Peter_I,_Count_of_Savoy
Peter I (c. 1048 – 29 December 1081) was a French politician and military commander who as Duke of Savoy was able to keep the rebellious Cisalpine Counts under French rule, and maintain control over his inheritance of Piedmont from his step father in the 11th century. He ruled only nominally in the beginning of his rule, as true power was in the hands of his uncle, Burchad de Savoy from 1060-1063. Peter involved Savoy in a couple of wars within the Holy Roman Empire making the House of Savoy one of the more powerful houses in their realm.
Upon coming of age Peter and his brother Amadeus and some of the court made for the Imperial Court at Klingenberg to swear allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich IV who was also his Brother in Law by Peter's sister, Bertha marrying him. Peter returned to Moutiers. The Bishop of Savoy it is believed attempted to blackmail the Duke into bribing him so that he would not declare that Peter's marriage to Agnes of Poitiers was incestous by nature. The Bishop died by mysterious circumstance some time later only for it to be traced back to Peter raising tensions between the already strained nobility and clergy of the empire. The Duke of Swabia was married to Peter's other sister so when Duke Berthold of Carinthia attempted to seat one of his sons on the Swabian Dukedom Peter intervened. After the Corinthians army forced the Swabians to retreat, Peter took charge and led the French to a decisive victory at the Battle of Konstanz even more so by Gerard of Geneva slaying Gebhardt Zahringen, the claimant and Berthold's son. This would later prove irrelevant as one of Berthold's other sons staged a coup against Rudolf von Rheinfelden, and seized the duchy, but Peter's sister soon died and the ties to the Rheinfelden's ended. The following years proved uneventful as Pierre desperately tried to get a son which was granted in 1074. The rebellious Italian backed lords in Cuneo and Monferrato were put down. His mother, Adelaide of Susa passed in 1080. The Duke of Provence, Upper Burgundy, and the Count of Lyon rose up against Heinrich's successor, Heinrich V. As he was 12 Duke Peter's sister, the Empress Mother Bertha of Savoy ruled the Empire. Peter's proximity to the rebels allowed for him to strike first to protect his nephew's throne, meeting the rebels at the Battle of Villars. This battle was a draw and saw a French retreat and regrouping with the Emperors men, but the rebel lords lost many men which unlike the Emperor they could not replace. From there they pushed on to Lyons placing it under siege and would fall soon after capturing the Count. Peter then moved his men to Foix, but in the middle of the siege Peter dropped dead at the age of 34.
