In 1092, the emperor Henry IV appointed his son Conrad as margrave of Turin. (Conrad was Adelaide’s grandson via her daughter Bertha of Savoy). Although Conrad attempted to gain control of the march, his power was never effectual and the title was largely nominal. Instead, the northern part of the march of Turin was absorbed into Savoy, which was ruled by another of Adelaide’s grandsons, Humbert II. (Many centuries later, Turin became the capital of this dynasty.) To the south, lands which had composed the march of Turin were annexed by Adelaide's nephew, Boniface del Vasto.


The title Marquis of Turin was later used by Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, a member of the house of Savoy which ruled Italy from 1861 and 1946.


The Military Order of Italy (Italian: "Ordine Militare d'Italia") is the highest military order of the Italian Republic and the former Kingdom of Italy. It was founded as the Military Order of Savoy, a national order by the King of Sardinia, Vittorio Emanuele I, Duke of Savoy in 1815. The order is awarded in five degrees for distinguished wartime conduct of units of the armed forces or individual personnel that has "proven expertise, a sense of responsibility and valour."


The order was continued on the unification of Italy in 1861 and was revived, under its new name, following the foundation of the Republic in 1946. It is bestowed by decree of the President of the Italian Republic, head of the order, on the recommendation of the Minister of Defence.


Recipients of the "Ordine militare di Savoia" were transferred retaining their existing accoutrements and seniority.


The various degrees of the order, which may be conferred posthumously, are as follows:


The lowest of these may also be awarded for peacetime actions.


Mary of Burgundy (French: Marie de Bourgogne; 1386–1428) was a Duchess of Savoy by her marriage to Amadeus VIII of Savoy, who was later known as Antipope Felix V.


Mary was the eighth of the nine children of Philip the Bold and his wife Margaret III, Countess of Flanders.


Philip of Savoy had made alliances with low county Bavarians, by marrying John to Margaret of Bavaria. Philip also made links with the Dukes of Austria and of Savoy, by marrying Catherine to Leopold IV of Austria, and Mary to Amadeus VIII Savoy, son of Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy and Bonne of Berry. Their marriage was contracted in the year of her birth, on 11 November 1386 in Sluis, Zeeland; they married by proxy 30 October 1393 in Chalon-sur-Saône and in person at Arras May 1401, when Mary was ca. 15 years old.


In 1416, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor elevated Amadeus from Count to Duke of Savoy. Mary duly became Duchess. From then onwards Dukes ruled over Savoy.


The couple were married for thirty-six years before Mary died in 1428 at Chateau of Thonon les Bains. She is buried in the Abbey of Hautecombe.


Mary and Amadeus had nine children, with further descendants:


Yolande Palaiologina or "Violant" (Moncalvo, June 1318 – Chambery, December 24, 1342) was the daughter of Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat, and Argentina Spinola (1303-1356), a Genoese lady, daughter of Opicino Spinola. She received the name Yolande from her paternal grandmother Irene of Montferrat.


Yolande married on May 1, 1330 to Aimone, Count of Savoy, from her marriage she became countess of Savoy, Aosta and Moriana. Her marriage was arranged to seal the newly found peace between her family and the counts of Savoy, and on the basis that the latter would succeed to Montferrato in case of extinction in the male line of the Palaeologus-Montferrat family. According also to this act of inheritance in Montferatto, when the male line died out of the House of Palaeologus-Montferrat with the death of Bonifacio IV of Montferrat two centuries later, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, laid claim to Montferrato through Yolande his great-great-great-great grandmother. However it was claimed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor


After failing to produce a child for the count in the first few years of marriage, she went to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Bourg-en-Bresse, which was considered at the time to help marriages become fruitful. Not long after, she conceived a son, Amadeus. She returned to the shrine after his birth, and was pleased to then conceive a daughter.


Yolande died whilst giving birth to her son Louis on 24 December 1342, and she was buried in a chapel at Hautecombe Abbey.


Joan of Geneva (born c. 1040, died 1095) was a Countess Consort of Savoy; married to Amadeus II, Count of Savoy.


According to the much later "Chronicles of Savoy", Amadeus married Joan, daughter of "Girard, Count of Burgundy", which scholars have surmised to have been Count Gerold of Geneva. The "Chronicon Altacumbae" says only that "the wife of Amadeus [was] from Burgundy", which might refer to Amadeus I. If his wife were Genevan, it would explain how the house of Savoy came so early to possess a large portion of the Genevois. His wife, whatever her name and origins, bore Amadeus II several children, although there is some uncertainty about how many:


Bonne of Bourbon (1341 – 19 January 1402) was a Countess of Savoy by marriage to Amadeus VI of Savoy. She was the daughter of Peter I, Duke of Bourbon, and Isabella of Valois, and hence a sister of Joanna of Bourbon. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse from 1366 to 1367 and in 1383, and during the minority of her grandson Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy in 1391-1395.


She became engaged to Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy as part of the Treaty of Paris (1355), which included a dowry of three thousand florins per year. She married Amadeus in September 1355 in Paris. Immediately after their wedding, her husband had to return to his army, still engaged in the Hundred Years' War.


In 1366, when her husband left on a crusade to Bulgaria, he named her as regent of Savoy for the duration of his absence, to be advised by his council. In 1367, James, lord of Piedmont, a cousin of Amadeus, died. There was a dispute over his inheritance between his eldest son, Philip and his widow, Margaret of Beaujeu, representing the interests of her young sons, Amadeus and Louis. Bonne, acting as regent, was only able to keep them from open war. She was not able to settle the dispute, and Philip had to go to Amadeus in Venice to try to get resolution.


She greatly enjoyed the Alpine mountain lakes of Savoy, and tried to ensure the castles she stayed in had good views of them. In 1371, she oversaw the building of the chateau at Ripaille, seeking to build a manor that would more easily accommodate the larger court of the Count. The new chateau had large windows overlooking Lake Geneva. She was a great patron of music, and was known for her skill on the harp.


In July 1382, funds were running low for her husband's ongoing wars in Italy, so she sold some of her jewelry for more than 400 florins to help him re-equip.


When Amadeus VII died of tetanus in 1391, and Bonne became regent. Her influence over Savoy came to an end when Amadeus VII's doctor (widely seen to have been responsible for the Count's death) accused the Countess of ordering her son's death in 1395. The Dukes of Berry and Burgundy also accused several members of the Count's Council of being complicit in the murder and Bonne was relieved of the regency and of caring for her grandson, the new Count Amadeus VIII.


Bonne died at the Château de Mâcon.


Margaret of Geneva (1180?–1252), was a countess of Savoy by marriage to Thomas I of Savoy. She was the daughter of William I, Count of Geneva, and Beatrice de Faucigny (1160–1196).


She was supposed to become the third wife of Philip II of France. However, when her father was escorting her to France in May 1195, Thomas I of Savoy carried her off. Attracted by her beauty, Count Thomas then married her himself, claiming that Philip II was already married (the French King had married Ingeborg of Denmark in 1193 but had repudiated her soon thereafter). Margaret's father fell sick and died after the wedding, and her mother died the following year.


The children of Marguerite and Thomas I of Savoy were:


After her death, she was buried at Hautecombe Abbey in Savoy.


List of consorts of the Savoyard monarchs


Between 1859 and 1861 the Kingdom of Sardinia incorporated the majority of Italian states. On 17 March 1861 King Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed King of Italy by the Parliament in Turin.


Gisela of Burgundy (1075–1135), was a Countess consort of Savoy and a Marchioness consort of Montferrat. She was the spouse of Humbert II, Count of Savoy and later of Rainier I of Montferrat whom she married after Humbert's death. She was the daughter of William I, Count of Burgundy.


With her first husband, Humbert II of Savoy, whom she married in 1090, her children included:


By her second marriage to Rainier, Marquess of Montferrat, her children were:


Adelaide of Merania (or Alice, Alix – died 8 March 1279, Évian) was the countess of Burgundy from 1248 until her death. She was also countess of Savoy and Bresse through her marriage in 1267 to Count Philip I of Savoy.


Adelaide was the daughter of Duke Otto I of Merania and Countess Beatrice II of Burgundy. She inherited the county after the death of her brother, Otto III, Count Palatine of Burgundy, in 1248. As countess, she came into conflict with King Rudolph I.


Adelaide died in 1279 and was buried in Cherlieu Abbey near Besançon.


Adelaide married Hugh, Count of Salins (died 1266), from a younger branch of male-line dynasty of Ivrean-originated Counts of Burgundy, around 1239. They had, among others, the following children:


On 11 June 1267, Adelaide married Philip, the former archbishop of Lyon who inherited the County of Savoy in the following year (died 1285). The marriage remained childless.


Louis I (1249/50 – 1302) was the Baron of Vaud. At the time of his birth he was a younger son of the House of Savoy, but through a series of deaths and his own effective military service, he succeeded in creating a semi-independent principality in the "pays de Vaud" by 1286. He travelled widely in the highest circles of European nobility (the royal courts of London, Paris and Naples), obtained the right to mint coins from the Holy Roman Emperor, and convoked the first public assembly in the Piedmont to include members of the non-noble classes. When he died, his barony was inherited by his son.


Youth in Savoy, England and France (1259–81).


While Louis was living in Paris in July 1281, King Philip III of France drew him into a pro-Angevin alliance with Count Aymar IV of Valentinois and Louis de Forez, sire of Beaujeu, against the bishops of Die, Lyon and Valence. Louis seems to have been induced to join by the promise of marrying Jeanne de Montfort, widow of Guy, sire of Beaujeu and count of Forez. The marriage probably took place in 1283, when Jeanne was still of child-bearing age. Her dowry consisted of the lands held by the sire of Beaujeu in Bugey and Valromey, lands which lay in an area of Savoyard expansion between the Rhône and the Ain.


Wars with Geneva, the Dauphiné and the king (1281–84).


In the fall of 1282, Louis was back in the service of his family, led by Count Philip of Savoy, when a war with Amadeus II of Geneva and his allies broke out. Louis captured the Delphinal fortress of La Buissière, and then invaded the Grésivaudan, as his brother Amadeus invaded the region south of Grenoble. Philip seems to have been grooming Louis to take command of the "pays de Vaud", for as early as September 1281 he had been sent to Moudon, the earliest Savoyard town in the Vaud, to receive the homage of certain vassals of the count.


Louis may have felt underappreciated for his services at home, for Margaret of Provence, queen-mother of France and a Savoyard on her mother's side, tried to mediate between him and his brother and uncle in January 1283, to no effect. In the spring of 1283, Rudolf, King of Germany and emperor-elect, was trying to enforce his authority in Helvetia, and encroaching on the Savoyard sphere of influence. After his initial assault on Payerne in the Vaud was repulsed in June, Louis came to the city with a body of troops to relieve it. Rudolf besieged it for six months, but starvation forced capitulation in December, and the city was lost to Savoy.


In May 1284 Louis obtained from Rudolf the right to mint coin in the "pays de Vaud", an implicit imperial confirmation of his lordship there. In October Philip wrote to Eleanor of Provence, Margaret's sister and Henry III's wife, and her son, now King Edward, asking them to arbitrate Louis's grievances. He also sent the Bishop of Aosta, Nicholas Bersatori, to England to explain the problem exactly. Possibly, Philip intended only to delay Louis's resort to arms. However, Philip’s will left adjudication to Queen Eleanor and King Edward.


After Philip's death, Louis did briefly make war on his brother, but he and Amadeus arrived at a settlement in January 1286. In return for liege homage, Louis received the entire "pays de Vaud" between the rivers Aubonne and Veveyse, including Moudon and Romont. He also received Saillon and Conthey in the Valais and Pierre-Châtel in Bugey, and an annual pension of 400 "livres viennois" from the "péage" of Saint-Maurice-d'Agaune and Villeneuve. A few lords of the "pays de Vaud" remained liege vassals of the count and their lands were not a part of the barony of Vaud. These were the Count of Gruyère and the lords of Châtel and Cossonay.


Louis's eldest son, Louis II, succeeded him in Vaud, and his daughter Blanche made an adventitious match to a nephew of Otho de Grandison. This match was arranged in May 1303 at Paris, and the sons of Pierre II de Grandison and Blanche later served the Count of Savoy.


Louis I died in Naples in 1302.


Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice


Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Ciro René Maria di Savoia (born 22 June 1972) is a member of the House of Savoy. He is the son and heir of Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia and only male-line grandson of Umberto II, the last King of Italy. As heir-apparent to the disputed headship of the House of Savoy, Emanuele Filiberto also styles himself as "Prince of Piedmont".


Emanuele Filiberto grew up as an exile from Italy, in accordance with the provision of the Italian constitution prohibiting the male issue of the Savoy kings of Italy from entering or staying on Italian territory. Since returning to Italy he has made many appearances on national television, including his participation as a contestant in "Ballando con le stelle" (the Italian version of "Dancing with the Stars"), and the Sanremo Music Festival.


He is married to French actress Clotilde Courau.


Emanuele Filiberto was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the only child of Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples, a disputed head of the House of Savoy, and his wife, Marina Ricolfi Doria, a Swiss former water ski champion.


On 10 November 2002, he accompanied his father and mother to Italy, following revocation of the provision in the Italian constitution that forbade the male Savoy descendants of kings of Italy from setting foot in the country. On the three-day trip, he accompanied his parents on a visit to the Vatican for a 20-minute audience with Pope John Paul II. He also appeared in a TV commercial for a brand of olives, in which he said they made you "feel like a king".


On 10 July 2003, the engagement of Emanuele Filiberto to Clotilde Courau, a French actress, was announced. The couple married on 25 September of that year at the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome. There were some 1,200 guests at the wedding; among them were Pierre Cardin and Valentino Garavani, who had designed the wedding dress.


In 2015 Emanuele Filiberto engaged in a public spat on Twitter with aristocratic journalist Beatrice Borromeo who broke the story of his father's confession on video regarding the death of Dirk Hamer. Vittorio Emanuele had sued the newspaper for defamation, but in 2015 after it won the case, Borromeo tweeted "Vincere una causa è sempre piacevole, ma contro Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia la goduria è doppia! ("Winning a case is always nice, but against Victor Emmanuel of Savoy there is double the pleasure"), and "caro @efsavoia goditi questa sentenza" ("dear @efsavoia enjoy this judgement") which provoked Emanuele Filiberto to defend his father. She had earlier publicly confronted him on camera with a copy of a book on the murder by Hamer's sister, whose preface she had written.


In 2018 Emanuele Filiberto revealed that he is contemplating the launch of a royalist party to advocate for restoration of monarchy in Italy. The comment was made during the prince's interview with the news daily "Libero", following release of polling data by the "Istituto Piepoli" that showed 15 percent of Italians (nearly 12 million people) favor the concept, while eight percent expressed support for Emanuele Filiberto as future king.


Otto de Grandson (c. 1238–1328), sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the closest personal friend and many of whose interests he shared.


The son of Pierre, lord of Grandson near Lausanne and Agnes. He was the elder brother of William de Grandison, 1st Baron Grandison and Henri de Grandson, both of whom would join him in England. As would his cousins Pierre de Champvent and Guillaume de Champvent.


The young Otto travelled to England probably in the company of Peter II of Savoy in 1252, certainly not later than 1265. There he entered the service of King Henry III and by 1267 was placed in the household of Prince Edward. In return for likely service for Prince Edward at the battles of Lewes and Evesham he was rewarded with property at Queenhithe in London. In 1268 both prince and servant were knighted and in 1271 the latter accompanied his lord on the Ninth Crusade, where he served at Acre that year. According to one source, it was Otto, not Eleanor of Castile, who sucked the poison from the wounded Edward after an attempted assassination. In 1272 Otto was appointed an executor in Acre.


In 1283 he was briefly in the employ of Edmund Crouchback, the king's younger brother, for diplomatic work. It was said that no one could do the king's will better, including the king himself.


He was appointed governor of the Channel Islands and in 1290 appointed a bailiff for each of the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, giving them civil powers to administer the islands.


King Edward I of England sent Otto to Acre in the Holy Land in 1290 along with some English knights. At the time of the fall of Acre (1291), he was the master of the English knights in Palestine. At Acre he saved the life of fellow Savoyard Jean I de Grailly, with whom he had served Edward in Gascony earlier. As the city fell to the Muslims he commandeered Venetian ships filling them with fleeing troops and the wounded Jean I de Grailly, Otto was the last to join them on board.


After the fall of the city he fled to Cyprus a poor man, but went on a subsequent pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1298 or 1299, Otto, Jacques de Molay of the Templars, and Guillaume de Villaret of the Hospitallers campaigned in Cilicia in order to fight off an invasion by the Mamluks. In his "La flor des estoires d'Orient", the Armenian monk Hayton of Corycus mentions his activity on the mainland in Cilicia in 1298–1299: "Otto de Grandison and the Masters of the Temple and of the Hospitallers as well as their convents, who were at that time [1298 or 1299] in these regions [Cilician Armenia] . . .".


He was summoned to Parliament in 1299, which resulted in him becoming Baron Grandison. This title became extinct on his death.


At the end of his life he returned to Grandson, which he had inherited from his father and to which he had made recurrent visits throughout his adult life. He never married and was succeeded by his nephew. He had advanced many of his relatives through his embassies, especially in the church. Three of his relatives served as Bishops of Lausanne and another nephew, John Grandisson, succeeded to the Diocese of Exeter. In the spring of 1328, the ninety-year-old knight set out tor one last trip to Rome. Close to Aigle, he was taken ill. On 5 April 1328, he died.


His tomb was ordered by the Pope to be placed in the cathedral of Lausanne.


Master James of Saint George (–1309),(French ),(Old French Mestre Jaks),(Latin Magistro Jacobo de Sancto Georgio), was a master of works/architect from Savoy, described by historian Marc Morris as "one of the greatest architects of the European Middle Ages". He was largely responsible for designing King Edward I's castles in North Wales, including Conwy, Harlech and Caernarfon (all begun in 1283) and Beaumaris on Anglesey (begun 1295).


There is little firm documentary evidence of James’ early life and origin. However, we have very strong circumstantial evidence that his place of birth was Saint-Prex in or around the year 1230. We know for certain that his father was also an architect mason named John. This strong evidence related to his father, including year of death and architectural style lead to the conclusion that John was Jean Cotereel the builder of Saint-Prex and Lausanne Cathedral.


Savoyard archival records record that James' father, Master John, was a master mason working on castles in Savoy during the mid-13th century — these castles included that first worked on by James of Saint George at Yverdon-les-Bains. His name "Saint George", acquired following his move to England, is believed to be a reference to the castle of , located southeast of Lyon in the Viennois.


The first reference to this name in English records is Magistri Jacobi Di Sancto Georgio on 8 November 1280, two years after his arrival into England. His patron, King Edward I, probably met Master James of St George whilst returning from Crusade and visiting Savoy in 1273. It was 25 June 1273 that King Edward I of England visited so that his great nephew Philip I, Count of Savoy might pay homage to him in fulfilment of an earlier 1240 agreement on Alpine tolls.


Historian and Author A. J. Taylor uncovered, what had been a mystery for centuries in discovering, the Savoyard origins of James, that and Master James of Saint George were one and the same man. Taylor travelled from Wales to Savoy noting for the first time the origins of the Welsh works in Savoy. Taylor citing the garderobes at La Bâtiaz Castle, the windows at Chillon Castle along with the town walls at Saillon as examples


Responsible for the castles constructed for Philip I, Count of Savoy in the between 1270 and 1275 at , , and . It is very possible that the simultaneous construction of these castles, three round tower castles and one octagonal tower palace castle, influenced Edward’s decision to hire him to construct the castles in north Wales. Perhaps his last work in Savoy was at in the Aosta Valley in the summer of 1275.


The earliest references in the English records of James of St George are found in April 1278 describing him as "" translates as “going to Wales to put in order the works of the castles” there, that is the Mason charged with the design, technical direction and management of the works underway in Wales He is recorded as travelling to Wales, "" at which time four new castles were being built: Flint, Rhuddlan, Builth and Aberystwyth. Historian A. J. Taylor records that from 1277 until 1280 his main work was to supervise the building of Rhuddlan Castle and the canalisation of the River Clwyd before turning to Flint. Flint Castle is similar in concept to that built by Master James earlier at Yverdon-les-Bains


He was appointed Master of the Royal Works in Wales () around 1285, drawing a wage of 3"s." a day. This appointment gave him control of construction in all its aspects of castles at Conwy, Caernarfon and Harlech.


Harlech Castle, begun in 1283, was effectively completed in 1289. On 3 July 1290, James of St George was appointed Constable of Harlech Castle, succeeding John de Bonvillars who had died in August 1287. He held this position until 14 December 1293.


His final Welsh castle was Beaumaris, on which work started in April 1295. Described by historian Marc Morris as Master James "most perfectly conceived castle" it remained unfinished on his death in 1309.


James of St George had joined Edward I in Scotland, probably around September 1298. In February 1302, James of St George was appointed to oversee to the new defences at Linlithgow. He had also worked at Stirling during the siege of 1304.


There is no record of James's wife, Ambrosia, receiving a pension after his death, so it is probable she did not survive him.


William of Savoy (died 1239 in Viterbo) was a bishop from the House of Savoy. He was a son of Thomas, Count of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva. He was elected bishop of Valence in 1224. He negotiated the weddings of queens, and was an advisor to Henry III of England. Between his religious roles and his family relations, his influence was noted from London to Rome.


Being at least the fourth son of a noble house, William's father Thomas sought for him positions in the church which would serve to strengthen the County of Savoy rather than diminish it. This included a request by 1220 to Henry III of England which led to William being responsible for the benefices of St Michael's on Wyre and Bingham. In 1220 he was also elected dean of the cathedral at Vienne, and in 1225 was elected bishop of Valence, replacing Gérold of Lausanne, who had just become patriarch of Jerusalem.


His job as bishop included temporal authority as well as spiritual, but this was contested by Ademar de Peiteus, Count of Valentinois. With the assistance of his kinfolk, William was able to defeat the forces of Ademar and negotiated a favorable peace treaty in 1231.


When their father died in 1233, William's brothers began to struggle for control of the various portions of the county. In July 1234, the brothers met at Château de Chillon, some bringing large armed forces with them. William played a key role in maintaining the integrity of the county under Amadeus IV of Savoy, with the others receiving significant portions under his authority. These portions were also designed to encourage those brothers to expand their authority outward from the county. The treaty they signed there required all the brothers to take arms against any one of them who violated the territory of another, and left William as the arbiter of any disputes.


William of Savoy lobbied to have his niece Margaret of Provence marry Louis IX of France, as this would bring prestige and influence to his family. He and his brother Thomas accompanied her to her wedding and coronation, but William was not invited to the court in Paris and sent home by Blanche of Castile with a few gifts.


William then labored to have Margaret's younger sister Eleanor marry Henry III of England. This succeeded and in 1236 he came with her to England. Henry made William the head of a council of advisors. Henry exchanged letters with Pope Gregory IX about how much he needed William in England. Granted the Honour of Richmond in August 1236. Henry then tried to have William selected as bishop of Winchester; the chapter resisted Henry on this. In 1237, William worked on behalf of his brother Thomas, Count of Flanders to convince Henry to release many Flemish merchants and restore better trade between England and Flanders. That same year, William was also a signing witness to a treaty between England and Scotland.


When Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor called together an army to invade Italy in 1238, Henry chose William to accompany his force of 100 knights from Gascony, so that he could lead them through his Savoy's Alpine passes. He joined the imperial army in Turin, and then went on to participate in the siege of Brescia. His prowess during this was widely noted. Philippe Mousket recorded that he led his troops on 23 August to drive off a force coming in from Piacenza to help Brescia. He and his troops took 90 knights and 300 infantry prisoner, while the foe took only 5 prisoners.


In 1238 William secured election as Prince-Bishop of Liège. He died next year, in Italy (said to have been poisoned).


In 1244, Boniface rejected Robert Passelewe, who had been selected as Bishop of Chichester, on the grounds that Passelewe was illiterate. Boniface then nominated his own candidate, Richard of Chichester, and although the king objected, Pope Innocent IV confirmed Richard's election. In 1258, Boniface objected to the selection of Hugh de Balsham as Bishop of Ely, and tried to elevate Adam Marsh instead, but Hugh appealed to Rome, which upheld Hugh's election. Boniface held church councils to reform the clergy, in 1257 at London, in 1258 at Merton, and in 1261 at Lambeth.


During his archiepiscopate, a provincial court was established in the archdiocese of Canterbury, with a presiding "Officialis" appointed by Boniface.


Boniface clashed with Henry's half-brothers, the Lusignans, who arrived in England in 1247 and competed for lands and promotions with the queens' Savoy relatives. Boniface's quarrel with Aymer de Valence over a hospital in Southwark led to the archbishop's palace at Lambeth being plundered and one of Boniface's functionaries being kidnapped. The dispute with Aymer was only settled in early 1253. Boniface was once more absent from England from October 1254 to November 1256, and spent most of that time in Savoy where he attempted to help his brothers rescue their eldest brother Thomas who was being held captive at Turin.


In 1258 and 1259, Boniface was a member of the Council of Fifteen, which conducted business for Henry III under the Provisions of Oxford. This Council consisted of the earls of Leicester, Gloucester, Norfolk, Warwick, Hereford, the Count of Aumale, Peter of Savoy, John fitzGeoffrey, Peter de Montfort, Richard Grey, Roger Mortimer, James Audley, John Maunsell, Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester as well as Boniface. One of the actions of this council was to send the Lusignans into exile. In April 1260, Boniface worked with Richard of Cornwall to broker a peace between King Henry and Prince Edward.


Boniface accompanied the queen and Prince Edward to Burgos for the marriage of Edward to Eleanor of Castile and Edward's knighting. But in 1261 Boniface held a church council at Lambeth, where a series of ecclesiastical laws were published which denounced any royal limitations on ecclesiastical courts. These decrees were done without royal consent and thus was tantamount to an ecclesiastical revolt against royal authority similar to the baronial opposition movement that had begun in 1258.


During the Second Barons' War, Boniface seems to have sided first with the English bishops against King Henry, but later he sided with Henry. In 1262, he went to France, where he excommunicated the barons opposing the king. He was not summoned to the Parliament at London in January 1265 because he was abroad. On the triumph of the king's party in 1265, he returned to England, arriving there in May 1266.


The Early English Gothic chapel of Lambeth Palace dates from work carried out while Boniface was archbishop. Boniface left England in November 1268, and never returned. He died 18 July 1270, in Savoy. He was buried with his family in the Cistercian abbey of Hautecombe in Savoy. In his will, he left legacies to all the houses of the Franciscans and Dominicans in the diocese of Canterbury. His will had differing provisions for his burial depending on whether he died in England, France, or near the Alps. Oddly enough, his official seal included a head of the pagan god Jupiter Serapis along with the usual depiction of the archbishop in full vestments.


After his death, Boniface's tomb was the center of a cult, and when the tomb was opened in 1580, his body was found to be perfectly preserved. The tomb and effigy was destroyed in the French Revolution, his remains were reburied and a new tomb built in 1839. He was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI in 1839, and his feast day is 14 July.


Although Matthew Paris disapproved of Boniface, modern historians have seen him as a responsible archbishop. The historian D. A. Carpenter says that Boniface "became a respected and reforming archbishop". His episcopal registers do not survive.


William de Grandison (died 1335), was an English noble, and Deputy Justiciar of North Wales.


William was a younger son of and Agnes Neufchâtel. He was the younger brother of key ally and envoy, for King Edward I of England, Otto de Grandson, Grandison being an anglicisation of Grandson.


He served in the household of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster and was active in the wars in Gascony and Scotland. During 1292, he was granted a license to crenellate his manor of Ashperton, Herefordshire.


William married Sybil, daughter of John de Tregoz and Mabel FitzWarin, they are known to have had the following known issue:


Marie of Savoy (1411–1469) was a Duchess of Milan by marriage to Filippo Maria Visconti.


She was a daughter of Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy (later the Antipope Felix V) and Mary of Burgundy. She married Filippo Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan in 1428. They had no children.


Beatrice of Savoy (before 4 March 1223 – 10 May before 1259) was a daughter of Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy and his first wife Marguerite of Burgundy. She was a member of the House of Savoy by birth and by her first marriage she was Marchioness consort of Saluzzo.


Beatrice was the elder of two daughters; her younger sister Margaret was married to Boniface II, Marquess of Montferrat. After the death of their mother, their father married Cecile of Baux and had further children including Boniface, Count of Savoy and a younger Beatrice.


Beatrice was first betrothed not long after her birth on 4 March 1223 to Manfred III, Marquess of Saluzzo. However, the contract was broken off but was then renewed on 2 October 1227; a contract signed on that date refers to the dowry of Beatrice. The couple were married in March 1233. They were married for eleven years until Manfred's death in 1244, leaving Beatrice with two children and pregnant with twins. They had the following children:


Only two years after Manfred's death on 8 May 1246, Beatrice was betrothed a second time to a Manfred, an illegitimate son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor by his mistress and possibly wife Bianca Lancia. Her marriage was arranged to recognize an alliance between Beatrice's father and Frederick. The couple were married by proxy in March 1247 and the marriage contract was signed on 21 April 1247. Manfred and Beatrice had one daughter, Constance (1249-1302) who went on to marry Peter III of Aragon and became mother of Alfonso III of Aragon, James II of Aragon and Elizabeth of Aragon.


In a testament from Beatrice's father dated 24 May 1253, the succession rights of Beatrice were bypassed in favor of her younger half-brother; the testament fails to mention Beatrice's second husband, possibly indicating a breakdown in the marriage. Beatrice died before 1259. Her husband became King of Sicily in 1258 and went on to marry Helena Angelina Doukaina and father children with her.


Prince Eugene Jean of Savoy (Eugene Jean François; 23 September 1714 – 23 November 1734) was the last Count of Soissons of the House of Savoy.


The only son of Emmanuel Thomas, Count of Soissons (a member of the House of Savoy-Carignano), and Princess Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein, he succeeded to his father's titles, Count of Soissons and Duke of Troppau, when the latter died in 1729. In 1731, Eugene Jean became a Knight in the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece, like his father.


In Massa on 10 November 1734 he was married by proxy to Princess Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina (1725–1790), Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara in her own right. As the bridegroom died thirteen days later in Mannheim, however, the marriage was annulled on the basis that it was never consummated. Maria Teresa would later marry Ercole III d'Este, Duke of Modena.


With his death, the title "Count of Soissons" became extinct and reverted to the French crown. The title "Duke of Troppau" returned to his mother, whose estates passed to Franz Joseph I, Prince of Liechtenstein, when she died in 1772.


Joan of Savoy (1310 – 29 June 1344), was Duchess consort of Brittany, wife of John III, Duke of Brittany. Joan was also a claimant to the County of Savoy upon the death of her father. She was a member of the House of Savoy and married into the House of Dreux.


Joan was born in 1310, she was the only child of Edward, Count of Savoy, and his wife, Blanche of Burgundy.


Joan married in 1329 aged nineteen to the forty-three-year-old, childless John III, Duke of Brittany; she was his third wife, John's second wife Isabella had died the previous year.


The same year as Joan's marriage, her father died. Being his only child she considered herself his successor. However, Savoy had never had a female ruler, leading to a dispute in the succession. Joan's uncle Aymon had the support of the nobles of Savoy for the Semi-Salic inheritance and succeeded as count.


John supported Joan's rights on Savoy. After the marriage, Joan renewed her claim on Savoy and allied herself with the Dauphin de Viennois against her uncle. By agreement settled by the French King on 22 November 1339, she renounced her rights of succession in return for an annual income of 6000 livres.


Joan and John were married for twelve years but produced no offspring, and John died on 30 April 1341, leaving Joan a childless widow. This led to a disputed succession in Brittany between John's half-brother of the same name and John's niece Joan.


In 1343, when her uncle Aymon died, Joan renewed her claim on the county of Savoy against her nine-year-old cousin, Amadeus VI. In her will, she left the county to Philip, Duke of Orléans to spite her cousins. In the end, he negotiated a similar settlement to the one of Joan, yielding the claim in exchange for 5000 livres annually.


Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi


Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (29 January 1873 – 18 March 1933) was an Italian mountaineer and explorer, briefly Infante of Spain as son of Amadeo I of Spain, member of the royal House of Savoy and cousin of the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III. He is known for his Arctic explorations and for his mountaineering expeditions, particularly to Mount Saint Elias (Alaska–Yukon) and K2 (Pakistan–China). He also served as an Italian admiral during World War I. He created the homonymous village in Italian Somalia during his last years of life.


He was born in Madrid, Spain as the third oldest son of Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta and his first wife Donna Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo della Cisterna. Prince Luigi Amedeo was a grandson of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy. He was born during his father's brief reign as King Amadeo of Spain. His siblings are Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Prince Vittorio Emanuele, and Prince Umberto. Shortly after his birth, his father, who had reigned in Spain since 1870, abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873. Prince Luigi Amedeo was a member of the House of Savoy, well known in Europe since the 12th century. His uncle became King Umberto I of Italy in 1878, and his cousin became King Vittorio Emanuele III in 1900.


The title Duke of the Abruzzi (Italian: "Duca degli Abruzzi") was created by King Umberto I in 1890 for Luigi Amedeo, who was a son of the abdicating King of Spain Amadeus and initially was given the title of Infante of Spain. His ducal title referred to the central Italian region of Abruzzo.


Another witness wrote in "The New York Times": "We could plainly see houses, well-defined streets, and trees. Here and there rose tall spires over huge buildings which appeared to be ancient mosques or cathedrals."


In 1898, Prince Luigi Amedeo organized an expedition towards the North Pole and consulted the famous polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen that had sailed the furthest north with the Colin Archer-built polar ship in 1893–1896. In 1899 Amedeo acquired , a steam whaler of 570 tons. He renamed her "Stella Polare" and took her to Colin Archer's shipyard in Larvik, Norway. The interior was stripped out and beams, diagonals and knees heavily strengthened the ship.


In spring 1899 he arrived in the Norwegian capital Christiania (the present day Oslo) with ten companions and "Stella Polare" ("Pole Star") took the expedition through the frozen sea. On 12 June they headed for Archangel (Arkhangelsk).


On 30 June "Stella Polare" dropped anchor in the docks of Arkhangelsk and the duke was solemnly received by governor Engelhardt. The same day, Prince Luigi Amedeo was invited to meet the local authorities and the present foreign diplomats.


On 7 July, a local newspaper wrote:


Later the duke himself wrote about his stay in Arkhangelsk: "Our departure was set for July 12. Early in the morning the church was open to us and we, although being Catholic, were allowed to join the mass. In the afternoon all the dogs were brought back on board to their kennels. In the evening the "Stella Polare" put out and was escorted by two steamers down the Dvina. I still remained on shore, as well as Doctor Cavalli, in order to spend the evening together with our Italian friends. Next evening we left Arkhangel’sk. During the whole journey we saw flags being hoisted to welcome us…"


Twenty men took part in the expedition, among them Captain Umberto Cagni, Lieutenant F. Querini and Doctor A. Cavalli Molinelli. They planned to go to Franz Joseph Land, in the Arctic wilderness, to establish a camp in which to stay during wintertime and, afterwards, to reach the North Pole by dogsled across the frozen sea.


Prince Luigi Amedeo established the winter camp on Rudolf Island. The expedition was to start at the end of the Arctic night. The duke lost two fingers during winter because of the cold, which made it impossible for him to join the trip by sled. He left the command over the pole expedition to Captain Cagni. On 11 March 1900 Cagni left the camp and reached latitude 86° 34’ on 25 April, setting a new record by beating Nansen's result of 1895 by . Cagni barely managed to return to the camp on 23 June. On 16 August "Stella Polare" left Rudolf Island heading south and the expedition returned to Norway. During the expedition the northern coast of Rudolf Island and two other islands were explored and measured.


In 1906, inspired by Henry Morton Stanley's last wishes, the Duke led an expedition to the Ruwenzori Range (5,125 m), in Uganda. He scaled sixteen summits in the range, including the six principal peaks. One of them, Mount Luigi di Savoia, bears his name. The highest peak was reached on 18 June 1906.


The next great expedition, in 1909, aimed to climb K2 in Karakoram. A team led by Prince Luigi Amedeo reached a height of 6,250 m on the ridge in 1909. The standard route up the mountain (formerly known as K2's East Ridge) climbs today on the Abruzzi Spur.


In an attempt on Chogolisa he and his companions again failed to reach the summit, but set a world altitude record, a height of approximately 7,500 m (24,600 ft) before turning around just 150 m below the summit due to bad weather.


A vice-admiral in the Italian Royal Navy ("Regia Marina"), he was Inspector of Torpedo Craft from 1911 to 1912. During World War I, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Fleet (1914–1917) based in Taranto, his flagship being the . Under the duke, the "Regia Marina" was responsible for saving the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia. In February 1917, he was replaced by Paolo Thaon di Revel, under pressure of the British and French allies. In February 1918, he was promoted to admiral, but played no role of importance anymore.


The Explorers Club in New York elected the duke to its highest category of membership — Honorary Member — in 1912.


The duke assisted Italian dictator Benito Mussolini with the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928. He traveled to Addis Ababa with gifts. One gift, a Fiat 3000 tank, ended up playing a role in crushing the abortive "coup d'état" of 1928.


In 1932, the duke was briefly the president of the newly merged Italian Line of steamships. In 1931, combining all of Italy's transatlantic carriers into the Italian Line was one of Mussolini's biggest business deals. However, the duke resigned soon after broke down at Gibraltar. According to him, "My reason is that I have been unable to achieve harmony among executives who formerly headed competing lines."


In 1918, the Duke returned to Italian Somaliland. In 1920, he founded the "Village of the Duke of Abruzzi" ("Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi" or "Villabruzzi") some ninety kilometres north of Mogadishu. It was an agricultural settlement experimenting with new cultivation techniques.


By 1926, the colony comprised 16 villages, with 3,000 Somali and 200 Italian (Italian Somalis) inhabitants. Abruzzi raised funds for a number of development projects in the town, including roads, dams, schools, hospitals, a church and a mosque.


He died in the village on 18 March 1933.


In the late 1930s the village area was one of the most socio-economically developed in eastern Africa. The area around the "Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi" was the most agriculturally developed of Somalia before World War II and had some important food industries.


After Italian Somaliland was officially dissolved in 1947, the town was later renamed to Jowhar.


In the early years of the twentieth century the Abruzzi was in a relationship with Katherine Hallie "Kitty" Elkins, daughter of the wealthy American senator Stephen Benton Elkins, but the Abruzzi's cousin King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy refused to grant him permission to marry a commoner. His brother, Emanuele Filiberto, to whom Luigi was very close, persuaded him to give up the relationship. His brother later approved of young Antoinette "Amber" Brizzi, the daughter of Quinto Brizzi, one of the largest vineyard owners in northern Italy. In the later years of his life, Abruzzi had a relationship with a young Somali woman named Faduma Ali.


A species of African lizard, "Leptosiaphos aloysiisabaudiae", is named in honor of Prince Luigi Amedeo.


Prince Benedetto, Duke of Chablais (Benedetto Maria Maurizio; 21 June 1741 – 4 January 1808) was an Italian nobleman and military leader. He was the youngest child of King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. He married his niece Maria Anna of Savoy; they had no children. Benedetto was the owner of the "Palazzo Chiablese" in Turin.


Chablais was born at the Palace of Venaria. He was the youngest child of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia and Élisabeth Thérèse of Lorraine. His mother died giving birth to him. He was named after Pope Benedict XIV who became pope the year before his birth.


Known alternatively as "Benedetto" or "Maurizio", at the time of his birth, he was third in line to the Sardinian throne after his oldest half brother Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy and Prince Carlo his only full brother who died in infancy. His paternal cousins included Louis XV of France, the future Ferdinand VI of Spain and the Prince of Carignan. His maternal cousins included the future Queen of Naples and the famous "Marie Antoinette".


His uncle Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor proposed his daughter Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria as a prospective wife but the marriage between the two never materialised. The Emperor wanted the marriage to encourage ties between the House of Lorraine and the House of Savoy.


In 1753 his father gave what is now the Palazzo Chiablese as his personal residence. It was under Savoy that the building would be embellished under the direction of Benedetto Alfieri, a popular Savoyard architect of the era.


In 1763 his father granted him the Duchy of Chablais (the prince having been styled Duke of Chablais since birth), with the subsidiary lands of Cureggio, Trino, Dezan, Crescentino, Riva di Chieri, Well, Ghemme Pollenzo Tricerro, and Apertole Centallo. His brother, later Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, created him Marquis of Ivrea on 19 June 1796. In 1764 Chablais also bought the fiefdom of Agliè, where the Ducal Palace of Agliè was situated, from his brother. Chablais also carried out improvements to the building under the direction of Ignatius Birago Borgaro.


Chablais married Maria Anna of Savoy at the Royal Palace of Turin on 19 March 1775. Maria Anna was his niece, and sixth child of his oldest brother Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, and his consort Maria Antonietta of Spain. The marriage produced no children, Maria Anna dying in 1824.


Noted as a good soldier Chablais was given control of the Army of Italy which contained French troops and intended on restoring the monarchy in France after the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. He took part in the Battle of Loano.


He died in Rome aged 66 and was buried at the church of San Nicolo dei Cesarini then later moved to the Royal Basilica of Superga, Turin. At his death the title of Duke of Chablais reverted to the crown.


The title Duke of Chablais (, ) was a subsidiary title of the Duke of Savoy and later the King of Sardinia, both of the House of Savoy. The title is named after the province of Chablais, whose capital was Thonon-les-Bains.


The title was granted four times to members of the Savoy family. None of them had any children to inherit the title.


Charles Amadeus of Savoy (), Duke of Nemours (12 April 162430 July 1652) was a French military leader and magnate. He was the father of the penultimate Duchess of Savoy and of a Queen of Portugal.


He was a son of Henri of Savoy, 3rd Duke of Nemours (1572-1632) and Anne of Lorraine. He was a younger brother of Louis of Savoy, who died in 1641.


Charles Amadeus served in the Army of Flanders in 1645, and in the following year commanded the light cavalry at the siege of Kortrijk. In 1652 he took part in the war of the Fronde, and fought at Bleneau and at the "Faubourg St Antoine", where he was wounded.


On 11 July 1643 he married, at the Louvre, Élisabeth de Bourbon, "Mademoiselle de Vendôme", the daughter of César, Duke of Vendôme, the legitimised son of King Henry IV of France by his mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrées. Her mother was the wealthy heiress, Françoise de Lorraine (1592–1669), the daughter of Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur.


Charles Amadeus had several children: two daughters, three sons and a stillborn child of unrecorded gender. Only his two daughters survived him;


Charles Amadeus was killed by his brother-in-law, François de Bourbon, Duke of Beaufort in a duel in 1652. He was buried at the Notre Dame d'Annecy in Annecy, the capital of the Genevois, of which the Dukes of Nemours were also counts. Charles Amadeus' brother Henri, who had been archbishop of Reims, withdrew from orders in order to succeed him in the title of Duke of Nemours.


Princess Elena of Montenegro, or more commonly known as Queen Elena of Italy (; 8 January 1873 – 28 November 1952) was the Queen of Italy from 1900 until 1946 as wife of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.


Due to the Fascist conquest of Ethiopia in 1936 and Albania in 1939, Queen Elena briefly used the claimed titles of Empress of Ethiopia and Queen of Albania; both titles were dropped when her husband formally renounced them in 1943. She was the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and his wife, Queen Milena.


She was born in Cetinje as daughter of Montenegrin Prince and future King Nicholas I and his wife Milena. At the age of 10, she went to the Smolny Institute for young ladies in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She was talented at painting and architecture, and she designed the monument for Prince Danilo I.


As the result of Elena's marriage to King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy on 24 October 1896, she converted to Catholicism from Orthodox Christianity and became Queen of Italy when her husband acceded to the throne in 1900. Her mother was so distressed with the fact that Elena had changed her religion that she refused to come to the wedding ceremony in Rome.


On 29 July 1900, following his father's assassination, Victor Emmanuel ascended the Italian throne. Officially, Elena assumed her husband's whole titles: she became "Queen of Italy", and with the birth of the Italian Colonial Empire she became "Queen of Albania" and "Empress of Ethiopia".


On 28 December 1908 Messina was hit by a disastrous earthquake. Queen Elena helped with the rescuers, as some photographs show. This helped to increase her popularity within the country.


Elena was the first "Inspector of the Voluntary Nurses" for the Italian Red Cross from 1911 until 1921. She studied medicine and was able to obtain a laurea honoris causa. She financed charitable institutions for people with encephalitis, tuberculosis, former soldiers and poor mothers.


She was deeply involved in her fight against disease, and she promoted many efforts for the training of doctors, and for research against poliomyelitis, Parkinson's disease and cancer.


During the First World War Elena worked as a nurse and, with the help of the Queen Mother, she turned Quirinal Palace and Villa Margherita into hospitals. To raise funds, she invented the "signed photograph", which was sold at the charity desks. At the end of the war, she proposed to sell the crown treasures in order to pay the war debts.


She influenced her husband to lobby Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister of Italy, for creation of the independent Kingdom of Montenegro in 1941. In 1943 she subsequently obtained the release from a German prison of her nephew, Prince Michael of Montenegro, and his wife, Geneviève. Prince Michael had been imprisoned after refusing to become King of Montenegro under the protection of Italy.


On 15 April 1937 Pope Pius XI gave her the Golden Rose, the most important honour for a Catholic lady at the time. Pope Pius XII, in a condolence telegram sent to her son Umberto II for the queen's death, defined her a "Lady of charitable work".


In 1939, three months after the German invasion of Poland and the declaration of war by the United Kingdom and France, Elena wrote a letter to the six European queens still neutral (Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, Queen Ioanna of Bulgaria and Queen Mother Maria of Yugoslavia) in order to avoid the great tragedy World War II would become.


On 25 July 1943 Victor Emmanuel III had Benito Mussolini arrested. The king left Rome on 9 September to flee to Brindisi with the help of the Allies and Elena followed her husband in his escape. In contrast, on 23 September their daughter Mafalda was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, where she died in 1944.


65 years after her death, on 15 December 2017, the remains of Elena were repatriated from Montpellier, to the sanctuary of Vicoforte, near Turin. The remains of Victor Emmanuel III were transferred two days later from Alexandria, and interred alongside hers.


King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Queen Elena had 5 children:


Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene was a field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. He was one of the most successful military commanders of his time, and rose to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna.


Born in Paris, Eugene was brought up in the court of King Louis XIV of France. Based on the custom that the youngest sons of noble families were destined for the priesthood, the Prince was initially prepared for a clerical career, but by the age of 19, he had determined on a military career. Based on his poor physique and bearing, and maybe due to a scandal involving his mother Olympe, he was rejected by Louis XIV for service in the French army. Eugene moved to Austria and transferred his loyalty to the Holy Roman Empire.


Prince Eugene was born at the Hôtel de Soissons in Paris on 18 October 1663. His mother, Olympia Mancini, was one of Cardinal Mazarin's nieces whom he had brought to Paris from Rome in 1647 to further his, and, to a lesser extent, their ambitions. The Mancinis were raised at the Palais-Royal along with the young Louis XIV, with whom Olympia formed an intimate relationship. Yet to her great disappointment, her chance to become queen passed by, and in 1657, Olympia married Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons, Count of Dreux and Prince of Savoy.


Together they had had five sons (Eugene being the youngest) and three daughters, but neither parent spent much time with the children: his father, a French general officer, spent much of his time away campaigning, while Olympia's passion for court intrigue meant the children received little attention from her.


The King remained strongly attached to Olympia, so much so that many believed them to be lovers; but her scheming eventually led to her downfall. After falling out of favour at court, Olympia turned to Catherine Deshayes (known as "La Voisin"), and the arts of black magic and astrology. It was a fatal relationship. Embroiled in the "Affaire des poisons", suspicions now abounded of her involvement in her husband's premature death in 1673, and even implicated her in a plot to kill the King himself. Whatever the truth, Olympia, rather than face trial, subsequently fled France for Brussels in January 1680, leaving Eugene in the care of his father's mother, Marie de Bourbon, and her daughter, Hereditary Princess of Baden, mother of Prince Louis of Baden.


Denied a military career in France, Eugene decided to seek service abroad. One of Eugene's brothers, Louis Julius, had entered Imperial service the previous year, but he had been immediately killed fighting the Ottoman Turks in 1683. When news of his death reached Paris, Eugene decided to travel to Austria in the hope of taking over his brother's command. It was not an unnatural decision: his cousin, Louis of Baden, was already a leading general in the Imperial army, as was a more distant cousin, Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. On the night of 26 July 1683, Eugene left Paris and headed east. Years later, in his memoirs, Eugene recalled his early years in France:


By May 1683, the Ottoman threat to Emperor Leopold I's capital, Vienna, was very real. The Grand Vizier, Kara Mustafa Pasha—encouraged by Imre Thököly's Magyar rebellion—had invaded Hungary with between 100,000 and 200,000 men; within two months approximately 90,000 were beneath Vienna's walls. With the 'Turks at the gates', the Emperor fled for the safe refuge of Passau up the Danube, a more distant and secure part of his dominion. It was at Leopold I's camp that Eugene arrived in mid-August.


In March 1684, Leopold I formed the Holy League with Poland and Venice to counter the Ottoman threat. For the next two years, Eugene continued to perform with distinction on campaign and establish himself as a dedicated, professional soldier; by the end of 1685, still only 22 years old, he was made a Major-General. Little is known of Eugene's life during these early campaigns. Contemporary observers make only passing comments of his actions, and his own surviving correspondence, largely to his cousin Victor Amadeus, are typically reticent about his own feelings and experiences. Nevertheless, it is clear that Baden was impressed with Eugene's qualities—"This young man will, with time, occupy the place of those whom the world regards as great leaders of armies."


Interlude in the west: Nine Years' War.


Just as Belgrade was falling to Imperial forces under Max Emmanuel in the east, French troops in the west were crossing the Rhine into the Holy Roman Empire. Louis XIV had hoped that a show of force would lead to a quick resolution to his dynastic and territorial disputes with the princes of the Empire along his eastern border, but his intimidatory moves only strengthened German resolve, and in May 1689, Leopold I and the Dutch signed an offensive compact aimed at repelling French aggression.


Military honours in Italy undoubtedly belonged to the French commander Marshal Catinat, but Eugene, the one Allied general determined on action and decisive results, did well to emerge from the Nine Years' War with an enhanced reputation. With the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick in September/October 1697, the desultory war in the west was finally brought to an inconclusive end, and Leopold I could once again devote all his martial energies into defeating the Ottoman Turks in the east.


Leopold I had warned Eugene that "he should act with extreme caution, forgo all risks and avoid engaging the enemy unless he has overwhelming strength and is practically certain of being completely victorious", but when the Imperial commander learnt of Sultan Mustafa II's march on Transylvania, Eugene abandoned all ideas of a defensive campaign and moved to intercept the Turks as they crossed the River Tisza at Zenta on 11 September 1697.


The Battle of Zenta proved to be the decisive victory in the long war against the Turks. With Leopold I's interests now focused on Spain and the imminent death of Charles II, the Emperor terminated the conflict with the Sultan, and signed the Treaty of Karlowitz on 26 January 1699.


Eugene crossed the Alps with some 30,000 men in May/June 1701. After a series of brilliant manoeuvres the Imperial commander defeated Catinat at the Battle of Carpi on 9 July. "I have warned you that you are dealing with an enterprising young prince," wrote Louis XIV to his commander, "he does not tie himself down to the rules of war." On 1 September Eugene defeated Catinat's successor, Marshal Villeroi, at the Battle of Chiari, in a clash as destructive as any in the Italian theatre. But as so often throughout his career the Prince faced war on two fronts—the enemy in the field and the government in Vienna.


Dissension between Villars and the Elector of Bavaria had prevented an assault on Vienna in 1703, but in the Courts of Versailles and Madrid, ministers confidently anticipated the city's fall. The Imperial ambassador in London, Count Wratislaw, had pressed for Anglo-Dutch assistance on the Danube as early as February 1703, but the crisis in southern Europe seemed remote from the Court of St. James's where colonial and commercial considerations were more to the fore of men's minds. Only a handful of statesmen in England or the Dutch Republic realised the true implications of Austria's peril; foremost amongst these was the English Captain-General, the Duke of Marlborough.


In Europe Blenheim is regarded as much a victory for Eugene as it is for Marlborough, a sentiment echoed by Sir Winston Churchill (Marlborough's descendant and biographer), who pays tribute to "the glory of Prince Eugene, whose fire and spirit had exhorted the wonderful exertions of his troops." France now faced the real danger of invasion, but Leopold I in Vienna was still under severe strain: Rákóczi's revolt was a major threat; and Guido Starhemberg and Victor Amadeus (who had once again switched loyalties and rejoined the Grand Alliance in 1703) had been unable to halt the French under Vendôme in northern Italy. Only Amadeus' capital, Turin, held on.


The Imperial commander arrived in theatre in mid-April 1706, just in time to organise an orderly retreat of what was left of Count Reventlow's inferior army following his defeat by Vendôme at the Battle of Calcinato on 19 April. Vendôme now prepared to defend the lines along the river Adige, determined to keep Eugene cooped to the east while the Marquis of La Feuillade threatened Turin. Feigning attacks along the Adige, Eugene descended south across the river Po in mid-July, outmanoeuvring the French commander and gaining a favourable position from which he could at last move west towards Piedmont and relieve Savoy's capital.


Eugene proceeded to take the Banat fortress of Timișoara (Temeswar in German) in mid-October 1716 (thus ending 164 years of Turkish rule), before turning his attention to the next campaign and to what he considered the main goal of the war, Belgrade. Situated at the confluence of the Rivers Danube and Sava, Belgrade held a garrison of 30,000 men under Serasker Mustapha Pasha.


The principal objectives of the war had been achieved: the task Eugene had begun at Zenta was complete, and the Karlowitz settlement secured. By the terms of the Treaty of Passarowitz, signed on 21 July 1718, the Turks surrendered the Banat of Temeswar, along with Belgrade and most of Serbia, although they regained the Morea from the Venetians. The war had dispelled the immediate Turkish threat to Hungary and was a triumph for the Empire and for Eugene personally.


The 1720s saw rapidly changing alliances between the European powers and almost constant diplomatic confrontation, largely over unsolved issues regarding the Quadruple Alliance. The Emperor and the Spanish King continued to use each other's titles, and Charles VI still refused to remove the remaining legal obstacles to Don Charles' eventual succession to the duchies of Parma and Tuscany. Yet in a surprise move Spain and Austria moved closer with the signing of the Treaty of Vienna in April/May 1725. In response Britain, France, and Prussia joined together in the Alliance of Hanover to counter the danger to Europe of an Austro-Spanish hegemony. For the next three years there was the continual threat of war between the Hanover Treaty powers and the Austro-Spanish bloc.


From 1726 Eugene gradually began to regain his political influence. With his many contacts throughout Europe Eugene, backed by Gundaker Starhemberg and Count Schönborn, the Imperial vice-chancellor, managed to secure powerful allies and strengthen the Emperor's position—his skill in managing the vast secret diplomatic network over the coming years was the main reason why Charles VI once again came to depend upon him. In August 1726 Russia acceded to the Austro-Spanish alliance, and in October Frederick William of Prussia followed suit by defecting from the Allies with the signing of a mutual defensive treaty with the Emperor.


Despite the conclusion of the brief Anglo-Spanish conflict, war between the European powers persisted throughout 1727–28. In 1729 Elisabeth Farnese abandoned the Austro-Spanish alliance. Realizing that Charles VI could not be drawn into the marriage pact she wanted, Elisabeth concluded that the best way to secure her son's succession to Parma and Tuscany now lay with Britain and France. To Eugene it was 'an event that which is seldom to be found in history'. Following the Prince's determined lead to resist all pressure, Charles VI sent troops into Italy to prevent the entry of Spanish garrisons into the contested duchies. By the beginning of 1730 Eugene, who had remained bellicose throughout the whole period, was again in control of Austrian policy.


In 1733 the Polish King and Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong, died. There were two candidates for his successor: first, Stanisław Leszczyński, the father-in-law of Louis XV; second, the Elector of Saxony's son, Augustus, supported by Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The Polish succession had afforded Louis XV's chief minister, Fleury, the opportunity to attack Austria and take Lorraine from Francis Stephen. In order to gain Spanish support France backed the succession of Elisabeth Farnese's sons to further Italian lands.


Eugene entered the War of the Polish Succession as President of the Imperial War Council and commander-in-chief of the army, but he was severely handicapped by the quality of his troops and the shortage of funds; now in his seventies, the Prince was also burdened by rapidly declining physical and mental powers. France declared war on Austria on 10 October 1733, but without the funds from the Maritime Powers—who, despite the Vienna treaty, remained neutral throughout the war—Austria could not hire the necessary troops to wage an offensive campaign. "The danger to the monarchy," wrote Eugene to the Emperor in October, "cannot be exaggerated". By the end of the year Franco-Spanish forces had seized Lorraine and Milan; by early 1734 Spanish troops had taken Sicily.


Eugene returned to Vienna from the War of the Polish Succession in October 1735, weak and feeble; when Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen married in February 1736 Eugene was too ill to attend. After playing cards at Countess Batthyány's on the evening of 20 April until nine in the evening, he returned home at the Stadtpalais, his attendant offered him to take his prescribed medicine which Eugene declined.


When his servants arrived to wake him the next morning on 21 April 1736, they found Prince Eugene dead after passing away quietly during the night. It has been said that on the same morning he was discovered dead, the great lion in his menagerie was also found dead.


Eugene's heart was buried with the ashes of his ancestors in Turin, in the mausoleum of the Superga. His remains were carried in a long procession to St. Stephen's Cathedral, where his embalmed body was buried in the "Kreuzkapelle". It is said that the emperor himself attended as a mourner without anybody's knowledge.


The Prince's niece Anna Victoria, whom he had never met, inherited Eugene's immense possessions. Within a few years she sold off the palaces, the country estates and the art collection of a man who had become one of the wealthiest in Europe, after arriving in Vienna as a refugee with empty pockets.


Eugene never married and was reported to have said that a woman was a hindrance in a war, and that a soldier should never marry, because of this he was called "Mars without Venus". During the last 20 years of his life Eugène had a relationship with one woman, Hungarian Countess Eleonore Batthyány-Strattmann. Much of their acquaintance remains speculative since Eugene left no personal papers: only letters of war, diplomacy and politics. Eugène and Eleonora were constant companions, meeting for dinner, receptions and card games almost every day till his death; although they lived apart most foreign diplomats assumed that Eleonora was his long time mistress.


It is not known precisely when their relationship began, but his acquisition of a property in Hungary after the Battle of Zenta, near Rechnitz Castle, made them neighbours. In the years immediately following the War of the Spanish Succession she began to be mentioned regularly in diplomatic correspondence as "Eugen's Egeria" and within a few years she was referred to as his constant companion and his mistress. When asked if she and the Prince would marry, Countess Batthyány replied: "I love him too well for that, I would rather have a bad reputation that deprive him of his".


Being one of the richest and most celebrated men of his age certainly created enmity; jealousy and spite pursued Eugene from the battlefields to Vienna, his old subordinate Guido Starhemberg in particular was an incessant and rancorous detractor of Eugene's fame, he became known at the court of Vienna, according to Montesquieu, as Eugene’s main rival.


Eugene's other friends such as the papal nuncio, Passionei, who delivered the funeral oration of Prince Eugene, made up for the family he lacked. For his only surviving nephew, Emmanuel, the son of his brother Louis Thomas, Eugene arranged marriage with one of the daughters of Prince Liechtenstein, but Emmanuel died of smallpox in 1729. With the death of Emmanuel's son in 1734, no close male relatives remained to succeed the Prince. His closest relative, therefore, was Louis Thomas's unmarried daughter, Princess Maria Anna Victoria of Savoy, daughter of his eldest brother, the count of Soissons, whom Eugene had never met and had made no effort to do so.


Of more importance was the grandiose complex of the two Belvedere palaces in Vienna. The single-storey Lower Belvedere, with its exotic gardens and zoo, was completed in 1716. The Upper Belvedere, completed between 1720 and 1722, is a more substantial building; with sparkling white stucco walls and copper roof, it became a wonder of Europe. Eugene and Hildebrandt also converted an existing structure on his Marchfeld estate into a country seat, the Schlosshof, situated between the Rivers Danube and Morava. The building, completed in 1729, was far less elaborate than his other projects but it was strong enough to serve as a fortress in case of need. Eugene spent much of his spare time there in his last years accommodating large hunting parties.


At Eugene's death his possessions and estates, except those in Hungary which the crown reclaimed, went to his niece, Princess Maria Anna Victoria, who at once decided to sell everything. The artwork was bought by Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. Eugene's library, prints and drawings were purchased by the Emperor in 1737 and have since passed into Austrian national collections.


Eugene was a disciplinarian—when ordinary soldiers disobeyed orders he was prepared to shoot them himself—but he rejected blind brutality, writing "you should only be harsh when, as often happens, kindness proves useless".


Although Frederick the Great had been struck by the muddle of the Austrian army and its poor organisation during the Polish Succession war, he later amended his initial harsh judgements. "If I understand anything of my trade," commented Frederick in 1758, "especially in the more difficult aspects, I owe that advantage to Prince Eugene. From him I learnt to hold grand objectives constantly in view, and direct all my resources to those ends." To historian Christopher Duffy it was this awareness of the 'grand strategy' that was Eugene's legacy to Frederick.


To his responsibilities, Eugene attached his own personal values—physical courage, loyalty to his sovereign, honesty, self-control in all things—and he expected these qualities from his commanders. Eugene's approach was dictatorial, but he was willing to co-operate with someone he regarded as his equal, such as Baden or Marlborough. Yet the contrast to his co-commander of the Spanish Succession war was stark. "Marlborough," wrote Churchill, "was the model husband and father, concerned with building up a home, founding a family, and gathering a fortune to sustain it"; whereas Eugene, the bachelor, was "disdainful of money, content with his bright sword and his lifelong animosities against Louis XIV".


The result was an austere figure, inspiring respect and admiration rather than affection.


Several ships have been named in Eugene's honour:


Anne of Savoy, Princess of Squillace, Altamura, and Taranto (1 June 1455 – February 1480) was the first wife of King Frederick IV. She died 16 years before he succeeded to the Neapolitan throne, so she was never queen consort. Anne was a member of the House of Savoy, and through her mother Yolande of France, she was a granddaughter of King Charles VII of France.


Anne was born on 1 June 1455, the eldest daughter and one of the 10 children of Amadeus IX of Savoy and Yolande of France, daughter of King Charles VII of France and Marie of Anjou. She had seven brothers, including Philibert and Charles; and two younger sisters. Due to her father's epilepsy, her mother ruled Savoy.


In the summer of 1479 in Milan, Anne married Frederick of Aragon, Prince of Squillace, Altamura and Tarento (1452–1504), the future King Frederick IV of Naples. Together they had:


Anne died in March 1480, probably in childbirth or shortly afterwards. She was buried in Chambéry. Her husband married as his second wife, Isabella del Balzo, by whom he had five more children. In 1496, 16 years after Anne's death, he ascended the throne as the last King of Naples of the House of Trastamara.


Her daughter, Charlotte was brought up at the French court. In 1496, she succeeded to the "suo jure" title of Princess of Taranto.


The Royal Palace of Turin () is a historic palace of the House of Savoy in the city of Turin in Northern Italy. It was originally built in the 16th century and was later modernized by Christine Marie of France (1606–1663) in the 17th century, with designs by the Baroque architect Filippo Juvarra. The palace also includes the Palazzo Chiablese and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, the latter of which was built to house the famous Shroud of Turin. In 1946, the building became the property of the state and was turned into a museum. In 1997, it was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list along with 13 other residences of the House of Savoy.


Construction of the palace was ordered by the Regent Christina Maria in 1645. She wanted a new residence for the court after her son returned from the civil war.


Thus the old Bishop's Palace became the seat of power and was greatly expanded by Emmanuel Philibert to house his ever-growing collection of art, animals, marbles, and furniture. Emmanuel Philibert died in Turin in August 1580 and the Savoyard throne was handed down to his son, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (1562–1630). In celebration of the joint marriages of his daughters Princess Margaret and Princess Isabella in 1608, Charles Emmanuel I commissioned the construction of a ring of porches topped off by an open gallery. His son, the future Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (1587–1637), entered into a prestigious marriage when he married the French Princess Christine Marie of France. Their marriage took place in Paris at the Louvre in 1619.


Victor Amadeus I succeeded to the Duchy of Savoy in 1630. He had previously spent his youth in Madrid at the court of his grandfather, Philip II of Spain. His wife set the tone for Victor Amadeus I's reign. Christine Marie had the court moved from the ducal palace in Turin to the Castello del Valentino, which at that time, was on the outskirts of the small capital. Many of Victor Amadeus I and Christine Marie's children were born at Valentino, including Francis Hyacinth, Duke of Savoy and his successor Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy. Christine Marie became the regent of Savoy after the death of her husband in 1637 on behalf of her two sons, who succeeded as Dukes of Savoy.


During the reign of Victor Amadeus II, the Daniel gallery was created and named after Daniel Seiter, who painted the lavish murals seen there. Victor Amadeus II also had a collection of summer apartments built to look onto the court and a winter apartment overlooking the gardens. His wife was the niece of Louis XIV, born Anne Marie d'Orléans. Louis XV's mother and aunt were born in the palace in 1685 and 1688, respectively.


The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, the current location of the Shroud of Turin, was added to the structure in 1668-1694.


The Dukes of Savoy became the Kings of Sicily in 1713, but they swapped to the Kingdom of Sardinia and ruled from 1720 after the Treaty of The Hague. Anne Marie d'Orléans died at the palace in 1728.


Victor Amadeus III married Maria Antonietta of Spain and the couple preferred to reside in the country in the Palazzina di caccia di Stupinigi. The Neoclassical style was introduced to the palace in the reign of Charles Emmanuel III. The palace was overshadowed by the Stupinigi building later on, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia married Maria Adelaide of Austria. The palace once again saw some life with the redecoration of some of its rooms.


In 1946, the palace was claimed by the Italian Republic and turned into a "Museum of the Life and Works of the House of Savoy". Its rooms are decorated with rich tapestries and a collection of Chinese and Japanese vases. The Royal Armoury houses an extensive array of arms, including examples from the 16th and 17th centuries.


The palace houses the "Scala delle Forbici, "a staircase by Filippo Juvarra. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, with its spiral dome, was built in the west wing of the palace, joining the apse (a semicircular recess) of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, to house the famous Shroud of Turin, which belonged to the family from 1453 until 1946. The royal gates of the palace have a golden Medusa symbol embossed on them, in order to fend off intruders.


Anna Caterina Gilli was active as a decorative painter at the palace.


The Reggia di Val Casotto, or Valcasotto is a former royal residence located in Garessio, region of Piedmont, Italy.


A structure at the site was founded in the 11th century as the "Certosa di San Brunone" (Charterhouse of St Bruno) housing monks of the cloistered Carthusian order. They were finally expelled by the invading French forces at the end of the 18th century. Earlier in the 18th century, under the direction of the architects Francesco Gallo and Bernardo Vittone, part had been refurbished into a rural palace. In 1837, the Duke Charles Albert of Savoy refurbished it again, accentuating the castle like elements. The King Vittorio Emanuele II used the palace as a hunting lodge. The residence is one of the "Residenze Sabaude" considered by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. The buildings are undergoing a prolonged restoration, and not open to visitors.


The Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi (Italian: "The hunting residence of Stupinigi") is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in northern Italy, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Built as a royal hunting lodge in the early 18th century, it is located in Stupinigi, a suburb of the town of Nichelino, southwest of Turin.


The original castle was owned by the Acaja line of the House of Savoy, Lords of Piedmont until 1418, and was sold to marquis Rolando Pallavicino in 1493. It was then acquired by Emmanuel Philibert in 1563, when the ducal capital was moved from Chambéry to Turin.


The new palace was designed by the architect Filippo Juvarra to be used as a "palazzina di caccia" ("hunting lodge") for Victor Amadeus II, King of Sardinia. Works started in 1729. Within two years construction was far enough advanced for the first formal hunt to take place.


Juvarra called upon a team of decorators, many of them from Venice, to carry out the decor of the palazzina interiors. In the reigns of Carlo Emanuele III and Victor Amadeus III the "palazzina" and its formal park continued to be extended, at first by Juvarra's assistant, Giovanni Tommaso Prunotto, then by numerous North Italian architects, such as Ignazio Birago di Borgaro, Ludovico Bo, Ignazio Bertola and Benedetto Alfieri. The final building has a total of 137 rooms and 17 galleries, and covers 31,050 square meters. Polissena of Hesse-Rotenburg, wife of Carlo Emanuele III also carried out improvements.


The original purpose of the hunting lodge is symbolized by the bronze stag perched at the apex of the stepped roof of its central dome, and the hounds' heads that decorate the vases on the roofline. The building has a saltire plan: four angled wings project from the oval-shaped main hall.


The extensions resulted in separate pavilions linked by long angled galleries and a long octagonal forecourt enclosed by wings, extended forwards in two further entrance courts.


Stupinigi was the preferred building to be used for celebrations and dynastic weddings by members of the House of Savoy. Here, in 1773, Maria Teresa, Princess of Savoy, married Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, brother of Louis XVI and the future Charles X of France.


Today the Palace of Stupinigi houses the Museo di Arte e Ammobiliamento, a museum of the arts and furnishings, some original to the "palazzina", others brought from the former Savoia residences of Moncalieri and Venaria Reale. Stupinigi has the most important collection of Piedmontese furniture, including works by Turin's three most famous Royal cabinet-makers, Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, Pietro Piffetti and Luigi Prinotti. Some of the sculptures of hunting figures are by Giovanni Battista Bernero. Additionally, temporary exhibitions are held in its galleries, such as the "Mostra del Barocco" (1963).


The plan of the building is defined by the four arms of St. Andrew's Cross, divided by the central axis that is aligned with the path that leads from Turin to the palace through a tree-lined avenue that runs alongside farms and stables and other old dependencies of the building.


Also called "Appartamento di Levante" (as opposed to the specular Appartamento di Ponente), the set of rooms was enlarged under the direction of Benedetto Alfieri in the 18th century to accommodate the rooms of Benedetto di Savoia, Duke of Chiablese, son of King Carlo Emanuele III.


Hall of Mirrors and Cabinet of Pauline Bonaparte.


The first room, decorated with a very special rococo style, is decorated with stuccos and mirrors from the walls to the ceiling, idea of Giovanni Pietro Pozzo in 1766 with the help of Michele Antonio Rapous in the realization of the boiserie. The chandelier dating back to the 1940s is more ancient and is decorated with sculptures of wrought iron birds. The Cabinet of Pauline Bonaparte owes its fame to the fact that it was made to equip in current forms by Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister, during her period of stay at the palace when her husband Camillo Borghese was appointed governor of Piedmont. The room, small in size, contains a beautiful marble bathtub, decorated with bas-reliefs representing the imperial insignia with the Napoleonic eagle.


The salon, steeped in its structure and in the decorations characteristic of the eighteenth century, also attracted the attention of several contemporaries who were able to see it personally as the French engraver Charles Nicolas Cochin, who however criticized the superabundance of decorations and excessive eccentricity. Of the same opinion was Joseph Jerome Lalande, who reported how the Juvarra was almost completely focused on the salon, leaving behind all the rest and revealing how it was arranged as the "dream of an architect", too risky for a city palace and only for a sumptuous country residence.


Since 1992, woods and agricultural land surrounding Stupinigi have been preserved as the Parco naturale di Stupinigi. Included in the communal territories of Nichelino, Candiolo and Orbassano, it has an area of that includes a part of the region's original lowland forest, where visitors can admire some rare plant species no longer widely found elsewhere. Wildlife includes beech martens, weasels, foxes, hazel dormouses, European hares, white storks, tree squirrels and others.


The Castle of Moncalieri is a palace in Moncalieri (Metropolitan City of Turin), Piedmont, in northern Italy. It is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites in 1997.


The first structure was a fortress built by Thomas I of Savoy around 1100 on a hill, to command the main southern access to Turin. In the mid-15th century Yolanda of Valois, wife of Duke Amadeus IX, turned it into a pleasure residence. Architect Carlo di Castellamonte enlarged the construction substantially, and the interiors were redesigned by him and other local artists.


The castle was the site of the marriage between Maria Vittoria Francesca of Savoy to the Prince of Carignano. It was also the place where Maria Carolina of Savoy married Anthony of Saxony by proxy in 1781.


It was the scene of the death of Maria Antonietta of Spain in 1785; she was the wife of Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia. Victor Amadeus would later die there in 1796.


The castle was used extensively by the Savoyards, and was the first castle occupied in 1798 by the French armies, who retained it until 1814. Returned to Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia and later to his distant nephew Charles Albert of Sardinia, Prince of Carignano, it became the residence of young family princes who studied here. King Victor Emmanuel II preferred it to the Royal Palace of Turin, and had numerous apartments furnished according to his tastes. In 1849, it was from this palace that emerged the famous Proclamation of Moncalieri, written by Massimo D'Azeglio and signed by the king Vittorio Emmanuel II.


The palace was later was used by the Queen Mothers and royal princesses. Since 1921 it has been the home of the 1st Battalion of the Carabinieri, but the historical rooms can be freely visited.


On April 5, 2008, a fire broke out in the castle, damaging one of the towers and the hall of the proclaim.


The current structure of the castle is in the shape of a horseshoe facing south, with four massive square towers at each angle. The side sections have five floors, brick walls and robust buttresses. Two other minor buildings parallel the side sections and create two courts. The southern façade has a "giardino all'italiana" and two small cylindrical towers, last remains of the 15th-century castle. The northern entrance has also a notable belvedere.


The Palace of Venaria (Italian: Reggia di Venaria Reale) is a former royal residence and gardens located in Venaria Reale, near Turin in the Metropolitan City of Turin of the Piedmont region in northern Italy. With 80,000m² in palace area and over 950.000m² in premises, it is one of the largest palaces in the world. It is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, included in the UNESCO Heritage List in 1997.


It is noted for its monumental architecture and Baroque interiors by Filippo Juvarra, including the "Galleria Grande" and its marble decorations, the chapel of St. Uberto, and its extensive gardens. It received 1,048,857 visitors in 2017, making it the sixth most visited museum in Italy.


Charles Emmanuel was inspired by the example of the Castle of Mirafiori, built by Duke Charles Emmanuel I for his wife Catherine Michelle of Spain. Keen to leave a memorial of himself and his wife, Marie Jeanne of Savoy-Nemours, he bought the two small villages of Altessano Superiore and Altessano Inferiore from the Milanese-origin Birago family, who had created here a large complex of plants. The place was rechristened "Venaria" for his future function as hunting base ("Venatio", in Latin). The construction of this residence fell in the larger plan of surrounding the city of Turin with a "garland of delicacies" ("Corona di Delizie"), which included the Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi, Castle of Rivoli, Villa della Regina, and others.


Further damage was inflicted during the Siege of Turin (1706), when the French troops under Louis d'Aubusson de La Feuillade were garrisoned there. After the Savoyard victory, Victor Amadeus placed Filippo Juvarra in charge of the project in 1716. Juvarra completed the chapel, the Great Gallery, the Citronerie, and the stable, elevating the palace to a Baroque masterpiece. During the reign of Charles Emmanuel III, under the direction of Benedetto Alfieri, the palace was enlarged with new stables, galleries, and supporting buildings. With the fall of the Ancien Régime, the palace fell in disuse.


During the Napoleonic domination, the structures were turned into barracks and the gardens destroyed to create a training ground. The complex maintained this role also after the fall of Napoleon, and was used by the Italian Army until 1978, when it was sold to the Ministry of Culture.


Restoration works were begun in 1999, and encapsulated the palace, gardens, and the historic center of the town. It was the largest restoration project in European history, with 100.000 m2 of buildings area, 1.000 frescoes, 9.5000 m2 stuccoes, 800.000 m2 garden area being renovated. The complex was open for tourism from 13 October 2007, and has since become a major turist destination and space for exhibitions and events.


The entrance of the palace leads into the "Cour d'honneur" ("Honour Court"), which once housed a fountain with a deer. The main facade, covered in the 17th century section with plaster and featuring cornucopias, shells and fruits, is connected on the right by section with exposed brickwork added in the 18th century. The two towers date to the Michelangelo Garove period (1669–1713) and are covered with multicolor pentagonal tiles in ceramics, which are united by a large gallery, known as "Galleria Grande".


The interiors originally housed a large collection of stuccos, statues, paintings (according to Amedeo di Castellamonte, up to 8,000) from some of the court artists of the times, such as Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli, and Bernardino Quadri.


The original gardens of the residence are now totally disappeared, since French troops turned them into training grounds. Earlier drawings show an Italian garden with three terraces connected by elaborate stairways and architectural features such as a clock tower in the first court, the fountain of Hercules, a theater and parterres.


Recent works have recreated a park in modern style, exhibiting modern works by Giuseppe Penone, including a fake 12 m-high cedar housing the thermic discharges of the palace.


Church of Sant'Uberto and other 18th century additions.


After the death of Garove (1713), Juvarra built the Grand Gallery and in parallel built a church dedicated to St. Hubertus, patron of the hunters (1716–1729). The church is strictly included within the palace's structure, so that it was impossible to build a dome: this was then frescoes "trompe-l'œil" from inside.


Other works of the Juvarra period included the stables, the "citroneria" (fruit grows, 1722–1728) and the renovation in French-style of the facades.


The last buildings date from the mid-18th and early 19th centuries (stables, riding school, stair of the Reggia di Diana, gallery of Sant'Uberto); subsequently the Palace was abandoned in favour of the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi (1729), which was by then more in tune with the tastes of the European courts.


The Villa della Regina is a palace in the city of Turin, Piedmont, Italy. It was originally built by the House of Savoy in the 17th century.


The original structure was designed in early 1615 by the Italian soldier, architect and military engineer, Ascanio Vitozzi. When he died in 1615, the project passed to his collaborators, father and son Carlo and Amedeo di Castellamonte. The original building was built for the Prince-Cardinal Maurice of Savoy during the reign of his brother Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy. The property was built as a private villa with its own vineyard, hence its alternative name of "Vigna di Madama". In 1637 Cardinal Maurice lost his brother and his sister in law Christine Marie of France became Regent of Savoy for her young son, Carlo Emanuele II of Savoye.


Prince Maurice of Savoy and his brother Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano opposed the Regency and fled to Spain. Following his return to Turin, Maurice died at the Villa in 1657 and willed it to his wife Louise Christine of Savoy who also died there in 1692. At the death of Louise Christine, it passed to Anne Marie d'Orléans, niece of Louis XIV of France wife Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy in 1684.


She used the Vigna when she could. Most of the present décor of the Vigna is from her lifetime. Her husband was the King of Sicily from 1713 till 1720, when he exchanged Sicily with Sardinia. From then on, the building was known as "Villa della Regina" ("Villa of the Queen"). It was here Anne Marie died in 1728. Anne Marie's eldest daughter Maria Adelaide came here and tried to recreate it at Versailles at the "Ménagerie".


Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg, daughter in law of Anne Marie, did some work in the main saloon of the building when she became the owner of the villa in 1728 at the death of Anne Marie.


Inside there are frescoes and paintings by Giovanni Battista Crosato, Daniel Seyter and Corrado Giaquinto in the main room, grotesques of Filippo Minei and paintings by the brothers Domenico and Giuseppe Valeriani in the near rooms; there are also precious Chinese Cabinets in lacquer and golden wood. In the park there is the "Pavilion of the Solinghi", pagoda building in which the "Academy of the Solinghi" used to meet; it was a group of intellectuals founded by the Cardinal Maurice.


The Villa was later used by the Spanish Queen of Sardinia Maria Antonietta Ferdinanda. It remained the property of the House of Savoy till 1868 when it was donated by Victor Emmanuel II of Italy to the Institute of the Army's Daughters and in 1994 it was given to the State domain.


Damaged in the Second World War, it is today open to the public in order to fund its maintenance.


Residences of the Royal House of Savoy


The Residences of the Royal House of Savoy are a group of buildings in Turin and the Metropolitan City of Turin, in Piedmont (northern Italy). It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1997.


The House of Savoy is an ancient royal family, being founded in year 1003 in the Savoy region (now in Rhône-Alpes, France), later expanding so that by 1720 it reigned over the Kingdom of Sardinia in northwestern Italy. Through its junior branch, the House of Savoy-Carignano, it led the unification of Italy in 1861 and ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II. At this time, King Victor Emanuel III abdicated in favour of his son Umberto II but after an institutional referendum in 1946, the monarchy was abolished, a republic was established, and members of the House of Savoy were required to leave the country.


In 1562, Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy moved his capital to Turin and commenced a series of building projects using the best architects available at the time. The buildings, lavishly constructed and including embellishments by contemporary artists, were designed to impress the public and demonstrate the power of the House of Savoy. As well as palaces in Turin itself, country houses and hunting lodges were built in the surrounding countryside. All these buildings have been jointly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the basis that they "represent the best in European monumental architecture from the 17th and 18th centuries, expressing in their style and opulence a potent demonstration of the power of absolute monarchy in material terms".


The Royal Castle of Racconigi is a palace and landscape park in Racconigi, province of Cuneo, Italy. It was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, and is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy included by UNESCO in the World Heritage Sites list.


The first records of the castle are from around the year 1000, when Bernardino of Susa rebuilt an ancient manor, leaving it to Cistercian monks.


The castle was a possession of the margraves of Saluzzo and others starting in the 13th century, and in the 16th century was acquired by the House of Savoy. In 1630, Duke Charles Emmanuel I granted it to his nephew Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano, founder of the Savoy-Carignano line. At this time, the castle was a high brick moated fortress with a square plan, four corner towers and a tall donjon ("mastio") on one side.


Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Carignano, Tommaso's son, in the late 17th century, commissioned Guarino Guarini to transform the fortress into a pleasure residence. The architect erected the current central section where the court was, adding a pagoda-like roof. The two northern towers were replaced by pavilions with dome roof and square plan, provided with white marble lanterns. The gardens were also created.