Viktor Amadeus II
Viktor Amadeus II ( Italian Vittorio Amedeo II ; born May 14, 1666 in Turin , † October 31, 1732 in Moncalieri ), Duke of Savoy from 1675 , was King of Sicily from 1713 to 1720 and of Sardinia from 1720 to 1730 .
Life
youth
Viktor Amadeus was the son of Duke Charles Emanuel II of Savoy and his second wife Maria Johanna of Savoy . When his father died in Turin on June 12, 1675, Vittorio Amadeo was only 9 years old and was nominally Duke of Savoy. However, while still a minor, he was under the tutelage of his mother, who in turn acted entirely under the influence of the French ambassador. Maria Johanna (1644–1724) ran a favoritism, the Margrave of Pianezza was its first minister. In 1676 Louis XIV of France forced the position of a Savoy regiment for his predatory war against Holland. Savoy was compensated for this in the Peace of Nijmegen .
The relationship between the ambitious Dowager Duchess and her underage son was strained, as she tried to keep the reins in hand even after he was formally of legal age in 1680. Since the first marriage of her sister Maria Francisca to King Alfonso VI. remained childless and from their second marriage with his younger brother, King Peter II , only one daughter, Infanta Isabella Louise Josepha (1668–1690), she tried to marry her son Viktor Amadeus with this. Viktor Amadeus was against the project because he would have had to live in Portugal as a prince consort while his mother would have continued to rule his home country.
Takeover and wedding
On March 16, 1684, Viktor Amadeus declared himself of age according to the house law and took over the government himself. The Duke proved to be irascible, resolute, sly, unscrupulous, but also a shrewd political tactician.
The quickly following marriage project with Anne Marie de Bourbon-Orléans (1669-1728) came about at the instigation of his mother, who continued the pro-French politics. Anne Marie bowed to reasons of state without contradiction and was married per procurationem on April 10, 1684 at the age of 14 in the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. The groom was represented by Anne Marie's cousin, the young Duke of Maine , after the official engagement ceremony had taken place the day before and the marriage contract had been signed. Immediately after the wedding ceremony, Anne Marie, accompanied by selected ladies of honor from the French court, left for Savoy. On May 6, she arrived in Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin , a small town on the Guiers River , which formed the border between the Dauphiné and the Duchy of Savoy. It was there that she first met Viktor Amadeus in person. On the same day, the actual wedding ceremony by the Bishop of Grenoble took place in the Chambéry chapel .
Under pressure from King Louis XIV., Who already in 1685 with the Edict of Fontainebleau to Protestantism was banned in France, now had to repay to the Protestantism in his duchy and Victor Amadeus from 31 January, 1686. However, the majority of the Waldensians did not want to give way and faced the fight against French and Savoyard troops: 3000 Waldensians lost their lives in the process. Those who could subsequently fled the Duchy of Savoy.
Around 1688, Herzog fell in love with the young Countess von Verrua , who, however, long rejected his wooing. Eventually she became the official mistress of the king - also with the advice of King Louis XIV, who through her tried to exert influence on Savoy - and had two children with him, whom he legitimized in 1701. Still, the countess did not feel comfortable in her position. Therefore, on October 4, 1700, with the help of her two brothers and under adventurous circumstances, she fled Piedmont.
War participation
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In 1690 Viktor Amadeus II allied himself in the Palatine War of Succession with Spain , the Habsburg Emperor and the Empire against France . Savoy had already joined the Augsburg Alliance in 1687 and two years later the great alliance against France. Louis XIV appointed Marshal Nicolas de Catinat to command the French army in northern Italy. Without waiting for the arrival of the imperial family, the Duke marched out of Turin and holed up at Villa Franca . Catinat backed away to Cavore. Catinat tried to mislead the opponent through various maneuvers. Deceived by a misinterpretation of the opposing positions, the Duke ended the advance and withdrew to a defensive position in the province of Cuneo near Revello . There the Savoy was defeated on August 18, 1690 in the Battle of Staffarda . Catinat's troops then took Susa, besieged Nice, Carmagnola and Montmelian Castle in 1691, and conquered most of Savoy-Piedmont; however, the capital Turin remained under the control of the duke. In 1692 Viktor Amadeus invaded the Dauphiné in retaliation and devastated the country there. In 1693 the Duke was defeated again by the French in the Battle of Marsaglia and then forced to resign from the Augsburg League. In 1696 he had to come to an understanding with France in the Treaty of Vigevano .
The Hague Grand Alliance was founded on September 7, 1701 at the instigation of England to counter Louis XIV's striving for hegemony. In the War of the Spanish Succession , Viktor Amadeus initially sided with France, but switched to Emperor in 1703. In 1704 the Duke of Savoy came under strong pressure from the French armies invading Piedmont under Marshal Vendôme and General Feuillade . The siege of Turin began in 1705, but in the fateful battle of Turin (September 7th), which was fateful for the House of Savoy , Viktor Amadeus was victorious, not least thanks to the military assistance of the imperial troops led by his cousin Prince Eugene of Savoy . The French suffered heavy losses and were driven out of the country. For the victory at Turin, the duke had the basilica of the same name built on the Superga hill east of the city , which later served as the tomb of the House of Savoy.
In 1707 he was nominally in command of Prince Eugene's expedition to Toulon . In 1708 Viktor Amadeus conquered the margraviate of Montferrat and thus obtained the long-awaited access to the sea in Liguria . From 1709 the duke declared himself neutral.
Increased rank of Savoy
With the Treaty of Utrecht , the so-called secondary lands of the Spanish were divided up in 1713. In the process, Savoy-Piedmont received, in addition to the western outskirts of the Duchy of Milan, especially Sicily. Since this island was outside the Holy Roman Empire , this made it possible for Viktor Amadeus to be raised from Duke to King. In the Hague Treaty (1720) Charles VI came. von Habsburg and Viktor Amadeus agreed to exchange the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. ( War of the Quadruple Alliance ), with which the latter became master of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. The rulers of the House of Savoy carried the title of Kings of Sardinia from then until the founding of the Kingdom of Italy.
resignation
Queen Anne Marie died in Turin on August 26, 1728, mourned by her husband and the people. Viktor Amadeus entered into a second morganatic marriage with Anna Canalis , she was the daughter of the former Savoyard Prime Minister Francesco Maurizio Canalis di Cumiana. The two married secretly on August 2, 1730 in the chapel of the Turin Royal Palace. When Viktor Amadeus officially abdicated in favor of his son Karl Emanuel on September 3rd at the Castello di Rivoli , Anna was just as surprised as the other members of the royal court. As a belated wedding present, Viktor Amadeus bought her the Margraviate of Spigno, which had previously belonged to his illegitimate brother Carlo, and made Anna Marquise of Spigno on January 18, 1731. Viktor Amadeus initially retired to his castle in Saint-Alban-Leysse near Chambéry. Increasingly dissatisfied with the decisions his son made in Turin, he decided to once again actively intervene in the political life of his country. On the grounds that the abdication had never become final and that he had never released his subordinates from their oath of allegiance, Viktor Amadeus even wanted to declare his abdication null and void. Anna and her husband went from Chambéry across the Alps back to Piedmont to Moncalieri Castle in August. There she and her husband were arrested by a detachment of grenadiers on the night of September 28-29, 1731 at the behest of their stepson and reigning king. While the ex-king was imprisoned in the castle of Rivoli , Anna was brought to the fortress of Ceva ; an extremely humiliating act for them, because the fortress was used as a reformatory for prostitutes at the time. On December 11th, Anna received permission to leave Ceva and go to her husband in Rivoli. Because Karl Emmanuel wanted to use Rivoli Castle himself, he had the couple moved to Moncalieri Castle on April 12, 1732 , where Viktor Amadeus II died on October 31. Immediately after the death of her husband Anna was sent to the monastery of St. Joseph in Carignano , she was not even allowed to attend his funeral.
Marriage and offspring
From his marriage in 1684 to Anne Marie d'Orléans , daughter of Henrietta of England and Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans , Viktor Amadeus had the following children:
- Maria Adelaide of Savoy (December 6, 1685 - February 12, 1712), Duchess of Burgundy ∞ Louis de Bourbon ; Mother of Louis XV. from France
- Maria Anna of Savoy (born August 14, 1687, † August 5, 1690), Princess of Savoy;
- Maria Luisa of Savoy (September 17, 1688; † February 14, 1714) V. Philip V, King of Spain;
- Vittorio Amadeo of Savoy (6 May 1699 - 22 March 1715), Prince of Savoy;
- Charles Emanuel III. (27 April 1701 - 20 February 1773), King of Sardinia;
- Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy (December 1, 1705 - December 19, 1705), Duke of Chablais.
He also had two illegitimate children with Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes :
- Vittoria Francesca Marie Anne (February 9, 1690 - July 8, 1766), Mademoiselle de Suze, ∞ Viktor Amadeus I of Savoy, Prince of Carignan (1690–1741)
- Vittorio Francesco (1694–1762), Marquis de Suze
Adaptation
Axel Corti's film The Whore of the King (1990) deals with Viktor's love affair with Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes .
literature
- Susan Richter , Dirk Dirbach (ed.): Renunciation of the throne. The abdication in monarchies from the Middle Ages to modern times , Böhlau Verlag Köln-Weimar-Wien 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20535-5 , p. 307 ff.
- Sergio Rapetti: The great dynasties , Verlag Karl Müller, Erlangen 1980, p. 258.
- Gottfried Mraz : Prince Eugene. A life in pictures and documents , Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 978-3799162241 , pp. 80–86.
Individual evidence
- ^ Max Beheim-Schwarzbach : Hohenzollern colonization. A contribution to the history of the Prussian state and the colonization of eastern Germany . Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1874, p. 91ff.
- ↑ Alfred von Arnedt: Prince Eugene of Savoy , Volume 1, Vienna 1858, p 73-93.
- ↑ See The King's Whore in the Internet Movie Database .
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
Karl Emanuel II. Karl Emanuel III. |
Duke of Savoy 1675-1720 1730-1732 |
Charles Emanuel III. Charles Emanuel III. |
|
Charles III |
King of Sardinia 1720–1730 |
Charles Emanuel III. |
|
Philip IV |
King of Sicily 1713–1720 |
Charles IV |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Viktor Amadeus I. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Amadeo II, Vittorio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | King of Sicily |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 14, 1666 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Turin |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 31, 1732 |
| Place of death | Moncalieri |