Thomas, Count of Savoy, died in 1233 a relatively obscure nobleman -- but his seven sons and two daughters rose to fame, fortune, and involvement in almost every international conflict in western Europe during the next fifty years. From Scotland to Sicily, they gained access to and marriage within every important royal house in Europe. Observed Joseph Bedier, "They did not pride themselves upon their own prowess, but upon their lineage, and each of them rejoiced to contemplate in the others, as in so many mirrors, his own image multiplied."