Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/552

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SAVOY


492


SAVOY


about calling a council in opposition to the pope. He drew up letters to the rulers of Christendom urging them to carrj' out this scheme which, on account of the alliance of the Florentines with Charles VIII, was not altogether beyond possibility.

In Florence itself the opposition to Savonarola grew more powerful, and an adversary- from the Franciscan Order offered to undergo the ordeal by fire in order to prove him in error. Savonarola himself did not want to take up the challenge, but some of his ardent ad- herents among the Dominicans declared themselves ready for it. The ordeal for both sides was to take place on 7 April, 1498, before a large public gathering. Everything was ready for the test, but it did not take place. Two people now turned against Savonarola. There were outbreaks, and the monasterj' of San Marco was attacked; Savonarola and a fellow-mem- ber of the order, Domenico da Pescia, were taken prisoners. The papal delegates, the general of the Dominicans and the Bishop of Ilerda were sent to Florence to attend the trial. The official proceed- ings, which were, however, falsified by the notary, still exist. The captured monks were tortured; Sa- vonarola's following in the city fell away. On 22 May, 1498, Savonarola and two other members of the order were condemned to death "on account of the enor- mous crimes of which they had been convicted". They were hanged on 25 May and their bodies burned. In the beginning Savonarola was filled with zeal, piety, and self-sacrifice for the regeneration of religious life. He was led to offend against these vir- tues by his fanaticism, obstinacy, and disobedience. He was not a heret ic in mat t ers of fait h . The erect ion of his statue at the foot of Luther's monument at Worms as a reputed "forerunner of the Reformation" is entirely unwarranted. Among his writings men- tion should be made of: "Triumi)hus Crucis de fidci veritate" (Florence, 1497), his chief work, an apol- ogy for Christianity; "Compendium revelationum " (Florence, 1495); "Scelta di prcdiche e scritti", ed. Villari-Casanova (Florence, 1898); "Trattato circa il Reggimento di Firenze", ed. Rians (Florence, 1848); further letters edited by Marchese in the "Archivio Btorico italiano", App. XIII (1850); poems edited by Rians (Florence, 1847). The "Dialogo della verita" (1497) and fifteen sermons were placed later on the Index.

Della Mirandola, Vila Savonarola, ed. Qu^tif (Paris, 1674); BcRLAMACCHi, Vita del Era G. Savonarola, ed. Mansi (Lucca, 1701 J; Gherardi, Kuoti documenli e sludi intorno a Gir. Savona- rola (2nd ed., Florence, 1887); Villari, Sloria di Gir. Savonarola (3rd ed., 2 vols., Florence, 1898); Cappelli, Fra. G. Savonirola e Xotizie inlomo al sua tempo (Slodena, 1809) ; Procter, II do- menicano Savonarola e la Riforma (Milan, 1897); Ferretti, Per la eaunn di Fra Gir. Savonarola (Milan, 1897); Pastor, History of the Popes, ed. Antrobu.s, V (St. Louis, 1902), pas-sim; Idem, Zur Beurteilung SavonaroUis (Freiburg, 1898) ; Luotto, Gir. Savoruirola (Florence, 1897;; Schnitzer, Quellen u. Fornchungen zur Gesch. Savonarolas, I-III (Munich, 1902 — ), IV (Leipzig, 1910); Olschki, Bibliolheca Savonaroliana (Florence, 1898); Rtdeh, Essays (London, 1911), s. v.; Hogan, A Great Reformer — Fra Gir. Savonarola in Irish Eccl. Record (Dublin, July, 1910); LuCA8, Fra Girolamo Savonarola (2nd ed., London, 1900) ; O'Neil, Jerome Savonarola (Boston, 1898); Idem, Was Savonarola really excammuriic/iledf (Boston, 1900).

J. P. KiRSCH.

Savoy (Ital. Savoja; Fr. Savoie), a district in the BOuth-<'a«tem part of France that extends from the Lake (Geneva to south of the River Arc, and forms tfwlay the French Departments of Savoie and Haut- Savoie. The House of Savoy which at the pre.sent time rules the Kingdom of Italy take« its name from thi.s countr>'. Savoy, the Roman Sahawlia, was in- habited in antiquity by the Celtic Allobroges who were conquenMl by the Romans in the first century be- fore Christ anfl gradually became Romanized. When in A. u. 437 the kingdom of the Germanic Burgun- dians, with Worms a.s its capital, was destroyed by the Hunnic horrlew. King flundikar anrl the greater num- ber of his people were kille<l. With the permission of the Roman general ^Etius, the remainder of the Bur-


gundians, with Gundiok as their ruler, settled in Sa- baudia, as allies of the Romans, and after the fall of tlie Roman power they estabhslied a new kingdom which, towards the end of the fifth century, extended over the entire basin of the Rhone :is far as the Ce- vennes and to the Mediterranean. In 532 Savoy was incorporated along with this Burgundian kingdom in the Prankish emp)ire. During the supremacy of the Franks the people changed from Arianism to Catholi- cism. In the ninth century the Empire of the Franks was divided into several kingtloms, and Savoy fell to the Kingdom of Aries, or Ix)wer Burgundy, which was founded in 879 by Count Boso of Vienne. Together with this territor^^ it pivssefl in 930 to the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, established in 887 by the Guelpli Rudolph between the Swiss Jura Alps and the Pennine Alps. Rudoli)h III (964-10.32) had no direct heirs, and bequeathed his land to the German Emperors Henry II and Conrad II who were related to him. After Rudolph's deatli Conrad II main- tained his claim to the country' against Odo of Cham- pagne, the candidate whom a number of Burgun- dian spiritual and secular lords set up for the throne.

In these struggles much aid was given the German ruler by a Burgundian noble. Count Humbert White Hands of Savoy; for these services the count was re- warded with large gifts of land. The ancestors of this Humbert came apparently from eastern Saxony, not far from Magdeburg; the earliest known members of the family are the brothers Amadeus and Humbert, who are mentioned in the second half of the tenth cen- tury. The oldest possessions of the line of Savoy were the counties of Maurienne (the upper valley of the River Arc), Savoy (the district between Arc, Isere, and the middle course of the Rhone), and also Belley, with Bugey as its chief town. In the eleventh centun,' there was added to this territory' the valley of Aosta, the Tarantaise (the upper valley of the Isere), and Chablais (the district on the Rhone between Martigny and Lake Geneva). About 1050 Hum- bert's son Odo married Adelaide, the oldest daughter and heiress of Count Manfred of Turin, and by this marriage the House of Savoj' gained large pos- sessions in Italy, particularly the greater part of Pied- mont, while at the same time the possessions east and west of the Alps were joined together. Odo's second son, Amadeus II, aided his brother-in-law, the Em- peror Henrj^ lY, while on his e\^ledition to Canossa, in return for which Henry resigned to him the secu- lar administration of five Italian dioceses. After the death of his mother Adelaide, Humbert II took pos- session of the Italian inheritance (1091). His son Amadeus III joined the Second Crusade and died in 1149 on the Island of Cyprus while returning home. Thomas I (1189-1233), grand.son of .Vmadeus, as im- perial vicar did much to aid Frederick II, and en- larged his possessions by acquiring Chamb(^ry, Ro- mont, etc. His eight sons divided the inheritance among themselves, yet the eldest Amadeus IV (1233- 53), who was an adherent of Frederick II in his con- test with the popes, maintained a certain supremacy over his brothers. Of all 1 lie brothers only Thomas II (d. 12.59) left any male heirs; his sons Thomas III and Ama/leus V were the founders of the two lines of Sa- voy and Piedmont that were reunited in 1418.

Amadeus V (128.5-1323), who inherited Savoy, ob- tained in 1290 the secvdar governorship of the city of Geneva. He accompanied Henry VII on his expedi- tion to Italy, and was, as a reward, made a prince of the empire (1311). He was succeeded by his sons Edward (1323-29) and Aymon (1329-43). The lat- ter by marriage gained a claim to Montferrat. Ay- mon's son Amadeus VI (1343-83), called the "Queen Count" because of the colour of his ensign at tourna- ments, was a famous warrior who fought over half of Europe and in 1300 battled against the Turks in Greece; he won Vaud, Gex, and parts of the dioceses