Editing Victor Emmanuel I (section)

==Biography==

=== Early life ===
Victor Emmanuel was born on 24 July 1754 at the [[Royal Palace of Turin]] in [[Turin]], Italy. He was the second son of King [[Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia]], son of King [[Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia]] and [[Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg]], and his wife, [[Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain]], daughter of King [[Philip V of Spain]] and [[Elisabeth Farnese]].

Victor Emmanuel was known from birth as the [[Duke of Aosta]]. From 1792 to 1796, Victor Emmanuel’s father had taken an active part in the struggle of the old powers against the revolutionary forces in France but was defeated and forced to make peace, signing the [[Treaty of Paris (1796)|Treaty of Paris]]. The old king died shortly thereafter, and in December 1798, his eldest son and successor, [[Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy|Charles Emmanuel IV]], was faced with a French occupation and eventually annexation, of his mainland territories.
[[File:Ritratto di S.M. Vittorio Emanuele I di Savoia.png|left|thumb|322x322px|Portrait of Victor Emmanuel I in coronation robes, by Luigi Bernero]]

=== Flight to Sardinia and accession ===
[[File:Bernero - Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia.jpg|left|thumb|Portrait of Victor Emmanuel I, {{Circa|1813-14}}]]

Charles Emmanuel and his family were forced to withdraw to [[Sardinia]], which was the only part of his domains not conquered by the French. Charles Emmanuel himself took little interest in the rule of Sardinia, living with his wife on the mainland in [[Naples]] and [[Rome]] until his wife's death in 1802, which led the childless Charles Emmanuel to abdicate the throne in favour of his younger brother.

Victor Emmanuel took the throne on 4 June 1802 as Victor Emmanuel I. He ruled Sardinia from [[Cagliari]] for the next twelve years, during which time he constituted the [[Carabinieri]], a [[Gendarmerie]] corps, still existing as one of the main branches of the [[Italian Armed Forces|Italy's Armed Forces]].

In 1814, [[Napoleon]] was defeated, and Victor Emmanuel was able to return to [[Turin]]. His realm was reconstituted by the [[Congress of Vienna]], with the addition of the territories of the former [[Republic of Genoa]], and well he also wanted to annex [[Monaco]], but it only became a protectorate of his Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Important dates - Monaco Monte-Carlo |url=https://www.monte-carlo.mc/en/general/important-dates/ |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=Monte-Carlo.mc |language=en}}</ref> The latter became the seat of the Sardinian Navy. Victor Emmanuel abolished all the freedoms granted by the Napoleonic Codices and restored a fiercely oppressive rule: he restored the ''Regie Costituzioni'' of [[Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia|Victor Amadeus II]] and the ''[[Jus commune]]'', strengthened [[customs]] barriers, refused to grant a liberal constitution, entrusted education to the Church and reintroduced laws concerning labour and the justice system which discriminated against [[Jew]]s and [[Waldensians]].
[[File:Scudo Vittorio Emanuele I, 1814.jpg|thumb|right|Sardinian coins minted during Victor Emmanuel I’s reign, {{circa|1814}}]]
He nurtured expansionist ambitions in [[Lombardy]], where nationalist anti-Austrian sentiments had developed, promoted largely by the bourgeoisie. This led to conflict with Austria. In March 1821, a liberal revolution exploded in Italy, largely the work of the [[Carbonari]] and it seemed that the anti-Austrian attitude of the revolutionaries matched that of Victor Emmanuel.

=== Abdication and later life ===
On Sunday 11 March 1821, the King called a meeting with the council of the crown, of which the members also included one of his distant cousins, [[Charles Albert of Sardinia|Charles Albert]]. However, Victor Emmanuel was not willing to grant a liberal constitution as desired by the revolutionaries, so he [[abdication|abdicated]] the next day in favour of his brother, [[Charles Felix of Savoy|Charles Felix]], on 13 March 1821. Because Charles Felix was in [[Modena]] at the time, Victor Emmanuel temporarily entrusted the regency to Charles Albert, who was second in line to the throne.

Since his abdication, Victor Emmanuel lived in several cities until 1824, when he returned to the [[Castle of Moncalieri]], where he died. He is buried in the [[Basilica of Superga]].