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Sapaudia or Sabaudia was an Alpine territory during Late Antiquity and the Dark Ages.
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Name
The name is a Latinization of the local words for "forest" or "upland forest", although it is often glossed as "fir" from the roughly similar Latin sapinus. It developed first into Saboia and thence into Italian Savoia (Savoy; French: Savoie).
History
Sapaudia first appears in Ammianus Marcellinus, who described it as the southern district of Provincia Maxima Sequanorum, the land of the Sequani enlarged by the Diocletian Reforms. It originally covered the area around Lake Neuchâtel, the land of the ancient Allobroges. Its prefect appeared in the late Roman List of Offices.
During the 5th century, the Burgundians settled in the area, forming the Kingdom of the Burgundians, the capital of which was Lugdunum Segusianorum (Lyon). For centuries thereafter, the names Burgundy and Sapaudia/Savoy became closely linked.
In the mid-9th century, Sapaudia was ruled by the Bosonid duke Hucbert as part of the realm of Upper Burgundy. In 933, it was incorporated into Rudolph II's Kingdom of Arles.
Humbert the White-Handed was made count over the area by Rudolph III. For his support of the emperor Henry II, he received the secular dignities of the bishop of Aosta as Aosta's new count following the death of Bishop Anselm. (Anselm's less supportive nephew Burchard was permitted to succeed to the diocese.) Upon Rudolph's death in 1032, Humbert accepted the emperor Conrad II's annexation of Arles and supported him in suppressing the revolts of Count Odo and Bishop Burchard. For this, he was rewarded with the county of Maurienne (carved out of the diocese of Vienne) and territory in Chablais and Tarentaise, carved from the diocese of Tarentaise at Moûtiers. This expanded territory became known as the county of Savoy.