Agnes of Savoy
Overview
Biography
(See also Genealogical Table(s): 2, 4.1, 5)
Agnes was the daughter of Agnes of Aquitaine and Peter I of Savoy, thus the granddaughter of Adelaide of Turin and Susa. She married Frederick of Montbéliard, bringing with her the title of Marquis of Turin, after the deaths of her father and uncle Amadeus. Agnes and Frederick must have been married by 1080, when Frederick became the Marquis. Adelaide however continued to govern until her death in 1091. Agnes had three sons with Frederick, Peter, Bruno and Sigfred, according to the Chronicle of Bernold of Constance (Pertz, MGH Scriptores 5.454, cited by Carutti, Regesta Comitum Sabaudiae, 80). According to one charter of donation, she eventually retired to a monastery.
Through his mother Frederick was a first cousin of Matilda of Tuscany (“he was the son of lady Sophia and count Louis, who (Sophia) was the aunt of Matilda,” “Erat autem filius domnae Sophiae et Ludowici comitis, quae erat matertera Mathildis,” Bernoldi, Chronicon, 1092, loc.cit. cited by Prev Ort 244, n.3). Sophia as the daughter of Frederick II, duke of Upper Lorraine and Matilda of Swabia, was sister to Beatrice, Matilda’s mother . Other family connections with Matilda: Adelaide and Matilda were second cousins, Adelaide’s first husband, Hermann of Swabia was a first cousin of Matilda’s mother.
Towards the end of her life, in 1110, Agnes made a grant to Fruttuaria, a monastery in St. Benigno. The donation is recorded in a document from pope Paschal II, which also describes other donations. I cite only the part that confirms Agnes’s donation:
Paschalis Episcopus, Servus Servorum Dei, dilecto filio Almeo Fructuariensis Monasterii Abbati, & Monachis salutem, & apostolicam benedictionem. Religiosis desideriis dignum est facilem praebere consensum, ut fidelis devotio celerem sortiatur effectum. Agnes siquidem Comitissa, Petri Marchionis filia, quae derelicto saeculo Monasterii quietem elegit, medietatem Villaenovae Monasterio vestro contulit, cum omni integritate, ac libertate, qua eam ipsa tenuerat. Quam collationem nostra petiit auctoritate firmari. Proinde nos illius, & vestris per confratrem nostrum Mainardum Taurinensem Episcopum precibus annuentes, praesenti decreto sancimus, ut eadem Villaenovae medietas, semper in Monasterii vestri possessione permaneat. (Samuel Guichenon, L’Histoire Généalogique de la maison royale de Savoye v.2 Preuves, p.24.)
Paschal, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son Almeus, abbot of the monastery of Fruttuaria, and the monks, greetings and apostolic blessing. It is worthy to offer easy consent to religious desires, so that faithful devotion may achieve a swift effect. Agnes, indeed, countess, daughter of marquis Peter, who chose the quiet of the monastery, having left the world, conferred half of Villanova on your monastery, with all the integrity and freedom with which she held it. Which bestowal she asked to be secured by our authority. Therefore we, assenting to your prayers through our brother bishop Mainard of Turin, affirm that by the present decree, that half of Villanova remain always in the possession of your monastery.