Editing Thomas, Count of Savoy

{{Short description|Count of Savoy from 1189 to 1233}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox monarch
| name         = Thomas Ι
| image        = Tomas1.jpg
| caption      = Seal of Thomas I
| succession   = [[Count of Savoy]]
| reign        = 1189–1233
| predecessor  = [[Humbert III of Savoy|Humbert III]]
| successor    = [[Amadeus IV of Savoy|Amadeus IV]]
| house        = [[House of Savoy|Savoy]]
| father       = [[Humbert III of Savoy]]
| mother       = [[Beatrice of Viennois]]
| spouse       = [[Margaret of Geneva]]
| issue        = [[Amadeus IV of Savoy|Amadeus IV]]<br>[[Thomas, Count of Flanders|Thomas ΙΙ]]<br>[[William of Savoy]]<br>[[Peter II of Savoy|Peter II]]<br>[[Philip I of Savoy|Philip I]]<br>[[Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury|Boniface]]<br>[[Beatrice of Savoy|Beatrice]]
| issue-link = #Family and children
| issue-pipe = more...
| birth_date   = {{circa}} 1178
| birth_place  = [[Aiguebelle]]
| death_date   = {{death date|1233|3|1|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Moncalieri]]
}}

'''Thomas Ι''' (''Tommaso I''; {{circa}} 1178 – 1 March 1233) was [[Count of Savoy]] from 1189 to 1233. He is sometimes numbered "Thomas I" to distinguish him from [[Thomas, Count of Flanders|his son]] of the same name. His long reign marked a decisive period in the history of [[Savoy]].<ref name=HDS>{{HDS|17864|Thomas I of Savoy|author=Bernard Andenmatten}}</ref>

==Biography==

Thomas was born in [[Aiguebelle]], the son of [[Humbert III of Savoy]] and [[Beatrice of Viennois]].{{sfn|Previte-Orton|1912|p=352}} He was still a minor when his father died in 1189, and his mother acted as regent until 1191 during his [[minority reign]].<ref name=HDS/> Despite his youth he began the push northwest into new territories. In the same year he granted [[Aosta Valley]] the "Charte des Franchises", recognising the right to administrative and political autonomy (this right was maintained until the [[French Revolution]]). Later he conquered [[Vaud]], [[Bugey]], and [[Carignano, Piedmont|Carignano]]. He supported the [[Hohenstaufen]]s, and was known as "Thomas the [[Ghibelline]]" because of his career as Imperial [[Vicar]] of [[Lombardy]].

Thomas worked throughout his reign to expand the control and influence of the [[County of Savoy]]. One of the key tools that he used was his large number of children, whom he worked to get into positions of influence in neighbouring regions. In part, this was done by getting many of his sons into episcopal offices in surrounding territories, at a time when bishops had temporal as well as spiritual authority.{{sfn|Cox|1974|p=14-19}} In addition to William and Boniface, who made their careers in the clergy, their brother Thomas started out as a canon at [[Lausanne]] and became [[prévôt]] of Valence by 1226.{{sfn|Chevalier|1889|p=4-5}} Pietro was also a canon at Lausanne and served as acting bishop there until he was replaced in 1231.{{sfn|Cox|1974|p=16}} In 1219 he worked to get his daughter Beatrice married to the fourteen-year-old [[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence]]. This established a close relationship between the two adjoining counties which would help cement Savoy's control over trade between Italy and France.{{sfn|Cox|1974|p=20-21,29}}

Thomas fought many battles to expand his control. In 1215, his troops fought in an alliance with [[Milan]] against Monferrato, destroying the town of Casale.{{sfn|Cognasso|1940|p=347|ps= vol.I}} In 1222, he captured [[Cavour, Piedmont|Cavour]].{{sfn|Cognasso|1940|p=27|ps= vol.II}} He also worked through diplomatic and economic means to expand his control. The county of Savoy long enjoyed control over critical passes through the [[Alps]]. In his quest to gain more control over [[Turin]], Thomas made an agreement with its rival Asti to reroute its French trade around Turin through [[Savoyard state|Savoyard lands]] in a treaty on 15 September 1224. In 1226, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Frederick II]] came to [[northern Italy]] and named Thomas Imperial Vicar of Lombardy. In this role, he mediated in a Genoese rebellion and a dispute between the town of [[Marseille]] and its bishop.{{sfn|Cox|1974|p=25-28}} Thomas also made a policy of granting franchises and charters to towns on key trade routes, which enabled the merchant class to develop more wealth and built support for his rule.{{sfn|Vaillant|1960}}

==Family and children==
In 1195, Thomas ambushed the party of Count [[William I of Geneva]], which was escorting the count's daughter, [[Margaret of Geneva]], to France for her intended wedding to King [[Philip II of France]]. Thomas carried off Margaret and married her himself.{{sfn|Gee|2002|p=177}} They had:
:# [[Amadeus IV of Savoy|Amadeus]], married Margaret d'Albon and later married Cecile de Beaux{{sfn|Gee|2002|p=177}}
:# Humbert, d. between March and November 1223
:# [[Thomas, Count of Flanders|Thomas]], lord and then count in [[Piedmont]] and founder of a line that became the [[Savoy-Achaea]], married Jeanne of Flanders, and later Beatrice de Fiesco{{sfn|Gee|2002|p=177}}
:# Aymon, d. 30 August 1237, Lord of [[Chablais]]
:# [[William of Savoy|William]], [[Bishop of Valence]] and Dean of [[Vienne, Isère|Vienne]]{{sfn|Shacklock|2021|p=24}}
:# Amadeus, [[Bishop of Maurienne]]
:# [[Peter II of Savoy|Peter]],{{sfn|Shacklock|2021|p=24}} who resided much in England, held the [[Honour of Richmond]], and ultimately in 1263 became the disputed count of Savoy
:# [[Philip I of Savoy|Philip]], [[archbishop of Lyon]],{{sfn|Shacklock|2021|p=24}} who resigned, through marriage became [[Count Palatine of Burgundy]] and ultimately in 1268 became the disputed count of Savoy
:# [[Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury|Boniface]], who became [[archbishop of Canterbury]]{{sfn|Shacklock|2021|p=24}}
:# [[Beatrice of Savoy|Beatrice]], d. 1265 or 1266, married in December 1219 to [[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence]] (1209–1245){{sfn|Gee|2002|p=177}}
:# Alice (1209–1277), abbess of the monastery of St Pierre in Lyon (1250–1277) 
:# Agatha, abbess of the monastery of St Pierre in Lyon (1277) following her sister's death (d. ?)
:# Margaret, d. 1273, married in 1218 to Hartmann IV of [[House of Kyburg#Family tree of the Kyburg family|Kyburg]]{{sfn|Cox|1974|p=463}}
:# Avita (1215–92)

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book | title=Quarante années de l'histoire des évêques de Valence  |last=Chevalier |first=J. | year=1889 | location=Paris }}
*{{cite book | title=Il Piemonte nell'Età Sveva  |last=Cognasso |first=Francesco | year=1968 | location=Turin }}
*{{cite book | title=Tommaso I ed Amedeo IV  |last=Cognasso |first=Francesco | year=1940 | location=Turin }}
*{{cite book | title=The Eagles of Savoy  |last=Cox |first=Eugene L. | year=1974 | publisher=Princeton University Press | location=Princeton | isbn=0691052166 }}
*{{cite book |title=Women, Art, and Patronage from Henry III to Edward III: 1216-1377 |first=Loveday Lewes |last=Gee |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2002 }}
*{{cite book |last=Previte-Orton |first=C.W. |title=The Early History of the House of Savoy: 1000-1233 |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofho00prevuoft |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1912 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Henry III and the Native Saints |first=Antonia |last=Shacklock |title=Thirteenth Century England XVII: Proceedings of the Cambridge Conference, 2017 |editor-first1=Andrew |editor-last1=Spencer |editor-first2=Carl |editor-last2=Watkins |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2021 |pages=23–40 }}
*{{cite journal | title=La Politique d'affranchisement des comtes de Savoie (1195-1401) | journal=Études historiques à la mémoire de Noël Didier | last=Vaillant | first=P. | year=1960 | location=Paris }}

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Savoy]]||1178|1 March|1233|name=Thomas I}}
{{S-reg}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Humbert III of Savoy|Humbert III]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[County of Savoy|Count of Savoy]] |years=1189–1233}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Amadeus IV of Savoy|Amadeus IV]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Counts of Savoy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Count of Savoy}}
[[Category:1170s births]]
[[Category:1233 deaths]]
[[Category:12th-century counts of Savoy]]
[[Category:13th-century counts of Savoy]]
[[Category:People from Savoie]]
[[Category:Imperial vicars]]