EMANUELE FILIBERTO, duke of SAVOIA. — Born at Chambéry on 19 October 1528, died at Turin on 30 August 1580. After the death of his elder brothers, he abandoned the ecclesiastical career to which he had been destined; upon the death of his father Carlo II in 1553, he inherited the duchy.
The duchy, however, had been invaded and occupied by Francesco I in 1536, and only a few cities had remained to the duke. E. F., after wandering with his father first to Vercelli and then to Nizza, departed in 1545 for the court of Carlo V, whose support he hoped to secure for the reconquest of the State. In the imperial army he fought at Ingolstadt and Mühlberg; he then became supreme commander of the Spanish army in Flanders and, on 10 August 1557, won the famous victory at S. Quintino. France was satisfied with the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis (1559) and returned his States to E. F. Reoccupation, however, was not easy: in 1559 E. F. was able to reoccupy Vercelli, but he did not enter Turin until 1563. E. F.’s policy after the reconquest of the State was necessarily peaceful. It was not easy to preserve the proper balance between the French monarchy and the Austro-Spanish bloc, and here E. F.’s full ability became evident.
E. F.’s greater and most glorious achievement, however, was the reconstruction of the Savoyard-Piedmontese State after the ravages of foreign occupation. Having permanently transferred the capital to Turin, E. F. directed his efforts toward making his State an Italian power. He devoted considerable attention to its unification, eliminating municipalism and regionalism from legislative life, administration, and finances. He prudently began organizing a standing army to defend the country’s independence. As early as 1560 he decreed the abolition of serfdom; against the population’s natural tendencies, he endeavored to create an industry in Piedmont in order to free the country from its dependence on foreign lands; and he reorganized the finances.
In the religious sphere, while behaving as a Catholic prince, he evaded the pressure of the Roman Curia and of the governments of Madrid and Paris, which would have preferred a policy of persecuting heretics. At various times he appeared ready to undertake it, but always stopped short, although he greatly desired to recover Calvinist Ginevra. He guaranteed the Valdesi religious freedom in their valleys through the agreement of Cavour (1561). — Vedi tav. XXI.