Victor Amadeus of Savoy (Vittorio Amedeo Filippo Giuseppe; 6 May 1699 – 22 March 1715) was the eldest son of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy and his French 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. ...

. He was the heir apparent of

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

from his birth and as such was styled as the ''Prince of Piedmont''. He acted as Regent of Savoy from September 1713 till September 1714 in the absences of his father. He died of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

at the age of 15.

Biography

The Prince of Piedmont was born in Turin on 6 May 1699. He was the fifth child and first son of his parents,

Victor Amadeus II of Savoy 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 ...

and

, and was baptised with the names Victor Amadeus John Philip. He remained close to his father all his life. Though his parents were not close he also had a close relationship with his mother, a niece of

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 ...

. From birth he was styled as the Prince of Piedmont, the typical style for the

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the

Duke of Savoy The titles of count, then of duke of Savoy are titles of nobility attached to the historical territory of Savoy. Since its creation, in the 11th century, the county was held by the House of Savoy. The County of Savoy was elevated to a Duchy of Sav ...

. Victor Amadeus was born at a time when 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 ...

was in need of a male heir to succeed as the duchy observed

Salic law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...

which forbade females to inherit the throne. His birth was greeted with great celebration and throughout his life, his health required constant attention. During the

Battle of Turin The siege of Turin took place from June to September 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession, when a French army led by Louis de la Feuillade besieged the Savoyard capital of Turin. The campaign by Prince Eugene of Savoy that led to i ...

, he, his mother, grandmother and younger brother, Charles Emmanuel, had to flee

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 ...

for their safety and go to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. His father took part in the battle which was played out to west of the city. The prince was moved from female care in 1708. In 1713, at the end of 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 ...

, by the

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 ...

, Sicily was ceded to the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus's father. As such, Victor Amadeus became the heir to a kingdom rather than just a duchy. In September his parents set off for

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 ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in order to be crowned officially. Victor Amadeus II asked his mother,

Marie Jeanne of Savoy Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours (, 11 April 1644 – 15 March 1724) was born a Princess of Savoy and became the Duchess of Savoy by marriage. First married by proxy to Charles of Lorraine in 1662, Lorraine soon refused to recognise t ...

, to maintain a regency in his absence but she declined and the younger Victor Amadeus was given the post. Victor Amadeus's regency ended when his father returned in September 1714. Strained relations between Savoy and Austria caused plans for the Prince of Piedmont to wed Maria Amalia, a daughter of the late

Emperor Joseph I , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Vienna, Austria , death_date = , death_place = Vienna, Austria , burial_place = Imperial Crypt, Vienna , r ...

, but plans were ignored by his father. There were also negotiations for Victor Amadeus to wed

Infanta Francisca Josefa of Portugal Infanta Francisca Josefa Maria Xaviera(; ) (30 January 1699 – 15 July 1736) was a Portuguese ''infanta'' (princess) and the last of eight children of King Peter II of Portugal and his second wife Marie Sophie of Neuburg. Francisca Josefa w ...

Elisabeth Farnese Elisabeth Farnese (Italian: ''Elisabetta Farnese'', Spanish: ''Isabel Farnesio''; 25 October 169211 July 1766) was Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V. She exerted great influence over Spain's foreign policy and was the ''de facto'' rule ...

. Victor Amadeus died in Turin on 22 March 1715 having caught

. He was buried at the

Turin Cathedral la, Ecclesia Sancti Johannis Baptista , native_name = Duomo di Torino , native_name_lang = Italian , image = DuomoTorino.jpg , caption = The Cathedral in 2019 , imagelink = , pushpin map = Italy Turin , pushpin mapsize = , map caption = ...

and later moved to 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 ...

outside Turin. His body is located in the ''Sala degli Infanti'' (Hall of the Infantes hildren. He was succeeded as Prince of Piedmont by his younger brother, Charles Emmanuel.

Ancestry

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Victor Amadeus, Prince Of Piedmont 1699 births 1715 deaths Nobility from Turin Princes of Savoy Deaths from smallpox Heirs apparent who never acceded Regents of Savoy Princes of Piedmont 17th-century Italian nobility 18th-century Italian nobility Italian royalty Burials at the Basilica of Superga Royalty and nobility who died as children Sons of kings