![The Duke and Duchess of Savoy departing from Nice, France for Palermo to be crowned King and Queen of Sicily, 1713, unknown artist](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/The_Duke_and_Duchess_of_Savoy_departing_from_Nice%2C_France_for_Palermo_to_be_crowned_King_and_Queen_of_Sicily%2C_1713%2C_unknown_artist.jpg)
The
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...
was ruled by the
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
from 1713 until 1720, although they lost control of it in 1718 and did not relinquish their title to it until 1723. The only king of Sicily from the House of Savoy was
Victor Amadeus II
Victor Amadeus II (Vittorio Amedeo Francesco; 14 May 166631 October 1732) was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of Prince of Piedmont, Duke of Montferrat, Marquis of Saluzzo and Count of Aosta, Moriana and Nice.
Louis XIV ...
. Throughout this period Sicily remained a distinct realm in
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
with the other Savoyard states, but ultimately it secured for the House of Savoy a royal title and a future of expansion in Italy rather than in France. During this period, the Savoyard monarch used his new title to affirm his sovereign independence.
Victor Amadeus's policy towards Sicily was to bring it more in line with his mainland possessions, but to this end he progressed little in the short span of time he had. His own domain was weakened by the addition of Sicily, becoming more fragmented and extended (geographically), and more composite (legally and socially). He was finally forced to renounce Sicily in exchange for
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
.
Acquisition of Sicily by the House of Savoy
The death of
Prince Joseph Ferdinand, heir to the
Spanish empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, on 6 February 1699 rendered the
First Partition Treaty of 1698 inoperative. In subsequent negotiations,
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Versa ...
proposed that Victor Amadeus II cede his lands to France in exchange for the kingdoms of Sicily and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, both possessions of the Spanish. This proposal was rejected by Victor Amadeus, who was unwilling to part with the
Principality of Piedmont The lordship of Piedmont, later the principality of Piedmont ( it, Piemonte), was originally an appanage of the Savoyard county and as such its lords were members of the Achaea branch of the House of Savoy. The title was inherited by the elder br ...
, although he was willing to cede the
Duchy of Savoy
The Duchy of Savoy ( it, Ducato di Savoia; french: Duché de Savoie) was a country in Western Europe that existed from 1416.
It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy for Amadeus VIII. The duc ...
and
County of Nice
The County of Nice (french: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, it, Contea di Nizza/Paese Nizzardo, Niçard oc, Contèa de Niça/País Niçard) is a historical region of France located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent t ...
. The succession question was unsolved at the death of
Charles II of Spain
Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War o ...
and the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
broke out. During the war, Savoy allied with
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
against France. When peace negotiations began in 1709, the British argued, partly in their own interests as well as those of Savoy, for giving the Savoyards the thrones of Sicily and Naples. Victor Amadeus' real interest was in acquiring the
Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city sin ...
. In 1710 at
Geertruydenberg, the Dutch pensionary
Anthonie Heinsius
Anthonie (or Antonius) Heinsius (23 November 1641, Delft – 3 August 1720, The Hague) was a Dutch statesman who served as Grand Pensionary of Holland from 1689 to his death in 1720.
Life
Heinsius was born at Delft on 23 November 1641, son of ...
and the Imperial envoy Karl von Zinzendorf mooted proposals for the Savoyard acquisition of Milan or Sicily. The Savoyard ambassador, the Marchese del Borgo, suggested exchanging the Savoyard state for Naples, Sicily and the Spanish-held
State of the Presidi
The State of the ''Presidi'' ( it, Stato dei Presidi,. In french: État des Présides. Dhondt uses "Tuscan ''presidia''". meaning "state of the garrisons") was a small territory in Italy between 1557 and 1801. It consisted of the remnants of t ...
in central Italy.
After a final effort by the British to make Victor Amadeus the King of Spain,
Queen Anne informed the Savoyard ambassador Conte
Annibale Maffei Annibale is the Italian masculine given name and surname equivalent to Hannibal.
In English, it may refer to :
Given name
* Annibale Albani (1682–1751), Italian cardinal
* Annibale I Bentivoglio, (died 1445), ruler of Bologna from 1443
* Ann ...
on 23 June 1712 that the British intended to give him Sicily. The French were informed the same day, and on 4 September
Philip V of Spain
Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...
consented to relinquish his claim on Sicily. The division of the Spanish empire was designed in part to recognise Savoy's claim to the Spanish inheritance, but more to strike a
balance of power in favour of her ally, Britain.
[Symcox, 164–65.] As historian Geoffrey Symcox noted, Victor Amadeus "would be bound by the Anglo-French agreement not to dispose of the island or exchange it for other territory, which showed that he had been installed there not in full sovereignty but as guardian of British interests, at Britain's pleasure."
[ These limitations were written into the subsequent ]Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...
(11 April 1713) between France and Savoy. In the interim the new king had attempted to exchange it for territory closer to his Piedmontese domains. He rejected a British offer to provide garrisons for the island, and he concluded a treaty on 8 March 1713 confirming to British merchants no more commercial rights than they had exercised under the Spanish.[ The formal handover of power was conducted on 10 June, and a final treaty of peace between Savoy and Spain was signed on 13 July. Victor Amadeus was made the heir to the Spanish empire if Philip produced no heirs. Philip retained "second sovereignty" over several ]fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
s in Sicily, lands he had seized from pro-Habsburg vassals during the war, such as the County of Modica
The County of Modica was a feudal territory within the Kingdom of Sicily from 1296 to 1812. Its capital was Modica, on the southern tip of the island, although the cities of Ragusa and Scicli housed some government offices for a period. Today i ...
.[Symcox, 173.] The end of the war and Victor Amadeus' rise in status were celebrated in the streets of Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
from 1–3 August, ending in gun salutes, fireworks and a Te Deum
The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...
.
Rule of Victor Amadeus II
Personal rule
In October 1713, Victor Amadeus and his wife, Anne Marie d'Orléans
Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) was Queen of Sardinia by marriage to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during the War of the Spanish Succession.
...
, travelled with a British squadron from Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
to Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
to take personal possession of their new kingdom. The last Spanish viceroy
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
evacuated his troops, and the new king's arrival was greeted with jubilation. The king and queen were crowned in the cathedral of Palermo
Palermo Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo, located in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. As an architectural complex, it is characterized by the pre ...
on 24 December. Victor Amadeus' short stay in Palermo was a disappointment: " s court was drab and parsimonious, affording little profit or delight to the people of Palermo nd te key positions in the government went to natives of his mainland dominions."[Symcox, 171.] In February 1714 the Sicilian Parliament
The Sicilian Parliament was the legislature of the Kingdom of Sicily.
History
The Sicilian Parliament is arguably one of the oldest parliaments in the world and the first legislature in the modern sense.
In 1097 came the first conference i ...
convened to swear an oath of allegiance to their new sovereign.[Symcox, 172.] Victor Amadeus also received the Maltese falcon, the customary tribute of the Knights of Malta to their Sicilian overlord.
Among the first things the new king did was improve the defences of the island in light of the threat of the Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
, now ruled by the Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
, who did not recognise the treaty of Utrecht. In September 1714 he ordered a census of people, animals and rents; the population came to 1,135,120.[ Although it received Piedmontese ]aid
In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another.
Ai ...
to meet its budge, Sicily was found to have surpluses of grain, olive oil and raw silk, and Palermo was a centre of manufacturing and a thriving port. The Piedmontese ''contadore generale'' Gian Giacomo Fontana was placed in charge of Sicily's finances and immediately began a reform of the tax system and the corrupt Palermitan customs office, although Victor Amadeus refused to reduce taxes, export tariffs and gabelle
The ''gabelle'' () was a very unpopular tax on salt in France that was established during the mid-14th century and lasted, with brief lapses and revisions, until 1946. The term ''gabelle'' is derived from the Italian ''gabella'' (a duty), itself ...
s. The parliament was even induced to order a series of ''donativi'' (special taxes) to pay for the new government, and advised more rigorous sumptuary laws
Sumptuary laws (from Latin ''sūmptuāriae lēgēs'') are laws that try to regulate consumption. ''Black's Law Dictionary'' defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expendi ...
.[
At the advice of parliament, Victor Amadeus raised a small volunteer army, consisting of two regiments and a bodyguard, and, on a visit in June 1714, restored to ]Messina
Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
its privileges, lost in the revolt of 1674–76, and declared it a free port
Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which com ...
. He also began the expansion of the navy, which at the start of his reign consisted of one galley
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...
, to which he added three and four sailing ships, two built in Sicily. With the accession of George I of Great Britain
George I (George Louis; ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first ...
(12 August) and the Whigs, the Sicilians could no longer rely on the Mediterranean Fleet to guard their island and the naval buildup became central to Sicilian security.[ When the ]Treaty of Rastatt
The Treaty of Rastatt was a peace treaty between France and Austria that was concluded on 7 March 1714 in the Baden city of Rastatt to end the War of the Spanish Succession between both countries. The treaty followed the Treaty of Utrecht of 11 A ...
(7 March) made peace between the Habsburgs and France, the threat of a Neapolitan invasion grew. On 8 September 1714, Victor Amadeus left Palermo for Villefranche, leaving behind Maffei as his viceroy.[ When he laid the foundation stone of the ]Basilica of Superga
The Basilica of Superga () is a church in Superga, in the vicinity of Turin.
History
It was built from 1717 to 1731 for Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, designed by Filippo Juvarra, at the top of the hill of Superga. This fulfilled a vow the duke ...
in Turin on 20 July 1717, it read:
Rule by viceroys
At Victor Amadeus' leaving, many problems with the government of Sicily remained. The Palermitan bureaucracy, and the aristocracy of which its officials formed a part, had been alienated by the crackdown on corruption. The populace remained pro-Spanish and Spanish propaganda was being disseminated from enclaves like Modica
Modica (; scn, Muòrica) is a city and ''comune'' of 54,456 inhabitants in the Province of Ragusa, Sicily, southern Italy. The city is situated in the Hyblaean Mountains.
Modica has neolithic origins and it represents the historical capital ...
. The viceroy Maffei was left with little power to effect reform, but with 10,000 Piedmontese troops stationed on the island by 1718 he had the resources to suppress the endemic brigandage.[
In 1717 Victor Amadeus placed the Direttore delle Finanze, the finance minister of Sicily, under the authority of the Generale delle Finanze, the finance minister of his mainland dominions at Turin, and ordered him to adopt Piedmontese accounting practices. This alarmed the baronage, which comprised only about seventy to eighty families. These families controlled both the parliament and the cities, and owned vast tracts of land farmed by a destitute peasantry. The Sicilian system was latifundist and ]feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
. The Savoyard reforms had barely begun when the island was lost in 1718.[Symcox, 175.]
;List of Savoyard viceroys
*1714–1718 Annibale Maffei Annibale is the Italian masculine given name and surname equivalent to Hannibal.
In English, it may refer to :
Given name
* Annibale Albani (1682–1751), Italian cardinal
* Annibale I Bentivoglio, (died 1445), ruler of Bologna from 1443
* Ann ...
, Count
*1718–1719 Jean François de Bette, Marquis of Lede
*1719–1720 Niccolò Pignatelli, Duke of Monteleone
Ecclesiastical politics
The kings of Sicily had since Norman times
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
possessed the status of an apostolic legate
300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate.
A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...
in their kingdom. This special prerogative in ecclesiastical matters was exercised through the Tribunal of the Monarchy
A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title.
For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a si ...
. When Victor Amadeus became king, Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721.
Clement XI w ...
, who regarded Sicily as a Papal fief, refused to recognise him.[ At the same time, the Tribunal was in the midst of a dispute with the ]Bishop of Lipari
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lipari was a Latin diocese of the Roman Catholic Church located in the town of Lipari in the Aeolian Islands of Sicily, Italy. The diocese consists of the entire island of Lipari as well as seven smaller adjacent isla ...
, ongoing since 1711, which had in turn led to Papal intervention:
In 1711 the bishop had excommunicated some customs officials for levying duty on a couple of pounds of chickpeas belonging to his household. The Tribunal nullified the excommunication, whereupon the bishop imposed an interdict on his diocese and left to seek help in Rome. The Roman Curia issued a declaration denying the Tribunal's power to lift ecclesiastical sanctions, which was published early in 1712 by several Sicilian bishops. Counter-measures duly followed from the Spanish viceroy and the Tribunal, so that by the time Victor Amadeus reached Sicily the Archbishop of Messina and the bishops of Agrigento and Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
had followed their colleague into exile, the last two leaving their sees under interdict.[
]
The Savoyard king sent envoys to Rome in December 1713, seeking to settle the conflict and minimise the effects of the interdicts. In March 1714 the parliament advised him not to allow the Tribunal's powers to be diminished. Clement XI in turn forbade the clergy to pay the ''crociata'', an ancient tax to the monarch, ostensibly for a Crusade
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
. He demanded that Victor Amadeus accept investiture as a vassal of the Pope and in August and November he re-published the interdicts. On 20 January 1715 Clement published a bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
abolishing the Tribunal.[Symcox, 174.] Pro-papal clergy, who formed a large majority in the diocese of Agrigento, were imprisoned or exiled (most travelling o Rome), and when the Savoyard government published an anti-papal tract written by two clergyment it ignited a pamphlet war. The island clergy was divided, the populace supported the government, and the French and Spanish governments support Victor Amadeus. In June 1716 Clement offered to rescind his bull of the previous year if he could choose the head of the Tribunal, but as he would still not recognise Victor Amadeus' right to the crown the offer was rejected. The situation was unsettled at the time the Savoyards' lost Sicily.[
]
Loss of Sicily to Spain and Austria
Sicily in negotiations
In February 1716, the British minister James Stanhope and the Savoyard ambassador Franceco Giuseppe Wicardel de Triviè met to discuss a "southern peace plan". Stanhope later claimed that Victor Amadeus had been willing to cede Sicily to the Emperor Charles VI
, house = Habsburg
, spouse =
, issue =
, issue-link = #Children
, issue-pipe =
, father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
, mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg
, birth_date ...
, head of the Habsburgs, in exchange for Sardinia and recognition of his royal title. This was not the case, however, as Trivié had asked for British assistance in defending the island from the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, then engaged in the Second Morean War
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
against the Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
. When John Dalrymple and Carlo Filippo Perrone di San Marino, respectively British and Savoyard ambassadors at Paris, discussed the question of a final agreement between Savoy and the Emperor, Sicily was ignored, as Victor Amadeus had no intention of ceding it.[Symcox, 178.]
In June 1716 George I and Charles VI signed a treaty guaranteeing mutual respect for any future acquisitions each might make, Stanhope explained to Trivié that his master might be forced to cede Sicily to Charles. A Savoyard embassy to the British court failed to extract the sought promise of a British defence of Sicily in the event of an imperial invasion. When George I and Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
signed the Treaty of Hanover in November, it contained a secret provision for the cession of Sicily to the emperor.[Symcox, 179.] In January 1717 the Triple Alliance was formed between Britain, France and the Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
. The emperor began asking for a return of the Duchy of Montferrat
The Duchy of Montferrat was a state located in Northern Italy. It was created out of what was left of the medieval March of Montferrat after the last Palaeologus heir had died (1533) and the margraviate had been briefly controlled by the Emperor C ...
, which had gone to Savoy in 1703. In the summer of 1717 a secret Savoyard embassy was sent to Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, to the house of Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th a ...
, to ask for a Habsburg princess's hand in marriage and the cession of Vigevanasco, an imperial-held territory in Italy in return for Savoy's joining the Triple Alliance. Prince Eugene did not even pass it on.[
]
Spanish conquest of Sicily
In July 1717 the Spanish attacked Sardinia, while Austria was embroiled in a war with the Ottomans. By November the entire island has been subdued. In December Victor Amadeus sent another embassy to Vienna, but the Spanish minister Giulio Alberoni
Giulio Alberoni (30 May 1664 OS – 26 June NS 1752) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal and
statesman in the service of Philip V of Spain.
Early years
He was born near Piacenza, probably at the village of Fiorenzuola d'Arda in the Du ...
urged him to invade the long-coveted Duchy of Milan, promising Spanish assistance. It was a ruse to distract the Savoyards from the planned Spanish invasion of Sicily.[Symcox, 180–81.]
In January 1718 the Conte Filippo d'Ussolo was sent to Vienna to negotiate an alliance with the emperor, but he exceeded his mandate by broaching the cession of Sicily, and was replaced at the end of April by Gian Giacomo Fontana. Now Victor Amadeus offered to cede Sicily in exchange for Sardinia and Vigevanasco, and Fontana, empowered to make an alternative suggestion, offered to exchange all Savoyard possessions on the mainland for Sardinia and Naples. By the time these offers received a hearing in June the emperor had adhered to the Triple Alliance, and the War of the Quadruple Alliance
The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) was caused by Spanish attempts to recover territories in Italy (geographical region), Italy ceded in the 1713 Peace of Utrecht. Largely focused on Sicily, it included minor engagements in North Amer ...
had begun.[ On 1 July the Spanish landed at Palermo. Greeted as liberators, they quickly expelled the Savoyard troops; only ]Milazzo
Milazzo ( Sicilian: ''Milazzu''; la, Mylae; ) is a town (''comune'') in the Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, southern Italy; it is the largest commune in the Metropolitan City after Messina and Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto. The town has a p ...
put up any resistance, being reinforced by Austrian troops, until it fell on 15 October. On 2 August, Charles VI made peace with the Ottomans. On 7 August, Victor Amadeus sent the Marquis de Saint-Thomas to Vienna to offer Sicily in exchange for Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
and Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
, but he was rebuffed. On 11 August, the British fleet defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Cape Passaro
The Battle of Cape Passaro, also known as Battle of Avola or Battle of Syracuse, was a major naval battle fought on 11 August 1718 between a fleet of the British Royal Navy under Admiral Sir George Byng and a fleet of the Spanish Navy under R ...
, stranding the Spanish troops on Sicily. After numerous failed efforts to avert the inevitable in London and Paris, Victor Amadeus acceded to the Quadruple Alliance on 8 November 1718.[
After imperial forces launched a counter-invasion of Sicily, the viceroy Maffei formally handed over control of the island in May 1719. On 17 February 1720 the Treaty of the Hague brought an end to the war by forcing Spain (and Savoy, which was not asked to sign) to accept the terms of the Quadruple Alliance. On 4 August 1720 a Savoyard ]viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
, Filippo Guglielmo di Saint-Rémy, carried aboard a British ship, landed in Sardinia. A British officer had remarked to him that Sardinia was "hardly of any other advantage to the Prince that possesses it than giving him the title of king".[ It also gave him munitions, which the Savoyards had exhausted in Sicily during the suppression of brigandage and the defence against the Spanish. The Spanish had begun to remove their munitions from Sardinia, but were ultimately forced to pay an indemnity of 100,000 '']écu
The term ''écu'' () or crown may refer to one of several French coins. The first ''écu'' was a gold coin (the ''écu d'or'') minted during the reign of Louis IX of France, in 1266. ''Écu'' (from Latin ''scutum'') means shield, and the coin ...
s'', even though Victor Amadeus demanded 150,000.
In September 1726 a British envoy, John Hedges, arrived in Turin to suggest, among other things, that Victor Amadeus be returned Sicily. Victor Amadeus was still asking for compensation for the loss of Sicily as late as November 1729.[Symcox, 188.]
Notes
Bibliography
Works cited
*Geoffrey Symcox
''Victor Amadeus II: Absolutism in the Savoyard State, 1675–1730''.
University of California Press, 1983.
*Christopher Storrs. ''War, Diplomacy and the Rise of Savoy, 1690–1720''. Cambridge University Press: 1999.
Further reading
*Alfred Baraudon. ''La maison de Savoie et la triple alliance (1713–1722)''. Paris: 1896.
*Carlo Alberto Garufi (ed.). ''Rapporti diplomatici tra Filippo V e Vittorio Amedeo II di Savoia, nella cessione del regno di Sicilia ... 1712–1720''. Palermo: 1914.
*Isidoro La Lumia. "La Sicilia sotto Vittorio Amedeo di Savoia". ''Archivo storico italiano'', 3rd series, 19, 20, 21 (1874–75).
*L. La Rocca. "Una proposta di lega italiana al re di Sicilia nel 1719". ''Archivo storico siciliano'', new series, 32 (1907).
*L. La Rocca. "Relazione al re Vittorio Amedeo II di Savoia sulle condizioni economiche, sociali e politiche della Sicilia alla fine del dominio spagnuolo". ''Archivio storico per la Sicilia orientale'', 11 (1914).
*Giovanni Raffiotta. ''Gabelle e dogane a Palermo nel primo trentennio del '700''. Palermo: 1962.
*Paolo Revelli. "Vittorio Amedeo II e le condizioni geografiche della Sicilia". ''Rivista geografica italiana'', 27, 28 (1910–11).
*Luigi Riccobene. ''Sicilia ed Europa dal 1700 al 1735''. Palermo: 1976.
*Giuseppe Spata (ed.). "I primi atti costituzionali dell'augusta Casa di Savoia ordinati in Palermo". ''Miscellanea di storia italian'' (Turin), 10 (1870).
*Vittorio Emanuele Stellardi (ed.). ''Il regno di Vittorio Amedeo II di Savoia in Sicilia dall'anno 1713 al 1719'', 3 vols. Turin: 1862.
*A. Tallone. ''Vittorio Amedeo II e la quadruplice alleanza''. Turin: 1914.
External links
One pound coin of Victor Amadeus of Sicily
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18th century in the Kingdom of Sicily
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