Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignan

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Thomas Francis of Savoy (December 21, 1596 - January 22, 1656), Italian Tommaso Francesco di Savoia, Principe di Carignano, French Thomas François de Savoie, Prince de Carignan, the founder of the Savoy-Carignano branch of the House of Savoy which reigned as kings of Sardinia from 1831 to 1861, and as kings of Italy from 1861 until the dynasty's deposition in 1946.

For seven generations and 234 years -- until the senior line of the Savoys died out (including the Nemours branch) -- the Carignano princelings took little part in the rise of the dynasty and in Italy's emergence as a major power in modern Europe. Yet their very existence helped stabilize Savoy, discouraging the encroachments of covetous neighbors and in-laws, warding off the partitions and wars of succession which doomed the realms of the rival Visconti, Gonzaga, and Medici dynasties. Occasionally, however, descendants of this line rose to individual prominence: one to greatness (Prince Eugene of Savoy), some to adventure (Olympia Mancini and Amadeo I of Spain), and not a few to ruin (Marie-Louise, princesse de Lamballe, Umberto I and Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, and Princess Mafalda of Savoy). Although no longer enthroned, the male-line of Thomas, Prince of Carignano survives, and pretends to Italy's defunct throne.

Contents 1 Background 2 France 3 Public Career 3.1 Early actions and service with Spain 3.2 Piedmontese Civil War 3.3 Service with France 4 Family 5 References

[edit] Background

Born in Turin, Thomas was the youngest of the five legitimate sons of the sovereign Duke Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy by his consort Catherine Micaela of Spain, a daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elisabeth de Valois of France. His mother died the following year. While still a young man, Thomas bore arms in the service of the king of Spain in Italy.^[1]

Although in previous reigns, younger sons had been granted rich appanages in Switzerland (Genevois, Vaud), Italy (Aosta), or France (Nemours, Bresse), the Savoy dukes found that this inhibited their own aggrandizement while encouraging intra-dynastic strife and regional secession. Not only did Thomas have older brothers, he was but one of the twenty-one acknowledged children of Charles Emmanuel. While only nine of these were legitimate, the others, being the widowed duke's offspring by noble mistresses, appear to have been generously endowed or dowered during their father's lifetime.^[2]

The seigneury of Carignan had belonged to the Savoys since 1418, and the fact that it was part of Piedmont, only twenty km. south of Turin, meant that it could be a "princedom" for Thomas in name only, being endowed neither with independence nor revenues of substance.^[3] Instead of receiving a significant patrimony, Thomas was wed in 1625 to Marie de Bourbon, sister and co-heiress of Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons, who would be killed in 1641 while fomenting rebellion against Cardinal Richelieu.

[edit] France

In anticipation of this inheritance Thomas and Marie did not establish themselves at his brother's capital, Turin, but dwelt in Paris, where Marie enjoyed the exalted rank of a princesse du sang, being a second cousin of King Louis XIII. It was arranged that Thomas, as son of a reigning monarch, would hold the rank of first among the princes étrangers at the French court -- taking precedence even before the formerly all-powerful House of Guise, whose kinship to the sovereign Duke of Lorraine was more remote.^[1] He was appointed Grand Maître of the king's household, briefly replacing the traitorous Grand Condé. He engaged the services of the distinguished grammarian and courtier Claude Favre de Vaugelas as tutor for his children.

The prospect of Marie's eventual succession to the Swiss principality of Neuchâtel, near Savoy, was foiled in 1643 by the king's decision to legitimate Louis Henri de Bourbon, chevalier de Soissons (1640-1703), a son of Marie's late brother. This prevented the substitution of Savoyard for French influence in that region, but left Thomas with little more than the empty title of "prince de Carignan". Marie did eventually inherit her brother's main holding in France, the county of Soissons, but this would be established as a secundogeniture for the French branch of the family. After Thomas, the senior branch of his descendants repatriated to Savoy, alternately marrying French, Italian and German princesses.^[2]

[edit] Public Career

Bibliographical note: in this section, it would be tedious to footnote every military event; the following are the sources for events unless otherwise specified: Michaud's Biographie universelle, sub Carignan, for the life as a whole (though curiously the BU omits any mention of the famous siege of Turin); Saluzzo (comte de Saluces), vols. 3-4, for all military events in Piedmont (it contains much more detail than recorded here)^[4]; and Lonchay^[5], for the mid-1630s. These are cited specifically only for obscure or disputed statements. Much valuable information is also from vols. 5-6 of Hanotaux's magisterial biography of Richelieu^[6], but since references to Thomas are scattered through two volumes and the book is not indexed, these are always referenced.

[edit] Early actions and service with Spain

Thomas' first recorded service is as a commander in the Piedmontese army under his father in the war against France in 1630. It was probably around this time that he first encountered Mazarin, who (though his public position was quite complex) was during 1630-32 in effect a French agent at the Piedmontese court. When the new Duke Victor Amadeus I was forced to accept a French occupation of Pinerolo (Peace of Cherasco, 26 April 1631, and associated secret agreements, implemented 1632), there was widespread dissatisfaction in Piedmont, and Thomas, with his brother Maurice, went to join the Spanish, at which Victor Amadeus confiscated their revenues. (The exact date of the move is unstated, but was probably 1632, certainly no later than 1634.) Though welcomed by the Spanish given that he was related to both the French and Spanish royal families, Thomas was not entirely trusted by them, and had to send his wife and children to Madrid as hostages^[7].

Spain, during the burst of confidence after its unexpected great victory at Nordlingen in 1634, made plans for major operations in Germany to end the war against the Protestants there and in the Netherlands; these plans included Thomas leading an army in Westphalia, under the overall command of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, brother of Phlip IV. Nothing came of this, but in 1635, when France declared war on Spain (Franco-Spanish war of 1635-59), Thomas served under Ferdinand in the Spanish Netherlands: he was given command of a small army (variously given as 8,500 or 13,000) sent against French forces that had advanced into Luxemburg, his orders either to observe them or to prevent them from joining up with a Dutch army. On 22 May 1635 at Les Avins, south of Huy, in what was then the bishopric of Liege, he was completely defeated and his army entirely killed, captured or scattered - the first in an unbroken career of military defeat. He managed to rally the remnants at Namur, then retreated before the numerically-superior French and Dutch forces; and he probably served the rest of the campaign with Ferdinand. Late in the year, the refugee Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine arrived in Brussels and met Thomas; they may have formed a joint court, and Thomas certainly participated in jousts organised by the Duke^[8]. (In this Franco-Spanish war, Piedmont was reluctantly dragged into the fighting alongside the French, though initially it avoided a full declaration of war; consequently, Thomas was technically fighting against his own homeland.)

In 1636, the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand organised a joint Spanish-Imperialist army for a major invasion of France from the Spanish Netherlands, and Thomas was initially in charge, though Ferdinand soon took over supreme command. The invasion was initially very successful, and seemed capable of reaching Paris, where there was a great panic; if Ferdinand and Thomas had pushed on, they might have ended the war at this point, but they both felt that continuing to Paris was too risky, so they stopped the advance. Later in the campaign, Thomas had problems with the Imperialist general Piccolimini, who refused to accept orders from the Prince as a Spanish commander, arguing that his Imperialist troops were an independent force. Military action for Thomas is not recorded in 1637, but in this year, when his brother-in-law Soissons fled from France after his failed conspiracy against Cardinal Richelieu, he acted as intermediary between Soissons and the Spanish in negotiations which led to a formal alliance between the count and Philip IV of Spain concluded 28 June 1637 - although within a month Soissons had reconciled with France! In 1638, Thomas served in Spanish Flanders, helping to defend the fortress-city of Saint-Omer against a French siege; in mid-June, he managed to get reinforcements into the place, then with the rest of his small army entrenched about 15 km. to the north-west at Ruminghem, opposite the French army under Jacques-Nompar de Caumont, duc de la Force at Zouafques; after being joined by Imperialist reinforcements under Piccolimini, he marched to attack La Force, and was defeated with the loss of 2,000 men killed or captured (action at Zouafques, exact date unknown but around 21 June). However, he then marched back with his remaining troops to the continuing French siege of Saint-Omer, where he put in more reinforcements and then entrenched himself so securely in the vicinity that the French found it impossible to continue the siege and gave up. Thomas and Piccolimini subsequently stuck so close to La Force that the French were unable to undertake any serious operations^[6].

[edit] Piedmontese Civil War

Back home in Piedmont, a crisis had been developing. In October 1637, Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy died, and with his eldest son Francis Hyacinth only five years old, his will placed government under the regency of his widow Christine Marie of France, sister of Louis XII of France. There is even a suggestion that the will explicitly disinherited Thomas^[9]. Despite her French origins, Christine did try to govern independently, she resisted French attempts to take over the regency, and on occasion she even stood up to personal bullying by Richelieu; but Piedmont was so thoroughly dominated by its powerful neighbour that it could not follow an independent course, and Christine tended to be blamed for events over which she had no control. She did not help matters, however, by handing much of government over to her lover, Philippe d'Agliè. Thomas, and his brother Maurice, had fears that they would be excluded from their rights to the succession; soon after the death of Victor Amadeus, Christine was forced by the French to write to the brothers insisting that they not return to Piedmont. In 1638, Thomas sent his friend the marquis of Pallavicini to Turin, officially on a courtesy mission to Christine but actually to sound out public opinion in Piedmont on her rule; Maurice was also negotiating with other governments, including the Pope, to overturn Victor Amadeus' testament and end the regency of Christine, and soon was plotting simply to capture her. The situation became even worse in October 1638 when Francis Hyacinth died, and the succession passed to Charles Emmanuel, only four years old; although the testament of Victor Amadeus had made arrangements for a regency only for Francis Hyacinth, Christine continued as regent, but her legal position was much weaker, and her opponents argued that any regency for Charles Emmanuel had to be approved by the Estates, or by Piedmont's suzerain the Emperor, to be legitimate - there are suggestions that the Emperor had already declared Victor Amadeus' will void and Christine's regency invalid^[10], he delayed making an agreement while he argued for a Spanish order to their governor of Milan, Diego Felipe de Guzmán, Marquis of Leganés, to raise his siege of Vercelli (this cannot be true, because Vercelli had already fallen to Leganés while Thomas was still in Flanders). France was aware of Thomas' moves, and, expecting him to return to Piedmont privately, Richelieu issued orders 17 March 1639 to French commanders there to arrest him on sight and imprison him in Pinerolo^[6], while Louis XIII wrote a threatening letter to his sister Christine forbidding her to allow Thomas to enter Piedmontese territoryref name=BurckhardtBurckhardt, Carl Jacob (1971). Richelieu and his age: Vol. 3, p.318-9. </ref>. However, Thomas and Maurice were preparing to come not as private individuals but with military force, allied to the Spanish: they concluded a treaty with Spain (exact date not known) by which the brothers would keep any towns which opened their gates to them, while the Spanish would keep any towns that they took by force^[6] - a treaty sometimes described as effectively partitioning Piedmont between the brothers and Spain^[11]. Thomas continued operating alongside the Spanish, and in late April, together with Leganés he initiated a formal siege of Turin; but the French troops in the city were too strong, so the siege was abandoned in favour of more field operations, while Thomas opened secret negotiations with supporters inside the city. Later in the year (the date is usually given as 25 July, but Saluzzo dates it 27 August), in a surprise night attack co-ordinated with those supporters, Thomas managed to seize Turin - but only the city; Regent Christine fled into the citadel, still held by a large French force. After a failed attempt to recover the city from the citadel, Christine concluded a truce with Thomas until 24 October, during which both she and the French negotiated with him, sometimes at cross-purposes - at one point, Richelieu, annoyed at Christine's refusal to obey his every wish, hinted at the possibility of Thomas and Maurice replacing her as regent (further details of the convoluted dealings in Hanotaux^[6]). When hostilities resumed after 24 October, Thomas marched out of Turin and tried to catch the French field commander Harcourt as he was withdrawing from Chieri, but the Prince failed to co-ordinate his operations properly with the Spanish and was soundly defeated 19 or 20 November 1639 by Harcourt's rearguard under Turenneat the action variously known as Chieri or 'La Routa' or La Rotta (known to the French as 'Route de Quiers', from the French spelling of Chieri); Thomas showed great personal courage in the action, but his defeat was due mostly to his own incompetence. Another cease-fire was arranged over the winter, which Thomas spent holding Turin city, uneasily alongside the French in the citadel.

In the spring of 1640, Thomas entered the field again, and with the Spanish was again defeated by Harcourt at Casale (29 April 1640). He returned to Turin, and was then involved in the subsequent siege of Turin, one of the most famous (and complicated) military events of the 17th century: French troops in the citadel were under attack by Thomas in the city, who was himself besieged by Harcourt and the French army - and when Leganés arrived with a Spanish relief force but dared not attack the French lines outright, Harcourt was himself besieged in his camp while Leganés tried to fire supplies over his head into the city. Turin eventually had to consider surrender, and Thomas opened negotiations with Harcourt; unaware of orders en route from Paris that he was to accept nothing from Thomas except pure surrender as a prisoner or agreement to enter French service, Harcourt granted Thomas honourable terms in the capitulation signed on 20 September, and on 24 September Thomas marched out with his troops and withdrew to Ivrea.

Over the winter, Thomas negotiated again with Richelieu, through the French agent, young Mazarin. Thomas was in a difficult position with his family still hostage in Madrid, but was prepared to see if he could secure terms that would get both Spain and France out of Piedmont and an end to the war being fought on Piedmontese territory. Richelieu seemed prepared to go some way to meeting his terms, and thought all was going well, but on 27 February 1641 Thomas unexpectedly renewed his treaty with the Spanish and resumed operations, which the French viewed as an act of great perfidy^[6]. Thomas tried besieging Chivasso but was forced by Harcourt to abandon the siege; he also failed in an attempted escalade of Chierasco. In the autumn, negotiations with Christine and the French resumed, and, although Richelieu was astonished at the scale of his demands given his defeats and the way he was being treated by the Spanish, French threats to deprive Thomas of any inheritance rights to the Soissons estate seemed to be having their effect and by 3 October the Cardinal thought that a settlement was in the bag. Final agreement took a little longer, but in 1642 Thomas settled with both France and Regent Christine: he was fed up with his Spanish 'allies' who were clearly using him to expand into Piedmontese territory, she was fed up with the domineering conduct of the French, so they made peace and she then mediated a treaty between Thomas and the French. Thomas' agreement with Christine included personal control of two major fortresses, Biela and Ivrea, for the duration of the regency, intended to provide him with security against possible reprisals. The Prince met with Christine on the road outside Ivrea, entered her coach and went with her to Turin, where he was wildly welcomed because their rapprochement meant the end of the civil war. The Spanish were annoyed and for a while detained his wife in Madrid, but in 1643 they would let her join him in Piedmont.

[edit] Service with France

(To follow)

The prince de Carignan was mortally wounded while commanding the French army at the siege of Pavia in 1656.^[12]

[edit] Family

Thomas and Marie had seven children who survived infancy (Italian names in parentheses):

Carignano line

1. Emmanuel Philibert Amadeus (Emanuele Filiberto Amedeo) (1628-1709), 2nd prince de Carignan, lived in Italy, becoming governor of Ivrea in 1644, and of Asti in 1663.^[2] In 1684 he married in Racconigi, at the age of fifty-six, Princess Catherina d'Este (1656-1722), an almost twenty-nine year-old granddaughter of Cesare I d'Este, Duke of Modena.^[2] Because he was deaf-mute, the marriage shocked his mother, infuriated his sister-in-law Olympia Mancini, injured the financial prospects of his French nephews and nieces, and so offended Louis XIV that Francis II, Duke of Modena felt obliged to banish from his realm the bride's kinsman, who had acted as the couple's intermediary.^[1][13] They had four children including:

1. Victor Amadeus (Vittorio Amedeo) (1690-1741), who had three children including:

1. Louis Victor (Ludovico Vittorio) (1721-1778), who had nine children including:

1. Marie Therese de Savoie Carignan, Princesse de Lamballe (1749-1792)

2. Victor Amadeus (Vittorio Amedeo) (1743-1780) had one son:

1. Charles Emmanuel (Carlo Emanuele) (1770-1800) married Maria Christina Albertina of Saxony and Courland (morganatic daughter of the duke of Kurland who himself was a younger son of August III of Poland and Maria Josepha of Austria) and they had two children including:

1. Carlo Alberto, King of Sardinia

3. Prince Eugenio of Savoy, Count of Villafranca

Soissons Line

2. Eugene Maurice (1633-1673), Count of Soissons, married Olympia Mancini and had 2 sons

1. Louis Thomas d.1702, Count of Soissons

2. Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), Prince of Savoy, called The Famous General

3. Louise-Christine (1627 - 1689), married in 1654 to Ferdinand Maximilian of Baden-Baden (1625-1669), and was mother of

1. Louis, Margrave of Baden-Baden (1655 - 1707) , also a famous general .

4. Joseph-Emmanuel (1631 - 1656), count of Soissons

[edit] References