7th Comte de Savoie
(1095-1148)
Other names: the Fat
Other Titles and Honours
Count of the HRE, 1111[3]
Marchese di Susa, 1103-48†[1]
Comte de Maurienne, 1103-48†[3]
Conte d'Aosta, 1103-48†[4]
Comte de Chablais, 1103-48†[4]
Conte di Torino, by 1131-36 dep[1]
Comte de Tarentaise, 1103-48†[1]
Seigneur de Valais, 1103-48†[1]
Seigneur de Bugey, 1103-48†[4]
Positions Held
Vicar general of the Holy Roman Empire[4]
Lay abbot of St Maurice d'Agaune, -1116[3]
Main Events
Amadeus III succeeded his father, but was a minor under the guardianship of his mother, Gisela of Burgundy. The counts of 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'.[2]
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 Amedeus 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, Amedeus launched an assault on Turin and seems to have eventually regained some control of the city.[1]
Amadeus made several grants of lands and other tenements to churches and convents, according to the custom of that age, among the rest to the monastery of the St Bernard.[2] 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.[2]
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.[2]
His first marriage is estimated to have taken place between 1120 and 1123.[3]
Place of birth: Montmélian[3]
Place of death: Nicosia[3]
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Sources
1. C.W. Previté-Orton. The Early History of the House of Savoy: 1000-1233: 1000-1233. Cambridge: University Press, 1912.
2. Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The Biographical Dictionary, vol. 2.1. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1843.
3. C. Cawley. Medieval Lands - A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families. The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. ©2018.
4. S. Guichenon. Histoire généalogique de la royale maison de Savoie, vol. 1. Turin: chez Jean-Michel Briolo, 1778.
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