Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia
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Victor Emmanuel I (July 24, 1759 – January 10, 1824) was the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, and Aosta, and King of Sardinia from 1802 to 1821.
The second son of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel was known from birth as the Duke of Aosta. He succeeded his brother, Charles Emmanuel IV, as King of Sardinia upon the latter's abdication in 1802.
In 1793 he took active part in the struggle of the old powers against the French Revolutionary forces in Savoy, but, defeated, in 1799 he had to took refuge in Sardinia, which was the only part of his domains that not conquered by the French. during his exile at Cagliari he constituted the Carabinieri élite corps, still existing as one of the main branches of Italian Army.
He could return to Turin only in 1814, his realm reconstituted by the Congress of Vienna with the addition of the territories of the former Republic of Genoa. the latter became the seat of the Sardinian Navy. Victor Emmanuel abolished all the freedoms granted by the Napoleonic Codices and restored a fiercely oppressive rule: he refused any concession of a constitution, entrusted the istruction to the Church and reintroduced the persecutions against Jews and Waldensians.
After the death of his brother in 1819, he also became the Jacobite pretender to the British thrones (as Victor I), although he, like his brother, did not make any public or private claims to this effect.
After the outbreak of the liberal revolution in his lands in 1821, he abdicated in favor of his brother, Charles Felix. Victor Emmanuel died in the castle of Moncalieri. He is buried in the Basilica of Superga.
[edit] Family and children
On April 21, 1789, he married Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (b.1773-d.1832), daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Modena (who was son of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor) and had seven children including:
- Maria Beatrice Victoria (1792–1840), married Francis IV, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Modena
- Maria Adelaide (b.1794-d.1802)
- Charles Emmanuel (1796–1799) died of smallpox.
- A daughter (1800-1801)
- Maria Anna (1803–1884), married Ferdinand I of Austria
- Maria Teresa (b.1803-d.1879), married Charles II, Duke of Parma of Parma (b.1799-d.1883)
- Maria Christina of Savoy (1812–1836), married Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
[edit] References
- Segre, A. (1928). Vittorio Emanuele I.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Charles Emmanuel IV |
King of Sardinia 1802–1821 |
Succeeded by Charles Felix |
| Preceded by Charles IV |
Jacobite succession 1819–1824 |
Succeeded by Mary III and II |
