Upon the death of Bishop Anselm in 1026, however, Conrad the Salic ensured that the secular powers of the important Alpine territory passed to the bishop's brother-in-law, his ally Humbert the White-handed, rather than remaining tied to the diocese, which fell to Anselm's unfriendly nephew Burchard.

[4] Duke Emmanuel Philibert made French the official language of the duchy in 1561,[5] but it retained its own traditional institutions as late as 1766.

[7] According to Jean-Baptiste de Tillier (died 1744): The duchy of Aosta has always been a state, forming a single undivided body.

The seventy-eight church-towers, or rather the cities, towns, parishes and separate communities which exist in the Valley, are members of this state.

Reflecting trends often found in the Italian states as a whole, many Aostan knights were familiar with both the local castle court cultures of the lands they often helped to govern and the larger-scale courts of the Savoyard state which variously competed with, governed over, hired from, and worked with noble families that produced knights.