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Amédée III de Savoie
7th Comte de Savoie
(1095–1148)

Biographical

7th Comte de Savoie 1103–48†
Count of the Holy Roman Empire 1111
Marchese di Susa1103–48†
Marchese in Italia 1103–48†
Comte de Maurienne 1103–48†
Conte d'Aosta 1103–48†
Comte de Chablais 1103–48†
Conte di Torino c. 1131–36 dep
Comte de Tarentaise 1103–48†
Seigneur de Bas-Valais 1103–48†
Seigneur de Bugey 1103–48†

Abbot of St Maurice d'Agaune (lay) –1116

Amadeus III succeeded his father, but was a minor under the guardianship of his mother, Gisela of Burgundy. The counts of Savoy/Maurienne had already greatly enlarged their dominions on the Savoy side of the Alps, beyond the boundaries of Maurienne, and Amadeus is styled in some diplomas as 'Count of Maurienne and marquis in Italy'. In another, dated from Turin, he styles himself 'Count, by the grace of God, of Burgundy and Lombardy'. He had reconquered Turin in 1131, but in 1136 the Emperor Lothar II invaded Lombardy and subdued various towns that opposed him, and then invaded and occupied Turin, for reasons that are not clear. It was possibly because Amadeus was considered a usurper of Turin, and, like Lothar's predecessor, Henry V, he opposed the revival of the margravate of Turin. By 1137 or 1138, Amadeus launched an assault on Turin and seems to have eventually regained some control of the city. Amadeus made several grants of lands and other tenements to churches and convents, according to the custom of that age, including to the monastery of St Bernard. He built the family abbey of Hautecombe on the Lac du Bourget from c. 1140 where his successors were afterwards interred. He also founded the abbey of Chézry in 1140, and the Chartreuse of Arvieres between 1140 and 1144. In 1147 Amadeus set out with his nephew Louis VII of France on a crusade to the East at the exhortation of St Bernard. The Emperor Conrad of Germany also joined them. The crusaders went by land to Constantinople, and from there through Asia Minor. They were defeated by the Turks in the defiles of Pamphylia, and those who escaped with King Louis and Amadeus found their way by sea to Antioch, and from there to Palestine, where being joined by the forces of Bohemund, king of Jerusalem, they determined to attack Damascus, but the attempt failed. The King of France then left Palestine in disgust and Amadeus on his return home landed at Nicosia where he fell ill and died. Amadeus was possibly the first to use the title of count of Savoy, and the arms of Savoy, the white cross on a red background, first appears on record on a charter dated 1143.

Place of birth: Montmélian
Place of death: Nicosia
Place of burial: Church of the Holy Cross, Nicosia

Son of Humbert II de Savoie and Gisèle de Bourgogne. He was married firstly to Adélaïde N (†c.1134) between circa 1112 and 1123, with issue, and secondly to Mathilde d'Albon in 1135, with issue.

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