Showing posts with label Duke of Savoy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duke of Savoy. Show all posts

2 September 2018

Marie Josephine of Savoy

Italian noblewoman who became titular Queen of France


Detail from a portrait of Marie Josephine by the French royal portraitist Jean-Martial Frédou
Detail from a portrait of Marie Josephine by the
French royal portraitist Jean-Martial Frédou
Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy, who married the future King Louis XVIII of France, was born Maria Giuseppina Luigia on this day in 1753 at the Royal Palace in Turin.

She became a Princess of France and Countess of Provence after her marriage, but died before her husband actually became the King of France.

Marie Josephine was the third child of prince Victor Amadeus of Savoy and Infanta Maria Antonio Ferdinanda of Spain.

Her paternal grandfather, Charles Emmanuel III, was King of Sardinia and so her parents were the Duke and Duchess of Savoy.  Her brothers were to become the last three Kings of Sardinia, the future Charles Emmanuel IV, Victor Emmanuel I and Charles Felix.

At the age of 17, Marie Josephine was married by proxy to Prince Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, the younger brother of the Dauphin, Louis Auguste, who was fated to become Louis XVI of France and to be executed by guillotine.

After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Count and Countess of Provence stayed in France with the King and Marie Antoinette, but when their situation became too dangerous they successfully escaped to the Austrian Netherlands.

Marie Josephine as a child before her marriage to Prince Louis Stanislas, the future Louis XVIII
Marie Josephine as a child before her marriage
to Prince Louis Stanislas, the future Louis XVIII
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette also tried to leave the country but were arrested in the small town of Varennes and were taken back to face charges of treason and ultimately to be executed.

In 1795, the only surviving son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who was regarded by the exiled French Court as Louis XVII, died in his prison. Marie Josephine’s husband was therefore proclaimed by loyalists as Louis XVIII and Marie Josephine then became regarded as titular Queen of France.

After years of moving from place to place, often separately, the couple were reunited in England and allowed to set up a French exile court in Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire, where Marie Josephine died in 1810.

She had a magnificent funeral attended by many French royalist sympathisers, whose names were recorded by spies and sent to Napoleon.

Members of the British Royal family followed her funeral cortege in a carriage and saw her laid to rest in the Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey. But her body was removed a year later and taken to the Kingdom of Sardinia, where it was buried in Cagliari Cathedral.

The Palazzo Reale in Turin, by night
The Palazzo Reale in Turin, by night
Travel tip:

The Royal Palace of Turin, the Palazzo Reale, where Maria Josephine was born, was built by Emmanuel Philibert, who was Duke of Savoy from 1528 to 1580.  He chose the location in Piazza Castello because it had an open and sunny position. In 1946 the building became the property of the state and in 1997 it became a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The Cattedrale di Santa Maria e Santa Cecilia in Cagliari
The Cattedrale di Santa Maria e
Santa Cecilia in Cagliari
Travel tip:

The Cathedral in Cagliari in Sardinia, which was the final resting place of Marie Josephine, is in the medieval quarter of the city called Castello. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria and Santa Cecilia was built in the 13th century. Marie Josephine’s brother, Charles Felix, had an imposing monument erected over her grave, where she is described as ‘wise, prudent, kindest’ and ‘Queen of the Gauls’.

More reading:

Charles Emmanuel IV - the King of Sardinia descended from Charles I of England

The first Victor Emmanuel

The reign of Victor Amadeus of Savoy

Also on this day:

1898: The birth of chocolatier Pietro Ferrero

1938: The birth of actor and stuntman Giuliano Gemma

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30 August 2018

Emanuele Filiberto – Duke of Savoy

Ruler who made Turin the capital of Savoy


A  portrait of Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of  Savoy, by an unknown artist
A  portrait of Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of
Savoy, by an unknown artist
Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, who was nicknamed testa di ferro (iron head) because of his military prowess, died on this day in 1580 in Turin.

After becoming Duke of Savoy he recovered most of the lands his father Charles III had lost to France and Spain and he restored economic stability to Savoy.

Emanuele Filiberto was born in 1528 in Chambery, now part of France. He grew up to become a skilled soldier and served in the army of the emperor Charles V, who was the brother-in-law of his mother, Beatrice of Portugal, during his war against Francis I of France. He distinguished himself by capturing Hesdin in northern France in July 1553.

When he succeeded his father a month later he began the reacquisition of his lands.

His brilliant victory over the French at Saint Quentin in northern France in 1557 on the side of the Spanish helped to consolidate his power in Savoy.

Emanuele Filiberto, as portrayed by the Italian painter Giorgio Soleri
Emanuele Filiberto, as portrayed by the
Italian painter Giorgio Soleri
The peace of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559 ended the wars between Charles V and the French Kings and restored part of the Duchy of Savoy back to Emanuele Filiberto on the understanding that he would marry Margaret of France, the sister of King Henry II. They had one child, Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy, who succeeded him as duke.

Emanuele Filiberto took advantage of the political struggles between the European powers to slowly increase his domain.

The city of Turin was part of the territory he recovered from the French and he moved Savoy’s capital from Chambery to Turin in 1562, fortifying and enlarging the city. He also substituted Italian for Latin as the official language of Savoy.

Just before his death in the city at the age of 52 he was arranging for Savoy to acquire the Marquisate of Saluzzo.

Emanuele Filiberto was buried in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin Cathedral.

Turin's duomo - the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista
Turin's duomo - the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista
Travel tip:

Turin Cathedral, or the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista as the Duomo is known in Italian, was built between 1491 and 1498 on the site of an old Roman theatre. Emanuele Filiberto is one of the members of the House of Savoy buried there, while others are buried in the Basilica di Superga on the outskirts of the city.

Emanuele Filiberto brought the Shroud of Turin (above) to Turin from Chambery in France
Emanuele Filiberto brought the Shroud of Turin (above)
to Turin from Chambery in France
Travel tip:

It is fitting that Emanuele Filiberto is buried in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud as he was responsible for having the Shroud brought from Chambery in France to the Duomo in Turin in 1578 and it has remained there ever since.  A project for the enlargement of the Duomo in order to create a more luxurious home for the Shroud was begun in 1649 by Bernardino Quadri and completed by Guarino Guarini.  In 2002 the Shroud was restored so that the reverse side of the cloth could be photographed for the first time. In 2013 high definition images of the Shroud were put out on the internet and on television. These could be magnified on computers to show details not visible to the naked eye.  Pope Francis urged people to contemplate the Shroud with awe but he stopped short of asserting its authenticity.

More reading:

The Duke of Savoy responsible for a notorious massacre

Why Savoy duke Victor Amadeus I may have been poisoned

Iolanda of Savoy - the banished princess

Also on this day:

1585: The death of composer Andrea Gabrieli

1860: The birth of New York crime fighter Joe Petrosino


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12 June 2017

Charles Emmanuel II - Duke of Savoy

Ruler who was notorious for massacre of Protestant minority


Charles Emmanuel II's good work for Turin was overshadowed by his persecution of minority
Charles Emmanuel II's good work for Turin was
overshadowed by his persecution of minority
Charles Emmanuel II, who was Duke of Savoy for almost his whole life, died on this day in 1675 in Turin.

His rule was notorious for his persecution of the Valdesi – a Christian Protestant movement widely known as the Waldenses that originate in 12th century France, whose base was on the Franco-Italian border.

In 1655, he launched an attack on the Valdesi that turned into a massacre so brutal that it sent shockwaves around Europe and prompted the English poet, John Milton, to write the sonnet On the Late Massacre in Piedmont.

The British political leader Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, proposed to send the British Navy if the massacre and subsequent attacks were not halted, and raised funds for helping the Waldensians.

More positively, Charles Emmanuel II was responsible for improving commerce and creating wealth in the Duchy. He was a driver in developing the port of Nice and building a road through the Alps towards France.

He also reformed the army so that it did not rely on mercenaries, forming five Piedmontese regiments and reviving the cavalry, as well as introducing a standardised uniform.

Charles Emmanuel with his mother Christine Maria
Charles Emmanuel with his mother Christine Maria
Charles Emmanuel restored crumbling fortifications and many of Turin’s most beautiful buildings were built on his initiative. He also continued the development of the Palazzo Reale, which had been built by mother, Christine Marie of France, during her regency, as a new residence for the Court of Savoy.

He was born in Turin in June 1634. His father was Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, who died when Charles Emmanuel was just three. His maternal grandparents were Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de' Medici.

Charles Emmanuel was only four when he succeeded to the title following the death of his older brother, Francis Hyacinth. Because of his age, his mother governed as regent. He showed little interest in affairs of state himself as he grew up and even after turning 18, when he might have taken charge in his own right, he invited his mother to extend her regency, allowing him to continue to enjoy the carefree life of a wealthy young man.

It was only with the death of his mother in 1663 that he was forced to take responsibility for governing the Duchy.  Apart from his persecution of the Valdesi, he also flexed his military muscles in a war against Genoa which was inconclusive.

Charles Emmanuel was Duke of Savoy from the age of four years old
Charles Emmanuel was Duke of Savoy
from the age of four years old
His first marriage was rather forced on him by his mother, who paired him with Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans, daughter of her younger brother, Gaston, Duke of Orléans. They were married in April 1663 but the marriage lasted less than one year because of the death of his new wife in 1664. They had no children.

This freed him to marry Marie Jeanne of Savoy, whom he had first met in 1659 and fallen in love with her. They married in May 1665 and had one son, who would become Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, future King of Sicily and later Sardinia.

Charles Emmanuel II is also thought to have fathered at least five illegitimate children by three different mistresses.

He died in Turin a few days short of what would have been his 41st birthday, leaving his wife to act as regent on behalf of Victor Amadeus.  He is buried in Turin’s Duomo – the Cathedral of St John the Baptist.

The Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista in Turin
The Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista in Turin
Travel tip:

The Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista, to give the Turin Duomo its Italian name, is the seat of the Archbishops of Turin. It was built between 1491–98 on the site of an old Roman theatre and adjacent to an earlier campanile built in 1470. Designed by Guarino Guarini, the Chapel of the Holy Shroud – the resting place of the Shroud of Turin - was added in 1668–94, Guarini having been called in to complete a project begun in 1649 by Bernardino Quadri at the behest of Charles Emmanuel II.

The Palazzo Reale is at the heart of Turin
The Palazzo Reale is at the heart of Turin
Travel tip:

The Royal Palace of Turin – the Palazzo Reale – was built on the site of what had been the Bishop’s Palace, built by Emmanuel Philibert, who was Duke of Savoy from 1528 to 1580, who chose the site because it had an open and sunny position close to other court buildings. Opposite is the Palazzo Vecchio or the Palazzo di San Giovanni, which was later replaced by the grand Ducal Palace. In 1946, the building became the property of the state and was turned into a museum. In 1997, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.