Faucigny

Faucigny is a village and municipality of the Haute-Savoie "département" of France. Municipal population (1999): 413.

Historically, Faucigny was a region in Savoy which included the area of the modern "département" of Haute Savoie and the municipalities of Chamonix, Argentière, and Les Houches.

Geography

In the Faucigny region, the Arve River flows through the low-lying, agricultural Arve Valley. The village of Faucigny is at an elevation of approximately 639 m., northeast of La Roche-sur-Foron, and about 20 km. southeast of the city of Geneva. The village lies on a river terrace on the eastern side of the Arve Valley.

History

The fertile valley of the Aver and the area around Faucigny were already settled in neolithic times, and there are numereous Roman ruins. Legend suggests that the area was the estates of the Roman family Falcinius. It was known by various names in the Middle Ages: Falciniacum, Fociniacum and Fossiniacum, but the first documented name was Fulciniaco. Around 930 a castle was built on a rocky promintory overlooking the Aver. The castle was the regional governmental seat from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. The barons of Faucigny dominated the valley of the Arve and its tributray the Giffre, the Arly as far as Flumet, and the valley of Doron de Beaufort (Beaufortain). During this time, suzerainty over Faucigny was contested between the House of Savoy and the Dauphin de Viennois. In 1253, Pierre II of Savoy acquired Faucigny by marrying Agnès, the daughter of the Baron de Faucigny. Their daughter, Béatrix, inherited the province in 1268. Béatrix married Guigues VII and the lands came under the Dauphin de Viennois. Savoy fought to regain the Faucigny region, but was unsuccessful and Faucigny became part of France in 1349 as part of the purchase from Humbert II de La Tour du Pin, Dauphin de Viennois of the Dauphiné lands. Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, challenged this purchase and defeated the French in 1354. The Faucigny was transferred to the House of Savoy as part of the peace Treaty of Paris (1355). Recently Faucigny has come up in the news again as 12 cars were burned in the 2005 French riots.

References

* Collectif (1998), "Décourvrir l'Histoire de la Savoie", Centre de la Culture Savoyarde
* "Dictionnaire d'Amboise. Pays de Savoie". Editions Amboise. 1989. 2e édition

External links

* [http://joan-of-arc-studies.org/index.php?Gazetteer-Faucigny Gazetteer Entry for Faucigny]