Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano

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Thomas Francis
Prince of Carignano
Tenure1620 – 22 January 1656
SuccessorEmmanuel Philibert
Born(1596-12-21)21 December 1596
Turin, Duchy of Savoy
Died22 January 1656(1656-01-22) (aged 59)
Turin, Duchy of Savoy
Spouse
​
(m. 1625)​
IssuePrincess Christine Charlotte
Princess Louise
Emmanuel Philibert, Prince of Carignano
Prince Amedeo
Prince Joseph Emmanuel
Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons
Prince Ferdinand
Names
Tommaso Francesco di Savoia
HouseSavoy (Carignano branch)
FatherCharles Emmanuel I
MotherCaterina Micaela of Austria

Thomas Francis of Savoy, 1st Prince of Carignano (Italian: Tommaso Francesco di Savoia, Principe di Carignano; French: Thomas François de Savoie, Prince de Carignan; 21 December 1596 – 22 January 1656) was an Italian military commander and the founder of the Carignano branch of the House of Savoy, which reigned as kings of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1861, and as kings of Italy from 1861 until the dynasty's deposition in 1946.

Background

Born in

Elisabeth of France. His mother died the following year. While still a young man, Thomas bore arms in the service of the king of Spain in Italy.[1]

Although in previous reigns, younger sons had been granted rich appanages in Switzerland (Genevois, Vaud), Italy (Aosta), or France (Nemours, Bresse), the Savoy dukes found that this inhibited their own aggrandizement while encouraging intra-dynastic strife and regional secession. Not only did Thomas have older brothers, he was but one of the twenty-one acknowledged children of Charles Emmanuel. While only nine of these were legitimate, the others, being the widowed duke's offspring by noble mistresses, appear to have been generously endowed or dowered during their father's lifetime.

The

co-heiress with Louis, Count of Soissons,[3] who would be killed in 1641 while fomenting rebellion against Cardinal Richelieu
.

France

In anticipation of this inheritance Thomas and Marie did not establish themselves at his brother's capital, Turin, but dwelt in

Grand Condé. He engaged the services of the distinguished grammarian and courtier Claude Favre de Vaugelas
as tutor for his children.

The prospect of Marie's eventual succession to the Swiss principality of Neuchâtel, near Savoy, was foiled in 1643 by the king's decision to legitimate Louis Henri de Bourbon, chevalier de Soissons (1640–1703), a son of Marie's late brother. This prevented the substitution of Savoyard for French influence in that region, but left Thomas with little more than the empty title of "prince de Carignano". Marie did eventually inherit her brother's main holding in France, the county of Soissons, but this would be established as a secundogeniture for the French branch of the family. After Thomas, the senior branch of his descendants repatriated to Savoy, alternately marrying French, Italian and German princesses.

Public career

Early actions and service with Spain

Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano by Anthony van Dyck.

Thomas' first recorded service is as a commander in the Piedmontese army under his father in the war against France in 1630 (see War of the Mantuan Succession). It was probably around this time that he first encountered Mazarin, who (though his public position was quite complex) was during 1630-32 in effect a French agent at the Piedmontese court. When the new Duke Victor Amadeus I was forced to accept a French occupation of Pinerolo (Peace of Cherasco, 26 April 1631, and associated secret agreements, implemented 1632), there was widespread dissatisfaction in Piedmont, and Thomas, with his brother Maurice, went to join the Spanish, at which Victor Amadeus confiscated their revenues. (The exact date of the move is unstated, but was probably 1632, certainly no later than 1634.) Though welcomed by the Spanish given that he was related to both the French and Spanish royal families, Thomas was not entirely trusted by them, and had to send his wife and children to Madrid as hostages.[4]

Spain, during the burst of confidence after its unexpected great victory at

Franco-Spanish war of 1635-59), Thomas served under Ferdinand in the Spanish Netherlands: he was given command of a small army (variously given as 8,500 or 13,000) sent against French forces that had advanced into Luxemburg, his orders either to observe them or to prevent them from joining up with a Dutch army. On 22 May 1635 at Les Avins, south of Huy, in what was then the bishopric of Liège, he was defeated by the French army commanded by Breezé and Chatillon. He managed to rally the remnants at Namur, then retreated before the numerically-superior French and Dutch forces; and he probably served the rest of the campaign with Ferdinand. Late in the year, the refugee Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine arrived in Brussels and met Thomas; they may have formed a joint court, and Thomas certainly participated in jousts organised by the Duke.[5]
(In this Franco-Spanish war, Piedmont was reluctantly dragged into the fighting alongside the French, though initially it avoided a full declaration of war; consequently, Thomas was technically fighting against his own homeland.)

In 1636, the

Jacques-Nompar de Caumont, duke of La Force at Zouafques; after being joined by Imperialist reinforcements under Ottavio Piccolomini, he marched to attack La Force, and was defeated with the loss of 2,000 men killed or captured (action at Zouafques, exact date unknown but around 21 June). However, he then marched back with his remaining troops to the continuing French siege of Saint-Omer, where he put in more reinforcements and then entrenched himself so securely in the vicinity that the French found it impossible to continue the siege and gave up. Thomas and Piccolimini subsequently stuck so close to La Force that the French were unable to undertake any serious operations.[6]

Piedmontese Civil War

Main article: Piedmontese Civil War

After seeking Spanish support late in 1638 for action against Regent

Christine Marie, Madame Royale, Thomas went to Spanish Milan early in 1639, and alongside Spanish forces invaded Piedmont, where many towns welcomed him. He took Turin by trickery, but the French continued to control its citadel. In 1640, he held the city in the multi-layered siege of Turin
. After repeated bouts of negotiations with the Regent and the French, Thomas made peace with both in the first half of 1642, and unblushingly changed sides and started fighting with the French against the Spaniards.

Service with France

For the rest of 1642 and part of the 1643 campaigns, Thomas commanded Piedmontese forces fighting alongside the French under

Naples revolt). On his return with the French fleet, Thomas was delayed in Provence and unable to join the great siege of Cremona
where he was expected.

During his absence, Regent

Christine had gained control of the fortresses granted to Thomas as part of the settlement of the Piedmontese Civil War (legally, these reverted to ducal control when the Duke came of age), which under Piedmontese law Charles Emmanuel
did in 1648, though his mother remained in control of the government; Christine, accompanied by her son and part of the ducal army, entered Ivrea and dismissed Thomas' personal garrison; she appointed Thomas instead as governor or Asti and Alba, positions which sweetened the blow but were entirely under ducal control, not guaranteed by treaty. When he returned to Piedmont, Thomas had no choice but to accept the fait accompli, and soon after this he went to live in Paris.

During the

Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé were disposed of, Prince Thomas was made Grand Maitre
.

The Franco-Spanish war had been continuing in north Italy, and late in 1654, increasing Piedmontese hostility to the current French commander Grancey led to a search for a new allied commander-in-chief; the French would have preferred to send the Duke of York (later King James II), but he too was unacceptable to Turin, so Thomas was appointed as joint commander - though his wife was held in France almost as a hostage for his good behaviour. On 16 December 1654 he arrived in Turin, to a ceremonial welcome by the French troops and an unexpectedly friendly reception by Charles Emmanuel.[10] On 4 April 1655 Thomas Francis commanded the Waldensians to attend Mass or remove to the upper valleys, giving them twenty days in which to sell their lands. The Duke of Savoy sent an army and on 24 April, at 4 a.m., the signal was given for a general massacre so brutal, that it aroused indignation throughout Europe. Oliver Cromwell began petitioning on behalf of the Vaudois, and John Milton wrote his famous poem about this, "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont." In the 1655 campaign, he led an invasion of the Duchy of Milan, though already ill with malaria, and besieged Pavia, where the attack went so badly that he was forced to leave his sick-bed to take direct control of the siege, and even then it had to be raised after nearly two months of fruitless effort.

Death

After the 1655 campaign, Thomas returned to Turin where he died the following January; the suggestion in Spanheim that he died at the siege of Pavia[11] is not supported - malaria, a common problem in the marshes of the Po valley, carried him off, as it carried off his successor as allied commander-in-chief, Francesco I d'Este.

Family

Thomas and Marie de Bourbon had seven children (Italian names in parentheses):

  1. Princess Christine Charlotte of Savoy (born and died in 1626)
  2. Ferdinand Maximilian of Baden-Baden
    (1625–1669)
  3. banish from his realm the bride's kinsman, who had acted as the couple's intermediary.[1][12]
  4. Prince Amedeo of Savoy (1629, died young)
  5. Prince Joseph Emmanuel of Savoy (1631–1656),
    Count of Soissons
  6. Olympia Mancini
  7. Prince Ferdinand of Savoy (1637, died young)

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ a b c Spanheim, Ézéchiel (1973). Emile Bourgeois (ed.). Relation de la Cour de France. le Temps retrouvé (in French). Paris: Mercure de France. pp. 107.
  2. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Carignano" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 336.
  3. ^ Parrott 1997, p. 36.
  4. ^ Guth, Paul (1972). Mazarin (in French). Paris. p. 182.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Haussonville, Joseph Othenin Bernard de Cléron comte d' (1860–66). Histoire de la réunion de la Lorraine à la France. 2e éd., rev. et corrigée (in French). Paris. vol.2, p.36–7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Hanotaux, Gabriel (1933–1947). Histoire du cardinal de Richelieu (in French). Paris. vol. 5, p.319–21, 327.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ Mémoires du maréchal de Gramont [and] Mémoires des divers emplois et des principales actions du Maréchal du Plessis (2 vols.). Collection des mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de la France, vols. 56-7 (in French). Paris. 1826–1827. vol. 2, p.233–4.
  8. ^ a b Chéruel, Pierre Adolphe (1879–80). Histoire de la France pendant la minorité de Louis XIV (in French). Paris. vol. 2, p.430–1, 459.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ Chéruel, Pierre Adolphe (1882). Histoire de la France sous le ministère de Mazarin (1651-1661) (in French). Paris. vol. 1, p.74–7, vol.2, 7–11.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Theatrum Europaeum, vii, 605-6
  11. ^ Spanheim, Ézéchiel (1973). Emile Bourgeois (ed.). Relation de la Cour de France. le Temps retrouvé (in French). Paris: Mercure de France. pp. 134.
  12. ^ Spanheim, Ézéchiel (1973). Emile Bourgeois (ed.). Relation de la Cour de France. le Temps retrouvé (in French). Paris: Mercure de France. pp. 329.

Sources

  • Parrott, David (1997). "The Mantuan Succession, 1627–31: A Sovereignty Dispute in Early Modern Europe". The English Historical Review. CXII, Issue 445, February (445). Oxford Academic: 20–65.
    doi:10.1093/ehr/CXII.445.20
    .

Further reading

  • Guichenon, Samuel, Seigneur de Painesuyt. Histoire généalogique de la Royale Maison de Savoye. Lyon, 1660 (2 vols.; other editions published).
  • Codretto, Antonio-Agostino. Il colosso: historia panegyrica del principle Thomaso di Savoia. Turin, 1663 (cited in BU, unconfirmed)
  • Sclopis, Federigo. Documenti ragguardanti alla storia della vita di Tommaso Francesco di Savoia, principe di Carignano. Turin: Pomba, 1832.
  • Quazza, Romolo. Tommaso di Savoia-Carignano, nelle campagne di Fiandre e di Francia, 1635-1638. Turin: Società Editrice Internationale, [1941].
  • Picco, Leila. Il patrimonio privato dei Savoia: Tomasso di Savoia-Carignano, 1596-1656. Turin: Centro Studi Piemontesi, 2004.
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