[December 28] Victor Emmanuel III, king of Italy

Local Name: Vittorio Emanuele
Parents: Umberto I, king of Italy, and Margherita of Savoy
Date of Birth: 11 November 1869
House: Savoy
Spouse(s): Elena, daughter of Nikola I, king of Montenegro, and Milena Vukotic
Predecessor: Umberto II
Reign: 1900 – 1946
Brief: Italy's fourth king since the peninsula's unification in the 1860s, Victor Emmanuel III was arguably one of the weakest rulers. Small in stature (barely 5 feet), he overcompensated by directly involving himself in the constitutional monarchy over which he ruled. Between 1900 and 1922, he intervened in ten separate parliamentary crises. Although at first against joining World War I, in 1915 he personally brought Italy into the Triple Entente with France, Britain, and Russia. The Italians remained staunchly against the war, but didn't hold a grudge against the king since he often visited the front lines in the north with his wife, endearing the people to the royal family. After the war, Benito Mussolini staged a march on Rome, quickly becoming prime minister and leader of the government. By 1926, Mussolini was in charge of all branches of government and pressing his fascist agenda, while Victor Emmanuel remained silent. He remained popular to the masses even though he sided with the fascists, but when he assumed the crowns of Ethiopia and Albania in the late 1930s, his popularity plummeted. In 1940, Mussolini dragged Italy into World War II, and as Italy quickly lost battles, so too did Victor Emmanuel lose supporters. Three years later, Mussolini was removed from office and Italy publicly joined the Allies. The Germans swarmed into Italian conquered territories and northern Italy, forcing the king to flee south. By 1944, Victor Emmanuel had passed much of his power to his son, Umberto. Finally, in 1946, the king abdicated in the hope that the Italian monarchy would survive if he were not leading the country. It failed. Umberto II ruled for less than a month and then the family was forced into exile to Egypt. Victor Emmanuel III died in 1947 in Alexandria and was buried there.

Date of Death: 28 December 1947

Successor: Umberto II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Theonas, patriarch of Alexandria (300)
• Yoshiakira, shogun of Japan (1367)
• Clement VIII, antipope of Rome (1446)
• Piero, patriarch of Florence (1503) -
• Mary II, queen of England & Scotland (1694)
• Mustafa II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1703)

[December 7] Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

Sobriquet: "The Red" (Rufus)
Parents: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Adelaide of Italy
Date of Birth: 955
House: Ottonian
Spouse(s): Theophanu, daughter of Constantine Skeleros and Sophia Phokaina
Predecessor: Otto I

Reign: 973 – 983
Brief: Otto was not the oldest son of his father but he was the only legitimate one left alive by 957. He was raised by his illegitimate brother, William, archbishop of Mainz, and the margrave of Saxony, Odo.  He was elected co-king of Germany in 961 at the age of six alongside his father and in 967 was crowned co-emperor. Unfortunately, he languished for many years without any authority or proper training, only succeeding to power when his father died of a fever in 973. In 976, a civil war broke out between Otto and his cousin Henry II, duke of Bavaria, over the titles to Swabia. Otto won the battle and, as punishment, reduced the size of Bavaria and Swabia. A second rebellion the next year ended with Henry II arrested and his son sent to a monastery. Otto II spent much of the rest of his reign conquering southern Italy for the Holy Roman Empire. This brought him into conflict with the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimid Caliphate who both claimed Sicily and parts of Naples. His lieutenant in the south, Pandulf, duke of Spoleto, Salerno, and Benevento, died in 981 leaving his three sons each with a duchy, which weakened Otto's power in Italy. Otto lost at the Battle of Stilo in 982 and many of his officers were killed, leaving southern Italy open to further Moorish and Byzantine aggression. Otto called together the German nobles in northern Italy to elect his son as his successor and then took his army to the Slavic lands to suppress a great rebellion against Christianity there. While fighting, the pope died and Otto was forced back to Italy to select a new candidate. Unfortunately, while there, Otto died of a malaria outbreak, his toddler son succeeding him to the throne under a regency government led by the escaped pretender Henry II. 
Date of Death: 7 December 983

Successor: Otto III

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Eutychian, pope of Rome (283)
• Innocent IV, pope of Rome (1254)
• Boleslaus V, king of Poland (1279)

[October 15] Lambert, Holy Roman Emperor

Parents: Guy III, duke of Spoleto, and Ageltrude
Born: 880
House: Guideschi
Spouse(s): (1) Isabel, daughter of John, earl of Atholl, and Marjory of Mar, then (2) Isabella, daughter of Uilleam II, earl of Ross, and Euphemia
Predecessor: Guy

Reign: 892 – 898
Brief: The earliest records of Lambert begin with his coronation alongside his father in 891 at the age of roughly eleven. Pope Formosus, however, found the Guideschi emperor and his son intolerable and requested Arnulf of Carinthia, another man of Carolingian descent, to come and liberate Rome. A civil war in Italy broke out between the Guideschi's and Arnulf, with Guy dying in late 892. In 894, Arnulf returned with another army but decided against conquering all of Italy and deposing Lambert. For a third time in 895, Arnulf invaded but Lambert would not meet him in battle, which lost him considerable support among the nobility but saved his life. Arnulf conquered Rome in 896, freeing the pope and earning the crown. Lambert was formally deposed but Arnulf suffered a stroke and the pope died soon after, thus Lambert reasserted his claim. The new pope and his successor confirmed Lambert as emperor, but Lambert was assassinated in 898 while hunting after capturing Adalbert of Tuscany, one of his many rivals for the Italian throne. The Imperial throne was contested between multiple claimants while Spoleto fell to his brother, Guy IV.

Date of Death: 15 October 898
Successor: Arnulf (as Holy Roman Emperor), Guy IV (in Spoleto)

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Theophilus, pope of Alexandria (412)
• Otto-Henry, duke of Burgundy (1002)
• Urban VI, pope of Rome (1389)

[July 1] Totila, king of the Ostrogoths

True Name: Baduila
Predecessor: Eraric
Reign: 541 – 552
Summary: Totila was a formidable foe of the Byzantine Empire for a brief while in the middle of the 6th century. He was a relative of the Visigothic king Theudis and was chosen by the Ostrogoths to preside as king over them after King Witigis had been carted off as a prisoner to Constantinople. His uncle had briefly been king before him, followed by a cousin named Eraric. Totila was elected possibly as a usurper as later Byzantine texts make him out to be. When he became king, he set out reclaiming the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy from the Byzantines who had retaken it over the previous decades. When the Byzantines attacked Verona, Totila was there and scattered them, defeating them decisively at the Battle of Faventia the next spring. When the Byzantines invaded Florence, he routed them and treated the Roman prisoners so well that many defected to the Gothic side of the war. The remaining Roman army split and settled in Perugia, Spoleto, and Rome. Instead of sieging the three cities, Totila moved south and conquered all of Grecian Italy, taking over the collection of their taxes for the Ostrogoths. To avoid future sieges, Totila razed the walls of cities before leaving to conquer another region. After a short siege in Naples, Totila had control over the entire south of Italy. Meanwhile, the Roman armies in central Italy lost much of their support from the countryfolk.


By 545, Totila had moved to Tivoli and began the siege of Rome itself. An attempt by the pope and a Roman general both failed to relieve the city. Totila broke in before further efforts could be made. Rome was not razed to the ground as had been threatened, and Totila had to siege two more times before it finally fell back into Ostrogothic hands. In 549, Rome finally fell and the Ostrogoths controlled the whole of Italy. The three Italian islands of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia were all that remained, while Totila also had designs against Greece. Meanwhile, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent the general Narses to Italy to finally subdue the Ostrogothic threat. Totila had done too much to Roman society in Italy and Justinian hoped to restore Roman dominance to the region. At the Battle of Taginae, Narses and Totila met in open battle and the Ostrogoth king was killed. Justinian quickly marched through Italy and took all of it for Constantinople, killing Totila's successor, Teia, at the Battle of Mons Lactarius around six months later. The Ostrogoths were defeated and the kingdom was later absorbed into the Lombard domains when they rebelled against Constantinople and conquered Italy some ten years later.Date of Death: 1 July 552
Successor: Teia

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Ali al-Hadi, imam of Shi'a Islam (868)
• Alfonso VI, king of Castile (1109)
• Baibars, sultan of Egypt (1277)
• Tekle Haymanot I, emperor of Ethiopia (1708)
• Mahmud II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839)

[April 16] Berengar, Holy Roman Emperor

Parents: Eberhard, duke of Friuli, and Gisela of the Franks

Date of Birth: circa 845

House: Unruoching

Spouse: Bertilla, then Anna, daughter of Leo VI, emperor of Constantinople

Predecessor: Louis III

Reign: 915 – 924

Date of Death: 16 April 924

Successor: Otto I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

Marcus Salvius Otho, emperor of Rome (69)

al-Walid, Caliph of Sunni Islam (744)

Sviatopolk II, grand prince of Kiev (1113)

Frederick I, duke of Austria (1198)

The Savory Piedmont Sardines of Italy (Savoy)

House of Savoy Coat of Arms

Ah, at last we meet, fair Savoy. Your intricate plays of second-place during my biweekly quizzes were becoming predictable and thus you finally acted. Well I will try and not shame you now, in your moment of triumph. The House of Savoy is actually a quite old Western European royal house. It has perhaps one of the simplest names for a royal house in Europe and it is named after a region called Savoy.

Duke Amadeus VII of Savoy

Much like the House of Habsburg, Savoy started its life as a small commune in Switzerland in the early 1000s. The region expanded southward toward the modern French and Italian borders. The House of Savoy was never a strong military power and expanded slowly over the centuries through marriage and politics. The first of the family to rule in Savoy was a man named Humbert I of Saxon descent. He was given his land by the last King of Arles, a descendant of the Carolingian dynasty. His house quickly took control of some important mountain passes in the Alps and they began to gain prominence in Franco-Italian politics. When Humbert's son Otto inherited his wife's ancestral lands of Susa, the important cities of Turin and Pinerolo were added to the Savoyard house and the great powers of the eleventh century began to watch Savoy with interest. The acquisition of Nice soon after brought Savoy to the Mediterranean Coast, and the continental borders were fairly-well established for the remainder of the medieval era. Emperor Sigismund acknowledged this new powerbase in 1416 by elevating Count Amadeus VII to the title of Imperial Duke.

Kingdom of Sardinia (in perspective)

The late Middle Ages proved to be a trying time for the House of Savoy. In 1494 France invaded Savoy and the ruling house fled to Turin in Piedmont where the family would remain for the next four centuries. To reclaim the lost lands, Duke Emmanuel Philibert allied with the House of Habsburg, France's enemy, and retook Savoy from foreign hands, reorganizing many aspects of the government in the process. Savoy continued to succeed, expanding its territory outward and being rewarded by foreign governments with lands in Northern Italy and a special prize in the form of the Kingdom of Sicily.

Duchy of Piedmont-Savoy with Kingdom of Sardinia imprinted

King Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia

Sicily was only a Savoyard possession for a few years before Victor Amadeus II traded it with the Kingdom of Sardinia, an island nation in the western Mediterannean. From 1720 onwards, Savoy was an undeniably major player in European politics. The family owned a large swath of land between France and Italy (technically, they were vassals of the Holy Roman Empire), and they had a large island nation. Their prestige had been established through generations of competent duke-generals who had aided whichever side would profit Savoy more. And marriages had placed Savoy in such a position that its members would claim the senior Catholic line of the House of Stuart after 1807. Savoy was set for greatness.

Then Napoleon came. He defeated Piedmont handedly and forced Savoy to sign a treaty allowing them to march right on through Savoy without trouble. It sucked to be Italy in 1796. Two years later, Duke-King Charles Emmanuel IV was forced out of office and the duchy-kingdom was dissolved by French invasion. Sardinia remained nominally a French vassal state but it avoided any further conflict with France. When the war ended in 1814, Savoy returned to the stage, got all its former lands back, and was enlarged with the addition of its eastern Republican neighbor, Genoa. But Savoy decided to play it safe for a while and avoided angering anyone else. The Congress of Vienna had established it as a buffer state between angst-ridden post-Napoleonic France and the increasingly revolutionary Austro-Italian states.

The Revolutions of 1848 were too much for Savoy and the country finally broke, but not in an expected way. Giuseppe Mazzini was fighting for a unified Italy and he looked on Sardinia, the largest entirely independent state, as its leader. Count Camillo Benso di Cavour was the new Sardinian Prime Minister under Duke-King Victor Immanuel II and Cavour was very pro-unification. He influenced Victor Immanuel to join against Russia in the Crimean War, bringing combat experience to the Savoyard people and reminding the other European states that Savoy still was in the game. In 1859, Savoy joined with France to expel Austria and the Bourbons from Italy. The so-called Austro-Sardinian War was short and decisive, with Italy conquering the entirety of northern Italy except Venice, which remained an Austrian possession. The next year, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was conquered, as well as most of the Papal States except Rome. A new Kingdom of Italy was declared on March 17, 1861, with Victor Emmanuel being crowned king. The House of Savoy had reached its zenith.

King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy

The Italian Unification continued well into the subsequent decades and even into World War I. Italy began the war as a member of the Triple Alliance (Central Powers) but military defeats and a lack of motivation caused the country to switch sides in 1915. It was the first time in history that the House of Savoy overplayed its political hand. But it would not be its last. Savoy wanted to use the war to expand its borders into Italian-speaking regions of Austria and Yugoslavia. But Woodrow Wilson wouldn't hear of it and the promises of the alliance with Italy were nullified in the Treaty of Versailles. The Italians grew angry at both the royal government and the allied powers. Victor Emmanuel III had one chance to stop the rise of Benito Mussolini but he didn't take it, forfeiting any chance for forgiveness by the people when World War I ended. It is clear now in retrospect that members of the House of Savoy chose to tolerate Mussolini rather than face civil war or a socialist government. In 1922, in the midst of economic turmoil, Victor Emmanuel permitted Mussolini to become Prime Minister of Italy in exchange for a promise to support and uphold the Italian Savoyard monarchy. Two decades later, in 1943, Victor Emmanuel removed Musollini from office and accidentally caused the defeat of the Italian army to German forces. The monarchy was in trouble and Victor Emmanuel abdicated in favor of his son Umberto in order to save the monarchy. But the people voted and decided that the House of Savoy should rule no longer. The royal family was forced to leave Italy in 1946 and male members of the family were banned from ever returning to Italy. The ban was only removed in 2002 with the proviso that family members must renounce their rights prior to returning to Italy.

Conclusion
As a final aside to the story of the family, two members of the family were granted lands outside of the traditional Savoyard inheritance. Amadeo, son of Victor Emmanuel II, was elected King of Spain in 1870 following the deposition of Queen Isabella II. Unfortunately, the primary person backing his elevation was assassinated soon after and the country fell into a nightmare of a situation. After three terrible years of rule, Amadeo abdicated, declaring to the Spanish Parliament that the country was ungovernable. Amadeo's grandson, Aimone, was chosen in 1941 by the fascist puppet government of Croatia to rule the titular state under the name King Tomislav II. The funny thing is: Aimone was afraid to go to Croatia due to various disputes the state had with Italy, especially recent territorial acquisitions made at their expense. Thus, Aimone never actually ruled IN Croatia and was viewed by the majority of the populace as a relatively powerless figurehead. He abdicated in 1943 soon after Mussolini was removed from power in Italy.

And so you have the House of Savoy, the only "native" ruling kingdom in Italy during much of the Early Modern Era and the eventual unifier of Italy, even if the house itself ceased to rule it sixty-four years ago.