[June 12] Charles Emmanuel II, duke of Savoy

Parents: Victor Amadeus I, duke of Savoy, and Christine of France

Date of Birth: 20 June 1634

House: Savoy

Spouse: (1) François Medeleine, daughter of Gaston, duke of Orléans and Marquerite of Lorraine, then (2) Marie Jeanne, daughter of Charles Amadeus, duke of Savoy, and Élisabeth of Bourbon

Predecessor: Francis Hyacinth

Reign: 1638 – 1675

Summary: Born in Turin to the prominent northern Italian Savoy dynasty,  Charles Emmanuel was as much French as Italian. His mother and his paternal grandmother were both French, as was his second wife, Marie Jeanne. Charles Emmanuel became duke at the very young age of four, so his mother governed the state for him until he reached maturity and continued as his chief advisor.

Charles Emmanuel has little credit to his name but he was the inspiration for English poetry...angry poetry directed at his persecution and massacre of the Vaudois (Waldensians), a Protestant group which had taken hold in Savoy. John Milton wrote his On the Late Massacre in Piedmont concerning Charles Emmanuel's massacre, while Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell threatened naval action against Savoy if the duke did not stop. The Puritans of England secretly funded the Protestants in Savoy throughout this era.  When his mother died in 1663, Charles Emmanuel finally left his pleasure rooms and became the duke he always should have been. He tried to gain sea access through Genoa in 1672 resulting in a short war which he lost. In France, despite his connections, the Sun King's court was not overly amused at his problems in Italy. He did eventually gain a seaport with help from France at Nice, and he also built a road through the Swiss Alps to France. He centralized the army, dispersing former mercenary bands and replacing them with a standing army, and he enlarged the state's cavalry strength. The Palazzo Reale in Turin was constructed by him during a short beautification campaign. Charles Emmanuel died in 1675 after which time his wife ruled as regent for five years for their young son, Victor Amadeus II, who would become the first Savoyard king of Sardinia.

Date of Death: 12 June 1675

Successor: Victor Amadeus II

Other Monarch Deaths:

Leo III, pope of Rome (816)
Æthelflæd, queen of the Mercians (918)
Egwale Seyon, emperor of Ethiopia (1818)