CARLO EMANUELE I, duke of SAVOIA. — Son of Emanuele Filiberto, the restorer of the Savoyard state, and of Margherita di Valois, b. at Rivoli on 12 January 1562, he came to power upon his father’s death, on 30 August 1580. His reign thus began while France was afflicted by the struggles between Catholics and Huguenots, which Spain sought to exploit in order to assert its continental hegemony. The young duke sought to take advantage of the European situation to resolve the great problems that Emanuele Filiberto had left pending: those of the marquisates of Saluzzo and Monferrato. To this end he married Caterina, daughter of Filippo II of Spain, hoping thereby to obtain Spanish assistance against France for the annexation of the marquisate of Saluzzo, proclaimed in 1587. C. E. consequently entered into a bitter war with the king of France, Enrico IV; in 1590 he attempted to occupy Provence, but, having lost Spanish support, he was compelled, in order to retain Saluzzo, to submit to the Treaty of Lyon (1601), concluded through the mediation of Pope Clement VIII, and to cede to France the far richer provinces of Bresse, Gex, and Valromey. In this way he succeeded in closing the gates of the peninsula to France. Tireless, in 1602 the duke attempted to occupy Geneva, but failed. He then turned to organizing a league of Italian princes under his hegemony: for this purpose he gave two daughters in marriage to the dukes of Mantua and Modena. For the time being this produced no result, nor did he succeed in bringing to completion his project of conquering Albania and Macedonia (1608–10).
Meanwhile he was reconciling himself with the king of France, Enrico IV, and with him concluded the alliance of Brozolo (April 1610) to fight Spain and liberate Lombardy. After the French king was assassinated, C. E. remained alone in the face of Spanish hostility. Nevertheless, he persisted, and from 1614 to 1618 fought against Spain in order to assert his rights over the marquisate of Monferrato. This war attracted the attention of all Europe to the duke of Savoia: indeed, it may be regarded as the starting point of modern Italian history, understood as a struggle for independence against foreign hegemony. When the Gonzaga dynasty became extinct in 1628, he once again resumed his plans concerning Monferrato, but this time encountered the resistance of France, which desired to establish the Gonzaga-Nevers, partisans of French influence, in Mantua and Monferrato. C. E. fought fiercely against the invading French armies from 1629 to 1630 and died on 26 July 1630 at Savigliano, leaving the State in the enemy’s hands. His programme of expansion and independence was to be taken up again by his successors. C. E. was very jealous of his sovereignty in his relations with the Holy See, claiming the right of appointment to episcopal sees.