Savoy 1559-1610 History of Italy Savoy 1660-1730






The Duchy of Savoy-Piemont 1610-1660



In the Treaty of Brussol (1610) Duke Charles Emmanuel I. (1580-1630) entered into an alliance with France directed against (Spanish) Milan. The plans did not materialize, for France was distracted by other events. In 1612 the succession to the counties of Montferrat and Mantua was contested; Savoy-Piemont and Spain both claimed Montferrat; sidelines of the Gonzaga dynasty were reinstated. Savoy-Piemont occupied large stretches of Montferrat territory and held on to them. The conflict with Spain over Montferrat again broke out in 1626; in 1626 the Spanish laid siege to Casale. In 1629, Richelieu had Savoy proper was occupied by the French; French forces crossed the Alps, occupied Pinerolo (Cardinal Mazarin, active as diplomat mediating in international negotiations, was credited for having permitted Pinerolo to fall to the French; he won Richelieu's favour and would later become his successor in Versailles). In the Treaty of Cherasco, Savoy ceded Exilles, Fenestrelle and Pinerolo to France and entered into a French alliance. In 1635 France and Savoy-Piemont signed the Alliance Treaty of Rivoli; Savoy was to cede Savoy proper to France and to be compensated by the acquisition of Milan from the Spanish; then, Duke Victor Emmanuel I. (1630-1637) died suddenly; the plans of Rivoli did not materialize.
In 1619, Emperor Matthias died without an heir; Charles Emmanuel declared his candidacy for the Imperial crown; Ferdinand of Habsburg, King of Bohemia, was elected.
Under Regent of Christine de France the Savoyard-Piemontese nobility rebelled, with Spanish support (1639); a French army retook Turin in 1640. The Accord of Turin 1642, mediated by Cardinal Mazarin, ended internal dispute. In 1648, Charles Emmanuel II. (1638-1675) was declared mature. The 1648 Treaty of Westphalia was insofar of importance for Savoy-Piemont, as it included the Chablais (again Savoyan since 1564/1569) into the area covered by Swiss neutrality. This condition was to last until 1919.
In 1655 the Valdesi (Waldensian) peasants living in several Piemontese Alpine communities were ordered to leave their homes; armed forces committed a massacre among those who refused to follow the order (War on the Valdesi). On the request of Oliver Cromwell, Duke Charles Emmanuel on August 18th issued the Edict of Grace, terminating the operation against the Valdesi.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article Piedmont, from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition
Article Mazarin, from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition
Regiment of infantry of national ordinance Piemont 1636-1798, from NPI
Storia di Torino, dal Regno di Sardegna, all'Unita d'Italia, from a-torino.com, in Italian
Donne nella Storia (Women in History), from Italia Donna, scroll down for Stato Sabaudo; has six clickable Italian-language biographies
I Savoia, illustrated biographies of Dukes / Kings of the house of Savoy, in Italian
Lo Stato Sabaudo, from Olevano, tra realta e leggenda, in Italian
History of the Waldensians : Chapter 13, the Great Massacre, from J.A. Wylie, History of Protestantism (1878)
DOCUMENTS Coat of Arms, from International Civic Heraldry
World Statesmen : Italian States 1760-1860, by Ben Cahoon, scroll down for Sardinia; Regnal Chronologies : Northern Italy, scroll down for Piedmont, Savoy
REFERENCE Book Reviews : Savoy-Piemont, from History Book Reviews

Henri Menabrea, Histoire de la Savoie (History of Savoy), Les Marches : Curandera 1990. 399 pp. (in French)
M. le Gallais, Histoire de la Savoie et du Piemont (History of Savoy and Piemont), new edition, Tours : Alfred Mame 1879, 237 pp.; in French



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on March 27th 2006

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