BOGINO, GIAMBATTISTA LORENZO

BOGINO, GIAMBATTISTA LORENZO. — Born in Turin on 21 July 1701 and died there on 9 February 1784. A distinguished statesman, he was a loyal servant of the Piedmontese monarchy, both in peace and war. As counsellor to Charles Emmanuel III, he concluded various negotiations with the Holy See, securing from it a substantial endowment for the University of Turin. He was granted the title of count in 1737, became minister of War in 1750, and served as minister of Sardinia from 1759 to 1773. He performed outstanding work for the island, which was then in dire straits, addressing matters of justice, economics, finance, public education, curbing feudal privileges, and securing formal recognition for the clergy, who at the time were numerous, impoverished, and leading lives of excessive freedom. His uncompromising moral rectitude, which made him scornful of worldly considerations, earned him the enmity of the nobility and the military; consequently, as soon as Victor Amadeus III ascended the throne, he was stripped of all his offices. Bogino then retired to private life, devoting himself to historical and political works.