VICTOR AMEDEUS II. (1666-1732), duke of Savoy and first king of Sardinia, was the son of Duke Charles Emmanuel II. and Jeanne de Savoie-Nemours. Born at Turin, he lost his father in 1675, and spent his youth under the regency of his mother, known as “Madama Reale” (madame royale), an able but ambitious and overbearing woman. He assumed the reins of government at the age of sixteen, and married Princess Anne, daughter of Philip of Orleans and Henrietta of England, and niece of Louis XIV., king of France. That sovereign was determined to dominate the young duke of Savoy, who from the first resented the monarch's insolent bearing. In 1685 Victor was forced by Louis to persecute his Waldensian subjects, because they had given shelter to the French Huguenot refugees after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. With the unwelcome help of a French army under Marshal Catinat, he invaded the Waldensian valleys, and after a difficult campaign, characterized by great cruelty, he subjugated them. Nevertheless, he became more anxious than ever to emancipate himself from French thraldom, and his first sign of independence was his visit to Venice in 1687, where he conferred on political affairs with Prince Eugène of Savoy and other personages, without consulting Louis. About this time the duke plunged into a whirl of dissipation, and chose the beautiful but unscrupulous Contessa di Verrua as his mistress, neglecting his faithful and devoted wife. Louis having discovered Victor's intrigues with the emperor, tried to precipitate hostilities by demanding his participation in a second expedition against the Waldensians. The duke unwillingly complied, but when the French entered Piedmont and demanded the cession of the fortresses of Turin and Verrua, he refused, and while still professing to negotiate with Louis, joined the league of Austria, Spain and Venice. War was declared in 1690, but at the battle of Staffarda (18th of August 1691), Victor, in spite of his great courage and skill, was defeated by the French under Catinat. Other reverses followed, but the attack on Cuneo was heroically repulsed by the citizens. The war dragged on with varying success, until the severe defeat of the allies at Marsiglia and their selfish neglect of Victor's interests induced him to open negotiations with France once more. Louis agreed to restore most of the fortresses he had captured and to make other concessions; a treaty was signed in 1696, and Victor appointed generalissimo of the Franco-Piedmontese forces in Italy operating against the imperialists. By the treaty of Ryswick (1697) a general peace was concluded. On the outbreak of the war of the Spanish Succession in 1700 the duke was again on the French side, but the insolence of Louis and of Philip V. of Spain towards him induced him, at the end of the two years for which he had bound himself to them, to go over to the imperialists (1704). At first the French were successful and captured several Piedmontese fortresses, but after besieging Turin, which was skilfully defended by the duke, for several months, they were completely defeated by Victor and Prince Eugène of Savoy (1706), and eventually driven out of the other towns they had captured. By the peace of Utrecht (1713) the Powers conferred the kingdom of Sicily on Victor Amedeus, whose government proved efficient and at first popular. But after a brief stay in the island he returned to Piedmont and left his new possessions to a viceroy, which caused much discontent among the Sicilians; and when the Quadruple Alliance decreed in 1718 that Sicily should be restored to Spain, Victor was unable to offer any opposition, and had to content himself with receiving Sardinia in exchange.
The last years of Victor Amedeus's life were saddened by domestic troubles. In 1715 his eldest son died, and in 1728 he lost his queen. After her death, much against the advice of his remaining son and heir, Carlino (afterwards Charles Emmanuel III.), he married the Contessa di San Sebastiano, whom he created Marchesa di Spigno, abdicated the crown and retired to Chambéry to end his days (1730). But his second wife, an ambitious intrigante, soon tired of her quiet life, and induced him to return to Turin and attempt to revoke his abdication. This led to a quarrel with his son, who with quite unnecessary harshness, partly due to his minister the Marquis d'Ormca, arrested his father and confined him at Rivoli and later at Moncalieri; there Victor, overwhelmed with sorrow, died on the 31st of October 1732.
Victor Amedeus, although accused not without reason of bad faith in his diplomatic dealings and of cruelty, was undoubtedly a great soldier and a still greater administrator. He not only won for his country a high place in the council of nations, but he doubled its revenues and increased its prosperity and industries, and he also emphasized its character as an Italian state. His infidelity to his wife and his harshness towards his son Carlino are blemishes on a splendid career, but he more than expiated these faults by his tragic end.
See D. Carutti, Storia del Regno di Vittorio Amedeo II. (Turin, 1856); and E. Parri, Vittorio Amedio II. ed Eugenia di Savoia (Milan, 1888). The Marchesa Vitelleschi's work, The Romance of Savoy (2 vols., London, 1905), is based on original authorities, and is the most complete monograph on the subject.
VICTOR EMMANUEL II. (1820-1878), king of Sardinia and first king of Italy, was born at Turin on the 14th of March 1820, and was the son of Charles Albert, prince of Savoy-Carignano, who became king of Sardinia in 1831. Brought up in the bigoted and chilling atmosphere of the Piedmontese court, he received a rigid military and religious training, but little intellectual education. In 1842 he was married to Adelaide, daughter of the Austrian Archduke Rainer, as the king desired at that time to improve his relations with Austria. The young couple led a somewhat dreary life, hidebound by court etiquette, which Victor Emmanuel hated. He played no part in politics during his father's lifetime, but took an active interest in military matters. When the war with Austria broke out in 1848, he was delighted at the prospect of distinguishing himself, and was given the command of a division. At Goito he was slightly wounded and displayed great bravery, and after Custozza defended the rearguard to the last (25th of July 1848). In the campaign of March 1849 he commanded the same division. After the disastrous defeat at Novara on the 23rd of March, Charles Albert, having rejected the peace terms offered by the Austrian field-marshal Radetzky, abdicated in favour of his son, and withdrew to a monastery in Portugal, where he died a few months later. Victor Emmanuel repaired to Radetzky's camp, where he was received with every sign of respect, and the field-marshal offered not only to waive the claim that Austria should occupy a part of Piedmont, but to give him an extension of territory, provided he revoked the constitution and substituted the old blue Piedmontese flag for the Italian tricolour, which savoured too much of revolution. But although the young king had not yet sworn to observe the charter, and in any case the other Italian princes had all violated their constitutional promises, he rejected the offer. Consequently he had to agree to the temporary Austrian occupation of the territory comprised within the Po, the Sesia and the Ticino, and of half the citadel of Alessandria, to disband his Lombard, Polish and Hungarian volunteers, and to withdraw his fleet from the Adriatic; but he secured an amnesty for all the Lombards compromised in the recent revolution, having even threatened to go to war again if it were not granted. It was the maintenance of the constitution in the face of the overwhelming tide of reaction that established his position as the champion of Italian freedom and earned him the sobriquet of Rè Galantuomo (the honest king). But the task entrusted to him was a most difficult one: the army disorganized, the treasury empty, the people despondent if not actively disloyal, and he himself reviled, misunderstood, and, like his father, accused of treachery. Parliament having rejected the peace treaty, the king dissolved the assembly, in the famous proclamation from Moncalieri he appealed to the people's loyalty, and the new Chamber ratified the treaty (9th of January 1850). This same year, Cavour (q.v.) was appointed minister of agriculture in D'Azeglio's cabinet, and in 1852, after the fall of the latter, he became prime minister, a post which with brief interruptions he held until his death.
In having Cavour as his chief adviser Victor Emmanuel was
