Amadeus VII (24 February 1360 – 1 November 1391), known as the Red Count, was Count of Savoy from 1383 to 1391.
Biography
Amadeus was born in Chambéry on 24 February 1360, the son of Count Amadeus VI of Savoy and Bonne of Bourbon. In 1382, summoned by Charles VI of France, he led Savoyard troops to victory against Flemish rebels at the Battle of Roosebeke. After his father's death in 1383, his mother and grandmother fought over the regency. In 1384, in order to suppress a revolt against his relative Edward of Savoy, Bishop of Sion, Amadeus led an army that attacked and pillaged Sion. Nice became part of the domains of the House of Savoy on 28 September 1388, when Amadeus VII, taking advantage of the internal struggles in Provence, negotiated the transfer with Giovanni Grimaldi, baron of Boglio (governor of Nice and the Eastern Provence) of Nice and the Ubaye Valley to the Savoy domains, with the name of Terre Nuove di Provenza. Amadeus' father, Amadeus VI, the Green Count, was credited with purchasing the territory of the mountain pass, the Col de Largentièes, today Maddalena Pass on the border of France and Italy, for the sum of 60,000 ecus, but this took place in 1388 after his death. The Col de Largentière was of great strategic and commercial importance because it linked Lyon with Italy; it offered an easy route between Piedmont and the outlying valley of Barcelonnette, which came into Savoyard possession when Amadeus VII, or his father, transferred it from the County of Provence to the County of Nice.
On 1 November 1391, Amadeus died from tetanus, as a result of a hunting accident.