Editing House of Savoy-Carignano (section)

==Origin==
Born in [[Turin]], Thomas Francis of Savoy was the youngest of the five legitimate sons of [[Charles Emmanuel I]], sovereign [[Duke of Savoy]], by his wife, [[Catherine Micaela of Spain]] (daughter of King [[Philip II of Spain]] and his consort, [[Elizabeth of Valois]], a French princess). While still a young man, he bore arms in Italy in the service of the [[king of Spain]].<ref name=Spanheim107>{{cite book|last= Spanheim|first= Ézéchiel|author-link=Ezekiel, Freiherr von Spanheim|editor=Emile Bourgeois|title= Relation de la Cour de France|url= https://archive.org/details/relationdelacou00spangoog|series= le Temps retrouvé|year = 1973|publisher=Mercure de France|location= [[Paris]]|language= fr|pages= [https://archive.org/details/relationdelacou00spangoog/page/n127 107]}}</ref>

Although in previous reigns younger sons of Savoy had been granted rich [[appanage]]s in Switzerland ([[Genevois (province)|Genevois]] and [[Vaud]]), Italy ([[Aosta]]), or France ([[Nemours]] and [[Bresse]]), the Savoy dukes found that this inhibited their own aggrandizement while encouraging intra-[[dynastic]] strife and regional [[secession]]. Not only did Thomas Francis have older brothers but he was just 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 [[nobility|noble]] mistresses, appear to have been generously [[financial endowment|endowed]] or [[Dowry|dowered]] during their father's lifetime.<ref name=Miroslav>{{cite web
|url= http://genealogy.euweb.cz/savoy/savoy3.html|title= Rulers of Italy and Savoy: Savoy 3|access-date= 2008-03-27|last= Miroslav|first= Marek|work= Genealogy.eu}}</ref>

The [[fief]] of [[Carignano, Piedmont|Carignano]] had belonged to the Savoys since 1418, and the fact that it was part of the [[Principality of Piedmont]], only twenty kilometers south of Turin, meant that it could be a princedom for Thomas in name only, being endowed neither with independence nor revenues of substance.<ref>{{cite EB1911| wstitle = Carignano |volume=5 |page=336}}</ref> Instead of receiving a significant [[property|patrimony]], Thomas was wed in 1625 to [[Marie de Bourbon, Countess of Soissons|Marie de Bourbon]], sister and co-[[Heir|heiress]] of [[Louis, Count of Soissons]], who would be killed in 1641 while [[incitement|fomenting]] rebellion against [[Cardinal Richelieu]].