The coat of arms of the House of Savoy - and later of the country of Savoy - shows a white cross on red background. It was probably awarded to the dynasty in the 14th century, when the Counts of Savoy ascended to princes of the German Empire. One symbol of the Empire was the black eagle on golden ground, which reappears in the arms of Savoy as imperial vicars, another - especially in this time - the white cross on red. The eagle also appeared again and again, until modern times, on a heart shied in the coat of arms, and sometimes even on flags of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont (until 1861).
The provinces (or governorates) that existed until the French Revolution were historically grown entities that had often developed from former fiefdoms of the French crown, historical counties and duchies, often existed for hundreds of years and had preserved regional characteristics (cultural peculiarities and regional languages). Such phenomena were naturally undesirable to the French Revolution, and in the context of its bloody and violent egalitarianism, all regional references were eradicated. Shortly after the Revolution, the provinces were dissolved and France was divided into many small départements, which were to be approximately the same size and have the same status, controlled by prefects of the central administration in Paris. The departments were named after rivers or mountains so as not to use the names of any of the old provinces. However, it was not possible to sever the ties between the inhabitants of France and their respective historically grown regions, so that in 1960 regions were created again. There can hardly be said to be any real autonomy. The regions are only supposed to promote the economic, social, health, cultural and scientific development of the region, keep an eye on housing and living conditions, and provide support in some areas, e.g. urban development policy, urban regeneration, regional planning, preservation of regional identity and promotion of regional languages. When the regions were formed, departments located in a particular historical province were administratively grouped together into a region that often had the same historical name. The resulting entities only roughly corresponded to the boundaries of historical provinces. In strictly centralised France, however, any form of responsible regionalism is avoided. The regions do not even have their own seals with which to mark their own legally binding decisions, because there are no plans to introduce such a thing. Therefore, anything to do with coats of arms or flags is completely irrelevant. The logos of the regions are used generally, sometimes with the colours reversed and placed arbitrarily on flags or banners. There are no rules, as they are not official symbols. The logos and flags of the regions therefore often look like company logos: Unloving, unhistorical, technocratic and modernistic. That is why most of these regions have a kind of unofficial heraldic flag, which is intended to recall historical heraldic models. However, these are merely decorative in nature and are not a symbol of sovereign functions. The regions created in 1960 were even called into question in 2014, and a territorial reform was decided – centrally from Paris – which reduced the number of regions by almost half through mergers. The regions and their institutions were not even consulted on this matter.
antiquity · Settlement by the ancient Celtic tribe of the Allobroges
121 B.C. · conquest by the Roman Empire, to the province of Alpes Vallis et Graiae Poeninae
443 · settlement of Burgunds by the Roman Empire
534 · conquest by the Franks
814 · death of Charles the Great (King of the Franks and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire)
843 · inheritance disputes, contract of Wirten (Verdun), the Frankish Empire is divided among the three grandsons of Charles the Great, Lothar I. gets the middle kingdom, consisting of "Lotharingia" (from Burgundy to Friesland), Burgundy and Italy
870 · Treaty of Meersen, Svoyen comes to the Kingdom of Italy
879/880 · Treaty of Verdun and Ribemont, Savoy comes to Upper Burgundy
934 · Savoy comes to the Kingdom of Burgundy, belonging to the County of Vienne
1023 · the Archbishop of Vienne Vienne acquires the county
1025 · Humbert I. acquires the Aosta Valley, the County of Vienne gets divided, the northern part comes to Humbert I. in fief
1401 · acquisition of Geneva County (but not the city of Geneva itself)
1416 · the Counts of Savoy become dukes
1534–1536 · loss of territories in today's Switzerland (Geneva, Valais, Vaud)
1536–1559 · Savoy is annexed by France, the residence of the Dukes is moved from Chambéry to Turin
1601 · Western Savoy - western of Rive Rhone - (Bresse, Bugey, Valromey und Gex) is ceded to France
1701–1713 · Spanish War of Succession
1714 · Peace Treaty of Utrecht, the House of Savoy acquires the Kingdom of Sicily
1718 · in exchange for the Kingdom of Sardinia, Sicily comes to the House of Savoy
1720 · unification of Savoy-Piedmont with the Kingdom of Sardinia, the title of King of Sardinia comes in this way to the Duke of Savoy, establish of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont by the House of Savoy
1814/15 · Congress of Vienna, reorganization of Europe after the Napoleonic era, restoration of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, the Republic of Genoa gets annexed by Sardinia-Piedmont
1848 · in almost all of Italy uprising of the people's movement "Giovine Italia" under Mazzini and Garibaldi, Charles Albert of Sardinia-Piedmont sets himself at the top of the uprising, the Italian uprising ends in disagreement
1859 · Italian War of Independence against Austria, the Lombardy gets annexed by Sardinia-Piedmont
1860 · Guastalla, Parma, Modena, Tuscany and the Romagna become annexed by Sardinia-Piedmont, Savoy and Nice were to cede to France, Savoy gets divided into the départements of Haute-Savoie and Savoie
17th of March 1861 · coronation of Victor Emmanuel II. of Sardinia-Piedmont to the King of the Kingdom of Italy
1960 · reintroduction of regions in France, Savoy doesn't play a role, affiliation with the newly created Rhône-Alpes region (capital: Lyon), of course not within the historic boundaries, just by integrating of the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie and merge withe the departments of Ain, Ardèche, Drôme, Isère, Loire and Rhône
2016 · the Rhône-Alpes region merges with the Auvergne region in the new, larger region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (capital: Lyon)
