The Pantheon's large circular domed cella, with a conventional temple portico front, was unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, and has been copied many times by later architects.


Since the French Revolution, when the church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris was deconsecrated and turned into the secular monument called the Panthéon of Paris, the generic term "pantheon" has sometimes been applied to other buildings in which illustrious dead are honoured or buried.


In the aftermath of the Battle of Actium (31 BC), Marcus Agrippa started an impressive building program: the Pantheon was a part of the complex created by him on his own property in the Campus Martius in 29–19 BC, which included three buildings aligned from south to north: the Baths of Agrippa, the Basilica of Neptune, and the Pantheon. It seems likely that the Pantheon and the Basilica of Neptune were Agrippa's sacra privata, not aedes publicae (public temples). The former would help explain how the building could have so easily lost its original name and purpose (Ziolkowski contends that it was originally the Temple of Mars in Campo) in such a relatively short period of time.


It had long been thought that the current building was built by Agrippa, with later alterations undertaken, and this was in part because of the Latin inscription on the front of the temple which reads:


or in full, ""M[arcus] Agrippa L[ucii] f[ilius] co[n]s[ul] tertium fecit"," meaning "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made [this building] when consul for the third time." However, archaeological excavations have shown that the Pantheon of Agrippa had been completely destroyed except for the façade. Lise Hetland argues that the present construction began in 114, under Trajan, four years after it was destroyed by fire for the second time (Oros. 7.12). She reexamined Herbert Bloch's 1959 paper, which is responsible for the commonly maintained Hadrianic date, and maintains that he should not have excluded all of the Trajanic-era bricks from his brick-stamp study. Her argument is particularly interesting in light of Heilmeyer's argument that, based on stylistic evidence, Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajan's architect, was the obvious architect.


The only passages referring to the decoration of the Agrippan Pantheon written by an eyewitness are in Pliny the Elder's "Natural History". From him we know that "the capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are made of Syracusan bronze", that "the Pantheon of Agrippa has been decorated by Diogenes of Athens, and the Caryatides, by him, which form the columns of that temple, are looked upon as masterpieces of excellence: the same, too, with the statues that are placed upon the roof," and that one of Cleopatra's pearls was cut in half so that each half "might serve as pendants for the ears of Venus, in the Pantheon at Rome".


The Augustan Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a huge fire in the year 80 AD. Domitian rebuilt the Pantheon, which was burnt again in 110 AD.


Cassius Dio, a Graeco-Roman senator, consul and author of a comprehensive "History of Rome", writing approximately 75 years after the Pantheon's reconstruction, mistakenly attributed the domed building to Agrippa rather than Hadrian. Dio appears to be the only near-contemporaneous writer to mention the Pantheon. Even by the year 200, there was uncertainty about the origin of the building and its purpose:


In 202, the building was repaired by the joint emperors Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla (fully "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"), for which there is another, smaller inscription on the architrave of the façade, under the aforementioned larger text. This now-barely legible inscription reads:


The building's consecration as a church saved it from the abandonment, destruction, and the worst of the spoliation that befell the majority of ancient Rome's buildings during the early medieval period. However, Paul the Deacon records the spoliation of the building by the Emperor Constans II, who visited Rome in July 663:


Remaining at Rome twelve days he pulled down everything that in ancient times had been made of metal for the ornament of the city, to such an extent that he even stripped off the roof of the church [of the blessed Mary], which at one time was called the Pantheon, and had been founded in honour of all the gods and was now by the consent of the former rulers the place of all the martyrs; and he took away from there the bronze tiles and sent them with all the other ornaments to Constantinople.


Much fine external marble has been removed over the centuries – for example, capitals from some of the pilasters are in the British Museum. Two columns were swallowed up in the medieval buildings that abutted the Pantheon on the east and were lost. In the early 17th century, Urban VIII Barberini tore away the bronze ceiling of the portico, and replaced the medieval campanile with the famous twin towers (often wrongly attributed to Bernini) called "the ass's ears", which were not removed until the late 19th century. The only other loss has been the external sculptures, which adorned the pediment above Agrippa's inscription. The marble interior has largely survived, although with extensive restoration.


Since the Renaissance the Pantheon has been the site of several important burials. Among those buried there are the painters Raphael and Annibale Carracci, the composer Arcangelo Corelli, and the architect Baldassare Peruzzi. In the 15th century, the Pantheon was adorned with paintings: the best-known is the "Annunciation" by Melozzo da Forlì. Filippo Brunelleschi, among other architects, looked to the Pantheon as inspiration for their works.


In 1747, the broad frieze below the dome with its false windows was "restored," but bore little resemblance to the original. In the early decades of the 20th century, a piece of the original, as could be reconstructed from Renaissance drawings and paintings, was recreated in one of the panels.


Two kings of Italy are buried in the Pantheon: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, as well as Umberto's Queen, Margherita.


The Pantheon is in use as a Catholic church. Masses are celebrated there on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Weddings are also held there from time to time.


On 23 July 1725, the Pantheon was established as Cardinal-deaconry of S. Maria ad Martyres, i.e. a titular church for a cardinal-deacon.


On 26 May 1929, this deaconry was suppressed to establish the Cardinal Deaconry of S. Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine.


The building was originally approached by a flight of steps. Later construction raised the level of the ground leading to the portico, eliminating these steps.


The pediment was decorated with relief sculpture, probably of gilded bronze. Holes marking the location of clamps that held the sculpture suggest that its design was likely an eagle within a wreath; ribbons extended from the wreath into the corners of the pediment.


In the walls at the back of the Pantheon's portico are two huge niches, perhaps intended for statues of Augustus Caesar and Agrippa.


The large bronze doors to the cella, measuring 4.45m wide by 7.53m high, are the oldest in Rome. These were thought to be a 15th-century replacement for the original, mainly because they were deemed by contemporary architects to be too small for the door frames. However, analysis of the fusion technique confirmed that these are the original Roman doors, a rare example of Roman monumental bronze surviving, despite cleaning and the application of Christian motifs over the course of centuries.


The 4,535-tonne weight of the Roman concrete dome is concentrated on a ring of voussoirs in diameter that form the oculus, while the downward thrust of the dome is carried by eight barrel vaults in the drum wall into eight piers. The thickness of the dome varies from at the base of the dome to around the oculus. The materials used in the concrete of the dome also vary. At its thickest point, the aggregate is travertine, then terracotta tiles, then at the very top, tufa and pumice, both porous light stones. At the very top, where the dome would be at its weakest and vulnerable to collapse, the oculus actually lightens the load.


No tensile test results are available on the concrete used in the Pantheon; however, Cowan discussed tests on ancient concrete from Roman ruins in Libya, which gave a compressive strength of . An empirical relationship gives a tensile strength of for this specimen. Finite element analysis of the structure by Mark and Hutchison found a maximum tensile stress of only at the point where the dome joins the raised outer wall.


The stresses in the dome were found to be substantially reduced by the use of successively less dense aggregate stones, such as small pots or pieces of pumice, in higher layers of the dome. Mark and Hutchison estimated that, if normal weight concrete had been used throughout, the stresses in the arch would have been some 80% greater. Hidden chambers engineered within the rotunda form a sophisticated structural system. This reduced the weight of the roof, as did the elimination of the apex by means of the oculus.


The top of the rotunda wall features a series of brick relieving arches, visible on the outside and built into the mass of the brickwork. The Pantheon is full of such devices – for example, there are relieving arches over the recesses inside – but all these arches were hidden by marble facing on the interior and possibly by stone revetment or stucco on the exterior.


The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, , so the whole interior would fit exactly within a cube (or, a 43.3-m sphere could fit within the interior). These dimensions make more sense when expressed in ancient Roman units of measurement: The dome spans 150 Roman feet; the oculus is 30 Roman feet in diameter; the doorway is 40 Roman feet high. The Pantheon still holds the record for the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is also substantially larger than earlier domes. It is the only masonry dome to not require reinforcement. All other extant ancient domes were either designed with tie-rods, chains and banding or have been retrofitted with such devices to prevent collapse.


Though often drawn as a free-standing building, there was a building at its rear which abutted it. While this building helped buttress the rotunda, there was no interior passage from one to the other.


Upon entry, visitors are greeted by an enormous rounded room covered by the dome. The oculus at the top of the dome was never covered, allowing rainfall through the ceiling and onto the floor. Because of this, the interior floor is equipped with drains and has been built with an incline of about to promote water runoff.


The interior of the dome was possibly intended to symbolize the arched vault of the heavens. The oculus at the dome's apex and the entry door are the only natural sources of light in the interior. Throughout the day, the light from the oculus moves around this space in a reverse sundial effect. The oculus also serves as a cooling and ventilation method. During storms, a drainage system below the floor handles the rain that falls through the oculus.


The dome features sunken panels (coffers), in five rings of 28. This evenly spaced layout was difficult to achieve and, it is presumed, had symbolic meaning, either numerical, geometric, or lunar. In antiquity, the coffers may have contained bronze rosettes symbolising the starry firmament.


Circles and squares form the unifying theme of the interior design. The checkerboard floor pattern contrasts with the concentric circles of square coffers in the dome. Each zone of the interior, from floor to ceiling, is subdivided according to a different scheme. As a result, the interior decorative zones do not line up. The overall effect is immediate viewer orientation according to the major axis of the building, even though the cylindrical space topped by a hemispherical dome is inherently ambiguous. This discordance has not always been appreciated, and the attic level was redone according to Neoclassical taste in the 18th century.


The present high altars and the apses were commissioned by Pope Clement XI (1700–1721) and designed by Alessandro Specchi. Enshrined on the apse above the high altar is a 7th-century Byzantine icon of the Virgin and Child, given by Phocas to Pope Boniface IV on the occasion of the dedication of the Pantheon for Christian worship on 13 May 609. The choir was added in 1840, and was designed by Luigi Poletti.


The first niche to the right of the entrance holds a "Madonna of the Girdle and St Nicholas of Bari" (1686) painted by an unknown artist.


The first chapel on the right, the Chapel of the Annunciation, has a fresco of the "Annunciation" attributed to Melozzo da Forlì. On the left side is a canvas by Clement Maioli of "St Lawrence and St Agnes" (1645–1650). On the right wall is the "Incredulity of St Thomas" (1633) by Pietro Paolo Bonzi.


The second niche has a 15th-century fresco of the Tuscan school, depicting the "Coronation of the Virgin". In the second chapel is the tomb of King Victor Emmanuel II (died 1878). It was originally dedicated to the Holy Spirit. A competition was held to decide which architect should design it. Giuseppe Sacconi participated, but lost – he would later design the tomb of Umberto I in the opposite chapel.


Manfredo Manfredi won the competition, and started work in 1885. The tomb consists of a large bronze plaque surmounted by a Roman eagle and the arms of the house of Savoy. The golden lamp above the tomb burns in honor of Victor Emmanuel III, who died in exile in 1947.


On the first niche to the left of the entrance is an "Assumption" (1638) by Andrea Camassei. The first chapel on the left, the Chapel of St Joseph in the Holy Land, is the chapel of the Confraternity of the , a confraternity of artists and musicians formed by a 16th-century canon, Desiderio da Segni, to ensure that worship was maintained in the chapel.


The first members were, among others, Antonio da Sangallo the younger, Jacopo Meneghino, Giovanni Mangone, Zuccari, Domenico Beccafumi, and Flaminio Vacca. The confraternity continued to draw members from the elite of Rome's artists and architects, and among later members we find Bernini, Cortona, Algardi, and many others. The institution still exists, and is now called the "Academia Ponteficia di Belle Arti" (The Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts), based in the palace of the Cancelleria. The altar in the chapel is covered with false marble. On the altar is a statue of "St Joseph and the Holy Child" by Vincenzo de' Rossi.


To the sides are paintings (1661) by Francesco Cozza, one of the Virtuosi: "Adoration of the Shepherds" on left side and "Adoration of the Magi" on right. The stucco relief on the left, "Dream of St Joseph", is by Paolo Benaglia, and the one on the right, "Rest during the flight from Egypt", is by Carlo Monaldi. On the vault are several 17th-century canvases, from left to right: "Cumean Sibyl" by Ludovico Gimignani; Moses by Francesco Rosa; "Eternal Father" by Giovanni Peruzzini; "David" by Luigi Garzi; and "Eritrean Sibyl" by Giovanni Andrea Carlone.


The third niche holds the mortal remains – his Ossa et cineres, "Bones and ashes", as the inscription on the sarcophagus says – of the great artist Raphael. His fiancée, Maria Bibbiena is buried to the right of his sarcophagus; she died before they could marry. The sarcophagus was given by Pope Gregory XVI, and its inscription reads "ILLE HIC EST RAPHAEL TIMUIT QUO SOSPITE VINCI / RERUM MAGNA PARENS ET MORIENTE MORI", meaning "Here lies Raphael, by whom the mother of all things (Nature) feared to be overcome while he was living, and while he was dying, herself to die". The epigraph was written by Pietro Bembo.


The present arrangement is from 1811, designed by Antonio Muñoz. The bust of Raphael (1833) is by Giuseppe Fabris. The two plaques commemorate Maria Bibbiena and Annibale Carracci. Behind the tomb is the statue known as the "Madonna del Sasso" (Madonna of the Rock) so named because she rests one foot on a boulder. It was commissioned by Raphael and made by Lorenzetto in 1524.


In the Chapel of the Crucifixion, the Roman brick wall is visible in the niches. The wooden crucifix on the altar is from the 15th century. On the left wall is a "Descent of the Holy Ghost" (1790) by Pietro Labruzi. On the right side is the low relief "Cardinal Consalvi presents to Pope Pius VII the five provinces restored to the Holy See" (1824) made by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The bust is a portrait of Cardinal Agostino Rivarola. The final niche on this side has a statue of "St. Evasius" ("Sant'Evasio") (1727) by Francesco Moderati.


Works modelled on, or inspired by, the Pantheon.


As the best-preserved example of an Ancient Roman monumental building, the Pantheon has been enormously influential in Western architecture from at least the Renaissance on; starting with Brunelleschi's dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, completed in 1436.


Among the most notable versions are the church of Santa Maria Assunta (1664) in Ariccia by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which followed his work restoring the Roman original, Belle Isle House (1774) in England and Thomas Jefferson's library at the University of Virginia, The Rotunda (1817–1826). Others include the Rotunda of Mosta in Malta (1833). Other notable replicas, such as The Rotunda (New York) (1818), do not survive.


The portico-and-dome form of the Pantheon can be detected in many buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries; numerous government and public buildings, city halls, university buildings, and public libraries echo its structure.


Henri of Savoy () (2 November 157210 July 1632), called originally Marquis de Saint-Sorlin, was the son of Jacques of Savoy and Anna d'Este, the widow of François de Lorraine, Duke of Guise. He succeeded his brother Charles Emmanuel as Duke of Nemours.


In 1588 he took the marquisate of Saluzzo from the French for his cousin, the Duke of Savoy. The princes of Guise, his half-brothers, induced him to join the League, and in 1591 he was made governor of Dauphiné in the name of that faction. He made his submission to Henry IV in 1596. After quarrelling with the duke of Savoy he withdrew to Burgundy and joined the Spaniards in their war against Savoy. After peace had been proclaimed on November 14, 1616, he retired to the French court.


After his death, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Louis; on the death of Louis in 1641 by his second son Charles Amadeus; and on Charles's death in 1651 by his third son Henri. All three were the sons of his wife Anne de Lorraine (1600–1638), daughter of Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Aumale.


James (January 1315 – May 1367) was the Lord of Piedmont from 1334 to his death. He was the eldest son of Philip I and Catherine de la Tour du Pin. While his father had abandoned his claim to the Principality of Achaea in 1307, James continued to use the princely title and even passed it on to his successors.


In 1349, James agreed to a treaty between himself, Amadeus VI of Savoy, Amadeus III of Geneva, and the House of Visconti, rulers of Milan for mutual defence and assistance. This treaty included provisions for Galeazzo II Visconti to marry Bianca of Savoy, sister of the count.


James opposed Robert of Taranto in Achaea in the 1340s. He began a war with Amadeus VI of Savoy, but was captured at Pinerolo and his territories confiscated. A treaty of 2 July 1362 returned them, however. James died at Pinerolo a few years later.


James married his first wife Beatrice d'Este in 1338, daughter of Rinaldo II d'Este. She died in 1339 without having children.


James remarried on 9 June 1339 to Sibyl, daughter of Raymond II of Baux and had:


After Sibyl died in 1361, James remarried on 16 July 1362 to Margaret (1346 – 1402), daughter of Edward I of Beaujeu, They had two sons:


Jacques of Savoy, 2nd duke of Nemours (12 October 153115 June 1585) was the son of Philippe, Duke of Nemours and Charlotte of Orleans, and became Duke of Nemours on his father's death in 1533.


Jacques distinguished himself at the sieges of Lens and Metz (1552–1553), at the Battle of Renty (1554) and in the campaign of Piedmont (1555).


Jacques was a supporter of the house of Guise, and caused a further altercation between the Bourbons and Guises when he got Françoise de Rohan, cousin and childhood friend of Jeanne d'Albret, pregnant and refused to marry her. Françoise filed a lawsuit that was neglected until 1565, when an ecclesiastical court ruled against her, giving Jacques the opportunity to marry Anne d'Este.


Jacques signalized himself by his successes in Dauphiné and Lyonnais against the Huguenots. In 1567 he induced the court to return from Meaux to Paris, took part in the battle of Saint Denis, protested against the peace of Longjumeau, and repulsed the invasion of Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. He devoted his last years to letters and art, and died at Annecy.


Jacques married Anna d'Este on 29 April 1566 daughter of Duke Ercole II of Ferrara and Renée of France. They had:


He was succeeded as Duke of Nemours by his son Charles Emmanuel de Savoie, 3rd Duc de Nemours.


Louis of Savoy (1615 – 16 September 1641) was Count of Geneva, Duke of Nemours, and Duke of Aumale from the death of his father Henry of Savoy in 1632 until his own death in 1641.


Louis never married. On his death, his titles passed to his brother Charles Amadeus.


Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo (Maria Vittoria Carlotta Enrichetta; 9 August 1847 – 8 November 1876) was an Italian noblewoman and became the 6th Princess of La Cisterna after the death of her father. Married to Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, second son of King Victor Emmanuel. In 1870 her husband became the King of Spain, making her Queen consort of Spain.


She was the eldest and only surviving child of Carlo Emmanuele dal Pozzo, 5th Prince of Cisterna and his wife, Countess Louise de Merode. Upon the death of her father in 1864, she inherited his noble titles and thus became the Princess della Cisterna, Princess di Belriguardo, Marchioness di Voghera and Countess di Ponderano, among other titles, in her own right.


On 30 May 1867 in Turin, she married Prince Amadeo of Savoy, the Duke of Aosta and second son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. An urban legend circulates claiming that numerous tragedies befell the wedding of Maria Vittoria and the Duke of Aosta.


Her husband was elected to occupy the Spanish Throne on 16 November 1870. She lived a discreet life in Spain, only involving herself in charity. Amadeo resigned from the position on 11 February 1873, after which he and Maria Vittoria returned to Italy. Her health was damaged by the trip and childbirth, and she died later the same year of tuberculosis in Sanremo.


Adelaide of Savoy (; c.1050/2 – 1079), a member of the Burgundian House of Savoy, was Duchess of Swabia from about 1062 until 1079 by her marriage with Rudolf of Rheinfelden, who also was elected German anti-king in 1077.


Adelaide's parents were Count Otto of Savoy and his wife Adelaide of Susa from the Arduinici noble family. Her maternal grandparents were Margrave Ulric Manfred II of Turin and Bertha of Milan. Adelaide was the younger sister of Bertha of Savoy, who was betrothed to the future king Henry IV of Germany in 1055.


According to the "Europäische Stammtafeln" genealogy, she first was married to Count Guigues I of Albon, though this assumption seems highly unlikely. Actually Adelaide, around 1060/62 and aged about ten, married the Swabian duke Rudolf of Rheinfelden.


In 1069 Rudolf attempted to repudiate Adelaide for an alleged affair with Count Werner of Habsburg. In 1071 Adelaide cleared herself of the accusation of adultery in the presence of Pope Alexander II. Rudolf was required to reconcile with Adelaide. At the same time, Henry IV attempted to repudiate her sister Bertha, also without success.


In 1077, an assembly of revolting German princes elected Rudolf anti-king. He was crowned by Archbishop Siegfried I of Mainz on March 26, with Adelaide as his consort. When the Great Saxon Revolt broke out, Adelaide remained in Swabia, defending her husband's lands, whilst Rudolf campaigned against Henry IV in Saxony.


Adelaide died during the Easter period of 1079, apart from her husband at Hohentwiel Castle. She was buried in the monastery of St. Blasien.


With Rudolf, Adelaide had at least four children:


Amadeo I (, sometimes latinized as Amadeus; 30 May 184518 January 1890) was an Italian prince who reigned as King of Spain from 1870 to 1873. The only King of Spain from the House of Savoy, he was the second son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and was known for most of his life as The Duke of Aosta.


He was elected by the Cortes as Spain's monarch in 1870, following the deposition of Isabel II, and was sworn in the following year. Amadeo's reign was fraught with growing republicanism, Carlist rebellions in the north, and the Cuban independence movement. He abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873, and the First Spanish Republic was declared as a result.


Granted the hereditary title of Duke of Aosta in the year of his birth, he founded the Aosta branch of Italy's royal House of Savoy, which is junior in agnatic descent to the branch descended from King Umberto I that reigned in Italy until 1900, but senior to the branch of the dukes of Genoa.


Prince Amedeo of Savoy was born in Turin (then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia). He was the second son of King Vittorio Emanuele II (King of Sardinia and, later, first King of Italy) and of Archduchess Adelaide of Austria. He was styled the Duke of Aosta from birth.


Entering the army as captain in 1859 he fought through the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866 with the rank of major-general, leading his brigade into action at the Battle of Custoza and being wounded at Monte Torre. In 1868, after his marriage, he was created vice admiral of the Italian navy, but this position ended when he ascended the Spanish throne.


In March 1870, Maria Vittoria appealed to the King to remonstrate with her husband for marital infidelities that caused her hurt and embarrassment. But the King wrote in reply that, while understanding her feelings, he considered that she had no right to dictate her husband's behaviour and that her jealousy was unbecoming.


After the Spanish revolution deposed Isabella II, the new "Cortes" decided to reinstate the monarchy under a new dynasty. The Duke of Aosta was elected king as Amadeo I on 16 November 1870. He swore to uphold the constitution in Madrid on 2 January 1871.


The election of the new king coincided with the assassination of General Juan Prim, his chief supporter. After that, Amadeo had to deal with difficult situations, with unstable Spanish politics, republican conspiracies, Carlist uprisings, separatism in Cuba, same-party disputes, fugitive governments and assassination attempts.


Amadeo could count on the support of only the progressive party, whose leaders were trading off in the government thanks to parliamentary majority and electoral fraud. The progressives divided into monarchists and constitutionalists, which made the instability worse, and in 1872 a violent outburst of interparty conflicts hit a peak. There was a Carlist uprising in the Basque and Catalan regions, and after that, republican uprisings happened in cities across the country. The artillery corps of the army went on strike, and the government instructed the King to discipline them.


Though warned of a plot against his life on 18 August 1872, he refused to take precautions, and, while returning from Buen Retiro Park to Madrid in company with the queen, was repeatedly shot at in Via Avenal. The royal carriage was struck by several revolver and rifle bullets, the horses wounded, but its occupants escaped unhurt. A period of calm followed the event.


With the possibility of reigning without popular support, Amadeo issued an order against the artillery corps and then immediately abdicated from the Spanish throne on 11 February 1873. At ten o'clock that same night, Spain was proclaimed a republic, at which time Amadeo made an appearance before the Cortes, proclaiming the Spanish people ungovernable.


Completely disgusted, the ex-monarch left Spain and returned to Italy, where he resumed the title of Duke of Aosta. The First Spanish Republic lasted less than two years, and in November 1874 Alfonso XII, the son of Isabella II, was proclaimed king, with Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, Spanish intermittent prime minister from 1873 until his assassination in 1897, briefly serving as regent.


Amadeo's first wife died in 1876. In 1888 he married his French niece, Princess Maria Letizia Bonaparte, Duchess of Aosta (20 November 186625 October 1926), daughter of his sister Maria Clotilde and of Prince Napoléon Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon I. They had one child, Umberto (1889–1918), who died of the flu during the First World War.


Amadeo remained in Turin, Italy until his death on 18 January 1890. His friend Puccini composed the famous elegy for string quartet "Crisantemi" in his memory.


Lake Amadeus in central Australia is named after him, as is the Philippine municipality of Amadeo, Cavite.


Prince Vittorio Amedeo Teodoro, Duke of Aosta


Vittorio Amedeo Theodore of Savoy (Prince Vittorio Amedeo Theodore; 7 March 1723 – 11 August 1725) was a prince of Savoy and Duke of Aosta. He was born in the reign of his grandfather Victor Amadeus II, King of Sardinia.


Prince Vittorio Amedeo was born at the Royal Palace of Turin, he was a son of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia and his first wife Anne Christine of Sulzbach. He was styled as the "Duke of Aosta" from birth till his death. He was the first-born son of his parents and was second in line to the throne (after his father) from his birth, which was greeted with much celebration. He died on 11 August 1725, at the age of 2.


His father had another son with his second wife also named Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, in his honour.


Victor Emmanuel I (Vittorio Emanuele; 24 July 1759 – 10 January 1824) was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia (1802–1821).


Victor Emmanuel was the second son of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, daughter of King Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese.


Victor Emmanuel was known from birth as the Duke of Aosta. From 1792 to 1796, Aosta's father had taken an active part in the struggle of the old powers against the revolutionary forces in France but was defeated and forced to make peace, signing the Treaty of Paris. The old king died shortly thereafter, and in December 1798, his eldest son and successor, Charles Emmanuel IV, was faced with a French occupation and eventually annexation, of his mainland territories.


Charles Emmanuel and his family were forced to withdraw to Sardinia, which was the only part of his domains not conquered by the French. Charles Emmanuel himself took little interest in the rule of Sardinia, living with his wife on the mainland in Naples and Rome until his wife's death in 1802, which led the childless Charles Emmanuel to abdicate the throne in favour of his younger brother.


Aosta took the throne on 4 June 1802 as Victor Emmanuel I. He ruled Sardinia from Cagliari for the next twelve years, during which time he constituted the Carabinieri, a Gendarmerie corps, still existing as one of the main branches of the military of Italy.


Victor Emmanuel 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 restored the "Regie Costituzioni" of Victor Amadeus II and the "Jus commune", strengthened customs barriers, refused to grant a liberal constitution, entrusted education to the Church and reintroduced laws concerning labour and the justice system which discriminated against Jews and Waldensians.


He nurtured expansionist ambitions in Lombardy, where nationalist anti-Austrian sentiments had developed, promoted largely by the bourgeoisie. This led to conflict with Austria. In March 1821, a liberal revolution exploded in Italy, largely the work of the Carbonari and it seemed that the anti-Austrian attitude of the revolutionaries matched that of Victor Emmanuel.


However, Victor Emmanuel was not willing to grant a liberal constitution as desired by the revolutionaries, so he abdicated in favor of his brother, Charles Felix on 13 March 1821. Because Charles Felix was in Modena at the time, Victor Emmanuel temporarily entrusted the regency to Charles Albert, who was second in line to the throne.


Thereafter Victor Emmanuel lived in a number of cities until 1824, when he returned to the Castle of Moncalieri, where he died. He is buried in the Basilica of Superga.


On 21 April 1789, he married Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria-Este, daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Modena (who was the son of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor).


They had six daughters and one son who died very young:


As a descendant of Henrietta of England he carried the Jacobite claim to the thrones of England and Scotland.


Carlo Francesco, Duke of Aosta (Carlo Francesco Maria Augusto; 1 December 1738 – 25 March 1745) was a prince of Savoy. He was born in the reign of his father Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia.


Prince Carlo was born at the Palace of Venaria, Turin. He was the first child of his father Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia and Élisabeth Thérèse of Lorraine. His mother died giving birth to his brother Prince Benedetto, named after Pope Benedict XIV who became pope the year before his birth.


At the time of his birth, he was third in line to the Sardinian throne after his father and his oldest half brother Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy. His paternal cousins included Louis XV of France, the future Ferdinand VI of Spain and the Prince of Carignan. His maternal cousin's included the future Queen of Naples and the famous "Marie Antoinette".


He died in Turin aged 7, and was buried at Royal Basilica of Superga, Turin.


Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta, Duke of Apulia (Aimone Umberto Emanuele Filiberto Luigi Amedeo Elena Maria Fiorenzo di Savoia-Aosta; born 13 October 1967) is the second child and first son of Prince Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta, one of the two claimants to the former throne of Italy. In 2006, his father declared himself Duke of Savoy and head of the House of Savoy; since then Prince Aimone has styled himself Duke of Aosta. However, because the headship of the royal house is disputed between his father and Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, he is still referred to as "Duke of Apulia".


Beginning in 2000, Aimone was the president of Pirelli Tires' operations in Russia. Since 2012, he has also served as CEO of Pirelli Tyre's Nordic division. His contribution to deepening bilateral economic relations between Italy and Russia has been recognized by the authorities of both countries, by the appointment to the Order of Friendship of Russia and the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.


Since November 2019 he has served as the Representative of the Order of Malta in Russia.


Prince Aimone was born in Florence the second child and only son of Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta and his first wife, Princess Claude of Orléans. Aimone attended the Francesco Morosini Naval Military School and Bocconi University. After he completed his education, Aimone worked at JPMorgan Chase in the United Kingdom. He also served a period in the Italian Navy's special forces (see Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori Teseo Tesei). Since 2000, Aimone has worked in Russia as president of the Italian company Pirelli.


Aimone's engagement to Princess Olga of Greece, daughter of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, was announced in May 2005. Olga and Aimone are second cousins; both being great-grandchildren of the French pretender Prince Jean, Duke of Guise. They are also second cousins-once-removed, as George I of Greece is Olga's patrilineal great-grandfather and Aimone's great-great-grandfather. Several falsely reported wedding dates marked what was to become a three-year engagement. The couple finally wed on 16 September 2008 at the Italian embassy in Moscow, the city in which Aimone is employed. Their religious marriage took place on 27 September 2008 at Patmos.


Prince Aimone and Princess Olga have three children, two sons and one daughter:


On 7 July 2006 Aimone's father, Prince Amedeo, assumed the headship of the House of Savoy and the title Duke of Savoy, claiming that his cousin Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, had lost his dynastic rights when he married in 1971 without the legally required permission of King Umberto II. Since then Aimone has used the title Duke of Aosta.


Prince Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta ("Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Torino"; 9 March 1900 – 29 January 1948) was a prince of Italy's reigning House of Savoy and an officer of the Royal Italian Navy. The second son of Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta he was granted the title Duke of Spoleto on 22 September 1904. He inherited the title Duke of Aosta on 3 March 1942 following the death of his brother Prince Amedeo, in a British prisoner of war camp in Nairobi.


From 18 May 1941 to 31 July 1943 he was designated King of Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) though he never ruled there. He formally accepted the position and took the name Tomislav II (), after the first Croatian king. Later, however, he refused to assume the kingship in protest of the Italian annexation of the Dalmatia region, and is therefore referred to in some sources as king designate. Regardless, many sources refer to him as Tomislav II, King of Croatia, and the nominal head of the NDH during its first two years (1941–1943).


After the dismissal of Mussolini on 25 July 1943, the prince abdicated on 31 July as king on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III.


Prince Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Torino of Savoy-Aosta was born in Turin the second son of Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta (eldest son of Prince Amedeo, 1st Duke of Aosta (and sometime "King Amadeo I of Spain") by his wife, "née" Vittoria dal Pozzo, Principessa della Cisterna) and Princess Hélène of Orléans (daughter of Philippe, comte de Paris, and Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans). As his patrilinal great-grandfather was King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, he was a member of the House of Savoy.


On 22 September 1904, he was given the title Duke of Spoleto for life. With his brother Amedeo, he was educated at St David's College, Reigate, Surrey, England, and Aimone later went to study at the naval academy in Livorno. On 1 April 1921, Prince Aimone became a member of the Italian Senate. Princes of the House of Savoy became members of the Senate at age 21, obtaining the right to vote at age 25.


In 1929, twenty years after his uncle Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi had attempted to climb K2 in Karakoram, Prince Aimone led an expedition to Karakorum. A member of the expedition was Ardito Desio. Due to the failure to climb K2 twenty years earlier, Prince Aimone's expedition concentrated solely on scientific work. He was afterwards awarded the 1932 Royal Geographical Society's Patron's Gold Medal for his work.


After being romantically linked with Infanta Beatriz of Spain, the daughter of King Alfonso XIII, he married, on 1 July 1939 in Florence, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King Constantine I and Princess Sophie of Prussia. They had one son, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, born in 1943.


On 18 May 1941, in a ceremony at the Quirinal Palace, to which Ante Pavelić, the leader of the nazist Ustaše movement that had assumed power in Croatia in April 1941 after the invasion of Yugoslavia, led a delegation of Croats requesting that Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III name a member of the House of Savoy as King of King of Croatia. The Independent State of Croatia was a fascist puppet state that was partly under Italian and German control, covering most of present-day states of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but its leaders tried to assert their legitimacy by instating a monarchy that would resemble the medieval Croatian state.


After the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, Aimone abdicated as king of Croatia on 31 July 1943 on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III.


Prince Aimone succeeded to the title Duke of Aosta on 3 March 1942, following the death of his elder brother Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, in a British Prisoner of War camp in Kenya.


In the Autumn of 1942, Aimone contacted Allied forces via his courier, the consul general Alessandro Marieni, about the possibility of a peace settlement between Italy and allied forces. Secret talks would continue into 1943, motivated in part by the aim of preserving the royal dynasty of Savoy.


In the latter months of World War II, he became the commander of the Italian Naval Base of Taranto but he was dismissed from his post for his criticism of the judges that had found General Mario Roatta guilty of war crimes. During his naval career he reached the rank of Squadron Admiral.


In 1947 following the birth of the Italian Republic the previous year, Prince Aimone left Italy for South America. Just a year after his arrival, he suddenly died on 29 January 1948 in his temporary residence, a private suite at the Alvear Palace Hotel in the French Borough of Recoleta in Buenos Aires, while his entourage was arranging his permanent residency documents and the purchase of his new home in Argentina. His son Prince Amedeo succeeded him as Duke of Aosta.


Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta (born 1943)


Prince Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta (Amedeo Umberto Costantino Giorgio Paolo Elena Maria Fiorenzo Zvonimir di Savoia; born 27 September 1943) is a claimant to the headship of the House of Savoy, the family which ruled Italy from 1861 to 1946. Until 7 July 2006, Amedeo was styled Duke of Aosta; on that date he declared himself Duke of Savoy, a title that is disputed between him and his third cousin, Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples.


Amedeo was born at "Villa della Cisterna" in Florence, the only child of Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, formerly designated king of Croatia as Tomislav II, and of Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark.


Only three weeks before Amedeo's birth, Italy had surrendered to the Allies. His father, then king-designate of Croatia, abdicated. Italy's former ally, Germany, thereupon launched a military operation to occupy Italy. The infant Amedeo was arrested by the Nazis along with his mother, aunt, and two cousins, and sent to an internment camp in Austria.


When Amedeo was only four years old, his father died in exile in Buenos Aires, and he succeeded as Duke of Aosta, Prince della Cisterna e Belriguardo, Marchese di Voghera, and Count di Ponderano.


Amedeo studied at the Collegio Navale Morosini in Venice and in England. He then attended the Naval Academy in Livorno from which he graduated as an officer in the Italian Navy.


He is an Honorary Companion of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, assigned insignia number 21015, as a great-grandson of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris.


On 22 July 1964 Amedeo married his second cousin, Princess Claude of Orléans (born 11 December 1943) in Sintra, Portugal. She was the ninth child and fifth daughter of Henri, comte de Paris, Orléanist claimant to the French throne, and of Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza. Amedeo and Claude officially separated 20 July 1976, obtained a civil divorce 26 April 1982, and an ecclesiastical annulment from the Roman Rota 8 January 1987. Amedeo and Claude have three children:


On 30 March 1987 Amedeo married Silvia Paternò di Spedalotto (b. Palermo, 31 December 1953) in the chapel of Villa Spedalotto in Bagheria, Sicily. She is the daughter of Vincenzo Paternò di Spedalotto, 6th Marchese di Reggiovanni, and of Rosanna Bellardo e Ferraris. Amedeo and Silvia have no children.


Amedeo has a daughter with Kyara van Ellinkhuizen, born outside of wedlock:


Amedeo and his wife Silvia live in the village of San Rocco near the town of Castiglion Fibocchi in Tuscany (about 15 km northwest of Arezzo). He is involved in various agricultural activities including the production of wine marketed under the name "Vini Savoia Aosta".


Since 1997, Amedeo has been president of the "International Foundation Pro Herbario Mediterraneo". From 2003 to 2006, he was president of the committee responsible for the nature reserve on the island of Vivara.


On 21 May 2004, at a "soirée" held at the Zarzuela Palace near Madrid during the wedding celebrations of the Spanish royal heir apparent, Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Amedeo approached Vittorio Emanuele who reportedly punched him twice in the face, causing him to stumble backward down the steps. The swift intervention of another guest, former Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, who propped him up, prevented Amedeo from falling to the ground. She helped him move indoors and stanched his bleeding facial wound until first aid was administered. Upon learning of the incident Spain's King Juan Carlos I, a cousin of both men, reportedly declared that "never again" would an opportunity to abuse his hospitality be afforded the rivals.


Amedeo is a Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation named by Umberto II, a Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and a Knight of Honor and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He is an honorary citizen of the towns of Marigliano, Pantelleria, and Abetone.


Charles Emmanuel III (27 April 1701 – 20 February 1773) was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.


He was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and his first wife the French Anne Marie d'Orléans. His maternal grandparents were Prince Philippe of France and his first wife Princess Henrietta, the youngest daughter of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. Charles Emmanuel was the oldest surviving brother of Princess Maria Adelaide of Savoy - the mother of Louis XV of France; he was also the brother of Maria Luisa of Savoy, Queen of Spain as wife Philip V of Spain.


At the time of his birth, when he was known as Duke of Aosta, Charles Emmanuel was not the heir to Savoy; his older brother Victor Amadeus, Prince of Piedmont, was the heir apparent. Charles Emmanuel was the second of three sons that would be born to his parents. His older brother died in 1715 and Charles Emmanuel then became heir apparent.


As a result of his aid in the War of the Spanish Succession, Victor Amadeus II was made king of Sicily in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the war. Victor Amadeus was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important kingdom of Sardinia in 1720 after objections from an alliance of four nations, including some of his former allies.


On 3 September 1730, Victor Amadeus who, in his later years had exhibited reticence and melancholy, abdicated the throne and retired from the royal court. His son became King Charles Emanuel III. He had not been a favorite of his father's, who had neglected his education except on the military field, where the son had sometimes accompanied the father.


After some time spent at his residence in Chambéry, however, the former king started to intervene in his son's government. Victor Amadeus reclaimed the throne, accusing his son of incompetence. He established himself in Moncalieri, but Charles Emmanuel managed to have the former king arrested by the Crown Council, in order to prevent him from attacking Milan and probably causing an invasion of Piedmont. Victor Amadeus was then confined to the Castle of Rivoli, where he later died without further interference with his son's regime.


In the War of the Polish Succession Charles Emmanuel sided with the French- backed king Stanislaw I. After the treaty of alliance signed in Turin, on 28 October 1733 he marched on Milan and occupied Lombardy without significant losses. However, when France tried to convince Philip V of Spain to join the coalition, he asked to receive Milan and Mantua in exchange. This was not acceptable for Charles Emmanuel, as it would recreate a Spanish domination in Italy as it had been in the previous centuries. While negotiations continued about the matter, the Savoy-French-Spanish troops attacked Mantua under the supreme command of Charles Emmanuel himself.


His only Cousin Was Isabel Luísa, Princess of Beira


Sure that in the end Mantua would be assigned to Spain, he voluntarily thwarted the expedition. The Franco-Piedmontese army was victorious in two battles at Crocetta and Guastalla. In the end, when Austria and France signed a peace, Charles was forced to leave Lombardy. In exchange, he was given some territories, including Langhe, Tortona and Novara.


The outcome was the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which revealed his qualities as a negotiator, inasmuch as he both regained the lost provinces of Nice and Savoy, and obtained Vigevano as well as other lands in the Pianura Padana. Ties with Spain were reestablished with the marriage of his son Prince Victor Amadeus to the Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain in 1750.


He declined to participate in the Seven Years' War (1756–63), preferring to concentrate on administrative reforms, maintaining a well-disciplined army and strengthening his fortresses. In an attempt to improve the poor condition of the newly acquired Sardinia, he also restored the Universities of Sassari and Cagliari.


Charles Emmanuel died in Turin in 1773. He was buried in the Basilica of Superga.


Charles Emmanuel's ancestors were avid art collectors. He added many new paintings to the collection he inherited from his ancestors. He also received paintings from the collection of Prince Eugene of Savoy who had remained childless. The collection contained many works of Flemish and Dutch painters. As a result, the Sabauda Gallery in Turin was the largest collection in Italy of 16th and 17th century Flemish and Dutch paintings. In 1731 he established a tapestry workshop in Turin. The Flemish battle painter Jan Peeter Verdussen was his court painter and painted many of his military victories.


Charles Emmanuel married three times, but all of his three wives died young. There were plans for him to marry his cousin [[Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans]], but his mother declined the offer. [[Amalia d'Este]], daughter of [[Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Modena|Rinaldo, Duke of Modena]], and [[Infanta Francisca Josefa of Portugal]], daughter of [[Pedro II of Portugal]], were also candidates.


[[File:Enfants de Charles-Emmanuel III.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The children of Charles and his second wife; (L-R) [[Eleonora Maria Teresa of Savoy|Eleonora]]; [[Victor Amadeus III of Savoy|Victor Amadeus]]; [[Princess Maria Felicita of Savoy|Maria Felicita]] and [[Princess Maria Luisa of Savoy (1729–1767)|Maria Luisa Gabriella]].]]


[[Category:Italian military personnel of the War of the Polish Succession]]


Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta (Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni di Savoia-Aosta; 21 October 1898 – 3 March 1942) was the third Duke of Aosta and a first cousin, once removed of the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III. During World War II, he was the Italian Viceroy of Italian East Africa ("Africa Orientale Italiana", or AOI).


Amedeo was born in Turin, Piedmont, to Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (son of Amadeo I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria), and Princess Hélène (daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans). As his patrilinal great-grandfather was King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, he was a member of the House of Savoy. He was known from birth by the courtesy title of "Duke of Apulia".


Amedeo was a very tall man. According to Amedeo Guillet, he was once referred to by a journalist as "Your Highness" (which in Italian could also be interpreted to mean "your height"). The Duke replied in jest: "198 centimetres" (6 feet, 6 inches).


Amedeo was educated at St David's College, Reigate, Surrey, in England. He cultivated British mannerisms, spoke Oxford English, and even enjoyed the pastimes of fox hunting and polo. Amedeo entered the Nunziatella, the military academy in Naples, joined the Italian Royal Army ("Regio Esercito") and fought with distinction in the artillery during World War I. He left the army in 1921 and traveled widely in Africa.


On 4 July 1931, upon the death of his father, Amedeo became the Duke of Aosta.


In 1937, after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the Duke of Aosta replaced Marshal Graziani as Viceroy and as Governor-General of Italian East Africa. It was generally conceded that he was a vast improvement over Graziani. As Viceroy and Governor-General, the Duke of Aosta was also the Commander-in-Chief of all Italian military forces in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland.


When Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France on 10 June 1940, the Duke of Aosta became the commander of the Italian forces in what is known as the East African Campaign of World War II. He oversaw the initial Italian advances into the Sudan and Kenya and, in August, he oversaw the Italian invasion of British Somaliland.


Shortly after his surrender, the Duke of Aosta was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Nairobi, Kenya. He was placed in command of his fellow prisoners, but never saw the end of World War II. On 3 March 1942, shortly after his internment, he died at the prison camp, reportedly as a result of complications from both tuberculosis and malaria. Amedeo was succeeded by his brother, Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta. From 18 May 1941, the same day Amedeo surrendered Amba Alagi, Aimone was proclaimed King of Croatia under the regal name Tomislav II.


Amedeo was well known and highly regarded for being a gentleman. In one instance, before he fled his headquarters at Addis Ababa, he wrote a note to the British to thank them in advance for protecting the women and children in the cities.


Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister under his father-in-law Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, paid Amedeo a high compliment in his famous diaries. Upon being given the news of the Duke's death Ciano wrote, "So dies the image of a Prince and an Italian. Simple in his ways, broad in outlook, and humane in spirit."


Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was also impressed by the respect and care that the Duke of Aosta showed to the exiled Emperor's personal property left behind in Addis Ababa. In a gesture of thanks, the Emperor during his state visit to Italy in 1953 invited the widowed Duchess of Aosta to tea during his stay in Milan, but was then informed by the Italian government that receiving the Duchess would cause offense to the Italian Republic, and so the Emperor sadly canceled the visit. Instead he invited the 5th Duke of Aosta to Ethiopia in the mid-60s, and accorded him all the protocol due to visiting royalty.


Amedeo was married 5 November 1927, in Naples, to his first cousin Princess Anne of Orléans (1906–1986), daughter of Prince Jean, Duke of Guise, and his wife, Princess Isabelle of Orléans.


Prince Amedeo's time in Italian Cyrenaica was depicted in the 1981 film "Lion of the Desert"; Amedeo was played by Sky du Mont.


Amado was also briefly mentioned in "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway


Marie of Savoy, Countess of Saint-Pol, de Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano (20 March 1448) was the second wife of Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Constable of France. She was a younger daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan, Princess of Cyprus, one of nineteen children.


Marie was born on 20 March 1448, one of the 19 children of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan of Cyprus.


In 1454 at the age of six, she was betrothed to Filippo Maria Sforza (1448–1492), the son of Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Bianca Maria Visconti. The contract was dated 13 December 1454. For reasons unknown, the betrothal was annulled, and he married instead his cousin, Costanza Sforza.


In 1466, she married Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, de Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano, Constable of France (1418–19 December 1475). The marriage contract was dated 1 August 1466. She was his second wife, his first wife, Jeanne de Bar, Countess of Marle and Soissons having died in 1462. Together Louis and Marie had three children:


Charles Felix (; 6 April 1765 – 27 April 1831) was the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, Aosta and King of Sardinia from 1821 to 1831.


Charles Felix was born in Turin as the eleventh child and fifth son born to Victor Amadeus III of Savoy and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. His paternal grandparents were Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy and his German wife Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg. His maternal grandparents were French born King Philip V of Spain and his Italian wife, Elisabeth Farnese.


He was a younger brother of two other rulers of Savoy Charles Emmanuel IV and Victor Emmanuel I. He spent his childhood with his sister Maria Carolina and his younger brother, Giuseppe Benedetto Placido, Count of Moriana, at the Castle of Moncalieri.


From his youth, Carlo Felice was reported as having a very complex character: on the one hand consistent and inflexible, private, distrustful, and impulsive, if not touchy and vindictive; on the other hand honest, sincere, and capable of emotion and fondness. He had a clever mind, at times even ironic. He possessed a sacral conception of the monarchy and the right to reign.


During the years of the French Revolution and the Italian Campaign, Charles Felix formed part of a "parallel court" opposed to Charles Emmanuel IV's circle, along with his brother Victor Emmanuel, the latter's wife Maria Theresa, Maurizio Giuseppe Duke of Monferrat, and Giuseppe Placido, count of Moriana.


In this period, Charles Felix began to keep a personal diary, which is an important source for events and for his conflicts with the court in Savoy.


When war broke out with France, Charles Felix did not distinguish himself as a soldier, despite having received a military education. In 1792, after the French occupation of the Duchy of Savoy and the county of Nice, he followed the troops to Saluzzo and in 1793, he accompanied his father, Victor Amadeus III, who had directed the operations for the reconquest of Nice and Savoy along with the Austrians under general J. de Vins, into the Susa Valley, to Pinerolo, Cuneo, and Tende.


Charles Felix remained very far from the front lines in any case. In spring 1794, after the arrival in Aosta of his brother the Duke of Monferrat, Charles Felix and Giuseppe Placido went to Morgex in order to retake some positions of relative strategic importance, but they did not achieve anything.


On 28 April 1796, Victor Amadeus III was forced to sign the Armistice of Cherasco with the French, which was followed by the Treaty of Paris on 15 May, which accepted French control of Nice, Savoy, Genevoise, and some fortresses. Charles Felix, who had been titled Duke of Genoa, obtained the title of Marquis of Susa in compensation for his nominal loss.


Victor Amadeus III died in October of the same year and was succeeded as Prince of Piedmont by Charles Emmanuel IV. The relationship between the new king and Charles Felix had never been good, but now deteriorated as the king strove to keep his brothers in the dark about affairs of state.


Two years into his reign, Charles Emmanuel IV was forced to surrender all royal control on the mainland. Along with the king and the rest of the royal family, Charles Felix left Turin on the evening of 9 December 1798 for Cagliari, where they arrived on 3 March 1799.


Charles Emmanuel IV was childless and, after the death of his wife, he abdicated in favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel I on 4 June 1802. The latter did not take possession of the domains in Sardinia himself, preferring to entrust them to Charles Felix as viceroy.


Charles Felix's government of Sardinia was rather rigid and authoritarian. Since the in 1794, the island had experienced a period of disorder, exacerbated by widespread poverty, which had led to an increase in crime, which the viceroy suppressed with notable harshness, writing to his brother the king, "slaughter, slaughter, for the good of the human race."


Charles Felix established a military regime, such that his Sardinian subjects referred to him as "Carlo Feroce" (Charles the Ferocious). The tool of this regime was the special court of the Viceregal delegation for the investigation of political proceedings, which took action immediately against the "capopolo" (popular leader), Vincenzo Sulis, who was guilty of nothing other than having been more successful than the viceroy in defeating the revolutionary movements. When Sulis was condemned to twenty years in gaol, the viceroy considered it a lenient sentence. Furthermore, in the persecution of "state criminals," Charles Felix legitimated the adoption of military procedures and granted every power to the police, from spying, to censoring letters and placing bounties on suspects.


In his reorganisation work, however, he displayed notable energy to control the autonomy of the judiciary and the local bureaucracy and managed to correct some abuses of the feudal regime.


In fact, when the Stamenti, the parliament of the kingdom, voted to pay a tax of 400,000 lire, Charles Felix exerted significant pressure to have the poorest classes exempted from the tax and he judged disputes in feudal jurisdiction in favour of vassals rather than feudal lords. When an anti-feudal revolt took place against the Duke of Asinara, who had refused to conform to the regulations of the viceroy, Charles Felix decided to punish both the duke, who was stripped of his property, as well as the revolutionaries.


Despite the precarious political and social situation, Charles Felix was able to bring some improvements to the agriculture and economy of the island. Under his rule, an agrarian society and an office for the administration of Crown mines and forests were established. Additionally, the farming of olives was encouraged and commercial contracts were granted in order to encourage local production. Finally, he began a project to systematise the road network.


On 7 March 1807, in the Cappella Palatina of the Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo, Charles Felix married by proxy Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily (17 January 1779 - 11 March 1849), daughter of Ferdinand IV King of Naples and Sicily and Maria Carolina of Austria.


The marriage, which had originally been opposed by Charles Felix, had been arranged for dynastic reasons. Neither Charles Emmanuel nor Victor Emmanuel had male children (the son of the latter had become sick and died in Sardinia), while the Duke of Montferrat and the Count of Morian were deceased, so Charles Felix had become the heir presumptive and therefore had to produce a male heir.


Although the marriage to Maria Cristina proved harmonious, she was unable to have children, forcing Victor Emmanuel to consider the succession of Charles Albert, prince of Carignano, from a collateral line of the House of Savoy.


After the fall of Napoleon and the return of Victor Emmanuel to Turin on 20 May 1814, Charles Felix joined him for a brief period before returning to Sardinia the following year with his wife. He formally retained the role of Viceroy until 1821, although he returned to the court in Turin after a short period.


Following revolts in Cadiz in 1820, King Ferdinand VII of Spain was forced to restore the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and hope of obtaining similar concessions from their own sovereigns arose in many European states. Insurrections broke out in Naples and Palermo.


The initial indications of crisis were confirmed on 11 January 1821 when four students were stopped by the police at a theatre performance in Turin because they were wearing red caps with black bows, symbol of the carboneria. The young men offered resistance and were arrested, provoking a large brawl.


The next day, all the students and many of their teachers protested, calling for the release of the youths and, when this was refused, they blockaded themselves in the university and the government was forced to call in the army. Although nobody was killed, the wounded were very numerous and the situation escalated.


A connection was made between the protestors and the secret society of the "Federati", whose leaders Santorre di Rossi, Giacinto Collegno, Carlo Emanuele Asinari, and Guglielmo Moffa di Lisio Gribaldi (all soldiers, officials, or sons of ministers) and Roberto d'Azeglio met with Charles Albert on 6 March. They were ready to act, having identified the prince as a new man for the House of Savoy, who might be willing to break with the absolutist past.


The goal of the conspirators was not to abolish the House of Savoy, but to induce it to enact political and social reforms and then undertake a war against Austria, which seemed possible in light of the deeply anti-Austrian sentiments of the Victor Emmanuel I.


In this, the conspirators took advantage of the absence of Charles Felix, whom they thought would have been able to induce Victor Emmanuel to oppose their plans. They planned to raise the army, surround the royal residence at Moncalieri castle and force him to grant a constitution and declare war on Austria. The role of Charles Albert would have been to mediate between the conspirators and the king, but the following morning, he changed his mind and attempted to escape from the conspirators, although he did not disavow them.


The conspirators grew suspicious and prepared to cancel the insurrection which they had planned for the 10th. The same day, Charles Albert, completely penitent, raced to Moncalieri in order to confess everything to Victor Emmanuel and beg for pardon. In the night the garrison of Alessandria, commanded by one of the conspirators, Guglielmo Ansaldi, rebelled and occupied the city. Although they had been abandoned by the Prince, the rest of the revolutionaries decided to act at this point.


Abdication of Victor Emmanuel and regency of Charles Albert.


On Sunday 11 March 1821, King Victor Emmanuel I met with the Crown Council, which Charles Albert was a member of. As a result of the king's indecision, no action was taken.


On 12 March, the Citadel of Turin fell into the hands of the rebels. Victor Emmanuel encouraged Charles Albert and Cesare Balbo to negotiate with the Carbonari, who refused to listen to their messages. Thus, in the evening, in the face of the spreading military uprising, the king abdicated in favour of his brother Charles Felix. Since the latter was in Modena at the time, Charles Albert was appointed regent.


The abdication of the king, which followed the dismissal of the ministers of state, led to chaos because it created a dynastic crisis which foreign powers would not ignore and because it split the army and bureaucracy, preventing every possibility of maintaining order.


The regent tried to take control by naming a new government (the lawyer, Ferdinando del Pozzo (1768-1843) as Minister of the Interior, general Emanuele Pes di Villamarina as minister of war, and Lodovico Sauli d'Igliano as minister of foreign affairs) and attempted to negotiate with the rebels, but he achieved nothing.


Given the impossibility of taking any decisions without the agreement of the new king, Charles Albert sent Charles Felix an account of the events, seeking instructions, but the letter took a very long time to reach its destination.


Fearful of becoming the object of popular anger, on the evening of 13 March 1821, Charles Albert signed a decree granting a constitution along the lines of the Spanish constitution of 1812, which would not become law until approved by the king.


The next day, the regent decided to form a junta, which was to protect the parliament. Two days after that, he swore to observe the Spanish Constitution, in a Savoyard version which had been slightly altered according to the requests of Victor Emmanuel's consort, Maria Therese.


At this point, Charles Felix, who had now received the letter from Charles Albert notifying him of his brother's abdication, decided to act. He told the messenger not to address him as "majesty", then asserted that since the abdication had been extracted through violence, it could not be considered valid. Finally, he said, "tell the Prince that, if there is still a drop of our royal blood in his veins, he should set out for Novara immediately and wait there for my orders."


As for the Spanish constitution, he declared any sovereign acts taken after the abdication of his brother to be null and void, then he issued the following proclamation, "Far from consenting to any change in the pre-existing form of government with the nominal abdication of the king, our beloved brother, we consider all the royal subjects who have aided or abetted the traitors or who have presumed to proclaim a constitution, to be rebels."


Charles Albert, deeply discouraged, did as Charles Felix commanded, went to Novara, and issued a proclamation renouncing the regency and calling on everyone to submit to Charles Felix. On the 29th, he received a letter from Charles Felix ordering him to depart with his family for Florence.


With Charles Albert out of the way, Charles Felix dispatched several letters to Francis I of Austria, asking him to send troops in order to suppress the revolt.


On 3 April, he issued a second proclamation which granted a pardon to the soldiers while applying strict sanctions to rebel officials, which ultimately, prevented any form of compromise. Chancellor Metternich himself said to Francis IV of Modena that this proclamation had been imprudent and was written "with animosity, passion, and hatred."


The rebels, realising that no other option remained for them, marched on Novara, where the forces loyal to Charles Felix were gathered under the command of Vittorio Sallier de La Tour. This, inevitably, convinced Metternich to intervene.


On 8 April there was a battle (Noara-Borgo Vercelli) with the troops of de La Tour and then with those of the Austrian general Ferdinand von Bubna, who occupied Vercelli and Alessandria on 11 April, while de La Tour, who had received full powers from Charles Felix, occupied Turin on the 10th.


On 19 April, despite pressure from the emperors of Russia and Austria, Metternich, Charles Albert, Francis IV, and Charles Felix himself (who hated the idea of receiving the crown "thanks" to rebels), Victor Emmanuel reaffirmed his abdication. Thus, on 25 April, Charles Felix acceded to the throne.


Once control of Turin was re-established, Charles Felix, who was still in Modena, entered into personal communication with the Emperor of Austria in order to obtain recognition from the Congress of Laibach, which was then in session, that he would be able to assume full control of his possessions, as an absolute monarch, and that Austria would not be allowed to interfere in any way in his territories.


At the subsequent Congress of Verona, Charles Felix feared pressure for constitutional changes and reiterated in his instructions to his ambassadors that the repression of the "revolutionary spirit" inspired by the Congress of Laibach belonged exclusively to him and that he was firmly convinced of the necessity of this obligation.


Having decided to remain at Modena, he appointed Ignazio Thaon di Revel as Lieutenant General of the Kingdom, and placed G. Piccono della Valle and G.C. Brignole in charge of foreign affairs and financial affairs respectively.


Finally, he began the suppression of opposition. The following extract from the work of Guido Astuti describes his actions:


Finally, the king instituted three different jurisdictions: a mixed civil and military tribunal called the Royal Delegation with penal powers, a military commission for investigating the conduct of officers and non-commissioned officers, and a scrutiny commission for investigating the conduct of every employee of the kingdom.


The Royal Delegation sat from 7 May to early October, in which time it issued 71 death sentences, 5 sentences of life imprisonment, and 20 sentences of imprisonment for 5 to 20 years. After the delegation's dissolution, the senate issued a further 24 death sentences, 5 sentences of life imprisonment, and another 12 sentences of imprisonment for 15–20 years. By the end of October the military commission had dismissed 627 officers.


The scrutiny commission, divided into a superior tribunal and seven divisional boards of scrutiny, issued numerous dismissals and suspensions of civil servants and professors of every kind of school, whom it found particularly culpable.


On the instructions of the minister of the interior, Roget de Cholex, the University of Turin was closed and many professors received severe admonitions because, as the king wrote in a letter to his brother (9 May 1822): "everyone who has studied at the university is entirely corrupt: the professors are detestable, but there is no way to replace them... Thus the bad are all taught and the good are all ignorant.".


In any case, although an oppressive climate was established, accompanied by the habituation to accusations and to the diversity of political ideas, offering a pretext for pursuing private vendettas, the royal authority, especially the governor of Genoa, Giorgio Des Geneys, did not prevent people from fleeing. Of all the people who were condemned, only two were actually executed.


Further, it is reported by a letter of the Count d'Agliè that Charles Felix never prevented anyone from secretly passing subsidies to condemned men who had gone into exile and Angelo Brofferio reports that when the king discovered that one of these subsidies was going to the family of one of the two individuals who had actually been executed in 1821, the king doubled the sum.


The suppression of opposition was terminated on 30 September 1821, when Charles Felix issued a pardon of all individuals who had been implicated in the revolt, excluding the leaders, the financiers and those who had been found guilty of homicide or extortion. A few days later, Charles Felix entered Turin.


Even before he reached Turin, Charles Felix repudiated the Regent's promise and, to help restore order, he called in the Austrians, who stayed in Piedmont till 1823. In that same year Charles Albert went to Spain to extinguish by force of arms the last sparks of revolt, making himself an object of hatred as the betrayer of Italian liberalism, but regaining the confidence of the King, who might have chosen another successor.


Charles Felix was a true reactionary, convinced that the world would soon be swept clean of all those - in his view - wicked and sacrilegious innovations introduced by the French Revolution and diffused throughout Europe by Napoleon Bonaparte "the rascal" as he called him.


Charles Felix was rarely present at Turin as king and did not participate in the social life of the capital, since he had never sought the throne and had no particular affection for the Turinese, whom he considered to have proven themselves traitors to the dynasty through their support for Napoleon and the constitutional protests.


In practice, he resided in Turin only during the theatre season and he spent the rest of the time travelling around Savoy, Nice, Genoa (one of his favourite residences) and the castles of Govone and Agliè, which he had inherited from his sister Maria Anna.


As a result, the king tended to delegate large amounts of power to his ministers, especially Count Roget de Cholex, Minister of the Interior, reserving a supervisory role for himself. His government was characterised by Massimo d'Azeglio as follows:


Nevertheless, the king was not entirely unaware of the need for reform and certainly exerted himself in the defense of the Piedmontese realm from Pontifical and foreign intervention. He limited the privileges and exemptions of the church, which seemed harmful to the state, almost completely abolishing the right of sanctuary in holy places, granted secular courts the right to hear cases against priests, and imposed civic oversight of catechisms, sermons, and religious books.


Regarding the issue of church property which had been secularised in 1792 (with Papal consent) and Francisican property which had been secularised unilaterally, the king appointed an extraordinary board composed of official and supporters of the clergy.


The proposals, delivered to Pope Leo XII by ambassador-extraordinary Filiberto Avogadro di Collobiano in December 1827, were examined by a council of cardinals, who rejected some financial details and the right of the state to dispose of the property freely. However, on 1 April 1828, the king summoned a new council, to which he professed flexibility on the financial issues and rigidity on the issue of disposal. The resulting agreement was approved on 14 May 1828 by the Holy See.


There were also important legislative reforms, which were effected by the Edict of 16 July 1822, which reformed mortgages; the Edict of 27 August 1822, which unified the military penal law; and the Edict of 27 September 1822, which reformed the judicial system. These changes were capped by the "Civil and Criminal Laws of the Kingdom of Sardinia", signed on 16 January 1827, which replaced the dated Carta de Logu.


In fact, while Victor Emmanuel had implemented a rigid counter-revolution, which uncritically revoked every arrangement made by the French after the abdication of Charles Emmanuel IV, the state could not continue to ignore the will of the majority of its subjects who called for laws in accordance with the ideas and needs of their contemporary world. Some reforms to fill the gaps were necessary.


Thus, on 27 September 1822, after Charles Felix had re-established the publication of mortgages and codified the military penal law, he promulgated an Edict on the reform of the civil judicial system - excluding Sardinia.


The edict abolished a majority of the special jurisdictions (e.g. for gambling offences, or management of ports), instituted 40 collegial prefecture tribunals (which managed 416 "district courts"), with original jurisdiction, which were divided into four classes, according to the importance of the area, and he entrusted instruction of the procedures to special members of these tribunals. Civil and penal jurisdiction remained with the Senate in Turin and fiscal jurisdiction with the Court of Audit.


In addition, a single appellate jurisdiction was introduced, eliminating the multiplicity of appeals that had previously existed and the ministerial position of fiscal advocate was introduced.


Finally, he made the act of taking a case to court free, however inadequately, replacing the old system of the "sportula", which was a very heavy judicial fee, calculated on the basis of the seriousness of the case, which provided the judges' pay, with a regular system of salaries paid by the state.


Another important change was the code of civil and criminal law of the Kingdom of Sardinia promulgated on 16 January 1827, mainly as a result of the work of the Count of Cholex. The code was prepared in Turin by the Supreme Council of Sardinia. It was then examined by an appropriate Sardinian committee and the Reale Udienza of Sardinia. The result was a confection of Sardinian and mainland sources, creating a law which was both traditional and novel.


The most novel changes relate to penal law: the abolition of the "giudatico" (impunity for criminals who had arrested other criminals) and the "esemplarità" (cruel extensions of the death penalty, like quartering the corpse and scattering the ashes); restrictions on the imposition of the death penalty; affirmation of the principle that the punishment should fit the crime; and the distinction between attempted crimes and crimes actually committed.


Finally, the slave trade was abolished and it was declared that any person who was found in captivity on a ship flying the Sardinian flag would instantly be freed.


Charles Felix's reign was characterised by financial and economic difficulties and rigid protectionism, but there were some initiatives relating to services and public works.


The road network was improved by the construction of the road between Cagliari and Sassari (now Strada statale 131 Charles Felix) and between Genoa and Nice, as well as bridges over the Bormida and the Ticino (the latter completed in 1828). A large number of public buildings were constructed in the cities: the port of Nice was largely restored, Genoa received a theatre (the Teatro Carlo Felice, named after the king), and Turin benefited from a programme of urban improvement which included the bridge over the Dora, the Piazza Carlo Felice, underground drainage channels, the porticos of the Piazza Castello and various new suburbs.


Charles Felix paid attention to the steelworking sector, which had already occupied him as Viceroy, as well as the banking and insurance sectors, which were improved significantly by the creation of the Cassa di Risparmio di Torino in 1827 and the establishment of the Royal Mutual Society of Insurers in June 1829. He also encouraged the agricultural and manufacturing sector by granting many exemptions and fiscal benefits and through the creation of trade fairs like that of 1829, in which 500 exhibitors participated.


Theoretically, Charles Felix was committed to the territorial expansion of his realm, but he did not maintain any expansionist illusions and preferred to concentrate on the economic and commercial interests of his realm. Thus in 1821, with the help of the Austrians and English, he signed an advantageous trade agreement with the Sublime Porte.


In September 1825, in order to force the Bey of Tripoli to observe the treaty established with him in 1816 under English auspices, and to respect Sardinian ships sailing along the coast of North Africa, he launched a demonstration of force. Towards the end of the month, two frigates ("Commercio" and "Cristina"), a corvette ("Tritone") and a brig ("Nereide") under the command of captain Francesco Sivori, appeared off the coast of Tripoli. After a final attempt to pressure the Bey diplomatically, ten Sardinian longboats sailed into the harbour on the night of 27 September and set fire to a Tripolitanian brig and two schooners, routing or murdering the Tripolitanian troops. This forced the Bey to take a more conciliatory approach.


In 1828, he ended the construction of a bridge over the River Ticino at Boffalora, which had been begun by his brother Victor Emmanuel I some years earlier as a result of a treaty with the Emperor of Austria, who controlled the other side of the river as part of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia.


Charles Felix was an avid patron of art and culture. In 1824, he acquired Hautecombe Abbey, where many of his ancestors were buried and entrusted a restoration programme to the architect Ernesto Melano.


In the same year, he was responsible for the acquisition of a good part of the collection which now constitutes the Museo Egizio in Turin. The pieces were acquired from Bernardino Drovetti, a native of Barbania, who was then the French consul in Egypt. The collection was placed in the Palazzo dell'Accademia delle Scienze, which is still the site of the museum.


In 1827, Charles Felix instituted the chamber of commerce and the School of Palaeography and Diplomacy, affiliated to the academy of painting and sculpture.


Charles Felix died without issue on 27 April 1831, in Turin at the Palazzo Chablais which had been given to him by his sister Princess Maria Anna, Duchess of Chablais, after a reign of ten years. He was buried at Hautecombe Abbey in Savoy, where his wife was also buried in 1849. With his death, the main line of the House of Savoy became extinct. He was succeeded by the senior male member of the House of Savoy-Carignano, the regent Charles Albert (1798-1849). The selection of Charles Albert as successor had not been made willingly, since Charles Albert had shown himself to be inclined to liberalism and friendly to the carbonari.


The Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa is named for him.


The principal road of the island of Sardinia, the Strada statale 131 Charles Felix, which connects the towns of Cagliari and Sassari-Porto Torres, constructed in the 19th century, is named for him.


Jacques of Savoy (12 November 1450 – 30 January 1486) was Count of Romont and Lord of Vaud.


Count of Romont and Lord of Vaud.


He was the 7th son of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan.


The House of Savoy possessed the Lordship of Vaud since the 12th century, when it wrested control from the original owners, the House of Zähringen. Savoy extended its influence by supporting the city of Bern against the House of Habsburg. After the Battle of Laupen, Savoy and Bern became allies, but as the power of Bern increased, they became enemies at the beginning of the Burgundian Wars.


When Amadeus IX became head of the House of Savoy in 1465, he gave his brother Jacques as an appanage the region of Vaud with the title of Count of Romont, Lord of Vaud and the towns of Murten, Avenches, Payerne, Romont, Moudon, Rue and Yverdon.


Amadeus suffered from epilepsy and let his wife, Yolande of Valois, and his brother, the Count of Bresse govern for him. He died in 1472 and was succeeded by his son Philibert, who was only 6 years old. The young Duke's mother, Yolande, became his regent and tutor.


Several alliances were formed within the family. Peter, Prince-Bishop of Geneva and brother of Amadeus, became a counsellor at Yolande's court. The Count of Bresse sought the favor of Louis XI of France. Jacques of Savoy joined the army of the powerful Duke of Burgundy, Charles de Bold. Jacques took the opportunity of a conflict with his sister-in-law Yolande to grab several fortified places that Amadeus IX had retained, and an arbitration by Bern and Fribourg in 1471 awarded them to him. However, these different alliances and clever political manoeuvering by King Louis XI eventually led to the loss of all the territories belonging to the Count of Romont in Vaud.


In the army of Charles the Bold.


Jacques of Savoy became a close friend of Charles the Bold. In 1473, he became Governor of Burgundy, Grand Marshal and supreme commander of a third of the Burgundian army. Jacques had made the city of Bern—at that time on friendly terms with the House of Savoy—protector of his territories in Vaud during his absence. However, Bern joined the confederacy of the original 8 cantons, becoming an ally of King Louis XI through the "League of Constance", which further comprised Sigismund of Tirol, the town of Basel and the Alsatian towns of Strasbourg, Colmar, and Sélestat. The treaty stipulated mutual assistance in case of outside attack and was directed against the Duke of Burgundy.


Sigismund of Austria, of the House of Habsburg, had given the Upper Alsace to Burgundy as an appanage. The region revolted against its Burgundian bailiff, Peter von Hagenbach, and the League of Constance declared war on Charles the Bold and laid siege to Héricourt. In November 1474 Jacques of Savoy led his army in an attempt to lift the siege. However, when he arrived, Héricourt had already surrendered and in the ensuing battle the Burgundian army suffered a crushing defeat.


On 14 October 1475 Bern declared war on Jacques of Savoy on the pretext of the hostility of the population they had themselves terrorised. Troops from Bern invaded Vaud again and massacred resisting garrisons. As no help would be forthcoming, other Vaudois villages surrendered before being attacked. However, as Charles the Bold became successful on the European battlefields, Jacques of Savoy could at last concentrate his attention on his territories in Vaud. In the beginning of 1476 he was able to retake his territories, in part because the Swiss confederation was withdrawing everywhere before the powerful army of Charles the Bold arrived.


After the battles of Grandson and Murten, both decisive Swiss victories, Vaud was again conquered by the Swiss and lost to Jacques of Savoy. Bern demanded Vaud and threatened Geneva and Savoy. Meanwhile, Duchess Yolande had fallen into the hands of Charles the Bold. King Louis XI intervened in favor of his sister and forced the Swiss to accept an armistice. On 14 April 1476 the Swiss Confederacy and Savoy concluded a peace treaty under the sponsorship of the French King.


The Treaty of Fribourg stipulated that the Swiss would be paid to return the territories of Savoy. However, the House of Savoy was unable to raise the ransom, so the territories remained in the hands of Bern. The Treaty also prevented the "Barony of Vaud" from being separated from Savoy in appanage and excluded the Count of Romont forever as Lord of Vaud. In this way, Jacques of Savoy lost all rights to his fiefs.


After the loss of his possessions in Vaud and the death of Charles the Bold before the walls of Nancy, Jacques of Savoy joined the court of Charles's daughter and heiress, Mary of Burgundy, wife of the Habsburg emperor Maximillian I. In 1478, he was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece. He participated courageously in the Battle of Guinegate in 1479, where he was wounded, helping to beat the army of King Louis XI of France and keeping the County of Flanders for Mary.


In 1484 Jacques of Savoy married Marie de Luxembourg (1462–1546), granddaughter of Louis of Luxembourg-Saint-Pol, Count of Saint-Pol. They had one child, Françoise Louise of Savoy (1485–1511). She married Henry III of Nassau-Breda but died without issue.


Jacques received Saint-Pol from King Charles VIII of France, with other fiefs in Flanders and Brabant out of the inheritance of Louis of Luxembourg.


Jacques of Savoy died on 30 June 1486 in the Castle of Ham, an old possession of the Counts of Saint-Pol.


Princess Adelaide of Savoy-Genoa (Maria Adelaide Vittoria Amelia; 25 April 1904 – 2 August 1979), was a daughter of Prince Thomas, Duke of Genoa and Princess Isabella of Bavaria.


Adelaide was the fifth of six children born to Prince Thomas, Duke of Genoa and his wife Princess Isabella of Bavaria. Her father was a grandson of King Charles Albert of Sardinia. Among her siblings were Ferdinando, 3rd Duke of Genoa; Filiberto, 4th Duke of Genoa; and Eugenio, 5th Duke of Genoa. Her mother Isabella was a granddaughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria.


Through her aunt Margherita of Savoy, she was a cousin of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.


On 15 July 1935 she married her third cousin, Prince Leone Massimo di Arsoli (25 January 1896 in Rome – 4 May 1979 in Rome), son of Camillo Francesco Massimo, 4th Principe di Arsoli and donna Eleonora . Leone was the 5th Prince of Arsoli, the 9th Marquis of Roccasecca, Baron of Pisterzo, Lord of Intrafiumara, Nobile of Tivoli and Velletri and 2nd Duke of Anticoli Corrado. Her husband was also a great-grandson of Princess Caroline of Naples and Sicily and Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy-Carignano. They had six children:


Louis of Savoy (; 1436–37 ; April 1482) was King of Cyprus, reigning together with and in the right of his wife, Charlotte of Cyprus. He was the second son and namesake of Louis, Duke of Savoy, and his wife, Anne of Lusignan, daughter of King Janus of Cyprus. He was born in Geneva.


Louis was born, according to Samuel Guichenon, in June 1431, in Geneva, but the historian specifies in note that he was born in 1436. The birth in June 1436 is therefore that adopted by contemporary authors. Guichenon also specifies that the prince is 8 years old when he married in 1444. Some mention a period between 1436-1437


, especially for this last year the Swiss historian Édouard Mallet (1805-1856).


On 14 December 1444, at Stirling Castle, he was married to Annabella, youngest daughter of King James I of Scotland (d. 1437) and sister of King James II of Scotland. The official wedding never took place and the marriage was annulled in 1458.


On 7 October 1458, Louis married Queen Charlotte of Cyprus, his cousin, and became King of Cyprus as well as the titular King of Jerusalem and of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia for the brief period of her reign from 1458 to 1460, when they were deposed.


Louis died in April 1482, at the priory of Ripaille.


Louis (1364 – 11 December 1418) was the Lord of Piedmont and titular Prince of Achaea from 1402. He was a son of James of Piedmont and Marguerite de Beaujeu (1346–1402).


In 1405, he founded the University of Turin. On 24 January 1403, he married Bona (1388–1432), daughter of Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy, but they never had any children. When he died in 1418, the Piedmont-Achaea cadet branch of the House of Savoy died with him. His titles and estates were inherited by the senior line of the House of Savoy.


Descendants of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile


Some British lines descend from Henrietta Maria of France, granddaughter of Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Although her legitimate descendants in Britain were banished during the Glorious Revolution, many remain descending from the bastard children of Charles II and James VII. Princess Diana was and her sons and grandchildren are among this group by virtue of descent from Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton and Henrietta FitzJames.


The two princes Albert II of Monaco and Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein also have this blood. Albert's was introduced to the Grimaldi family by Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton, granddaughter of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden. Charles was, among other ways this descent can be traced, a double great-grandson of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, a great-grandson of Elisabeth Sophie. Hans-Adam has the bloodline from his grandmother Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria, who was both a Habsburg with near male-line descent excluding Maria Theresa and Joanna the Mad and a granddaughter of Miguel I of Portugal mentioned above.


Duke of Nemours was a title in the Peerage of France. The name refers to Nemours in the Île-de-France region of north-central France.


In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Lordship of Nemours, in the Gatinais, France, was a possession of the house of Villebéon, a member of which, Gautier, was marshal of France in the middle of the 13th century. The lordship was sold to King Philip III of France in 1274 and 1276 by Jean and Philippe de Nemours. It was then made a county and given in 1364 to Jean III de Grailly, captal de Buch.


In 1404, Charles VI of France gave it to Charles III of Navarre and elevated it into a duchy in the peerage of France, in exchange to his ancestral county of Évreux in Normandy.


After being confiscated and restored several times, the duchy reverted to the French crown in 1504, after the extinction of the house of Armagnac-Pardiac. In 1507, it was given by Louis XII of France to his nephew, Gaston de Foix, who was killed at the Battle of Ravenna in 1512.


The duchy then returned to the royal domain and was detached from it successively for Giuliano de Medici and his wife Philiberta of Savoy in 1515, for Louise of Savoy in 1524, and for Philip of Savoy, Count of Genevois, in 1528. The descendants of Philip of Savoy held the duchy until its sale to Louis XIV of France.


In 1672, Louis XIV gave it to his brother Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans, whose descendants held it until the French Revolution. It was one of the many subsidiary titles held by the House of Orléans. The title of Duke of Nemours was afterwards given to Louis Charles d'Orléans, the second son of King Louis Philippe of the French.


Aveline married Walter of Villebéon, lord of Beaumont-du-Gâtinais, in 1150 and shared the lordship with him. They left it to their son in 1174.


The lordship was sold to the king in 1274.


After the death of Charles III in 1425, the Duchy was claimed both by the descendants of his younger daughter, Beatrice, and his elder daughter and heiress, Blanche I of Navarre.


Louis XI settled the claim on Jacques d'Armagnac, grandson of Beatrix, in 1462, though Blanche's descendants, the Kings of Navarre, claimed the title until 1571.


She received the duchy of Nemours in 1524 with the duchy of Anjou. It was later transferred to her half-brother in 1528 and she received the duchy of Touraine in exchange. She also received later the Duchy of Auvergne.


This is a list of the Duchesses of Nemours and their original houses.


The March or Marquisate of Turin () was a territory of medieval Italy from the mid-10th century, when it was established as the Arduinic March (). It comprised several counties in Piedmont, including the counties of Turin, Auriate, Albenga and, probably, Ventimiglia. The confines of the march thus stretched across the Po Valley from the Western Alps in the north, to the Ligurian Sea.


Because of the later importance of the city and valley of Susa, to the House of Savoy, who styled themselves as "marquises of Susa", the march is sometimes referred to as the March or Marquisate of Susa. Yet in the tenth and early eleventh centuries, the city and valley of Susa were not the most important part of the county, let alone the march, of Turin. Successive members of the Arduinici dynasty were documented far more frequently in their capital, the city of Turin, than anywhere else, and until the late 1020s, Susa was controlled by a cadet branch of the dynasty, rather than by the marquises themselves.


The march was formed by a reorganisation of the territory of the kingdom of Italy into three marches, named after their three ruling dynasties:


Arduin Glaber was invested as count of Turin in 941 by Hugh of Italy. Arduin had captured Turin and the Susa Valley from the Saracens. In 964, Arduin was appointed margrave of Turin by Emperor Otto I. The march continued to be ruled by members of the Arduinici thereafter. Arduin Glaber's son Manfred I succeeded him and his son, Ulric Manfred II, succeeded him. Ulric had no son, so he left the march to his daughter Adelaide. Although Adelaide ruled in her own right, de jure control passed to her husband Otto, count of Aosta. Their descendants would later comprise the House of Savoy. Gundulph, the father of St Anselm, may have represented a collateral branch of Manfred's dynasty.


After Adelaide’s death in 1091, the march of Turin broke up. Comital authority in the city of Turin was invested in the bishop of Turin (1092) and the city itself became a commune (1091).