Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia

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Victor Emmanuel I (July 24, 1759 – January 10, 1824) was the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, and Aosta, and King of Sardinia from 1802 to 1821.

He was the second son of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and Maria Antonietta of Spain (1729-1785), daughter of King Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese.

Victor Emmanuel was known from birth as the Duke of Aosta.

From 1792 to 1796, Aosta's father had taken an active part in the struggle of the old powers against the French Revolutionary forces, but were defeated and forced to make peace in 1796. The old king died shortly thereafter, and his eldest son and successor, Charles Emmanuel IV was faced in December 1798 with a French occupation and, eventually, annexation, of his mainland territories. Charles Emmanuel and his family were forced to withdraw to Sardinia, which was the only part of his domains not conquered by the French. Charles Emmanuel himself took little interest in the rule of Sardinia, living with his wife on the mainland in Naples and Rome until his wife's death in 1802, which led the childless Charles Emmanuel to abdicate the throne in favor of his younger brother. Aosta took the throne on June 4, 1802 as Victor Emmanuel I. He ruled Sardinia from Cagliari for the next twelve years, during which time he constituted the Carabinieri élite corps, still existing as one of the main branches of Italian Army.

Victor Emmanuel could return to Turin only in 1814, his realm reconstituted by the Congress of Vienna with the addition of the territories of the former Republic of Genoa. The latter became the seat of the Sardinian Navy. Victor Emmanuel abolished all the freedoms granted by the Napoleonic Codices and restored a fiercely oppressive rule: he refused any concession of a constitution, entrusted the instruction to the Church and reintroduced the persecutions against Jews and Waldensians.

After the death of his brother in 1819, he also became the Jacobite pretender to the British thrones (as Victor I), although he, like his brother, did not make any public claims to this effect. When Victor Emmanuel died, Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, wrote to his ministerial colleague George Canning that there should be public mourning in Britain, as a significant number of Britons had regarded Victor Emmanuel as their rightful king.

After the outbreak of the liberal revolution in his lands in 1821, he abdicated in favor of his brother, Charles Felix. Victor Emmanuel died in the Castle of Moncalieri. He is buried in the Basilica of Superga.

Contents 1 Family and children 2 Ancestors 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Family and children

On April 21, 1789, he married Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria-Este (1773-1832), daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Modena (who was the son of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor).
They had six daughters and one son who died very young:

1. Maria Beatrice Victoria (1792–1840), married Francis IV, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Modena
2. Maria Adelaide (1794-1795)
3. Charles Emmanuel (1796-1799) died of smallpox.
4. A daughter (1800-1801)
5. Maria Anna (1803–1884), married Ferdinand I of Austria
6. Maria Teresa (1803-1879), married Charles II, Duke of Parma (1799-1883)
7. Maria Christina of Savoy (1812–1836), married Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies

[edit] Ancestors

Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia's ancestors in three generations

Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia	Father: Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia	Paternal Grandfather: Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia	Paternal Great-grandfather: Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Anne Marie of Orléans
		Paternal Grandmother: Polyxena Christina of Hesse-Rotenburg	Paternal Great-grandfather: Ernest Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Eleonore of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort
	Mother: Maria Antonietta of Spain	Maternal Grandfather: Philip V of Spain	Maternal Great-grandfather: Louis, le Grand Dauphin
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Maria Anna of Bavaria
		Maternal Grandmother: Elisabeth of Parma	Maternal Great-grandfather: Odoardo II Farnese
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg

[edit] References

• Segre, A. (1928). Vittorio Emanuele I. 

[edit] See also

• Napoleonic Wars

Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia House of Savoy Born: 24 July 1759 Died: 10 January 1824
Regnal titles
Preceded by Charles Emmanuel IV	King of Sardinia 1802–1821	Succeeded by Charles Felix
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Charles IV	Jacobite succession 1819–1824	Succeeded by Mary III and II