The fertile valley of the Arve and the area around Faucigny were already settled in
Neolithic times, and there are numerous Roman ruins. Legend suggests that the area was the estates of the Roman family Falcinius. It was known by various names in the
Middle Ages: Falciniacum, Fociniacum and Fossiniacum, but the first documented name was Fulciniaco. Around 930 a castle was built on a rocky promontory overlooking the Arve. The castle was the regional governmental seat from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. The barons of Faucigny dominated the valley of the Arve and its tributary the Giffre, the Arly as far as Flumet, and the valley of Doron de Beaufort (Beaufortain). During this time, suzerainty over Faucigny was contested between the
House of Savoy and the
Dauphin de Viennois. In 1253, Pierre II of Savoy acquired Faucigny by marrying
Agnès, the daughter of the Baron de Faucigny. Their daughter,
Béatrix, inherited the province in 1268. Béatrix married
Guigues VII and the lands came under the
Dauphin de Viennois. Savoy fought to regain the Faucigny region, but was unsuccessful and Faucigny became part of France in 1349 as part of the purchase from
Humbert II de La Tour du Pin, Dauphin de Viennois of the
Dauphiné lands.
Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, challenged this purchase and defeated the French in 1354. Then Faucigny was transferred to the
House of Savoy as part of the peace
Treaty of Paris (1355). Recently Faucigny has come up in the news again as twelve cars were burned in the 2005 French riots. ==Twin towns — sister cities==