CHARLES EMMANUEL III OF SAVOY, King of Sardinia. - B. 27 April 1701 in Turin, d. there 20 February 1773. Second son of Victor Amadeus II, little cared for at first by his father, when he became heir to the throne upon the death of his brother Victor Amadeus (1715) he received a strict and predominantly military education; but he repaid his father's scant affection when the latter abdicated (1730) by having him kept under surveillance in the castles of Rivoli and Moncalieri, while from his military education he drew the means to pursue a policy of useful interventions in the wars of the Polish and Austrian succession. In the War of the Polish Succession he sided with France, occupied Lombardy and Milan, and at the Peace of Vienna (1738) received the fief of the Langhe with the provinces of Tortona and Novara. In the War of the Austrian Succession, however, disgusted with France for not having supported him at the Treaty of Vienna regarding Lombardy, he sided with Austria, and by the Treaty of Worms (1743) obtained the province of Vigevano, the county of Anghiera, the Oltrepò Pavese, part of the Piacenza region with Bobbio, and the territories around the marquisate of Finale. The war then lasted four years with varying fortunes: it was the war of the revolt of Genoa (1747) against the Austro-Piedmontese and of the battle of the Assietta (1747). The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) confirmed to him the cessions of the Treaty of Worms, except Finale.

CHARLES EMMANUEL III OF SAVOY, KING OF SARDINIA - The arms of C. E. and of Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine.(from La conturna illuminazione: delle città di Torino per l'eugusto -possibile delle Bruli Marate di C. E. re di Sardegna... Turin 1821)

After Aix-la-Chapelle he devoted himself entirely to works of peace, reorganizing the finances, abolishing feudal lordships, and concluding an advantageous concordat with Benedict XIV. He did not cultivate letters and the sciences. He greatly favored the army, especially the artillery, and fortified the Alps, of which it was later said that the king of Sardinia held the keys; he founded the free port of Nice, opened roads, built churches, etc. He held a lofty idea of sovereign dignity and of its duties, was assiduous in work, of excellent morals and of sincere religious spirit. He died in 1773, mourned by the people.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Fundamental work, D. Carutti, Storia del regno di C. E. III, 2 vols., Turin 1839; bibliography in Bibliografia ligure-piemontese by G. Borghezio, 2nd series, p. 438 of the index, Chieri n.d.; add G. Martinengo, La mediazione del card. Bentivoglio e la politica ecclesiastica di C. E. III, in Bullett. st. bibl. sub., 39 (1938), pp. 264-80; M. Valente, Un programma di re C. E. III nel Pinerolese, in Rass. st. del Risorgimento, 26 (1939), p. 611 ff.

Luigi Berra

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Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, King of Sardinia

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