Savoy, << suh VOY, >> was, until 1946, the oldest reigning family in Europe. Humbert (also spelled Umberto), count of Savoy, founded the house in the early 1000’s. The family originally ruled a few small states on the slopes of the Alps in northwestern Italy. In the early 1400’s, it won control of the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. The family later acquired more land, and it extended its rule over all Italy as a result of a series of wars fought between 1859 and 1870. The family lost the Italian throne in 1946, when the Italian people voted to make Italy a republic. See also Victor Emmanuel II; Victor Emmanuel III.
