. Régeste genevois, acte de 1002, « Manasaeus comes, Rotbertus nepos ejus », REG 0/0/1/144, Fondation des Archives historiques de l'Abbaye de Saint-Maurice (Suisse) - digi-archives.org.
  5. Régeste genevois, acte de 1002, « Manasaeus comes, Rotbertus nepos ejus », REG 0/0/1/144, Fondation des Archives historiques de l'Abbaye de Saint-Maurice (Suisse) - digi-archives.org.
  6. Samuel Guichenon, Histoire généalogique de la Royale Maison de Savoie ou Histoire généalogique de la Royale Maison de Savoie justifiée par titres, foundations de monastères, manuscrits, anciens monumens, histoires, et autres preuves authentiques, chez Jean-Michel Briolo, 1660, p. 309–310 « Table XVIII. Extraction de Béatrix de Genève, comtesse de Savoie », Lire en ligne.
  7. Jean-Yves Mariotte « Du bon usage des faux » (p. 346), paru dans l'ouvrage de Barbara Roth-Lochner, Marc Neuenschwander et François Walter, Des archives à la mémoire : mélanges d'histoire politique, religieuse et sociale offerts à Louis Binz, Librairie Droz, 1995, p. 503 (ISBN 978-2-88442-007-5).

Further reading

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