Philip I of Savoy (Aiguebelle, 1207 - Rossillon, 15 August 1285) was Count of Savoy and Count of Aosta and Moriana from 1268 to 1285 and count consort of Burgundy from 1267 to 1278. He was also Bishop of Valence and Archbishop of Lyon. He was the son of the Count of Savoy, Thomas I, and of Margaret of Geneva, daughter of the Count of Geneva, William I.
Being the octavogenite of Count Tommaso I of Savoy, he had been destined for an ecclesiastical career and had not been slow to obtain considerable offices in Flanders; he was bishop of Lausanne, then of Valence and finally archbishop of Lyon around 1248; it had benefits in Flanders, France and England, without being forced to take sacred orders, as was the use of the times. After giving up ecclesiastical care, in 1267 he married the fifty-eight widow of Hugh of Chalon, Alice of Merania (1209 - 1279), or Adelaide I of Burgundy, daughter of Countess Beatrice II of Burgundy and the Duke of Merania and Andechs, Otto I of Merania, became Count of Burgundy, because of the marriage.
Although sixty years old and having always lived dealing with ecclesiastical problems, but peaceful, he had to take over the reins of the county. The following year, for the death of his brother, Peter II of Savoy, which took place on 12 May 1268, he also inherited the title of Count of Savoy. He united those of Morat and Berna to his States and for these possessions in Switzerland he had to war against Rudolph Count of Hapsburg, the progenitor of the house of Austria, elected king of the Romans and crowned in October of 1273. He led a bitter struggle and, in the end, he found an honorable solution with the peace of Lausanne. In 1279, widowed, he ceded the title of Count of Burgundy to the son of the first bed of his wife Adelaide (or Alice), Otto IV of Burgundy (1248 - 1302), and retired to Savoy. When under the pontificate of Pope Nicholas III (1277-1280), the emperor, Rudolf of Habsburg wanted to recreate the kingdom of Arles had to deal with Charles I of Anjou and the following agreement was found: At the time of the marriage between the nephew of Carlo, Carlo Martello, son of Carlo lo Zoppo and Clemenza, daughter of Rodolfo, the emperor would have reconstituted the kingdom of Arles for Carlo lo Zoppo who would have to immediately surrender it to the two young spouses.
The agreement, while waiting for Carlo Martello to reach the canonical age by marriage, had numerous opponents: Count Filippo I of Savoy, Duke Robert II of Burgundy, Count of Franche-Comté, Otto IV of Burgundy and various other feudal lords of the Provence and Burgundy. However, the ambitions of Charles on the kingdom of Arles, with all his other ambitions, were made vain by the defeat suffered following the Sicilian vespers.
In Savoy, Philip reigned seventeen years, meritorious of the Catholic Church, and died on 15 or 16 August 1285 in the castle of Rousillon-en-Bugey, between Lyon and Geneva. Not having offspring, extinguished the sonship and direct descendants of Thomas I of Savoy, he succeeded to the throne his nephew Amedeo, son of his brother Tommaso II, already count of Flanders, who for the obtained prerogative was the jamb of the counts of Piedmont.
Under his reign, the city of Turin returned to the Savoy (1280) thanks to his nephew Tommaso III of Savoy, to whom Filippo had entrusted the territories on this side of the Alps to Signorina. Tommaso III had in fact captured the Marquis of Monferrato Guglielmo VII while he was crossing the Alps, headed to Spain, and had forced him to sign the sale of Turin, then in his possession.
With Filippo I ended the so-called Branca comitale dei Savoia; it was buried in the Abbey of Altacomba and today there are only the tomb stones of the count, when the abbey was occupied by the Jacobins who forced his tomb and destroyed the remains, along with those of other representatives of Savoy.